All posts by Chris.SE
Below are all of Chris.SE's postings, with the most recent are at the bottom of the page.
Alan_C:
Sorry for the delay getting back to you, C55 is very much alive (but not transmitted from Stockland Hill), the suggestion on many transmitter pages on this site that it was going in November is wrong. For the situation as it was back in June see Rebuilding Freeview High Definition from 2019 onwards | free and easy and the updated situation is that the Clearance programme was eventually completed in August. OFCOM have scheduled the auction for sometime in January 2021. The rest of the situation is as previously suggested, until the auction is completed, we won't know if any MNO will have bought the Centre Frequencies (allocated for SDL use), nor will we know what timescale will be involved for such a purchaser to commission such equipment to use the frequencies and so give any 3 month notice as stated in the current multiplex licence.
Going back to previous posts, you said the aerial was a 48 element, was that a typo as the link is actually a 40 element, there doesn't appear to be a similar 48 element. That aside, the aerial spec. shows a pretty flat response across the spectrum, so from an aerial point of view no obvious reason for the C35 and C48 performance, also C36 didn't look that good.
Looking at those figures with the aerial tilted up 15 deg. C48 wasn't bad, it was C35 & C36 that weren't that good, but that was without the amp. So with the amp in circuit and the attenuator at the set end, nothing improved for any setting of the attenuator!! Very disappointing.
Having the attenuator at the aerial end will most likely degrade the S/N ratio a bit but otherwise not much difference.
Give the attenuator at the set end another try. Up until Wednesday evening there'd been some tropo around again which could well have been upsetting the apple cart!
Trees on the LOS can sometimes cause multipath (again, not at all frequencies), but at this time of year I would have expected signals to have been more stable and when the trees are some considerable distance away even less of an effect. So I'm thinking that it's some issue with the position in the loft, I don't known if it's worth tweaking direction a bit, or position back/forth/sideways but keeping the 15 deg. tilt.
PS. If I recall correctly you looked for Stockland Hill pointed at Mendip without the amp?
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Francis Byrne:
No problem, quite understand, there's other things that one needs to do! Although there had been some tropo around again which eventually cleared by Wednesday evening, it does sound rather like it's an issue with rain getting into the aerial connections or the coax somewhere. It may just be aerial position of course and a slight tweak could change things - it can just have effects on one channel, but if it varies with rain, I'm more doubtful that it'll be (just) position.
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Shaun:
There are no reports of transmitter faults either by Freeview or the BBC and the transmitter isn't currently +listed for any planned maintenance. However earlier in the week there was some "Tropospheric Ducting" affecting different parts of the UK at different times (see Effect of tropospheric ducting on Freeview | RTIS for a simplified explanation).
If you happened to retune, or your set auto retuned whilst you had no signal or when it was suffering large errors, it would likely have cleared correct tuning and you may even be tuned to the wrong transmitter which you can no longer receive. It is recommend that you turn off any auto-retune as it's usually more trouble than it's worth. Retunes are not that frequent and you will usually be prompted by on-screen pop-ups if one is required which you can than initiate manually.
Try the following procedure - unplug the aerial and carry out a full automatic retune. This should clear any previous tuning as nothing will be found (this doesn't work on some devices such as Youview boxes where a reset would be needed). Plug the aerial back in and repeat the retune which will hopefully restore all channels correctly.
If you are still having problem then check that your aerial seems intact and pointing in the correct direction and that your downlead looks undamaged (especially if it is old). Also 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.
Post back with more detail about your installation if you haven't solved the problem.
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EDebra:
You should have no trouble receiving all the main multiplexes ie. BBC, SDL and D1 there's a main transmitter at Danbury. There's also a Local multiplex transmitted from several transmitters including Benfleet & Maitland House. You may even have fair reception from on e of the London multiplexes.
Put your postcode into the box at Postcode checker - Digital Radio UK and press return as clicking submit doesn't always work!
If you are using an external aerial there may be a problem with the installation if you are not getting those multiplexes. If you are using a portable with a telescopic aerial, try a different position for then aerial or even the radio, making sure that there aren't any thick walls between the radio and the transmitter, or no large metal objects in the way, such as fridges, freezer, cookers etc. Try on a window sill facing the general direction of the transmitters.
Hope that helps.
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Mike Turver:
You are correct that Planet Rock - on the SDL multiplex, is on block 11A, 216.928 MHz.
