All posts by Chris.SE
Below are all of Chris.SE's postings, with the most recent are at the bottom of the page.
Nick :
Hi Nick, thanks for the reply. That sounds like a great setup, and no doubt I shall have to watch my Ps & Qs to make sure I'm not telling granny how to suck eggs :D
Three things really just to mention.
Watch the 100% signal. I'm sure you are capable, but better to measure the signals strength that's actually going to the tuner input and make sure it's not too high as overloaded front ends (as I'm sure you know) can cause identical problem as too weak a signal or loads of interference.
Some sets/boxes will still show 100% even if it were say eg.120%, others will sometimes show a misleading reduction in the strength figure so eg. could shown 80% when in fact it could be 140% plucking a number out of the air! It all depends on where it's actually being measured in the set and what the AGC is doing (as I'm sure you realise).
With the Planned Engineering work, depending on what they are doing (they never give us the detail), if for example they are using the reserve antenna for any of the multiplexes, the signal reaching you could be much lower (because of the terrain) than operating on reduced power. Then that combined with any significant Tropo or even a bit of simple temperature inversion (which could occur more easily) might make signals from Chalford (or anywhere else of course) more significant. Remember also that polarisation can change a bit on route depending on multiple factors, terrain etc. and aerials aren't perfect either - even home brew ;)
Ridge Hill is no longer listed for Planned Engineering, so the work should be complete (for now!), but I've found the listings inaccurate on occasion :(
Make sure your filtering is taking out any 700MHz Mobile mast stuff (often inaccurately referred to as 5G as it could also be 4G depending on operator and location). One would expect such 700MHz interference to have greatest impact on the higher channels esp. C48, however I've seen a few odd cases where it seems to have had a more marked effect on channels as low as C24/C25 etc. so I now take nothing for granted.
Your filtering may already block 700MHz, but if not and you don't want to build your own, as already mentioned you can get a free one from restoretv.uk
All the best.
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Nick:
I know where you are coming from Nick, I wish I had a bit more time to do things like that myself but have to do many more normal shall I say general chores. One day :D
Chats/Discussions like this are far more interesting than the usual faults people have ;)
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barry jones:
Apart from the fact that this is the I-O-W page (and posts sometimes take a minute or two to appear (spam/virus checks etc), the BBC did report an outage due to essential engineering on the 22nd October -
From 10:11am to 1:10pm on 22nd Oct 2023 BBC Radio Off the air due to essential engineering
These reports don't seem to appear very often on the relevant transmitter page unfortunately, and looking elsewhere I can't find any current reports yet for today, but I suspect they still have a problem there and a report will eventually appear.
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Nicholas Anderson:
Some sets will do channel name swaps just by selecting any channels on the same multiplex which often works ok when the channels are on the same multiplex. When more than one multiplex is involved it can depend on which multiplex you happen to be using first. If a new LCN is still occupied in memory by one that will be moving elsewhere, the one that should go in that LCN can end up in the 800s.
Other sets of course do nothing, some give a pop-up message.
Sometimes you can sort things out using a Channel Manager if available, on some sets a retune is the only solution.
In this case, as both channels are on the same multiplex, you could try a manual retune of the UHF channel at your transmitter for this particular multiplex ArqA/COM5 if you so choose.
It can be very set dependant on how successful all the above things are.
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Michael:
Belmont was listed for Planned Engineering last week and if you happened to try retuning at the wrong time it will most likely have just cleared your correct tuning, but in addition, as we don't know what work was being carried out, completion could have been delayed by the storm, so work may be continuing this week. We know the lists aren't always 100% accurate.
I'm never sure why if people were correctly tuned and they lose signal, which could be due to weather conditions, transmitter issues, or aerial system issues, they think that retuning is going to help since you cannot tune to a signal that is not there!
When you are correctly tuned it is never recommended that you try retuning if you have no signal or badly pixellated pictures as this often just clears you correct tuning.
Apart from checking Steve's suggestion, two things you could try, check in the EPG LCN 800s to see if for some reason all the COM4 channels have appeared there, otherwise try a MANUAL retune of UHF C30.
Also note all the COM muxes at Belmont, like several other main transmitters, are at lower power than the PSBs (to help prevent co-channel interference elsewhere). What sort of Signal Strength and Quality figures does your set show for each of the other COM muxes, and likewise for the PSBs?
If you provide a full postcode we can look at your predicted reception.
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Michael:
Because your reception of the COM muxes may not be as good as the PSBs (I can't comment definitely without a full postcode) it's quite likely the reason you are still having pixilation will be use of the reserve antenna or reduced power.
