All posts by Chris.SE
Below are all of Chris.SE's postings, with the most recent are at the bottom of the page.
Peter Whitehead:
I don't see any terrain issues locally for your postcode, certainly for Winter Hill. The nearer the roundabout you are (the nearer the coast) is where the predicted reception for Moel-y-Parc improves, possibly due to terrain further afield, may nearer the Moel-y-Parc transmitter. But that aside, based on figures I've looked at, I don't personally believe the difference in the predictions if you are near a better location would warrant even bothering with Moel-y-Parc (never mind the technical implications of more than one aerial). A good aerial installation for Winter Hill should get you COM7 for most of the time.
That leads me to two things, one in response to your posts back in February 2019, that was mobile phone masts. You are surrounded by them, most are 1km or less away from you. Did you contact at800 for a filter? If you got one was it the better Ch.60 one, or the cheaper/poorer Ch.59 one which may cause some attenuation of C55/56 signals? Whichever, if you have either, try removing it from circuit BUT in your TV tuning section check the % signal and quality of all multiplexes before and after and note any differences - this information might be important, and of course can you now get COM7. Post those figures even if you haven't got a filter.
The second thing, about your installation in general.
First, not sure why I didn't pick up on this, you mentioned a recent log periodic aerial. As you are nearly 41km from the transmitter, I wouldn't have considered one as a first choice but especially for reception of COMs 7&8. As you know they are transmitted at much lower power than the main multiplexes, and the response of a log periodic is almost flat across the bandwidth, even a log40 (no longer available IIRC) doesn't have sufficient extra gain at C55/56, even the log36 gain falls off too quickly. A Group T/Wideband, maybe something like a good quality Yagi18WB would probably have been the thing to go for (although here are more complex WB aerials that would give similar/better gain). I know that as soon as COM7 moved to C55 and you lost reception, I would have been on to the aerial installer to ask why they'd installed an aerial that couldn't reliably receive COM7 (&COM8 when it moved up to C56 - that bit now irrelevant).
Second, does your aerial connect directly to the TV, or do you have any booster/splitter? If so, does the booster have a gain control?
Third, if you have other equipment, do you have HDMI leads in use? If so make sure that they are well away from any aerial leads or flyleads, especially if the aerial and flyleads are not quality double screened types. In fact, as a check if you have them, unplug/remove them, turn off other equipment a connect the aerial direct to the TV not via any other equipment. HDMI has been reported to cause interference to the C55 (COM7) frequency in a number of cases. Can you now get COM7?
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Les:
I omitted to list the current UHF channel for the Preston Local multiplex from my previous reply to you, it's the same as the final allocation on C40.
I should have mentioned that the local multiplexes are beamed in specific directions, so which you can receive (if any) and COM7, will depend upon your location.
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TIMOTHY WARDLAW:
You should have absolutely no trouble receiving COM7 at your location, do you have a wideband aerial?
Rowridge was a Group A aerial transmitter (it still is for the 6 main multiplexes) but with the move of the temporary COMs 7&8 to UHF55/56 as part of the 700 MHz clearance, many locations would need a wideband aerial for satisfactory reception. If you've had an aerial replacement in recent years, it ought to have been a wideband.
There is little chance that there will be any power increase of COM7 because of the way SFNs work it would just create different "not" spots from those that exist currently, and probably cause more interference to other countries and be in breach of existing International agreements.
I take it your read the linked post in the post that's immediately before yours.
If you don't have a wideband aerial, noting the comment at the end of the linked post, it is your choice as to whether to take a chance changing your aerial. COM7 maybe here until June 2022, commercial reasons may cause it to close sooner, we don't know.
The (what appears frequent) movement of a number of channels is only around the COM multiplexes and is entirely down to the Broadcasters deciding to change/withdraw/move services between multiplexes and is subject to the commercial agreements between the Broadcasters and Multiplex operators, there is no legislation that can prevent these commercial choices.
The PSB multiplexes however, are defined in legislation, but there is a small amount of "commercial space" on PSB3 which has recently been occupied by two SD channels.
As for OFCOM taking the lead, my personal opinion is "Don't make me laugh".
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TIMOTHY WARDLAW:
Just to add to the above, there was this information that came from Arqiva that a user posted, which I believe your attention was drawn to at the time, and I take it you read.
Rowridge (Isle Of Wight, England) Full Freeview transmitter | free and easy
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Robert Lee:
It all depends on your likely/predicted reception which will vary from location to location, not only dependent on local topography but which transmitters' signals may get to your location. Clearly from what you are saying, your predicted reception is a lot better than Peter Whitehead's? That was the reason for my remarks, log periodics are not always the best option. If you want to look at aerial gain curves to compare a log periodic with a quality Yagi18WB, I'll give you a link.
As I don't have your postcode, I can't look at what the predictors are saying.
That said, your reception can't be that good as you have complained about loss of reception before now?
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John quinlan :
The range of PSB channels haven't changed, those on PSBs1-3 are defined by legislation apart from a very small allocation on PSB3 where there currently are 2 non-PSB SD channels.
As far as which broadcasters choose to put services on COMs4-6 and the temporary COM7, that is down to a commercial agreement between them and the multiplex operator.
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Paul:
This is an independent help site and we can certainly try to help you with your reception problems, but we do need a full postcode to look at the predicted reception at your location.
It'd be helpful if you could say which way your aerials are pointing (rough compass bearing) and whether the rods on the aerial are horizontal or vertical.
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Philip Broomhead:
The site owner is aware that a number of pages are not up-to-date as he's been unable to keep up with all the 700MHz clearance changes. Occasionally some updates are being done.
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Briantist:
Slight typo there Brian, CBeebies is on 206. You've listed the temporary interim simulcast on COM8 after the retune before COM8 closed.
Also Pick+1 on 92 has gone, it may be in the list and is on the EPG but not broadcasting, see 18 Jun 2020 - Pick TV +1 channel broadcast changes | Freeview
Based on the information I've been given, COMs 7&8 were never due to close yesterday (your note at the top of the page) as there was no revised licence published agreeing that, as Arqiva wanted a later date. The only licences ever listed recently were a revised one last year in July which still had the 2026 end date
and the new one https://www.ofcom.org.uk/….pdf
The COM8 closure was a commercial decision Rebuilding Freeview High Definition from 2019 onwards | free and easy and contains the statement I was given.
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Wednesday 1 July 2020 1:53PM
Peter Whitehead:
Apologies, the system seems to have produced a blank post a short while ago!
The mux change is no conspiracy theory, read some facts in this post-
Rebuilding Freeview High Definition from 2019 onwards | free and easy
I believe the BBC are having some sort of review about BBC4, haven't been to check for myself yet, but that is down to the BBC.
There is a notch in the radiation pattern for COM7 shown on the radiation pattern towards the top of the page, but it does not cover Blackpool. Go to the map at the top of the page, make sure Pro-mode is on, then click on HD-com7 (h) top LHS of the map and it shows the radiation pattern. I would think the notch is there to minimise interference with transmitters the other side of the Irish sea!
I would be extremely surprised if you got a better signal for COM7 from Moel-y-Parc, it's 71km away compared to 40km for Winter Hill, is only 14.6kW compared to 22.9kW for Winter Hill, and the predicted signal strength is less than half that for Winter Hill at your postcode (and that applies to all muxes from Moel-y-Parc). HOWEVER it will depend on local terrain and where you are in your postcode. Neither the Freeview Predictor nor the BBC one predicts any reception from Moel-y-Parc for parts of your postcode - I'll post some more information shortly.