All posts by Chris.SE
Below are all of Chris.SE's postings, with the most recent are at the bottom of the page.
Martin:
Ah, this is why this site asks for a full postcode to avoid this sort of confusion and to maybe check predicted reception.
According to feedback from another report in another transmitter area, your reception should now have returned to normal, as a transmitter issue has been fixed. We don't know any more details, it looks as though the Daventry transmitter may have been at the centre of things but whether it was a synchronisation issue or power down issue we don't know.
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Simon Wood:
As you seem to have noted from the post before yours, the transmitter is currently the subject of Planned Engineering!
Yes, that's a very awkward spot (passed nearby at Summerhill a few weeks ago and the area to the south is pretty much the likely block on your line of sight, making reception very difficult). There's quite a few places nearby that have to get signals from Huntshaw Cross), you are on the periphery, so if the transmitter is on reduced power or reserve antenna you may get no signal during that time (as well as if it's briefly off air).
I hope you haven't retuned as that will likely just clear your previous correct tuning (never recommended when you have no signal or badly pixellated pictures).
If you have retuned then your best bet will be to manually tuned to each of Huntshaw Cross 's UHF channels, which may fail whilst you have no signal but once you get one back, leave it alone and try the others.
The UHF channels are C30, C31, C37, C32, C34 & C35 and that's in multiplex order -
BBCA/PSB1, D3&4/PSB2, BBCB HD/PSB3, SDN/COM4, ArqA/COM5, ArqB/COM6
I'm afraid you'll need patience whilst the work affects the signals, in addition to which current weather conditions may not help as there could be periodic interference from distant transmitters.
IF you have not retuned, good, just DON'T, you could get tuned to the interferencing signals if present, which will then disappear as conditions change.
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Robert Price:
The transmitter wasn't listed during the first two weeks of August, nor during early July. Before that it was the latter part of May early June. It would seem that a significant amount of work has been needed there otherwise it wouldn't have been listed as much in recent months.
However, that said, you are only 4km from the transmitter and should not be suffering any serious problems with reception whereas your post implies you've had continuous problems with the ITV/C4/Ch5 channels carried on the D3&4/PSB2 multiplex on UHF C23. Has it been continuous or has it just been periodically?
If continuous, I think this would point to some sort of local problem as if it were a transmitter issue there would be many posts complaining of the same issue.
If periodically, has there been any pattern to this, eg. specific times of day on a regular basis?
Are you having any problem with channels on the other multiplexes?
Can you look in your TV Tuning section, possibly Signal,Test (depends on your set make/model) and quote the Signal Strength and Quality (or Error) figures) for each UHF channel's multiplex, which are C26, C23, C30, C41, C44, C47.
Where is your aerial located? Has it been moved/disturbed? How old is it (roughly)? Is the downlead in good condition?
Is it a Group K aerial do you know? Have you got a free filter fitted as you may have mobile phone transmitter interference as you should have received a postcard from https://restoretv.uk/ according to their website?
Do you have any other equipment connected to your aerial - amp/splitters, recorders etc.? How are the connections routed? Do check that all coax connections are good, not loose or corroded etc.
Has anything appeared on the line of sight between your aerial and the transmitter, eg. buildings, scaffolding, have trees grown bigger, any solar panels installed etc.?
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Robert Price:
I suggest that you contact https://restoretv.uk/ first. Tell them that you are having problems. If you haven't got a filter they may send you one or may send you an engineer free of charge.
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Andrew Steele:
If this issue has suddenly got worse this week, Stockland Hill transmitter is currently listed for Planned Engineering with, quote, "Pixelation or flickering on some or all channels".
This could be the cause of current issues and it looks like it's going to be listed again next week!
If it's been more of a continuous issue, apart from checking out everything in Steve Donaldson's excellent post, make sure all your coax connections/plugs are good, clean and free from corrosion, also check there's nothing like scaffolding very near or solar panels etc fitted that may be having an effect.
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Robert Price:
Certainly worth a mention, and if not already causing you a problem, then they are potentially going to do so.
