All posts by Chris.SE
Below are all of Chris.SE's postings, with the most recent are at the bottom of the page.
Ray E:
Can't find any reports of faults at Mendip from the BBC or Mendip, HOWEVER I'm seeing a reduction in received signal strength on UHF55 N of Mendip at present.
Although you should normally have no problems, if your precise location has slightly marginal reception for COMs7&8 then this may have a significant effect. We can only check that with a full postcode to look at predicted reception.
Otherwise, have you changed anything recently, eg. added a filter, moved any leads?
Good idea to 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. See what signal strengths and quality you are getting for all the other multiplexes shown in your TV's tuning section, this may indicate problems with your aerial or downlead. Also check that your downlead looks undamaged (especially if it is old) and that your aerial seems intact and pointing in the correct direction after recent high winds.
Problematic connections, water ingress etc. can seem to affect reception of just an individual or several multiplexes.
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Alan Davies:
Has your aerial blown down or your downlead been damaged or come adrift from the aerial?
Or have the Martians landed on your roof? !!!!! We really do need some more information to make any sensible informed comment! If you don't know which transmitter you normally get, a full postcode is needed to check which transmitters you may get and what the predicted reception at your location is normally.
The Transmitter may simply be undergoing maintenance at present.
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Fred:
Hello, happy new year. The Freeview Detailed Coverage Checker shows that most properties in your postcode should get all the multiplexes from Llanddona, if you are tucked in close to that hill (even though it's not that big) it could be a problem.
Having had a look around on street view, most aerials I can see are pointing at Llanddonna but I also noticed one or two pointing at a low power relay at Amlwch - it's only 3-4 kilometres away, but these are "Light" transmitters and only have the PSB multiplexes, see Channel listings | Freeview (note there's no COMs 7&8 at Llanddonna).
There looked like quite a few properties may have loft aerials as no external ones were visible (not recommended unless you do have a very good signal).
For reception from Llanddonna, the aerial must have its rods horizontal and be pointing ~SE (127 degrees). The relay at at Amlwch is at bearing 304 degrees ~NW with the rods vertical (almost directly the opposite direction to Llanddonna, but it is very low power. I did spot an odd aerial pointing towards Arfon, some way to the south but that again is only a "Light" transmitter. I saw one I could swear is pointing to either Moel-y-parc or Winter Hill, couldn't be sure which, but reception from either is likely to be variable to poor for a lot of the multiplexes.
So you need to check which way your aerial is pointing ~SE with rods horizontal, or NW with rods vertical. If it is pointing SE, any idea how old it is? Try and look at the state of the coax downlead. Does it still look in good condition, or does the outside seem hard and brittle?
Have a chat with your immediate neighbours, see which way their aerials point, and if you need or decide to go for a new one, find out from locals who is a good knowledgeable local installer - there are a few who just shove an aerial up and hope for the best!
If your aer
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Richard caywood:
Noting Richard Cooper's comments, the information would be extremely useful, where exactly is the booster - is it upstairs, in the loft etc.?
You shouldn't have any problems with the 6 main multiplexes at your location.
I'm thinking this could be a case of too much signal as you say you have 100% downstairs but quality is only 84%.
When a set's front end is overloaded, the readings can be totally off. I'm thinking the upstairs set may have a more sensitive tuner.
Try removing the booster and just connect one set at a time direct to the aerial and see what readings you are getting.
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Richard Cooper:
Thanks for your comment, but that's not the case. I normally get COM7 the same as COM8. COM7 is currently lower, it's even lower than the Local multiplex! There's a problem which I'll have to report to Freeview later.
I'd suggest Ray E does the same. 0808-100-0288.
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Richard Cooper:
The site owner is well aware of all the updates etc that are needed but recently hasn't had the time to do them. Most of the updates have to be done manually from pdf documents. Not a task I would relish.
A lot of information that some users may need has been posted on recent pages for most of the transmitters.
It's extremely frustrating for those that spend time helping out on here when people who post with a problem do not have a quick read of previous posts to see if their issue has already been mentioned or addressed.
That's even happened where the preceding post gives that information!
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Ray.E:
The guard interval is correct, it is the same for COM8. Neither is the same as the PSB3/BBCB HD mux because COMs 7&8 are operating as SFNs (Single Frequency Networks) whereas the BBC HD mux is not.
The signal from COM7 is definitely down and it may currently be on the cusp of the cliff edge at your location so a slight change in atmospherics may account for the fact you now have had some signal and the atrocious very heavy rain at around 1pm will have caused sufficient attenuation for it to fall off the cliff edge again.
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Richard caywood:
Let's clear up any misunderstanding. There was no suggestion that either TV was "at fault". Different brands and sometimes models of TV can have different tuner sensitivities - that is not a fault, some require less signal than some others to give reliable reception, that's just a fact.
Out of interest, are these both the same model of LG?
Now if I've understood what you've said correctly, when you swap the sets around, whichever set is downstairs it gives 100% signal and 84% quality, and likewise whichever set is upstairs, it gives 15% signal and 0% quality ?
As you've posted on the Emley Moor page, the assumption we'd all have made was you get your signals from there. Do you know which transmitter it is you get your signal from? In one respect, it doesn't matter which region you are getting, but different locations can get the signals of the different multiplexes differently. This may become relevant.
But if you could just clarify, if you plug the aerial directly into the upstairs TV, you get absolutely no signal at all?
If you could also check what strength and quality figures you get on each TV if you swap the outputs from the booster over?
You say "the 4g attuater was plugged in to reduce interferance but with no joy, so i have removed it "
What interference were/are you getting? Is it just that you thought this was the problem since the rewiring?
4G filters will only help block interference from 4G mobile signals.
Did your problem start immediately the rewiring was completed? Or did it start part way through the rewiring, or a period of time after?
Did the rewiring include new TV coax for the aerial and/or the downstairs output?
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Michael:
Totally agree with the sentiment of your above post. Maybe this suggests there are some questions that need to be put to our MPs!
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Wednesday 15 January 2020 9:55AM
mike phillips:
According to the BBC, PSB1 had slightly reduced power due to a fault on the14th. See also reports above.
For Midhurst your aerial should be pointing ~WNW and tuned to UHF channels C48, C35, C36, C29, C34, C33 for PSBs1-3, COMs4-6. Your "newish aerial" should be a Group K or T (or wideband).
If you are tuned to C24, C27, C21 you are picking up Rowridge (~WSW).