All posts by Chris.SE
Below are all of Chris.SE's postings, with the most recent are at the bottom of the page.
Roy:
Just to clear up any confusion, did you mean 113? So you are getting RT HD ok then?
You obviously missed what I said to Gordon in my reply on the 13th -
Quote "It's not purely roof attenuation that's the issue here, it's the fact that the COM 7&8 signals are getting less reliable at his location due to the final transmitters elsewhere moving to the SFN channels 55 & 56. No amount of "clever" gain will resolve that if the signal is suffering interference, it's all due to the way SFNs work, there's a limit to what can be achieved. Take a look at what is going on with DAB and this "problem"."
And I remind you what I said to you several days ago -
Quote "but there is no change to the power being transmitted by COMs 7&8 at Sutton Coldfield between now and 2020 and thereafter on current planning, they remain at 56.162kW.
You may be affected by reception changes at your location due to other transmitters moving their COMs 7&8 muxes to UHF55&56, but as I don't have your postcode, I can't confirm that one way or the other. "
According to official Freeview/DigitalUK documentation from both the Central Regional Information page for Sutton Coldfield and the 700MHz Clearance pdf documents, there was no power reduction on the 13th. Power remains at 56.162kW. As you haven't provided your full postcode I couldn't check how marginal your reception was before the 13th (or indeed if it may be now) and by looking at which potential transmitters may have worsened the situation (I can guess but its their relative position to you I can't guess) whether or not there might be any practical things you might be able to try.
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gary mckenzie:
Somehow it doesn't come as much of a surprise that Freeview didn't help! That said, the standard recommendation in these situations (although I don't know the specifics for the TalkTalk box - they should have been able to tell you that) -
is to unplug the aerial and do a full automatic retune which should clear all previous tuning from memory as no channels will be found. You then plug the aerial back in and repeat the process which should hopefully restore all receivable multiplexes and the channels in their correct LCNs. It's only where you might readily get reception from more than one transmitter that the final tune has to be a manual one using the UHF channels from the desired transmitter.
paul milne:
You may have noticed Freeview giving identical advice to some users ;) How helpful they can be seems to depend on who you happen to get on the end of the phone, whether it's a script monkey or one of the more experienced advisers!
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David Pulman:
Unfortunately not, it's carried on the temporary COM7 HD multiplex which is only transmitted on some of the main transmitters. Whether or not you can reliably get reception from another transmitter that carries it will depend upon your postcode (a full postcode is needed to check).
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John H:
Some old links for the 700MHz clearance now redirect correctly. Also a tip when loading Channel listings | Freeview - clear your browser cache first or simply press <ctrl>F5 to make sure it loads the current version - it may have updated the Film4+1/More4+1 changes sooner than I thought, it has already updated the E4+1 change. On the 20th there's apparently going to be a change for PBS America and a +1 variant.
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b.kilgariff:
LCN64 Freesports is on the COM8 multiplex - for a list of which channels are on which multiplex see Channel listings | Freeview
The COM7 and COM8 multiplexes are not as high power as the other multiplexes and you need a wideband aerial to get all the multiplexes from Fenton (or come to that Sutton Coldfield), is there a possibility you still have an old aerial (Group A)?
Are you still having problems with channel 25, by which I assume you mean UHF25 which is for the SDN multiplex?
Certainly with the correct aerial, you are predicted to have no problem receiving all multiplexes at your location.
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Jeff Roberts:
You shouldn't have any problems as you are in the coverage area, the transmitter has not been having Planned Engineering, nor are there any current faults reported.
I'd suggest you unplug your aerial and do a full retune which should clear all previous tuning as no channels will be found.
Plug the aerial back and do a full retune when hopefully all 3 multiplexes and their channels should be restored.
If that fails, then check all you coax plugs, connections, flyleads etc, unplug connectors check for corrosion or other problems and reconnect them. See what signal strengths and quality you are getting for the multiplexes shown in your TV's tuning section, this might indicate potential issues with your aerial or downlead. Also check that your downlead looks undamaged and that your aerial seems intact and pointing in the correct direction.
Problematic connections, water ingress etc. can seem to affect reception of just an individual or several multiplexes.
Unless you are in a particularly bad spot, I'm uncertain as to why you aren't getting your signals from Emley Moor where there are 5 commercial multiplexes broadcast in addition to the 3 PSB multiplexes, which you ought to be able to get. But unless you have a wideband aerial and you'd need it repositioned, and we'd need a full postcode to check your predicted reception, I can't be certain of that.
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paul milne:
For a list of which channels are on which multiplexes see Channel listings | Freeview
I'm beginning to wonder about two possibilities, leaving aside the possibility of a fault on your aerial system for a moment.
Whilst Pontop Pike is your predicted transmitter, you may be getting signals from another transmitter. There is Fenham and Bilsdale giving predicted coverage at your location. Although Fenham requires a vertical polarisation, Pontop Pike being horizontal, Bilsdale is also horizontal but much further away, Fenham much closer.
Although they are in different directions, it's possible to receive signals of the wrong polarisation and also maybe off "side-lobes" of the aerial reception characteristics.
Have you been having continuous trouble with BBC channels at all since the September retune?
Now, I'm not familiar with the TalkTalk box is it a Youview box?
But leaving that aside for a moment, if you plug the aerial directly into your TV, can you get all the channels on your TV without any problem?
The other possibility apart from wrong transmitter is too much signal. Power on PSB1 was turned up from 90 to 100kW, the COM 4-5 muxes had power doubled to 100kW , whereas COMs 7&8 did have the power turned down to 19kW from 33/34. Do you have any aerial amplifiers or distribution to more than one room, splitters etc.?
Can you also check your aerial has the rods horizontal and is pointing slightly W of SW (239degrees).
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Nigel:
As I do not know your requirements, I cannot answer your question. There are many variants of Group T aerials with differing gains. polar diagrams etc. of which I'm sure you may be aware. In any event, if you have a wideband aerial why would you want a group T unless you are having severe problems with a newish local phone mast and filtering was not adequately resolving the issue.
Additionally, it might depend on which transmitter you were trying to pick-up, a group T may not always be the best choice.
Lastly, unless you are doing a DIY installation, then you are best addressing your query and getting quotes from two or three of your local aerial contractors.
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Friday 15 November 2019 1:59AM
Hi Justin.
Here's the official definition straight from the OFCOM consultation document -
"Supplemental down link where a separate spectrum block is used to provide additional downlink resource to support the normal symmetrical arrangement"