Kiss, Heart, Absolute Radio are on the D1 multiplex - block 11D, 222.064MHz
I assume that as you have posted on the Saddleworth DAB transmitter page, you are in it's coverage area. But this transmitter is a Relay and does not transmit the SDL multiplex.
Other stations on the SDL multiplex are eg. Mellow Magic, Scala Radio, Times Radio, Virgin Radio to mention a few.
The fact that you can receive the SDL multiplex in your car outside the house could be for a couple of reasons - that location has a unobstructed Line of Sight to another Main transmitter - maybe Winter Hill, or if you are more to the East, the Penine transmitter at Holme Moss, and/or your car radio has a more sensitive tuner.
Are you sure that your radios in the house are tuning to block 11A, try a manual tune for that frequency BUT try moving the radio(s) to the same side of the house as the car to see if they can pick up the same Main transmitter.
I assume that those two radios are portable ones with telescopic aerials. You need to make sure that in their normal location, the line to the transmitter isn't obstructed by thick walls, large metal objects such as fridges, freezers, cookers etc. Here are some other tips from ukdigital radio.com
Quote -
"Fiddle with the aerial - Telescopic aerials should be fully extended, but sometimes adjusting them to a different length may help.
Avoid scrunching up wire aerials, including those built into headphone leads.
Science says digital radio aerials should point straight up, but it's worth experimenting with different angles.
Move it to the left ... or to the right. Even just moving the radio by an arm's length, may make the difference between an unsatisfactory signal and a clear one.
Put it higher up Rather than put your radio on a coffee table, place it on a shelf or bookcase at a greater height in the room. Any height increase will improve your chance of getting a signal.
Put it on a window sill The closer you get to a window, the easier it is for your radio to find a signal.
Windows and window sills get you closest to the radio waves outside, giving you the best reception opportunity.
Try it in another room and rescan. Take your radio into a different room (ideally upstairs, near a window) and do a rescan/auto-tune there. Once you've acquired a signal, you may be able to keep it when you move your radio back to where you ideally want it.
Think about an external aerial. Some digital radios have a removable aerial, allowing you to connect to a more powerful loft or roof-mounted aerial.
If in doubt, take your radio to an electrical component shop or speak to an aerial installer." End quote.
You could put your details in the boxes at Postcode checker - Digital Radio UK and click return (the submit button doesn't always work!) and see what it says for predicted reception.
I'm not sure what "aerial booster" it is you think has 16dB gain, which is quite a lot of gain, but be careful, there is a lot of junk out there with unsubstantiated claims. If your portable sets have the ability to connect an external aerial, then that maybe all you need - maybe even loft installed, if repositioning the sets/telescopic aerials doesn't solve the problem.
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Alan Tate:
As has been mentioned quite a few times around this site, and probably a couple of pages back now on this transmitter page, the site owner has not had the time to update all the UHF Channel changes resulting from the 700MHz Clearance program. As I understand it, it involves transcription from a number of OFCOM pdf documents. As you might imagine, that's got to be a very time consuming and tedious task. That was last done by the site owner here with changes on the 13th November 2019. However on many transmitter pages the updated list of UHF channels resulting from the final stages of the 700MHz Clearance program has been posted on the respective pages by regular posters, the most recent here (not for the first time) by me just before your post.
As far as which channels are on which multiplex and their LCN, the last update here appears to be the 17th September Broadcaster/Freeview changes. Of late, a number of the Broadcasters and Freeview have been shunting channels about their LCNs (some requiring retunes). Most members of the public are rather brassed off with this nonsense and constant retuning and one of the most recent ridiculous ones was to meet the OFCOM requirement that all PSBs should be in the top 24 LCNs all because BBC4 in Scotland was down at 55, Freeview's option was to shunt all LCNs from 24-54 up one so BBC4 Scotland moved from 55 to 24 (for the rest of the UK it's on 9).
They ignored the simpler (more logical) option put to them which was -
Move Channel 5+1 from 44 to 55, Move Channel 4+1 from 15 to 44
Move BBC Alba from 7 to 15, Move BBC Scotland from 9 to 7, then Move BBC Four (Scotland) to 9 matching the rest of the UK.
How nice and logical, ITV+1 on 33 - has been for years, people used to it. Then Channel 4+1 on 44, Channel5+1 on 55, all nice memorable easy to remember numbers, AND 4Seven would still be on 47 not 48 as now.
That's all too much common sense for Freeview.
All these changes require the site owner to spend (waste IMHO) time transcribing from pdf documents or Freeview web pages. He does have a job to do besides providing this help-site for free.
