All posts by Chris.SE
Below are all of Chris.SE's postings, with the most recent are at the bottom of the page.
js:
Oh well done, that was the very thing I was trying to find yesterday to ask Brian about.
Brian:
Stirling work, thanks very much. Did the transmitter names include Preseli/Presely ?.
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Brian Butterworth:
Great stuff, it's very useful. Could you please do the same for the links for the TV transmitter postcodes (top of every Tv transmitter page). Thanks.
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David Price:
Paul Robinson:
I'm afraid Arqiva never say when work will be finished, nor what it entails, a lot of which could be weather dependant.
There is additionally a little bit of tropospheric ducting around which might add to the problems for brief periods causing interference from distant transmitters in the UK or Europe.
Paul Robinson:
With signal strength at 100% & such low quality that sounds like you have a lot of interference.
How long have those conditions been persisting?
What sort of figures do you get normally?
Have you had a postcard from https://restoretv.uk at all?
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Darren Brown:
The signal strength being as low as that would most likely give unreliable reception in the wrong conditions.
I would however wait until the Planned Engineering is finished and see what sort of stable figures you get. Even if signal strength is only a little bit higher, as long as the quality remains at 100% it should be ok, buit do talk to your neighbours with aerials pointing at Pontop Pike and see how reliable their reception normally is.
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Paul Robinson:
IIRC, The Wrekin was recently first listed for Planned Engineering in the 2nd week of July, whether or not the work is complete is never certain as although it seems it's not listed next week we know the lists can be inaccurate from time to time.
What Signal Strengths and Quality do you normally get for the other multiplexes?
100% signals can sometimes overload the receiver front end which can cause pixellation and sound break up under some conditions, but what you should have is 100% Quality all the time under normal conditions.
As you used to use the Brierley Hill transmitter (assumed from your previous posts) have you replaced your aerial? Do you have a pre-amp/splitter?
If both, I hope it was a Group K aerial. If the amp/splitter has a variable gain control then turn it down a touch until signals strength drops but Quality remains at 100%. Wait of course until all your signals are back to the normal that you usually see.
I don't know what sort of reception you are predicted to get as you haven't given a full postcode (so can't advise on that point), then even if you have only re-orientated your aerial and it's not a Group K, put your postcode into the "Not sure" selection on https://restoretv.uk and if it says Yes, then get a free filter from them in case you are getting any mobile mast interference.
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Brian Butterworth:
Great stuff Brian, many thanks. All these things help.
Please try and sort out the TV Transmitter page Postcode links at the top RHS of their pages so that they go to the Detailed Coverage (as mentioned at https://ukfree.tv/extras/…591) because they've been going to Freeview Homepage (now "Everyonetv") ever since DUK changed the Platform Management urls ages back.
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js:
Exactly that js, thanks for the clarification. I did wonder if Brian has not realised what I meant but at time of posting this he seems to have got it sorted :)
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Brian Butterworth:
You are doing really well Brian.
You might want to check that list out against
Channel listings for Industry Professionals | Freeview
as there've been some recent Freeview changes such as E4 in Wales is now on 13, BBC Three HD is on 106. There may be one or two others, haven't had time to check yet.
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Brian Butterworth::
I think some of the problem StevensOnln1 has raised my well be related to this -
It's one problem that might be a lot more difficult to solve - I don't know.
The map locations for all (afaik from last check) radio Analogue (not DAB) transmitters is wrong, with some appearing in the sea!
When I last investigated, this appeared to be as a result of your automated software mis-reading map references and the Latitude/Northings info getting screwed with locations appearing somewhat further south than they should be. (There were some very very small errors in longitude).
Eg. Clevedon, Start Point, Droitwich are some I've looked at recently.
This may explain the confusion between eg. Wroughton & Blunsdon.
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Friday 28 July 2023 1:05AM
Darren Brown:
The predictors show that you could fairly readily receive signals from Chatton 344 degrees. Fenham 300 degrees (rods vertical), Pontop Pike 242 degrees & Bilsdale 157 degrees.
Aerials can receive signals from the rear, on side-lobes, even the wrong polarisation but obviously not with the strength they do in the direction they point. This is why you should check you are tuned to Chatton if your aerial points that way.
If your aerial has always pointed at Chatton and is quite old, it may be a Group B which may not get the COM muxes as well as they are now on lower channels since the 700MHz Clearance (this could compound your current issue). If you change your aerial at any time you should go for a Group K although Group T / Wideband would work these latter two leave you more vulnerable to interference from new/updated Mobile masts that may use the 700MHz band. (There are 2 EE masts which are quite close and are the most likely candidates for this issue.) You should have received a postcard at some point from https://restoretv.uk/ and you can get a free filter from them if such interference is a problem (it's more likely to affect the UHF channels neareer C48).
Chatton (medium power) is 69km away.
Having said you can get 3 other main transmitters, Fenham is the nearest but variable to poor reception as it's low power.
Pontop Pike is the next nearest (16km) and has high power for all 6 muxes, Bilsdale also 69km also has the same high power for the PSBs, half that for the COMs.
It's not clear why aerials in your postcode should not be pointing at Pontop Pike as the predictors suggest very good reception for virtually all the postcode, but I haven't done a terrain check for Pontop Pike to see if there's potential issues. (if Steve Donaldson is reading, he might be kind enough to do that as he's very good at that sort of thing).
In any event the advise of a reputable/recommended local installer should be sought when deciding which transmitter to use (They are all Tyne Tees region but the Local mux from Pontop Pike is Newcastle (good reception), and Middlesbrough, but poor reception of the local mux, from Bilsdale).