All posts by Dale
Below are all of Dale's postings, with the most recent are at the bottom of the page.A few years ago I installed a Sky dish myself at my son's house, following instructions from the internet, and using just the signal meter on the box itself (the TV faced away from the window so actually used a mirror ro reflect the screen out of the window where I was up the ladder!). Took me around 30 mins to get the quality over 50% (and it has remained solid ever since) and I was pretty pleased with that, as I have NO skills in this area at all. Would I have rather paid £35 for a professional to do it? You bet! Unfortunately, no-one around here (Ipswich) would have done it for that price, or even double that price : you can count on a minimum £100 call-out, before they even start drilling walls etc etc.
So, my advice would be to get a professional in IF they'll stick a dish up and connect it for, say, under £50 (or if you want it somewhere awkward or dangerous to get to), BUT if it looks easily accessible and you have a neighbour's dish as a 'guide' (and you've made sure you've got clear line of sight, obviously), then it's not that hard to do.
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Elaine : have been following this for a few days. There is no way the problems you reported, which all sounded related to reception, could have been fixed by a new SCART lead between box and TV. But, hey!, if it's working now that great!
(£34 for a SCART though : I'd expect the PVR for that ...).
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Sudbury Arqiva multiplex B changes 16 November - retune require
Wednesday 16 November 2011 9:23AM
Ipswich
Wednesday 16 November 2011 9:23AM
Ipswich
All seems to have gone pear-shaped with the move from Ch 50 to Ch 63. I have always had all channels here with quality at least 6 out of 10, even when all were on low power before switch-over, but today the Mux on Ch63 is giving me Quality 1 out of 10. My Panasonic PVR just about copes, my LG TV tunes in but picture is totally broken up, and my cheapo Tesco TV won't tune in that Mux.
I had a wide-band aerial installed 3 years ago, so this should not be an out-of-band aerial problem. Removed signal amp back in July. Yesterday all Ch50 channels were fine with quality 9 out of 10.
Anyone got any ideas?
IP2 9XY.
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All seems to have gone pear-shaped with the move from Ch 50 to Ch 63. I have always had all channels here with quality at least 6 out of 10, even when all were on low power before switch-over, but today ARQB on Ch 63 is giving me Quality 1 out of 10. My Panasonic PVR just about copes, my LG TV tunes in but picture is totally broken up, and my cheapo Tesco TV won't tune in that Mux.
I had a wide-band aerial installed 3 years ago, so this should not be an out-of-band aerial problem. Removed signal amp back in July. Yesterday all ARQB (Ch 50) channels were fine with quality 9 out of 10.
Anyone got any ideas?
IP2 9XY.
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Sudbury Arqiva multiplex B changes 16 November - retune require
Wednesday 16 November 2011 10:58PM
Ipswich
Wednesday 16 November 2011 10:58PM
Ipswich
OK : have been out all day (at sister-in-law's who receives from Tacolneston which has, ironically, just given up CH 63) and have now read that the problem I reported earlier, of not/barely receiving ArqB on CH 63 is wide-spread.
I know that my aerial is wide-band ; that none of my other devices is transmitting on CH 63 to interfere ; and previous chnnels were all cleared down before retuning.
Tonight ArqB has gone from the PVR as well as TV : though the signal strength will flash from 0 to c. 60% periodically (as someone else mentioned).
My view is that this has been a cock-up of some sort at the transmitter : maybe a directional one, maybe for everyone. Either way, how does one raise this with Digital UK?
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Sudbury Arqiva multiplex B changes 16 November - retune require
Thursday 17 November 2011 10:28AM
Ipswich
Thursday 17 November 2011 10:28AM
Ipswich
Brian (and others who know about this stuff within the industry and are trying to help) : it is clear from reading this, and my own experience, that there is a drastic problem with this Mux now it is on Ch 63. As far as I can tell, no-one in this part of Suffolk (Ipswich/Felixstowe) can pick this up properly anymore : I have a new wide-band aerial, I understand completely about retuning and have done so auto and manual : the signal quality is massively down on this Mux now it is on Ch 63 compared to Ch 50 (before 70-90% ; after <10%). If you read other posts on all the Sudbury threads, this is what everyone seems to be finding in this area, and further afield. Personally, I'm not THAT bothered as I have Sky too, and the missing channels are rarely watched in my house, but it needs to be accepted that this is a transmission problem, not an individual re-tuning/aerial problem.
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Sudbury Arqiva multiplex B changes 16 November - retune require
Thursday 17 November 2011 3:06PM
Ipswich
Thursday 17 November 2011 3:06PM
Ipswich
Have just looked at Digital UK webpage (they think all is well, of course!) and noted they said that the MUX changed from CH50 to CH63 but that there were 'no aerial implications' ..... notwithstanding the fact that they have clearly stuffed up in some way at the mast, anyone who still has a Group-B aerial would have picked up CH50 fine, but won't get CH63. So their statement is as wrong as a statement can be!
I have a wideband aerial, as previously stated, and now can't get the channels on ArqB.
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Have posted a message on their Facebook page
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and sent an email to the local press here in Ipswich asking them to investigate : mind you, they always ignore my emails about Freeview reception because they believe every lie that comes out of Digital UK's mouths! (IP29XY)
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Sudbury Arqiva multiplex B changes 16 November - retune require
Thursday 17 November 2011 5:36PM
Ipswich
Thursday 17 November 2011 5:36PM
Ipswich
"I see no ships" ....
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Friday 5 August 2011 4:58PM
Ipswich
Dr Feltham : I agree with much of what you say, however my understanding is that 100kW for a digital transmission should more than replace a 250kW analogue transmission : the reduction to 40% is fairly average, with some transmitters ending up even lower.
Overall I agree that Digital UK have somewhat hoodwinked people around here. And, the local press (in my case Ipswich Evening Star) are complicit in the deception : through reading information on this site, and elsewhere, I was aware of the shortcomings of DSO at Sudbury, and sent a long letter to said newspaper to warn other viewers of possible problems (i.e. low power on 3 Muxes until June 2012 ; requirement for new aerial if you still had a Group B ; etc) BUT the paper refused to publish it because it contradicted the official view from Digital UK that they had published earlier. Even when some people complained to the paper a few days after DSO that they had poor/no reception, they still resolutely ignored the information that I had sent them, and continued to mis-inform their readership be re-hashing Digital UK's previous broken promises. A poor show, I feel.