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All posts by Chris.SE

Below are all of Chris.SE's postings, with the most recent are at the bottom of the page.

C
Keighley (Bradford, England) DAB transmitter
Wednesday 7 April 2021 5:33AM

Graham:

BBC Radio Leeds should be available on a Local multiplex from the Keighley, Idle and Luddenden transmitters. This multiplex is I believe operated by "switchdigital". See Switchdigital - for contact details.
That Local multiplex is also on a number of other transmitters covering the Bradford and Huddersfield areas.

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C
Keighley (Bradford, England) DAB transmitter
Wednesday 7 April 2021 2:14PM

Graham:

It might be worth a manual tune of your receiver - sometimes automatic scans miss weaker signals.
Block 11B: 218.640 MHz for the Bradford/Huddersfield multiplex
Block 12D: 229.072 MHz for the Leeds multiplex.

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John Bell:

According to the Freeview checker you should be getting virtually perfect reception from Mendip in your locale.
Is the loss of channels the same on each set? Some more detail might help, is it LCNs101-105, or 106/107 etc.?
Example channel LCNs may help to narrow down the issue.

How old is your aerial roughly? Likewise, how old is the amp (and splitter)?
Is the wiring to the amp & splitter plug-in connections? Check all your connections to make sure they're making a good connection.

If easily possible connect the aerial output direct to the feed for the Lounge TV and in the lounge, plug the aerial connection direct to the TV. then go into the TV Tuning section, look at Programmes and Settings, and then go to Signal strength. Post up the Signal and Quality figures for each multiplex.

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John J:

It's also possible, but maybe less likely that you are in a bit of an awkward spot in relation to PSB2 reception. If you provide a full postcode (or one for a very close retail or public premises) we could check that for you. If the terrain is your locale is very variable, it'll need to be somewhere very close by or your own postcode.

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Steve Webb:

As has been posted many times around UKFreeTV, unfortunately the website owner has not had the time to make all the updates resulting from the 700MHz Clearance programme, I can't see any updates being made in a hurry.
My post Friday, 19 March 2021 (p83) here Belmont (Lincolnshire, England) Full Freeview transmitter | free and easy gives the latest UHF details for Belmont.
There is one correction to that post, detailed below -

All:
I thought I'd posted a correction to the earlier post about Notts TV from the Waltham transmitter. It is on UHF C41 NOT C27 as posted above.

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C
All free TV channels in the UK
Saturday 10 April 2021 3:08PM

Raymond:

As you mention, the extra HD multiplex (COM7) which is transmitted on UHF C55 as an SFN, is broadcast from Tacolneston but not Sudbury.
See Channel listings for Industry Professionals | Freeview for which channels are carried on which multiplex.

The current Licence for COM7 expires at the end of June 2022 when it is scheduled to close as the frequency is set to be used for 5G. However, when I last checked, EE is the MNO supposedly getting the frequency in the recent auction and they may give 3 months notice that they wish to start using the frequency in which case COM7 would close before June 2022. No-one is currently expecting any extension of the licence if the frequency isn't needed by then. EE will need to develop base-station equipment to use SDL which is the type of usage allocated and suitable handsets/phones will need to be available for it to be fully used, this is not expected to happen in a hurry, so it's currently anyone's guess as to the precise date of closure.

Your predicted reception from Tacolneston in your locale is very variable to poor for most of the multiplexes, especially ArqA and ArqB but surprisingly not always for COM7! I would check exactly how well and reliably your neighbour is receiving Tacolneston. I would expect that reception may not be reliable under adverse weather conditions especially if there is "Tropospheric Ducting" (often, but not always, accompanies high pressure) and likely to be more frequent as a result of climate change.

If you can reposition the aerial yourself, it may be worth trying, but I would doubt it would be worth paying an aerial contractor to do it as we can't be certain how soon COM7 will close.

Follow the Freeview link above and follow their link entering your postcode and house name/number to see your predicted reception.


