All posts by Chris.SE
Below are all of Chris.SE's postings, with the most recent are at the bottom of the page.
Michael:
As an independent help site, we try and provide people with as much assistance as possible with reception problems, but that isn't always possible when a full postcode has not been provided. In general, you shouldn't normally have reception problems in your area from the Redruth transmitter, it should be virtually perfect.
I'm not sure where you have got your information about the transmitter, but the BBC have reported recent faults affecting their transmissions (some advised on this site's transmitter page) which might have been the cause of your reception difficulties, but those appear to have been resolved, but be aware in the current covid-19 situation it may take Arqiva longer than normal to get faults fixed.
You haven't said which channels /multiplexes you been having problems with, but from the way you have phrased your post, I assume all of them, and the recent faults about a week ago, and a couple of days ago could have affected all multiplexes.
If you find your problems are continuing (and have been continuous over recent times) then you may have a fault on your installation, so you would be advise to 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.
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Alan:
The Winter Hill transmitter has had Planned Engineering recently (see Planned engineering works | Freeview ) with "Possible weak signal", which as mentioned in the recent post about Mendip, can appear to be no signal in some locations.
If you retune when there is no or very weak signal, this may not find the channels and correct tuning is lost and you will need to retune again when signals improve. I would try another retune if you haven't yet got all channels back.
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Ogilvie Jackson:
I assume at present it's "That's Cumbria" that you are getting on Freeview LCN 8 in your EPG which I believe started life back in 2017 as "That's Carlisle".
As with most Local multiplexes, they are beamed in certain directions to serve particular communities.
The only information I can state positively is that the multiplex on UHF C33 is beamed primarily to the E and NW and to a slightly lesser extent to the NE.
Whereas the new multiplex on C29 is beamed primarily to the SE and a slightly lesser extent to the SW.
It's very unlikely that if you live to the north of Caldbeck that you'll get the mux on C29.
At present I can't locate any information about the broadcasters on the new mux, but would assume that it's just providing additional coverage for That's Cumbria - it might not make any sense (geographically) for it to be anything else, and of course the other stations that use local multiplexes would likely be the same as C33.
Perhaps you could have a look in your local press etc to see if there's any more information available and let us know. If I come across anything further, I'll post it, may be anyone else reading can update us as well.
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Peter Whitehead:
Winter Hill has had Planned Engineering of late with "Possible weak signal" which in some locations might appear as No signal or loss of channels. Others have reported a similar loss.
A retune under such conditions generally just clears the correct channels as nothing (decodable) is received.
You'll need to do a further retune if/when the signals are back to normal.
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Ant:
As you may be aware BBC4 HD is broadcast on the COM8 multiplex, see Channel listings | Freeview
COM8 and COM7 are temporary multiplexes (which are anticipated to be closed by 2025 as frequencies are cleared for mobile use) and they are only broadcast from certain Main transmitters (for technical & cost reasons) and Midhurst is not one of them.
Your nearest transmitters that have COMs 7&8 are Crystal Palace and Rowridge. It's highly unlikely that you'll be able to reliably get signals from them, but a full postcode would be needed to look at predicted reception at your location.
It's anticipated that at some future date, one or more of the other main COM multiplexes may convert to T2 (HD) transmission and so allow room for some of the existing HD channels on COMs 7&8 but no announcements or decisions appear to have been made, so it's all total speculation.
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All: Just to add to the above information, the launch of this additional coverage was originally scheduled for 29th April, and another document from Freeview/DigitalUK shows this is for "That's Cumbria".
The date was obviously brought forward as this addition does not require any aerial change and as reported else where all other retunes as part of the 700MHz clearance have been postponed most likely until 2021 due to the covid-19 situation. This is because the remaining changes will require aerial support/changes in some locations and that will become very difficult to provide with the social distancing requirements.
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Steve B:
I think it unlikely to be your aerial TYPE especially if you are still receiving the other multiplexes satisfactorily as the D3&4 and COM4 multiplexes are still on UHF C59 & C58 respectively, still in the original aerial group used by Winter Hill. (See Channel listings | Freeview for which channels are on which multiplexes).