Not sure where your "version 5" comes from, but generally, if you want an up-to-date list (I have found it several days out of date on occasion) of which channels are on which multiplex and their LCNs see Channel listings for Industry Professionals | Freeview which was last updated on the 4th November. There have however been some further changes (mostly minor) on the12th &19th November and some to come on the 7th December. See
Updates and alerts | Freeview
Updates and alerts | Freeview
Updates and alerts | Freeview
As far as printable or pdf options are concerned, most browsers have a "Print" option and there's a choice of software if you want to "print" to a pdf eg. there's one called PDF Creator (I'm sure a search will find many more).
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All:
As it's a while back since last mentioned for this transmitter, some of the details at the top of the page are incorrect/not been updated recently. In the list dated 18th April 2018 - C32 & C34 are used for Local multiplexes.
COM8 on C56 has closed for commercial reasons, COM7 on C55 is still broadcasting and will continue to do so until at least sometime probably mid-2021 at the earliest (depending on MNO usage after the auction), but by 30th June 2022 at the latest according to the current OFCOM Licence.
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Jeff Kinghorn:
According to the Freeview Detailed Coverage Checker, you should have no problems receiving ALL main multiplexes at your location, including the Local multiplex on C34.
Check that your aerial looks intact and is pointing the correct way, at a bearing of 213 degrees (between SSW and SW) with the rods (or squashed Xs) horizontal. Check your downlead looks undamaged and is secure.
There are some relay transmitters nearby, which although vertically polarised, you might still inadvertently tune to if signals are strong enough when signals from Hannington are low/missing due to maintenance or adverse weather conditions. It's best to ensure automatic retuning is turned off as it's generally more trouble than it's worth. If a retune is needed you are usually advised by an on-screen pop-up and can initiate it manually.
So check you are tuned to the correct UHF channels for Hannington which are -
In the multiplex order PSBs1-3, COMs4-7, Local - they are C45, C42, C39, C40, C43, C46, C55, C34(C32 depending on location).
If you are tuned to the correct UHF channels and still have a problem then check all your wall plates, 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 (groups of channels) shown in your TV's tuning section.
Problematic connections, breaks, water ingress etc. can seem to affect reception of just an individual or several multiplexes.
As far as an up-to-date listing of which channels are on which multiplex and their LCNs, the site owner has not had time to update after many recent Freeview changes. Generally, Freeview have a current list at Channel listings for Industry Professionals | Freeview but they haven't updated for the following changes
Updates and alerts | Freeview
Updates and alerts | Freeview
Change to come Updates and alerts | Freeview
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Jeff Kinghorn:
Sorry, forgot to add, ITV3+1 only broadcasts limited hours as it shares the space with another channel (CITV IIRC).
Currently I believe they are on air 2100 -0400.
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Wednesday 2 December 2020 3:15AM
Eric:
Forces TV (LCN96) is on the COM7 HD multiplex (as mentioned at the top of this page), see Channel listings for Industry Professionals | Freeview for which channels are on which multiplex.
How long has this situation existed? This is an independent help-site. As you haven't given either a full postcode or any idea of your location, we've no idea what Transmitter(s) you might receive or what your predicted reception might be, so we can only guess at some of the possible reasons.
On the Set & PVR not recognizing LCN96, I expect you won't have any HD channels at LCNs 106, 107 - BBC4 HD and BBC News HD or any other channels on COM7. To receive an HD multiplex (even where a channel on it is SD), you need a receiver that has a T2/HD tuner, so those two devices may be SD only.
When you say 1 TV and 1 recorder "sees" the channel, but with no information, can you be more precise about exactly what they get. Is it just a blank screen and no sound, do you get a no signal message? It might be that the transmitter maybe undergoing Planned Maintenance and the signal is weaker so these two aren't decoding any signal. Have either device been retuned recently? It could be they are on a longer cable run than the TV that gets LCN96, so that will reduce the signal. Do not retune if you have a no signal message.
I assume you have some sort of splitter/distribution amp, there's always a possibility there could be a fault there (or at the aerial or downlead) causing a weaker signal.
Without a full postcode and more detail of the installation, we can't see what your predicted reception might be or whether signals might be affected by maintenance etc.
On the TV that gets Forces TV and presumably BBC4 HD and BBC News HD (106 & 107), have a look in your TV's tuning section for what Signal Strength and Quality each UHF channel for each multiplex is getting. This may be in somewhere like "Signal Strength" or "Manual Tuning" etc. Note them all down and post the information along with the full postcode.