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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.


Wendy:

As per various posts before yours, the transmitter is subject to Planned Engineering and sometimes there are service interruptions, though these are usually brief., however Arqiva never provide details of the work or how long it may last as some of it can be weather dependant.

I'm afraid the worst thing you could do, is retune when you have no signal. You cannot tune to signals that are not there or cannot be decoded. The usual result is it clears your correct tuning and you get nothing when the signals return.

Do you still have ITV, 4 & 5 and the other channels? If so, then do a MANUAL retune for the BBCA/PSB1 multiplex on UHF channel C28 (for Durris).
If your set has an HD/T2 tuner and you normally get the HD channels (LCNs 101-107) and you are no longer getting them, then do a MANUAL retune on UHF channel C22.
If any multiplexes are still off-air, I'm afraid you'll just have to keep trying those retunes until; signals are normal and you get the channels back.

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michael:

Hi michael. Can you point us to the "reportedly"?
If it's true, then clearly "quality" must be an issue.

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Dave
Sunday 19 May 2024 2:17PM

Roy Shepherd:

This is not the broadcaster's website so they won't see your post here. You need to contact UKTV (website link for Dave at the top of this page).
If you think they are breaking the rules with too many adverts maybe contact OFCOM.

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tonyA:

Posts aren't actively moderated. The site has spam filtering which isn't working effectively at this time for reasons unknown, the site owner is aware and was trying to get the problem resolved.
The site also has a swear filter which should remove posts that are found to have unacceptable terms.

There is a wide variety of information on this site that has not been updated since the 700MHz Clearance as the site owner has not had the time to deal with all of it. There's 1100+ transmitters in the UK and some of the information has to be updated manually as it's derived from documents such as pdfs that don't make themselves readily interpreted by automated software. He's been made aware of some of it that really could do with correction asap but he has to make time.
Some of the data is provided by automated scanning of data provided by DUK, but when they change the format of the information, it doesn't always get updated/presented on this site correctly.
The other issue is that those documents are not always error free. Even some of the top level documents such as one of OFCOM's has some errors, and even though OFCOM have been made aware, they haven't been updated. Such data has to be cross-checked with some of the documents issued by DUK (now calling themselves EveryoneTV) or Arqiva. Most of those are accurate.
It is those latter sources which engineers posting here (at least two of us) have used to provide you with the correct information.
One source you can go and check for yourself if you are not prepared to accept what we are telling you is Freeview's Detailed Transmitter Information for Industry professionals where the data on those pages comes from DUK.

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michael:

I suspect that StevensOnln1 is correct with his thoughts on this. I can't say I'd given the whole matter any detailed thought or given time to delve deeper into it all.

Your LA and a Planning App reference would have been handy, I'm afraid I have too many other things to do instead of wading through 100s of Planning Apps for umpteen LAs just to see if I could find one for a mast.
I can only assume that an App is needed if there is some physical change to the mast (rather than a straight forward one for one substitution) or the mast is in an AONB, Conservation area or SSSI etc.

If your reference to Kathrein is the company Kathrein Digital Systems GmbH, then I think it much more likely that it will be the Mobile cells rather than DTT as I would have thought that Arqiva would submit an App if it was for DTT and one was required!

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Map of all DAB transmitters
Tuesday 21 May 2024 2:49AM

Philip brown:

It's only the AM+FM Stations link and the DAB Stations link that seem to have the pages the wrong way round.
I think the site owner was made aware but obviously hasn't fixed it.

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John Dennis:

Really (LCN17) is carried on the ArqA/COM5 multiplex and Great!TV (LCN50) is on the ArqB/COM6 multiplex. If you are missing those then you should also be missing others on each multiplex if this is totally due to reception problems.
Eg. also 11, 19, 31, 26, 40, 43 and others on ArqA plus 12, 25, 27, 34, 39 and others on ArqB.
Are those ones also missing?

As noted on the Darvel transmitter page, the transmitter is yet again subject to Planned Engineering. It has been so for many weeks this year apart from most of February. However this wouldn't be the explanation for those low Quality figures, but 75% signal strength shouldn't be a problem.

Your location has clear line of sight to Darvel unless you have any very local obstructions, such as are there any nearby trees directly on the line of sight - the direction the aerial is pointing? Or other things recently such as scaffolding or other new building?
Where is the aerial? Is it on the roof or in a loft? If the latter have you changed anything in the loft, or added things like solar panels?

During the Planned Engineering, transmission can be interrupted for periods of time, although usually short. I hope that you didn't try retuning when you had no signal or badly pixellated pictures!
You cannot tune to signals that are not there or cannot be decoded.
The usual result is to clear the correct tuning or possibly tune to another transmitter where reception may be poor and unreliable. In your location Black Hill is virtually on the same line-of-sight!

Check in your TV Tuning section, that you are correctly tuned to Darvel's UHF channels -
They are C22, C25, C28, C32, C34, C35 and possibly C31 that's in the multiplex order BBCA/PSB1, D3&4/PSB2, BBCB HD/PSB3, SDN/COM4, ArqA/COM5, ArqB/COM6 and possibly the Local Multiplex.

If you are correctly tuned, post back with some more detail, such as aerial location, do you have any amp/splitter to feed more than one TV, whether you've changes any electrical equipment in the house (possible sources of interference etc).
Are the Quality figures low on the BBC channels for example or is it just ArqA and ArqB?



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Jackie Dennis:

I have replied to John Dennis's post here Freeview reception has changed? | free and easy for 21 years
If you are not correctly tuned, you'll need to do a full retune.

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Brian Thompson:

Firstly, the assumption is that you were already correctly tuned.
It is never advised that you retune when you have no signal or badly pixellated pictures. You cannot tune to signals that are not there or cannot be decoded.
It doesn't matter whether the cause is engineering, faults, including your own aerial system, or weather.

At the beginning of the week, the Waltham transmitter was listed for Planned Engineering, it has been for several weeks and a post to that effect was on the Waltham transmitter page -
Waltham transmitter: Possible effect on TV reception week commencing 20/05/2024 Pixelation or flickering on some or all channels
I've noted that it's no linger on the "official" list, but we know that the lists are sometimes inaccurate and your experience suggests it should still be on the list.

As you haven't given a full postcode, we can't comment on your predicted reception and whether there's anything we could suggest, or even if there could be interference issues.
It was seem all you can do it to repeat MANUAL tune C34 until you have the channels back. Thereafter do NOT retune!

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Rai:

The transmitter is no longer on the Planned Engineering list, however we know that the lists aren't always 100% accurate.
Are you having problems with reception?
If so, please provide a full postcode and describe the problems you are having and which channels are affected, along with any checks and actions you've done.

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