All posts by Chris.SE
Below are all of Chris.SE's postings, with the most recent are at the bottom of the page.
Liz:
When aerials are picking up signals "out of band/group" their performance can vary dramatically from one channel nto the next, and in your case it doesn't look as though it's working well on Ch.32 for whatever reason. What helps here is that it is the BBC multiplex that you aren't getting, so Freeview have no reason not to provide the In-Home support (providing you qualify as previously explained).
I wouldn't mention about your original box getting Ch.32 (it may have had a more sensitive tuner). You just need to say that prior to Aug.12th you only got the BBC channels on 751, 752 etc and now you can't get them. They'll go through the retune procedure with you (which you can say you've done several times) and check you don't have cable or satellite.
Ask if you have any more queries.
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Peter Barwell:
We need a full postcode to check which transmitter(s) you may be receiving and whether the BBC are reporting any faults.
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Mrs Samantha Bryan:
Ah, so if Freeview help hasn't been helpful we need to know why! We also need a full postcode to look at your predicted reception.
To save me repeating a lot of information I've already given, see my post Winter Hill (Bolton, England) Full Freeview transmitter | free and easy and the post to which it refers and all the following posts to give you an idea of the issues involved. If you aren't receiving from Winter Hill, the UHF channel numbers won't apply, but the principles are the same. A bit more information about your setup is also needed, eg. is it your main tv? Is it a longer cable run etc. Do you have cable or satellite etc.?
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Nicholas Anderson:
I'm afraid this seems to be the case with a lot of Local TV stations (belonging to his group) and others, most people seem to think this is due to the current situation with covid-19 as it's affected even the major Broadcasters with a reduction in advertsing income. This is causing high levels of uncertainty and Broadcasters cutting back on some services.
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John Pratt:
There has been no changes to transmitter power for any of the multiplexes, just the final move in UHF channels on August 12th and of course the closure of the orignal BBCA mux on UHF C50 which was simulcast after the February 20th retune so those with old aerials could still get the BBC channels at 751, 752 etc in the EPG until their aerials were updated.
As you may appreciate that if you are in a strong enough signal area (generally fairly close to the transmitter) you could still get out of group lower channels with adequate signal, however it may be quite marginal and close to the "cliff-edge", this could mean that any receiver "desensitisation" can cause loss of signal. If a combination of received signals are sufficiently strong, then it can cause front-end overload (a reduction in gain due to agc is one of the effects) and so you lose the weaker signals as they fall off the cliff edge! The reception of the "extra" multiplex (the simucast) could be just enough to cause this, and it won't be the first time I've heard of some with this sort of thing happening.
Also remember you cannot always rely on the receiver's strength reading in such cases, as it also reduces due to the agc effects. The only way you an prove or demonstrate any of this reliably is firstly to use a professional signal strength meter to look at the received signals, as well as maybe a spectrum analyser, and use a variable attenuator to reduce what the receiver is getting and see how it behaves.
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Mike:
Unless the terrain within your postcode is very hilly, in which case precise location will be important, you shouldn't have any problems with reception of the 6 main multoplexes either from Crystal Palace or Bluebell Hill (depends which region you may want, London or Meridian). COM7 is the only multiplex where reception may be variable or poor/not available.
I suggest you check all your coax connections, plugs, etc., check for corrosion/bad connections, faulty flyleads and so on. Check that there's no water ingress in your downlead or corrosion at the back of wall-plates.
Check your aerial is intact, that it's not an old Group C/D, and is still pointing in the correct direction, at your location, ~WNW bearing 296 degrees for Crystal Palace, ~ENE bearing 74 degrees for Bluebell Hill, both with the rods horizontal.
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Lakeuk:
If you are still receiving from the Kendal transmitter, the PSB3/BBCB HD mux is now on UHF C45. PSBs 1/2 are on C39 & C42. Suggest you try manual tuning or an automatic retune first with the aerial unplugged to clear existing tuning as nothing should be found, then plug the aerial back in and retune again.
Note also, the Kendal and and a number of other Border region transmitters are currently listed for Planned Engineering with "Possible service interruptions".
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John Pratt:
As I said, there has been no change in power transmitted, COM7 has been at 22.9kW for well over a year according to DUK (probably at least since it moved to C55 in Mar.2018 without looking up some old documents!). The listings on this site are out of date as the site owner has not had time to update them - in fact there are currently a large number or errors on this site that currently need fixing.
As you haven't given a full postcode, I don't know your predicted reception of the various multiplexes, so there are a number of points to make so as not to create misunderstanding for other posters or readers -
1) You won't have problems with 5G transmissions as they won't be transmitted at anything like the same sort of powers and they will be transmitted from MNO local masts, so unless you will have one very close to you especially on the line-of-sight between you and Winter Hill, you are very unlikely to have a problem.
2) 700MHz frequencies haven't even been auctioned yet and it wil be sometime later next year at the earliest before any transmissions are likely to start anywhere in the country after the sale - tx equipment, antennae & etc have to be set up, handsets have to be available on the market and so on!
3) For the tiny minority that might be affected, 700 MHz filters will become available.
4) Assuming you are in an area predicted to receive all multiplexes, if you want to receive all current multiplexes from Winter Hill (& the other 24 main transmitters that carry COM7) you ideally need a Group T aerial which doesn't include the 700MHz band. (A Wideband will also receive the multiplexes for anyone that has one, and there would be no need to change it. )
5) If you are in an area that can get the Preston Local multiplex but not COM7 (or you are not interested in COM7) then a Group K aerial should be used as a Group A may not have adequate gain at C40. In fact there are SOME Group K aerials being sold by one supplier I know of (ATV) that they have tested and would usually have sufficient gain for C55!
6) Even in weaker signal areas those same Group K aerials may have better gain in Group A channels than the average Group A aerial unless you are starting to look as some very high gain spec. aerials.
7) In strong enough signal areas, a lot of people will get adequate and stable reception of all the new channels on their old aerials.
8) For those not getting stable reception of the PSB multiplexes especially (BBC, ITV, Ch4 & Ch5 etc.) then if they don't have cable or satellite, are in their own home with their own aerial, they can get a free replacement from Freeview by contacting them as detailed in my previous posts.
I hope that is now nice and clear for you. And for anyone else reading, I've given a lot of updated information and advice in many previous posts here over recent weeks, it could be useful to read some of them.
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Graham Plumb:
If you read the previous posts, it's a problem with signal strength not where the channels LCNs are in the EPG.
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Wednesday 19 August 2020 11:57PM
Dave:
There's been no changes in transmitter power, the recent changes at Winter Hill are as I've detailed in my reply to Liz above. This is the most likely reason for you, so the same applies.