All posts by Chris.SE
Below are all of Chris.SE's postings, with the most recent are at the bottom of the page.
All:
I'm guessing Preseli may be on essential engineering maybe due to the above reports as all TV muxes appeared to go off-air just before 1045. All back on air at time of posting. I note that virtually all its relays are on Planned Engineering with "Possible service interuptions".
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Jim fraser: (and others)
Apologies, I think I have mistyped the info about the N beamed petal for the Local mux at Sutton Coldfield, that should be C36.
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Jim fraser:
According to the Freeview Detailed Coverage Checker, you are equidistant from both Sutton Coldfield and Waltham, but Waltham is a lower power transmitter so its signals are predicted to be very marginally less relaible at your location, this also may be why the checker suggests that Sutton Coldfield is the most likely transmitter!
For Waltham (which should give perfectly good reception for you on all multiplexes), the aerial should be pointing at a bearing of 41 degrees (4 degrees N of NE) at your location. Sutton Coldfiled is at 281 degrees, that's 11 degrees N of due W.
It's possible that your set(s) automatically retuned and the Waltham signals were off-air or not as strong at the time due to weather conditions, transmitter engineering or possibly interference. It's advised to turn off all automatic updating/retuning for the very reasons you've experienced. Look in your set's Tuning section for such a setting, you may find it under a setting such as "Programme List Update" or similar depending on make/model of set.
In normal circumstances, as devices tune from the lowest channels first, they should find the Waltham transmitter first as these multiplexes are on lower channels than Sutton Coldfield, but some devices will ask which region you want when you get more than one, some will infuriatingly put weaker signals in the 800s whatever region! Look out for settings that may determine region (even such as asking for a postcode).
Aerials can/do pick up signals other than the transmitter they are pointing at, but these are usually much weaker unless they happen to be in the beamwidth of the aerial, Sutton Coldfield is not in your case so should be weaker.
Making sure all automatic updating is turned off, one way of usually resolving the issues you have is to first retune with the aerial unplugged which should clear memory of all previous tuning as no channels are found, then plug the aerial back in and do a manual tune for your selected transmitter's UHF channels. This trick doesn't work on some devices such as Youview boxes where memory isn't cleared and manual tuning isn't available, so sometimes a "reset" is needed. If it's a PVR you may need to reset scheduled recordings.
In the order PSBs1-3, COMs4-7 the UHF channels for Waltham are C32, C34, C35, C29, C37, C31, C55.
Predicted reception for Waltham at your location is Good for PSBs1-3 but could be very slightly less good for COMs4-7 (as they are lower power at Waltham), especially COM7. There's also a Local mux at Waltham on C41 which you may get but may not always be reliable.
Let us know if that works.
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Tony B:
A postcode would have helped but no worries! AFAIK there are no longer any broadcast transmissions from Cave Wold, they're all now at High Hunsley. Neither the BBC nor Digital Radio are reporting any current faults.
Cave Wold seems to be purely a BT site now.
If you are using an external aerial, I'd check all you connections, other than that, it could be a fault with your radio?
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Jim fraser:
Assuming that your aerial is still pointing in the correct direction and looks intact, it's rods horizontal then there's the possibility that there's some Planned Engineering taking place - even though it's not listed - it does happen that the list isn't correct! Check with neighbours receiving Waltham to see if they've got similar prolems.
Your next bet perhaps would be to check all your connections for breaks, corrosion, any other damage - especially things like flyleads which sometime have breaks at the back of a moulded connector, if your aerial connection is via a wall plate, check that for corrosion etc. Check the downlead as best you can especially if it's old. If you have any splitter/distribution amp, check everything there and if possible try the aerial direct to the one TV and see if things become stable which then may lead you to a problem. I will emphasise that bad connections don't always affect all multiplexes, they can be frequency dependent due to standing waves in the cable that result.
As C32 is the BBCA multiplex, if there was a transmitter fault (as opposed the Planned work where there can be low signal during the work) then I would have expected one to be listed by the BBC by now but there is nothing.
