All posts by Chris.SE
Below are all of Chris.SE's postings, with the most recent are at the bottom of the page.
Chris Gunn:
As per one of the Freeview links listed in the post immediately before yours, you will find Winter Hill being listed for Planned Engineering with "Possible service interruptions", no doubt in preparations for the retune event on the 20th Feb.2020 when PSB1 will officially move to UHF C32 and COM8 moves to C56.
Note - because the aerial group for Winter Hill was a Group C/D, after the retunes (20th Feb & 22nd April) a Group T/Wideband will be needed by some to receive all multiplexes especially PSB1 after the 20th Feb.
PSB1 will actually start simulcasting on UHF C32 on the 19th Feb. Those that are able to do a manual retune for C32 will be able to find out if they can receive PSB1 on C32. If not, the simulcast means that PSB1 will continue to transmit on C50 until the final retune on 22nd April, however automatic retunes will find the simulcasted PSB1 channels will be located in the programme LCN751 channel range.
For those who cannot receive PSB1 on C32, and do not have Cable or Satellite you can get free help with a new aerial by contacting Freeview on 0808-100-0288, you should do this as soon as possible from the 20th Feb.
IF you make your own arrangements to replace your aerial, you will NOT get help from Freeview.
You will find further comment about the retunes etc. in previous posts to this (Sun.12th Jan. et seq).
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Ray E:
Apologies, I had meant to come back and post sooner but have been quite busy.
It wasn't weather conditions causing the low signal. The signal was low before and during the most recent period of "tropo" - which turned out to be quite marginal despite predictions (not as strong as the previous conditions just before & over new year).
During this recent tropo I was seeing a slight lift in all signals from Mendip & Wenvoe (& a slight lift on some from Stockland Hill) but including Mendip COM7 which was still well below COM8's level, they are normally identical. After the tropo, the COM7 signal was still down, but a day or two after, whatever the fault was got fixed and it returned to normal levels as I mentioned in my previous post.
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David Roberts:
Official help will be available, see my previous post just before yours. Not everyone with an older aerial will need it replaced. Some slightly more recent C/D aerials were "enhanced" when Ch.5 analogue opened (remember it was mainly on C35/37). These aerials behaved a bit more like a Group E and providing you're in a good reception area, they will work fine.
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I just want to check on one bit of technical info before I make my suggestion, as there are two different standards of Ch.60 filter.
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Phill Lloyd:
This is an independent help site. We aren't responsible for the broadcasters or transmitter operators.
It is unusual for signals to disappear for the lengths of time you have mentioned, so it's possible that your aerial system may have a fault or any internal connections (flyleads etc) may be faulty, or your aerial is not pointed at the transmitter you think.
The Berwick transmitter is a Relay that does not broadcast the COMs 4-6 (or7/8) multiplexes, the Chatton transmitter is it's parent which broadcast all 6 main multiplexes. For the channels on each multiplex see Freeview | All your favourite TV shows, all in one place and all for free corporate/platform-management/channel-listings">Channel listings | Freeview so you can check whether you are receiving what you should be.
The BBC are not listing any loss of their services from either Chatton or Berwick.
For Chatton the aerial rods should be horizontal, for the Berwick relay they should be vertical.
I'd suggest you check all your coax plugs, connections, flyleads etc, unplug connectors check for corrosion or other problems and reconnect them. Flyleads are a common problem, try swapping/changing them. See what signal strengths and quality you are getting for the multiplexes shown in your TV's tuning section. Also check that your downlead looks undamaged (especially if it is old) and that your aerial seems intact and pointing in the correct direction.
Problematic connections, water ingress etc. can seem to affect reception of just an individual or several multiplexes.
If you still have problems after those checks, I suggest you contact Freeview Freeview | All your favourite TV shows, all in one place and all for free phone 0808-100-0288
If you require further help here, a full postcode will be needed to check Freeview's predicted reception at your location.
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Debi Hothersall:
There's no Planned Engineering listed by Freeview for this repeater, and the BBC have not reported any loss of their services.
How long has this problem been occurring?
What time do the signals return?
Have you had any changes to your equipment?
Have you had any changes to your electrical installation?
If this is occurring at 0110 exactly each night, it sounds like it's something operating on a timer that's causing interference. One of the most common things at this time of night is Off-peak heating/Economy 7 switching on the storage and other heaters. Maybe there's a bad connection or faulty thermostat etc that's casuing the problem. It may not be your own electrical equipment, it could be a near neighbour.
Can you detect any interference on any radio channels that starts and ends at the same time?
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Richard caywood:
The filter you want to try and get is a Filtronic UK-PSD008-V5-P DMSL LTE 800-DTT Consumer Filter (CH60) which you should be able to get from at800 at800 | 4G & Freeview | 4G interference | 4G Filters | 800 MHz phone 0808-1313-800
I wouldn't mention that you've got a filter from Digital UK, say a friend has lent you a Ch.59 filter which improved the situation but has not cured it. Tell them that you are surrounded by 7 Mobile phone masts (they should be able to check that themselves anyway) and the problem has got worse.
Don't mention that your current sets are not HD getting the HD multiplexes. If they ask what they are just say the are LG you're not sure what model.
Explain you are in a weak reception spot being in a dip and the COMs 7&8 multiplexes on Ch. 55 & 56 are especially weak, the Ch.59 filter is not helping and that you've been told that the Ch.60 filter is a more effective better quality filter that doesn't affect Ch.55 & 56 the same.
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Richard caywood:
Forgot to mention that you should tell them that you've carried out all the checks on your aerial installation and cables and coax connectors. If need be you can mention your electrical installation has been recently rewired and tested, so you know there are no problems there.
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Thursday 30 January 2020 8:30PM
Hi there, well it does confirm that a lot of interference is getting to the bedroom TV via it's coax, some better quality double screened coax might improve that situation.
At present the best option is the 4G Filter in the back of the bedroom TV and the 6db attenuator in the back of the downstairs TV. The sets should be capable of coping with 84% & 95% quality without much noticeable degradation, but it's still desirable to improve on this where possible.
Now, because your TV's are older 720p sets, they won't have a DVB-T2 tuner necessary for getting the HD channels. Because you are in an "awkward" reception location, any reception of COMs 7&8 if you get an DVB-T2 TV or Set-top Box, is likely to be somewhat weakened by the Ch.59 Filter which doesn't have a very sharp cut-off and can reduce Ch.55&56
AT800 also do a Ch.60 Filter which is higher quality and has a sharper cut-off. My suspicion is that you'll also benefit from one of these even in current circumstances as you are surrounded by Mobile Phone masts (7 of them) 2 of which are more or less on the line of sight to Bilsdale, and the same situation if you were to go for Emley Moor.
Do any of your very near neighbours have an aerial pointing at Emley Moor?
Do any of your very near neighbours have an aerial pointing at Bilsdale?
Do any of them get COMs 7&8 - BBC News HD and BBC4 HD , 4Seven HD & Quest HD etc.?