All posts by Michael Perry
Below are all of Michael Perry's postings, with the most recent are at the bottom of the page.
David Gray:
Nowhere in Swindon will any indoor aerial (the type that you have in the room) provide any reliable reception of either Oxford or Mendip. I used to live in Coleview and worked for a TV rental company so am aware of reception conditions in the area. As StevensOnln1 suggests, an outdoor aerial is required for Oxford, one in the loft may work in dry weather but may suffer in rain or snow.
A good log-periodic with sufficient gain is needed for Oxford reception in Swindon and I suggest at least a Log36 type. Do not be fooled into buying a 'digital' aerial as there is no such thing.
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R GreenL
You may find that ypu have too much signal for the Hitachi TV's tuner. A strength of 10 is too much. TV sets vary in terms of their tuner sensitivity and your Hitachi may not like the signals being that strong. Try fitting an attenuator in line with the aerial feed to that TV only. They are available in different 'strengths'so try a 6dB one first. They are very cheap to buy, even the good quality ones are not too costly.
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Howard Brinton:
Shaftesbury is a known difficult area due to the hills as you state. The signals from Mendip should be reasonable unless you have a hill immediately nearby and between you and the transmitter. Rowridge, on the Isle of Wight, is considered to be variable on both horizontal and vertical transmissions, so will be unreliable. Also it means that an aerial will be aimed in a southwards direction, making it more susceptible to picking up signals from French transmitters especially when there is high pressure around, quite common in hot weather.
I would recommend that you check all the connections in your aerial system, unplugging all coaxial plugs and re-inserting them (to ensure clean contact is made) and look for any damage to the cables. If you still have problems when the weather is less hot and all those checks don't resolve the problem then I would suggest getting a professional aerial contractor to check out the aerial system. If they suggest replacing the aerial ensure they use a good quality log-periodic one and don't fall for the 'digital aerial' scam as there is no such thing.
Hope that helps?
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Paul and Gary:
Front Runner is stated to be on Freeview channel 91. It is carried on the COM8 multiplex which requires that you be in an area served by one of the 31 main transmitters with that service and that you are using a TV set that is equipped for DVB-T2 transmissions, most modern Freeview HD sets will have that. If your TV is not capable of Freeview HD then you will need to change the TV to one that can get it. Similarly, if you are not in an area served by one of the main transmitters carrying Front Runner, then you will not get it no matter what equipment you are using.
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Richard H:
You should examine the map near the top of this page, identify where you live and then see if the Salisbury transmitter is receivable at your location. The hilly parts of Salisbury Plain may be a problem for reliable reception, especially as the Salisbury transmitter is not a very powerful one for any multiplex. Note, for example, that it is not receivable in Shrewton nor along most of the A36 westwards towards Stapleton and Warminster.
Reception of French transmissions is not unusual if your aerial points in a southerly direction, especially during periods of Troposheric Lift which is not uncommon in hot weather. That causes signals, not just TV ones to travel further than is normally expected. It is a perfectly natural phenomenon.
Briantist did have a page on theis website suggesting the frequencies that might be used for a wide range of TV transmitters, I'm not sure what the URL for that would be - maybe another contributor could direct you to it. That would assist in determining what channels you would potentially be using then.
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Mark Chapman:
Thanks for the feedback and glad your mother's system is now working again.
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Joe:
The Ridge Hill transmitter, which is the main one receivable in your location in Stroud will not be carrying BBC West. Your only hope is to use the Stround Freeview Lite transmitter as that does carry BBC West, but it only carries a limited range of 'PSB' channels and may not be very reliable at your location.
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Friday 23 June 2017 11:53AM
Barbara Pledger:
From your description it would seem that you are a group served by a communal aerial. That is the responsibility of the management agency for your premises and you should contact them to have the problem investigated as it could be a fault in the system.
A full post code would help us to identify the reception conditions at your locality and hence help to determine whether there are other possible causes.