If after you've done all the checks then if it's still continuing and you've not changed anything else in your installation, and your neighbours aren't having a problem, it could be a connection problem at the aerial or with the downlead.
Post back with the outcome from those checks.
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SimonHarris:
Assuming that it's the Crystal Palace transmitter that you are receiving (a full postcode would be needed to check if you might be receiving a different one) then the cause is likely to be that the transmitter is currently listed for Planned Engineering with "Possible weak signal".
Other than that, check all your coax connections for breaks, corrosion etc.
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Michael Hannon:
Without a full postcode to do any more detailed checks, if it is Caradon Hill you receive, it's not listed for Planned Engineering which might have been a possible cause.
If the problem is occuring at exactly the same time each day then this could be some form of interference.
Have you made any changes to your installation recently? Are you (or possibly your neighbours) using any specific electric equipment at these times?
It's probably worth checking that all your coax connections and flyleads etc don't have any breaks or corrosion and that your aerial still looks intact and is pointing in the correct direction.
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Jim fraser:
I would wait until next week when we might have a better idea if there has been unlisted engineering at Waltham that may be affecting the signal.
A far as your Sagemcom PVR is concerned, IF it were faulty I would not contemplate having it repaired as the cost would likely be a significant proportion of the cost of a new PVR, and even then as it is old it MIGHT become unreliable again.
As long as it is capable of playing back what you have already recorded then there's no need to ditch it.
Whilst the PVR is powered, either on or in standby, then the aerial "pass through" should have no effect on the signal to the TV. If you remove power/unplug the PVR from the mains the signal to the TV will reduce dramatically.
You should be able to check this by looking at your TV tuning section, possibly in Manual Tuning or may be it may have a Check Signal option. Where it displays the strength and the quality. Look at those numbers when the aerila goes through the PVR and compare to when connected direct to the TV. There should be no significant difference.
Having checked the above, you can also check if the PVR is still recording OK by doing so, and checking it plays back ok. If it's all ok, I wouldn't worry about it unless you start to see record or playback problems.
If all the above checks out ok, then it could be the signal from the aerial either due to unlisted engineering as mentioned at the start of this reply, or water degredation at the aerial connector or in the coax downlead.
Hope that helps.
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Stuart Jones:
The predicted transmitter for your location is indeed Preseli which should give you the most reliable signals. The COM multiplexes may be slightly less reliable than the PSBs. The aerial should have its rods horizontal and be pointing at a bearing of 8 degrees (that's east of due N).
You can also receive a number of other transmitters in that location with less releibale signals that may be more variable or poor.
I suggest the first thing to check is that you are tuned to the correct UHF channels for Preseli by going to your set's tuning section, they are C43, C46, C40, C42, C45, C39 in the order BBCA/PSB1, D3&4/PSB2, BBCB-HD/PSB3, SDN/COM4, ArqA/COM5, ArqB/COM6.
You may be able to check best in Manual tuning if you have that option, but you may have others such as Signal Test or similar. (Ignore PSB3 if your set hasn't got an HD/T2 tuner).
If you find you are not tuned to these UHF channels, unplug the aerial and carry out an automatic retune which should clear all previous tuning as nothing should be found. Plug the aerial back in an ideally carry out a manual tune for the correct UHF channels.
If you are tuned to the correct channels, then check your aerial connections and coax plug for any poor or broken connections. Is your aerial a Wideband or Group B suitable for Preseli and does it have a similar number of elements to others there that are receiving satisfactory signals?
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Tuesday 1 September 2020 2:20AM
Reg Godfrey:
Are you sure you mean C32? That is not the BBC multiplex, C32 at Tacolneston is the Local multiplex.
I can't find any reported problems with any transmissions from Tacolneston.
Do you perhaps mean C32 from the Winter Hill transmitter which has had changes recently. If so, then free help is available from Freeview, ring them on 0808-100-0288.
If it's not that, please provide a full postcode so we can check which transmitter(s) you may be receiving and hence any reported problems might be identified.