All posts by Chris.SE
Below are all of Chris.SE's postings, with the most recent are at the bottom of the page.
Dylan green:
But it does sound like the signal strength could be marginal for one of the reasons mentioned by Iain Martin. Do you not have a knowledgeable friend who could access your dish?
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Steve Donaldson:
Both those transmitter had Planned Engineering last week. Although not listed this week, work might have overrun!
I assume that Neil has checked his aerial looks intact and still pointing the way it was! And which direction (compass bearing) does it point Neil?
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tony archer:
Because of the unfortunate appearance of some spam here, you may have missed the post currently at the bottom of page 215 advising that the transmitter is currently having Planned Engineering, so this is the likely reason for the signal drop you arte seeing.
Based on your previous information, your aerial should be correctly pointing at compass bearing 252 degrees, that's fractionally W (by 4 degrees) of WSW.
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Adam :
To be able to give any helpful comment we need more information. What radio stations are you trying to receive and normally receive, are they DAB, FM, LW, MW, and also a full postcode? Partial ones don't work in reception checkers.
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Nicholas Anderson:
You just have to be joking!!
And in any case you'll still be able to get TalkTV by streaming, just not as an over air broadcast. they've already taken themselves off Satellite.
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nobody:
The return of RTV, no way, they were in breach of licence conditions. Never mind all the politics.
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nobody:
I didn't "reject" political considerations, I just wasn't going to waste time on it, better things to do, and I'm not sure this is the right place for that anyway. Endof.
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Terry brown:
You may have noticed the post before yours which states that the transmitter is currently listed for Planned Engineering, so interruptions to service or periods of reduced power can sometimes be expected.
If you lost signal or had badly pixellated pictures, I hope you didn't retune. - you can't tune to signals that aren't there or can't be decoded, the usual result is to just clear the correct tuning or sometimes tune you to very weak signals from another transmitter which eventually disappear.
If you still don't have the BBC channels, try a MANUAL retune of UHF channel C48 if the SD channels are missing and/or C36 if it's the HD channels.
If your set has automatic retuning that it does when it loses a signal, then turn that function off, it's far more trouble than it's worth.
If you are still having problems, post back with some more detail of what you've tried, checked etc, and also a full postcode so we can check predicted reception.
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Sunday 25 February 2024 5:07PM
Charlie S:
Hi there. Well I'm glad your intermittent drop-outs have stopped. When Planned Engineering is going on, especially when we don't know exactly what is involved at any instant, it's so difficult to deduce what might be causing a particular problem.
Whilst coverage maps give an idea, they aren't infallible, but it looks as though your postcode is borderline for the different transmitters and the postcode pin on the map will be generic, so it's highly likely that it'll depend exactly where you are within the area and the very local terrain or obstructions, and the only absolute way of knowing which is best is there on the ground (should I say roof) with a professional signal strength meter!
As I'm sure you realise, interference could affect one or more frequencies but only show up under certain circumstances and there's not necessarily any consistency in how each may be affected!!
Eg. if you have 100% Quality is doesn't mean you'd always be interference free, and likewise having 85% or 93% doesn't mean you'll definitely suffer interference, though it's more likely if there was some interfering signal present.
The Strength/Quality figures you've posted look quite good apart from that ArqB Quality showing up on the TV. Out of curiosity try connecting the aerial direct to the TV and see if it changes the figures.
The differences between the PVR and TV could be due to the ability of the decoders to correct the errors or even down to where any interference is getting into the system. If the quality on ArqB improves when you plug the aerial direct to the TV, if it's a poor quality flylead normally between the PVR and TV that could be a suspect. Also HDMI can sometimes give interference to the RF signals, try and keep any such leads well apart especially if you haven't got double screened coax for the flyleads or aerial cable.
Another thing I nearly forgot, have you got any old kit with an analogue RF output that could be tuned to an RF channel that could result in interference eg. a Games console, a VHS recorder, etc.?
The strength figures as they are, are perhaps to be expected as the COMs from Ridge Hill are 10kW and the PSBs 20kW., and those slight differences with the COMs could be peaky aerial responses or of course due to the Planned Engineering which is supposedly still going on!
Interference due to intermod products etc. Hmm, yes, anything's possible I've always concluded as so much depends on the quality of the design. You'd hope that aerial amp/splitters would be immune but stuff could still get in directly to the circuitry if the signals are strong enough and it's a poor design, it doesn't necessarily have to be getting in via the aerial input!
There a simple check regarding your WiFi - switch it all off :D If the Quality on Quest/ArqB improves then you have a suspect. It won't of course necessarily be direct interference to the 500-600MHz range, if one of the stages in the amp gets saturated then how it behaves wrt 500/600MHz could be quite unpredictable!
It could still be getting in via the aerial input though. One helpful thing if this appears to be the case, is that the "Free" filters from Restore TV would clobber that as well, as they are low pass filters.
Although your postcode isn't supposed to have had postcards, it doesn't mean there isn't a problem with mobile signals. Can you see any new masts nearby? How strong are the mobile signals now, you mentioned a Vodafone 3G booster in the past, so I assume you may now have stronger signals if you don' need it?
We have encountered quite a few cases where people should have had postcards but haven't :(
If you suspect the possibility of mobile interference, then get onto them for a Filter. I wouldn't mention the WiFi, that'll just be an extra benefit of the filter.
I'd simply say that you seem to get regular interference problems as your received signal quality drops, where as the signal strength still remains quite high.
HTH, I'll post again if I think of anything else. Let us know how you're getting on with any checks/tests.