All posts by Chris.SE
Below are all of Chris.SE's postings, with the most recent are at the bottom of the page.
Jill Cottom :
Hi Jill, it's highly unlikely to be the solar storm as such effects are often quite brief.
Considering your location, you should be getting your signals from the Sutton Coldfield transmitter, albeit that you are some 58km from it, you are predicted to get good reception in normal circumstances.
I say "normal circumstances" as the transmitter is currently listed for Planned Engineering with the possibility of Pixelation or flickering on some or all channels. That said you should not be having a continuous problem.
Interruption's to service are generally short, but some multiplexes (they carry groups of TV channels) can be on reduced power for longer periods.
One thing that's never recommended, if you originally correctly tuned, never retune when you have no signal or badly pixellated pictures. You cannot tune to signals that aren't there or can't be decoded, the usual result is to clear your correct tuning, even sometime you can get tuned to weak signals from another transmitter which will be unreliable.
Some basic checks you can do -
Check all your coax plugs etc are plugged in correctly. and that there is no corrosion or water present.
Check that your aerial looks intact and is still pointing correctly - it should be pointing pretty well compass bearing NW for your location and its rods (or squashed Xs) should be horizontal.
Check in your TV Tuning section that you are correctly tuned to Sutton Coldfield's UHF channels.
They are C43, C46, C40+, C42, C45, C39+, and that's in the multiplex order
BBCA/PSB1, D3&4/PSB2, BBCB HD/PSB3, SDN/COM4, ArqA/COM5, ArqB/COM6.
For a list of which TV channels are carried on which multiplex, see
Channel listings for Industry Professionals | Freeview
There is a Local multiplex transmitted from Sutton Coldfiield but you are unlikely to get it in your location.
If it turns out that you aren't correctly tuned, the best option is to unplug the aerial and do a full automatic retune which should clear the existing tuning as no channels should be found.
Plug the aerial back in and preferably do a Manual tune for each UHF channel. If you can't do that, then you'll have to do an automatic retune, then check your tuning again. Once correctly tuned, do not retune.
Tell us how you get on.
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Mr. A. Phillips:
There is also usually a note of any engineering or faults at the very top of this transmitter page (below the map). Always a good idea to check as much as you can for such things.
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Jill Fenemore:
You should not have any problem getting a free Filter from Restore TV, your postcode should have been sent postcards according to their checker.
Please note that the filter should be connected between the aerial and any amp/splitter you may have for feeding more than one TV (that may be in your loft - and of course check that the amp/splitter still has power!).
I don't think they deliberately withhold information, sometimes the work is complex and weather dependent and predicted duration may not be something that can easily be done. Even engineers don't have ready access to what work is being done.
It is almost impossible to diagnose a problem with reception without sufficient detail when not at someone's premises, so when asked for additional information it's helpful when it's provided, as sometimes initial information is not sufficient or clear enough.
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Don Pedley:
As you may have noticed from the post before yours, the transmitter is subject to Planned Engineering and interruptions' may occur, but it is unusual for that to be several days!
As you haven't given a full postcode, we can't check that your predicted reception of the HD mux may not be as good as the others for some reason.
Check in your TV Tuning section that your are correctly tuned to UHF C47 for the HD mux from Findon.
I hope you didn't retune at anytime when you had no signal - you cannot tune to signals that aren't there - the net effect is to clear your correct tuning.
I hope that the filter you got from Restore TV is fitted before your "booster" ie. on the input.
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Don Pedley:
Apologies, the transmitter had been having Planned Engineering and there are currently no reported faults so your signals should be back to normal. However do note the points in my previous post.
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Barrie Cliffe :
Why did you do a "new channel scan"?
Weren't you correctly tuned to start with?
I suggest you do a MANUAL tune of UHF channel C34 to see if you can get the PSB2 mux back which may be tricky if you are in a weak signal area, but as you haven't given a full postcode we can't check that, or whether you may be suffering interference for new/upgraded phone masts.
Once you have your multiplexes back, do NOT retune especially if you have "No signal" or badly pixellated pictures. You cannot tune to signals that are not there or cannot be decoded. The usual result is to clear your correct tuning and then you don't know when your signals are normal!
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Barrie Cliffe :
The BBC HD/SD channel "swaps" don't actually free up any bandwidth as the main .SD channels are moved to LCNs 611-614
CBBC and CBeebies are just swaps for their channel numbers 201/202/204/205
These swaps are called Channel List Management or CLM and only apply on more recent Freeview Play TV sets that are Internet connected. ITV/C4/C5 are currently not affected (ITV1 HD isn't yet fully regionalised in any event).
You'll possibly find reference to CLM in the TV's Settings pages.
You can move/swap channel LCN positions manually on a lot of sets which is what I did on my set which doesn't have CLM. I moved the SD channels 1/2/4/5 to spare locations, then moved the HD 101/102/104/105 to 1/2/4/5. Leaving ITV1 SD and HD alone as the HD is not my local region yet.
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Barrie Cliffe :
Further to my initial reply to you, parts of that area could additionally suffer interference from a new/upgraded phone mast, but we need a full postcode to check that.
Such interference won't necessarily noticeably affect several or more than one multiplex.
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Saturday 8 June 2024 1:52PM
David Little:
I agree that the Freeview helpline don't have much of a clue when it comes to technical stuff!!
The Local multiplex that carries London Live is on UHF channel C35. You could try a manual retune of C35 but whilst engineering work is going on, we don't know how it's affecting the signal for that multiplex.
LCN233, if you mean Sky News, that is on the ArqA/COM5 multiplex which is on UHF C22. Again we don't know how that signal is affected by the engineering work.
Here is what is usually an up-to-date list of which TV channels are carried on which multiplex -
Channel listings for Industry Professionals | Freeview
You now mentioned that the splitters have amplifiers. What make/model are they?
All filters should be fitted on the input to an amplifier.