All posts by Chris.SE
Below are all of Chris.SE's postings, with the most recent are at the bottom of the page.
Alun Short:
Could you please be a bit more precise about your installation? I'm getting the impression that you have several TVs with each TV having its own aerial. On the other hand you may have one aerial with a splitter (maybe combined with a booster) giving a separate output for each TV.
Does another TV work OK plugged in the place of the TV you are having problems with?
Does the TV you are having problems with work in one of the other places where another TV works?
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Alan Tye:
Pontop Pike is listed as having Planned Engineering with "Possible service interruptions" at present.
Over what period is it that the signal has dropped, just today, this week or longer?
If the problem is persisting please post back with a full postcode so we can check what Freeview is predicting for your reception of COMs 7&8.
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David:
I can't find any reports of any current transmitter problems and there have been no changes since the retune in October. Haslemere is a very low power relay. If you provide a full postcode we can see what Freeview are giving for your predicted reception from which possible transmitters. You could be in a bit of an awkward spot. Can you also say which way your aerial is pointing and whether the rods are vertical or horizontal?
Try checking 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.
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Neil Garrod:
I can't find any reports of transmitter problems at present, and there's been no Planned Maintenance this week.
Have you had problems this week? Or has it just been in previous weeks? There might have been Planned Engineering in previous weeks but I can't confirm that one way or another.
If you and your neighbours continue to have problems, ring the Freeview Advice line on 0808-100-0288, or if you have atwitter account @FreeviewAdvice
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John:
I can't find any reports of transmitter problems either, nor any Planned Engineering.
It will depend of how big this steel work is as to whether it's likely to cause a problem. Goto http://www.radioandtvhelp….uk/ and select "Freeview", then put your postcode and house number in the boxes and click "Check transmitters". You can zoom in and out on the map(s) and see if it's location is likely to cause a problem.
Have you made any changes to your installation recently? It might be worth checking all your 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 which may indicate problems 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.
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Tom Richardson:
It might depend on when you previously retuned, and which transmitter you are actually receiving/wanting to receive. There has been Planned Engineering at Pontop Pike and Bilsdale this last week with "Possible service interruptions". You are predicted to get good reception from both of those.
There is also a low power relay closer to you (with variable/poor reception) which you may have got inadvertently tuned to if you retuned when your chosen transmitter was off-air. It's not a good idea to retune when a transmitter is off-air, you just lose all your correctly tuned channels!
I suggest you try the following first - unplug the aerial and do an automatic tune. This should clear all previous tuning as no channels will be found. Then plug the aerial back in and repeat the automatic retune which will hopefully restore all multiplexes correctly. (2 -PSBs, 3COMs and a Local if your set doesn't have an HD tuner).
If you are receiving Bilsdale (best choice & closer) your aerial should be pointing ~SSE (163 degrees) with the rods horizontal.
If you are receiving Pontop Pike your aerial will be pointing ~NE (315 degrees) with the rods horizontal.
If your set has the option the see which UHF channels it has tuned to for each multiplex or indeed allow a manual tune if autotune doesn't resolve the problem, the channels are as follows in the order PSB1&2, COMs4-6, Local, for the SD channels, + if you have HD PSB3, COMs 7 & 8 -
Bilsdale - 21, 24, 43, 46, 40, 30 + 27, 55, 56, you may struggle with reception of the COMs (SD &/or HD) if you have an old Group A aerial.
Pontop Pike - 39, 42, 32, 34, 35, 33 + 44, 55, 56, you may struggle with reception of the COMs (SD &/or HD) if you have an old Group B aerial.
Note, you only may struggle with reception of some multiplexes with old aerials, a lot depends on location and distance to the transmitter. Ideally you need a Group T/Wideband to get all multiplexes reliably.
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Judith Weymont:
My immediate reaction is very unlikely on DAB, nor FM (if your set has it) unless local broadcasters are relaying it. You'll probably have to resort to SW/MW etc. I don't keep up with radio stuff as much these days.
Most Malawi stations seem to be on FM from what I can see on a quick search, but some can be streamed on the Internet. If you have internet access with free/low cost usage you could stream the World Service.
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David belmar:
No-one knows for certain at present AFAIK. Things may become clearer early next year when the 700MHz band is auctioned, but the general feeling is they will be there until 2022, but if they are to go any earlier I'd guess London might be one of the first places, but it's all speculation until OFCOM announces something.
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John Gray:
Without a full postcode we cannot tell what Freeview are giving for your predicted reception of which multiplexes from which transmitters at your location. If it's the Worthing area, you could be at a bit of an awkward spot if you are trying to get all 8 main multiplexes.
Is this poorer quality on all multiplexes?
If you happened to do a retune when signal was weak or off-air due to transmitter maintenance then you may have picked up a weaker transmitter.
Are the rods on your aerial vertical or horizontal? I assume you are aiming to pick-up Rowridge?
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Friday 22 November 2019 11:43PM
Chris Wright:
As MikeP says we need a full postcode to look at what Freeview are giving as your predicted reception. With a new (different) TV, the tuner sensitivity may be more or less than your previous set. Whilst too strong a signal is a possibility, too weak a signal is also possible.
LCNs 48 & 50 are now transmitted on Local multiplexes which are transmitted at lower power than the others. As you haven't said you are having problems with other multiplexes, I'm wondering that because the Local multiplex is not radiated in your direction it's possible it could be too weak a signal.
There's also the Local station at LCN7, Sony Movies+1 at LCN60 & TinyPop at LCN207 - are you getting the same problem with those? Did you get the Local station before with your previous set?
Do you still have the other set, is it showing the same problem?
If you can post back with that postcode and the current signal strengths and quality from your TV's tuning section for each multiplex - I wouldn't worry too much about what the exact values are at present, each model of set can be different, they are fairly arbitrary from manufacturer to manufacturer.