If you used to receive COM8 OK before the change it was on UHF C31, and if you are getting the main BBC SD channels OK (now on UHF C32) this suggests that your aerial is probably a wideband type.
Because COMs 7&8 are now Single Frequency Networks sharing the same channels as other transmitters that broadcast them, this does have the effect of creating some "not" spots where reception will not be as good, this is also affected by the fact that these temporary multiplexes are also at lower power to the others. The fact that you had COM7 and now seem to have lost it may be due to some other transmitter changes shortly after Winter Hill.
That all said, the predicted reception at your location is excellent for all but the COMs 7&8 multiplexes which is now "variable" but nevertheless should be good enough most of the time. If you tried retuning last week, Winter Hill has been on Planned Engineering with "Possible weak signal" and some others have reported loss of some of these HD channels. If you are still getting QVC HD the hopefully all is not lost!
I suggest you do the following, check all you coax plugs, connections, flyleads etc, unplug connectors check for corrosion or other problems and reconnect them. Problematic connections, corrosion etc. can seem to affect reception of just an individual or several multiplexes. Flyleads can be a common problem with breaks at the back of plugs, try swapping them.
Make sure that there are no HDMI leads close to any flyleads or aerial leads as they have been reported to generate interference to C55 in particular.
Also check that your downlead looks undamaged and that your aerial is pointing in the correct direction, it should be bearing 122 degrees (slightly E of SE) at your location.
Note however that because you have a loft aerial, it's exact position in relation to water tanks, walls, chimneys, solar panels etc. can affect the best location for the aerial.
Having done the above, try a retune but first with the aerial unplugged which should clear all previous tuning as no channels will be found (on the TV anyway - not sure about the BT PVR that may require a reset but watch any recording settings, but perhaps leave it until you see what happens with the TV). Then plug the aerial back in and try a retune again, hopefully you'll get all you channels back.
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Pat:
It seems Oxford are on Planned Engineering this week so that may have something to do with what you are observing. They are advising "Possible weak signal" which in recent observations from others can mean the disappearance of some channels and other effects for periods of time. If this persists for a lengthy period I'd try giving Channel 4 a call on 020 7396 4444 or 0345 076 0191 as Freeview are unlikely to be much help, they only seem to regurgitate a retuning script which I don't advise when you have weak or no signals.
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Pat:
I'm afraid trying to get more detailed information on Planned Engineering seems to be a waste of effort as "Freeview" generally don't seem to have a clue (the best they seem to say is it may affect your reception!).
Whether the DigitalUK staff know what Arqiva are doing in detail (without asking) is anyone's guess, I get the impression they don't, as the last time I pursued a fault with them it was like banging a head against a wall and ended up with Arqiva denying there was any fault - despite the fact that the fault mysteriously got rectified at the crack of dawn on the first day of "Planned Engineering" (ha ha).
As far as the actual problem is concerned, it depends on exactly what they are doing at the transmitter. Whilst a weak signal itself shouldn't cause what you are seeing, whatever they need to do may require the transmitter power to be reduced at some point, I'm not a transmitter engineer!
Past experienced suggests that contacting the broadcaster about a persisting problem gets quicker action than anything else, as they know exactly who to get on to, to get it sorted.
There never has bee any clear information about any faults for any of the commercial transmissions whether it be Radio or TV, only the BBC have publicly accessible reporting mechanisms for anything affecting their own broadcasts.
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Friday 3 April 2020 1:35PM
To add to the above, if you want to know which channels are on which multiplex, see
Channel listings | Freeview
Service updates | Freeview can sometimes be a useful page, however it is not always updated in a timely manner and with the covid-19 situation the entry for 16 March 2020 has not been updated and is misleading as all remaining retunes for the 700MHz clearance have been postponed (until 2021 tbc).
Planned engineering works | Freeview is another page worth keeping an eye on.