All posts by Chris.SE
Below are all of Chris.SE's postings, with the most recent are at the bottom of the page.
Ray E:
It occurred to me that being a SFN, many N of Mendip will also get quite a strong "additive" signal from Wenvoe. Wenvoe has planned Engineering this week with "Possible weak signal", so I thought it would be a good idea to check if this might be the cause. Well, I was informed that the work at Wenvoe is only on the Local mux, not COM7. Hmm.
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Roy Tennyson:
There are several transmitters serving various parts of Yorkshire, do you know which one you get your signals from? A full postcode is needed to see what the Freeview Detailed Coverage Checker gives for predicted reception at your location. There were several transmitter changes a couple of months ago, and we can't say how or why you might have been affected without more information.
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Bob Dibb:
See Channel listings | Freeview
It's on a Local multiplex which means if your main transmitter doesn't have a local mux, you will be out of luck.
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Callum poklington:
Did you put your house number into the checker with your postcode? For a random selection I did, the Freeview Detailed Coverage Checker gave reception for all of them, however it can also depend which end of the road you are as to which transmitter you might get.
Most are showing Saltdean as the "Most likely", but this is a "Light" transmitter and only transmits the 3 PSB multiplexes, PSB1/BBCA, PSB2/D3&4, PSB3/BBCB HD. If you don't have an HD -T2 tuner in your set, then 15 TV channels is correct (+Ch.100 & the Radio channels), and it is a strong signal for these.
A strong signal does not imply you're going to get all 6 multiplexes!
If you are further up or at the top of the Road, then Whitehawk Hill is sometimes the "Most Likely" which transmits the 6 main multiplexes, but reception from some might be "variable". What is slightly surprising is that some at the bottom of the road are also getting reception from Whitehawk Hill looking at which way the aerials are pointing.
So it looks like it depends on exactly where you are and I suspect how good your aerial rigger is.
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Kevin McCarthy:
It could be the Tropospheric Ducting/Temperature Inversion that is predicted to get worse with the current High Pressure weather system.
If you attempt any retuning during this, you may well pick up other transmitters, and lose your correct tuning and have to retune again as conditions change. But then if you aren't receiving anything at the time, there's probably nothing to lose as long as you appreciate you may have to retune a few times until these conditions go away.
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Kevin McCarthy:
Hi there, well there's a couple of possibilities here. Let's first mention that the "tropo" (for short) will not always affect all frequencies the same at the same instant. So, lower frequencies could be affected more or less than higher ones.
But note the post from Denis back in October where he said that Saorview had told him that 52/56 were on lower power whilst simulcasting with the new channels 42/45, the latter I assume are at the stated 160kW.
So I'd be surprised if the effect is entirely the "tropo". The other possibility is that if you have an old grouped aerial (C/D) then it's performance on 42/45 may sufficiently poor to give the results you are seeing. A Group K aerial would be best for this Saorview transmitter. If you are not in a good reception area for this transmitter to start with, then that drop-off may be sufficient to give the results you've see.
As we don't necessarily know how much effect the weather or your aerial is having, as you say keep an eye on it.
You may get some more information by putting your postcode into Saorview but I'm doubting that you will, the site looks more "show" than "substance" to me. But do post back with any more info if you have any.
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James CAREY:
Oh I love the improvisation with the grill for the reflector. Sounds just like the sort of thing I did years ago when I was trying to dx Band I TV :) The trouble is it'll probably be too frequency dependant which is why you might be having problems with C26 & C30. Without doing some research there's also the possibility that those two muxes may also be lower power!
Whilst your postcode will help with any predicted UK Freeview reception, perhaps Mike has something that can predict reception of the Boulogne Mont Lambert (TNT) transmitter.
But I think it's just a case of a better set top aerial. The slight difficulty is that All for One don't actually specify the gain of that aerial. However a more directional wideband aerial with good gain may solve the problem.
Years ago the Telecam TCE2001 had good reviews but seems to be no longer available. The only similar one is the SLX Indoor TV Aerial 27769RG which also has good reviews and also got a best buy rating of 79% from Which. If you can afford it, it seems to be available from Currys/PC World for 24.99 or Amazon at 22.65. There may be other sources but I haven't checked. Hope that helps.
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GeordieLad:
We are going to need a full postcode to look at the predicted reception at your location.
Are you getting any of the other channels on the COM8 multiplex and are you getting any of the channels on the COM7 multiplex such as BBC News HD? See Channel listings | Freeview
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Halima Cassim:
Does the upstairs TV get channel/LCN 56? These two are on the COMs 7&8 multiplexes, do you get any of the other channels on those multiplexes? see Channel listings | Freeview
We are going to need a full postcode to look at the predicted reception at your location.
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Friday 17 January 2020 1:39PM
Ray E:
Have you reported this to Freeview (I used option 3). Unless they get several reports they will not get Arqiva to look at it. They will no doubt, based on experience, want you to check your system or get an aerial engineer in, you will need to be a bit persistent.
And for anyone else reading please do the same.