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peter:

You don't explain "how" you want to change the interactive map but I can give you a couple of bits of information.

Firstly, the site owner is the only one who can make changes to any of these things, and he hasn't had time to do all the many updates to transmitter pages that have resulted from the 700MHz Clearance program. So any changes to mapping are likely to take second place if/when he finds time. I do know that some radiation patterns - usually for Local multiplex coverage were updated when they changed but maybe not all of them.
Secondly there was a change to some Google mapping api's and Google started either charging for what had previously been free or increased the price to a point the owner decided it was not affordable.
This is a free (technical help) website provided by the owner and there is no charge for any of the information that is on it.
With regard specifically to mapping, if you have "Pro mode" enabled, you can zoom in to a certain point and show the coverage in more detail. Coverage maps for most of the FM/DAB pages don't work.

For what might (note - might) be more reliable Freeview coverage predictions in some instances, it's always a good idea to check the Freeview Detailed Coverage Checker.

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Mark A.:

As pointed out by StevensOnln1, there are plenty of other TV channels (and Radio stations) that were still running "normal" p;rogrammes, that people could choose from. After all this was a major national/world event.

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Michael Rickman:

If you are all receiving the Waltham transmitter, your aerials should be pointing pretty much due North with the rods (or "squashed Xs) horizontal. A roof aerial would certainly be recommended as reception of the commercial multiplexes can be variable across your postcode with higher street numbers being better.
Reception of the PSB multiplexes - BBCA/PSB1, D3&4/PSB2, and BBCB HD/PSB3 should normally be good across the postcode.
See Channel listings for Industry Professionals | Freeview for which programmes are carried on which multiplexes. Reception of COM7 and any Local multiplex is very dependent on location and not everyone will be able to receive them.

According to Freeview, the Waltham transmitter is currently listed for Planned Engineering with the likely effect being "Pixelation or flickering on some or all channels". This is normally caused by reduced power whilst work is being done on the transmitter. Unfortunately, Arqiva, who do the maintenance, do not say how long this sort of work will take, so whether it's completed this week is not currently known.

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C
Ainley Top (Kirklees, England) DAB transmitter
Wednesday 14 April 2021 9:58AM

Martin Barber:

It sound like that you can receive several transmitters in your locale when you do an auto-retune. I can only guess which ones from your general location (rather than full postcode). What you may receive may depend on where you are (in the house) at the time.

BBC Radio Leeds is carried on different multiplexes depending on the transmitter, it's not two stations (that sounds like a poor explanation from someone without technical knowledge). However, there is a BBC Radio Bradford which maybe an opt-out from BBC Radio Leeds at certain times of day, but whether that is so on the DAB transmitter(s) you get, I can't find the details at present. BBC Radio Bradford seems to be based at BBC Radio Leeds, I thought I stumbled across some information a while ago that said it was a temporary (covid related) arrangement.

BBC Radio Leeds is on the following multiplexes -
Block 11B: 218.640 MHz on Ainley Top, Emley Moor, & Holme Moss, also Idle, Keighley, Luddenden transmitters for coverage of the Bradford & Hudderfield areas
Block 12D: 229.072 MHz on Emley Moor transmitter (and others) for part coverage of the Leeds area.
It's also on Freeview LCN719 in your area.

There maybe a minor difference in the commercial stations on those multiplexes, if you don't want both you could try manual tuning and (sensibly) pick the one with the strongest signal.

As far as football coverage is concerned, not my cup of tea, but whether any is broadcast on their MW frequency 774kHz (if you can get it) or any of several FM frequencies (dependent on area) I don't know, but it could simply be down to what coverage of Huddersfield Town that BBC Radio Leeds do, an issue you'd have to take up with them.
There was a reporter at the match yesterday, whether it was a BBC one or Independent I don't know, there's a report on the BBC Sport website and I've stumbled across a post match podcast, see West Yorkshire Sport: Post-match - Huddersfield Town 1-2 AFC Bournemouth: Carlos Corberan - BBC Sounds


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