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Alan Goss: Gary Miller:
This is because of the way that the broadcaster (Narrative Entertainment UK Limited) has set up Great TV+1 and the EPG for it and the other two channels.
GreatTV+1 only "broadcasts" for 2hrs at 3am in the morning on the ArqB/COM6 multiplex. The "data only" eventually comes up with a Slate which says "A new service will be launching here shortly." Whether they intend to eventually stream the service outside broadcast hours, I don't know.
Great! Movies Extra si a streamed service outside it's broadcast hours of 0400-0600.
Great Christmas Mix is a streamed service outside it's broadcast hours of 0300-0500
Unless your TV is a Smart TV connected to the Internet you will not see any programmes.
Both do have an EPG for their broadcast hours.
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Rob Towerseywright:
You have posted on the Lichfield DAB transmitter page, I have no idea which transmitter you may be receiving your Freeview signals from as you haven't given a full postcode. I can only guess it might be Sutton Coldfield BUT as you haven't said which TV channels you are missing either, I can't give specific advice.
Why did you retune? You were presumably correctly tuned before. If it's because you lost signal, I'm never sure why, if people who were correctly tuned and then lose signal, (which could be due to weather conditions, transmitter issues, or aerial system issues) think that retuning is going to help since you cannot tune to a signal that is not there!
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Tony1234:
You do NOT need to reposition your aerial.
The Mendip transmitter signals can be quite strong in various parts of South Wales. Aerials have what are called "side-lobes" where they will pick up signals from other directions, but not as strong as the direction the aerial points.
The chances are that you retuned when the Wenvoe signal was weak or missing. As you will see on the Wenvoe transmitter page, the transmitters is currently listed for Planned Engineering -
"Possible effect on TV reception week commencing 23/10/2023 Pixelation or flickering on some or all channels [DUK]"
Apart from a weak signal, In some instances that may mean no signal. That is not a time to retune if you were correctly tuned, as at such an instance the Mendip signal may be stronger.
Where you've been correctly tuned, it's never advised to retune when you have no signal or badly pixellated pictures as it often just clears your correct tuning or can tune to a weaker signal from another transmitter (in your case it's tuned ArqB to Mendip.
The UHF channels for Wenvoe are C41, C44, C47, C42, C45, C39 that's in multiplex order -
BBCA/PSB1, D3&4/PSB2, BBCB HD/PSB3, SDN/COM4, ArqA/COM5, ArqB/COM6,
There is a Local multiplex on UHF C37. (C means UHF channel).
To avoid such problem it will be best to Manually tune Wenvoe's UHF channels rather than auto-retune. You may need to clear the incorrect tuning first, this is usually done by unplugging your aerial and carrying out a full auto-retune as the no channels should be found. Plug the aerial back in and carry out the manual retune.
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Saturday 21 October 2023 11:21PM
Sarah Bagg:
You must have been correctly tuned initially. Why have you retuned? You cannot tune a signal that is not there.
If you have no signal or badly pixellated pictures it is never advised to retune if you were correctly tuned to start with, whatever the cause, be it weather conditions, transmitter faults or maintenance or your aerial system problems.
Doing so will often just clear the correct tuning or sometimes tune you to a weaker signal from another transmitter which will often disappear.
There are currently no reported faults that I can find and the transmitter isn't listed for Planned Engineering at this time.
Are you having any problems with any other channels, if so please list some of them?
Sometimes aerial system faults can cause the loss of one multiplex without any obvious/immediate effects on the others.
Check that your aerial is still pointing correctly, that the coax downlead isn't flapping in the wind, and check your coax plugs are in correctly with no corrosion or water.
To avoid the possibility of losing other multiplexes whatever the cause, you'd be best advised to do a Manual retune for the UHF channel of the missing multiplex. (Unfortunately the site owner hasn't had time to update every transmitter page with the full changes since the 700MHz Clearance programme so those at the top of the page aren't the complete current list).
(in the multiplex order) PSB1/BBCA, PSB2/D3&4, PSB3/BBCB HD, COM4/SDN, COM5/ARQA, COM6/ARQB.
Whitehawk Hill's UHF channels are C48, C35, C36, C32, C34, C33.
The LOCAL Multiples L-BTN is on C40.
If you hover on each of the aforementioned channel numbers, it'll give you the frequency if you need to know those.
So try manual tuning UHF channel C36 for the BBCB HD multiplex.
See Channel listings for Industry Professionals | Freeview for which TV channels are carried on which multiplex.