All posts by Chris.SE
Below are all of Chris.SE's postings, with the most recent are at the bottom of the page.
Martin Grant:
I'd guess that Arqiva would argue that they can't stop essential maintenance work just because of what programmes happen to be on. Quite a lot of such work cannot be done in the winter for example because the weather is unsuitable.
Were you not able to stream using either iPlayer or ITV Hub?
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Martin Grant:
Just to add to the above, There's also been some variable "Tropospheric Ducting" with the recent weather conditions which has been affecting reception of some multiplexes for some viewers at different times.
See Effect of tropospheric ducting on Freeview | Help receiving TV and radio for a simplistic explanation.
This may persist on and off for a few days. You should not retune when such conditions persist.
Reception in the south and east of the UK is often more vulnerable to such interference from transmitters in Europe.
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Oliver:
A full postcode is needed to look at your predicted reception.
What type of aerial is it and where is it located?
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Peter Suthers:
Yes that error is not helpful, however if when making a post, you put your email address into the box below your name, and tick the boxes below that, I'm fairly sure you'd be added to the email list.
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D Marshall:
You may have noticed the post before yours where there is Planned Engineering, the BBC had also reported a fault on the 3rd July. Do not retune whilst such work is taking place as it may just delete your correct tuning.
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John Jenkins:
It's simply a matter of the commercial operators not thinking it's cost effective to provide the additional transmitters to serve only ~20,000 homes (and of course there may not be clear frequencies available for 3 channels). You could consider Freesat if you are unable to receive any other transmitters, a lot of modern sets have a satellite tuner built-in, so you only need a dish and LNB.
If you provide a full postcode, we might be able to advise if you could get satisfactory signals from another transmitter. Which way are your neighbours aerials pointing?
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Audrey Haywood:
The retune on the 1st of July was when 5Select (at their choice) moved multiplexes from SDN/COM4 to BBCB HD/PSB3. This gives them greater coverage of the UK as that HD multiplex is transmitted from all Relay transmitters as well as the Main ones.
Unfortunately if you and your neighbour have older sets that don't have an HD/T2 tuner you won't get it.
I guess then that you haven't normally got the HD channels 101 to 105 (BBC1, BBC2, ITV, Ch4 & Ch5 in HD).
If you did normally get them, it's possible that you retuned when the transmitter was undergoing Planned Engineering (listed this week) and the multiplex may have been off-air at the time. If so, you could try a manual tune on UHF C21 (if you can't manual tune, just repeat an automatic tune).
Otherwise you'd have to upgrade your set, or get an HD Freeview box to plug into it.
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Michael Brown:
I think in view of the additional detail you've given, it's highly unlikely to be a bad connection at your aerial. But just to be clear, bad connections can affect a single multiplex because you can end up with standing waves in the cable which have the effect of "cancelling out" signals at a given frequency, this depends on such things like cable length and the location of the poor connection, but as I've just said I think this unlikely, as you've said it happened at pretty much regular times of day.
As I suggested in my initial reply, it is more likely to be related to engineering work. The fact that the transmitter has now been listed for 3 weeks tends to suggest this is the case, perhaps a (temporary) fix was initiated which is why you reception problem was resolved, but more work has been needed to make the fix permanent.
If however, it was some sort of interference, this must have come from something that was being switched on at a regular time each day and been on all day, and no longer being switched on. If it doesn't reoccur it's almost impossible to say what the cause was. Just as a precautionary check, have any of your neighbours been away since your reception has been ok? If so, and the problems return after neighbours come back, it's possible they may have some sort of faulty equipment. Only time will tell.
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Chris Worrow:
Unfortunately it's all down to what the commercial operators are prepared to pay!
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Friday 2 July 2021 11:22PM
Joyce Stanford:
Without a full postcode, or you being certain which transmitter you receive, it's impossible to say. Wherever you are in the country there are some transmitters undergoing Planned Engineering or maybe have a Fault.
If you had no signal or a badly pixellated picture and attempted to retune it may have just cleared the correct tuning, and you'd then have to retune again when signals are back to normal. You might have to try several times as you would wouldn't be certain when that might be.
There's also been some variable "Tropospheric Ducting" with the recent weather conditions which has been affecting reception of some multiplexes for some viewers at different times. This may persist on and off for a few days. Again, you should not retune when such conditions persist.
If your set has an auto-retune function when there is no signal, turn it off if possible as it's more trouble than it's worth when such conditions arise.