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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.


Peter:

I can't find any reports of the transmitter being off-air, but as Freeview have it listed for Planned Engineering, then DAB signals could be affected depending on the work taking place. If it's operating on reduced power, it may seem off-air to you depending on your location, but as you haven't given a full postcode I can't even comment on that.

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All free TV channels in the UK
Friday 25 August 2023 1:46PM

Brian Butterworth:

There's all this spam appearing on this page!

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Winter Hill (Bolton, England) transmitter
Saturday 26 August 2023 1:06PM

Robert Lee:

As per one of my previous posts a few pages back -
All:

As this hasn't been posted for a while, there were many changes to UHF frequencies across the country during the 700MHz Clearance program. The site owner here struggled to keep up with all the changes - there are over 1100 transmitters in the UK. Whilst a number didn't change, most changes were notified in PDF documents most of which had to be read manually.
Here on the Winter Hill page, two of the Local multiplex details haven't been updated.

For the sake of clarity, here is the current data -
In the multiplex order BBCA/PSB1, D3&4/PSB2, BBCB HD/PSB3, SDN/COM4, ArqA/COM5, ArqB/COM6
Winter Hill UHF channels are -
The main multiplexes are C32, C34, C35, C29, C31, C37
The Local ones are Local Manchester, Manchester GI on C24 & C27.
Liverpool Local mux on C21, Preston Local mux on C40.
If you hover over the C channel numbers, it should give you the frequency.

What you can receive and how well will depend on location, a full postcode is needed to look at predictions.

Hopefully the site owner will be able to update the listings at the top of this page as well as the change over time section.

Brian Butterworth:: Please see above.

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Winter Hill (Bolton, England) transmitter
Saturday 26 August 2023 2:35PM

js:

They are still petals as before, but just on their own UHF channels now, presumably there may have been some locations where more than one petal could be received and when all on the same channel this led to problems!

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Paul Robinson:

Paul, are your channels back/when did they return?
If they were off for some time, I find it odd that they would interrupt services at that time on a Saturday!
I can't find any reports of the transmitter being off-air due to a fault or "essential" engineering.
Whilst it's still listed for Planned Engineering I still find it odd.

I think eliminating the possibility of mobile phone mast interference would be a good idea (your area should have had postcards from https://restoretv.uk/ )

Have you got a Free filter from https://restoretv.uk/ ?
If not, I would get in touch with them 0808 -1313-800 or email on the Contact Us page.
Tell them you are having persistent interruptions to your signal even when the transmitter isn't listed for Planned Engineering, can you please have a free filter.

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C48 (690.0MHz) after switchover
Tuesday 29 August 2023 1:48AM

Fiona Beattie:

Those 0% Quality figures usually indicate presence of interference. Your BT box must be coping better than the Aura in these conditions. Let's hope restoretv send you a filter quickly so we can see if that fixes the issues.
The filter should be fitted between the aerial and the first device in any chain - amp/splitter or box/set etc.

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Full technical details of Freeview
Tuesday 29 August 2023 2:33AM

Elaine Graham-Leigh:

Apologies, we seem to have missed your post for some reason!
This is odd that you are only getting 50% strength on BBCA and SDN when the others are 80%, especially if you've had it checked and the aerial and connections are ok. At least the quality is 100% which is important.

Make sure you haven't got any HDMI leads running close to your aerial leads or flyleads.
Are there any nearby trees on the aerial line-of-sight to the transmitter? I have come across some funny signal behaviour with trees before now!

I assume you are familiar with Crystal Palace's UHF channels. Just to check
In the multiplex order BBCA/PSB1, D3&4/PSB2, BBCB HD/PSB3, SDN/COM4, ArqA/COM5, ArqB/COM6, Local multiplex, the UHF channels for Crystal Palace are as follows
C23, C26, C30, C25, C22, C28, C35 (London Local mux).
Just in case you retuned at a time when weather or other interference or engineering affected the signal and you're inadvertently tuned to another transmitter (possibly Alexandra Palace or Bluebell Hill).

Whatever is causing that signal to be down near 50% may make you more vulnerable to interference due to weather related tropospheric ducting causing signals from distant transmitters to be received affecting your wanted signal. There was some quite strong "tropo" last Wednesday, but it'd be surprising if the effect lasted all evening.

When you say the problem happens occasionally, can you give some idea of how occasional? When it happens is it always at a similar or exact time?

Check you don't have any old analogue devices like games consoles, VCRs etc. even an old satellite box with an RF output tuned to a lower channel.

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Kay:

As you can see from the post before yours, the transmitter is currently the subject of Planned Engineering. I'm afraid Arqiva never say how longer such work will last or what it involves, as some may be weather dependent.

if you are in a weaker signal area, the if they are on reduced power or using the reserve antenna then that may appear to be no signal to you. As you haven't given a full postcode I can't advise specifically on that.

Do NOT retune whilst you have no signal or badly pixellated pictures if you were correctly tuned previously (never recommended) as this usually just clears the correct tuning and you'd have to repeat the retune when signals are back to normal and as you won't know when that is, you may have to try several times!

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Andrew Hicken:

You certainly won't be receiving signals in Bolsover from the Brockwell transmitter, and there's no transmitter called Unstone, the nearest would be Dronfield (which you won't receive) or Chesterfield and Bolsover is on the edge of that coverage. You maybe in a weak signal area but as you haven't given a full postcode I can't make any constructive comment on that except that reception of the COM multiplexes may be poor.

However the Chesterfield transmitter is currently listed for Planned Engineering with Possible effect on TV reception week commencing 28/08/2023 Pixelation or flickering on some or all channels.

Do NOT retune whilst you have no signal or badly pixellated pictures if you were correctly tuned previously (never recommended) as this usually just clears the correct tuning and you'd have to repeat the retune when signals are back to normal and as you won't know when that is, you may have to try several times!

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