If as you say, your problem is less at weekends, if it's these phone cells causing your issues, it may be they are less used at weekends perhaps because the majority of users might be businesses or weekday shoppers in the area. I believe that both those masts are likely to be replacement/upgraded masts for those originally sited there on which there are EE services who are one of the companies that bought some of the 700MHz old TV frequencies when OFCOM put them up for sale!
The fact that these cells are pretty well on your line-of-sight to the transmitter means you'll likely be picking up signals from them.
Considering the age of your aerial then if it's not a Group A aerial (the original group used by The Wrekin for Analogue before DSO) then it could be a Wideband, but whichever, strong enough signals in the 700MHz band (which is within Groups C/D) will still be picked up.
One of the reasons I asked you to check the Signal Strength and Quality figures for all the multiplexes is that any extra interfering signals could be causing "desensitisation" of your receiver (or causing overload of it and/or any amp/splitter you may have) and whilst it may not be having an observable effect on all multiplexes it could be reflected in the figures. A certain amount of Errors in wanted signals can be corrected by the receiver and sometimes one particular signal could be affected to a point beyond that ability.
That can be for a variety of reasons, eg. not all aerials will pick up signals equally across all frequencies, those signals could be weaker at certain frequencies or suffering multipath issues due to effects of the ground, buildings, trees etc. between you and the transmitter. It is not as simple as one might think. The behaviour of RF signals and their reception (at any frequency) can sometimes be somewhat of a "black art"!
I think your best bet will be to persuade restoretv.uk to send an engineer out to you (on the grounds that before these new cells you had absolutely no problems, your installation is not straight forward (you haven't explained about how it's all interconnected with splitters & etc) you may not have ready access to your aerial feed or even the ability to get into your loft etc.
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Robert Price:
Ignore the fact that I appear to be in your location in my last post, I used your postcode in my settings to have a quick look at the sighting of mobile phone masts and the terrain etc in your locale and should have removed the settings before posting !!
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Robert Price:
The filter should be fitted between the aerial and any other amp/splitter etc that feeds any of your equipment.
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Darren Brown:
Hi. No problem.
I've had a review of everything so far, leaving aside reception difficulties in your area, there's clearly a case of interference which we need to address first before even considering which transmitter may be best etc.
Chatton wasn't on last weeks engineering list but was the week before, and doesn't look as though it'll be on next weeks, so on paper, reception due to transmission effects should be back to normal!
The EPG issues could be related to this interference, but this might be a separate issue which can be considered once the interference problem is resolved which of course may fix that!
We need to get a better picture of how your signals are affected when the interference is present.
Whilst the engineering work was happening, you mentioned a Signal Strength figure of 14-18% for the SDN multiplex on C29.
To get a better picture of how your reception overall might be affected by this interference we need the Signal Strength and Quality figures for each of the UHF channel multiplexes.
Whichever you can do first (depends when you se my reply and can have time to check) -
Post the figures for each once the interference has started.
Post the figures from (during the day) when there is "no obvious interference" (the fly in the ointment at present is there's potentially variable Tropospheric Ducting which may cause interference to normal reception). You may need to look at those figures a few times to see how stable they are.
There may also be problems with interference from new/upgraded mobile phone masts as your area should have had postcards from https://restoretv.uk but this is more likely to cause an overall degradation in reception and not something that starts at some point in the evening so will consider this as a potential secondary issue. Let's see the figures first.
Now as you've mentioned this problem is regularly starting around 9.30pm it's either something on a timer if it's an exact time every day or something to do with "dusk" at this time of year - ie lighting coming on as it get's dark. See if you can identify which it is (exact time or dusk), and also correlate anything you can observe - street lights, your own lights, a near neighbours lights etc.
If it's an exact time it might be central heating but it could still be some lights that are on a timer!
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Wednesday 16 August 2023 1:29PM
Rod H:
:D :D :D oh well. We may or may not ever discover! Thanks for the update.
The interesting bit in the reply however is -
"there have been a number of reports particularly in the Midlands"
which suggests it may have been a bit more widespread.
But another report where I mentioned Warmington, the poster did not give a postcode and it turns out it was not near Peterborough but one near Banbury!
This still puts Daventry at the centre of the issues, so whether it was synchronisation or power being down remains to be discovered!