All posts by Michael Perry
Below are all of Michael Perry's postings, with the most recent are at the bottom of the page.
K Burder:
Your signal strength was too low before the problem appeared. Retuning has made matters worse as the TV was tuned before but now isn't. Retuning when you have weak signals is a bad idea.
As you are only about 28km from the Oxford transmitter you should be getting a much better signal than you report, so you almost certainly have a problem with your aerial system. The usual course of action is to check all the connections between the TV and the aerial, including checking the cables themselves for any damage or signs of water ingress. Having done all those checks, including unplugging and re-inserting all aerial plugs, you would normally check what signal strengths you now get. But as you have retuned and found nothing you will have to retune again and hope it finds some signals. Then you can check the strengths reported. The ideal is between 50% and 85% for SD multiplexes and between 60% and 85% for HD multiplexes. Your original 35% was way too low before.
If you you don't find any problems with the cables and connections, you need to call in a professional aerial installer. Be warned to avoid falling for the scam of a 'digital' aerial as there is no such thing. If the aerial needs replacing, it is wise to go for a log-periodic type that will be suitable for all current TV transmissions and those for the foreseeable future.
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Richard:
It rather depends on where in North Wales you are located.
You need to have a direct line-of-sight, free of hills and mountains, to one of the RTE transmitter in the Republic of Ireland and at sufficient height above sea level to see beyond the normal sea-level horizon. You will also need a high gain aerial mounted as high as is reasonable and carefully aimed at the nearest RTE transmitter having an uninterrupted view from your location. You may need an aerial amplifier as well if the signal strengths are low, the ideal is between 50% and 85% for SD and between 60% and 85% for HD. Lower strengths will be unreliable and higher strength will cause pixillation or break-up of pictures and sound - or even total loss!
Note also that signals may vary with the tides, as the surface of the Irish Sea rises and falls the effect on the signal tranmission path causes a variation in the attenutation caused by the sea.
A full post code will help to judge whether that is feasible or not.
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David:
You need to provide a full post code, the partial you give does not help at all.
You may well be using either Waltham or Sandy Heath and you can look up which channels these use for the various multiplexes. There is not just one channel used but a full service transmitter uses between 6 and 9 channels, a 'lite' transmitter (like a local relay) generally uses only 3.
So you question cannot be answered without further information or you can look it up yourself.
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Mavs:
This is not Pick's website. Please contact them directly with your request.
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Hamish:
It looks as if you are confused. Freeview is not on any satellite as it is an entirely ground-based service in the UK only. Also, BBC and ITV do not operate any satellite systems of their own but their programmes are carried on the Astra satellites which are also used by Sky. Those satellites also provide Freesat signals.
So what satellite services have you 'lost'? What ones do you still have? What dish are you using and what satellite receiver?
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Nigel:
The reason for the break up is that your signals are too strong! You should aim to have between 50% and 85% for SD services and between 60% and 85% for HD services. So at 95% you have too much of a good thing! Try adding an attenuator into the signal feed cables, being careful not top allow the weight of it to 'hang' on the socket at the back of the TV. Attenuators are available cheaply and range from 3dB upwards. Try a 3dB and have a 6dB available in case 3dB is not sufficient. When you fit it check what the signal strength is before and after fitting. Your aim is to bring it down to just under 85% on ALL channels.
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Terry Mason:
Firstly, this website does not provide any transmissions as it is an entirely independent service to help resolve recaption problems.
As for you real question, we need a full post code of you location, a partial is not accurate enough.
As for the 'TV Fox Aerial' if it is intended for use indoors, such as shown at Amazon.co.uk: Low Prices in Electronics, Books, Sports Equipment & more their reception is very unreliable at best and of no use unless you are close to the local transmitter, usually within 5 miles of a main transmitter like Sutton Coldfield - but even then they are highly variable. People in the rooms nearby, even next door, affect their reception. You are far netter having a proper aerial on the outside of your property, mounted properly and clear of any obstructions.
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Kat:
You could not have been using the dish for Freeview as that is only available via ground-based transmitters and the dish would not receive any of those signals, but it does likely receive satellite signals for Freesat or Sky, etc. So the aerial cable you were using was possibly connected to one of the terrestrial aerials you found in your loft. TV aerials are not always mounted outside as many prefer to have them 'hidden' in the loft, partly for aesthetics and partly to protect them from weather extremes.
You need to trace the TV aerial cable, not the satellite cable which is thicker and has a screw-on F connector instead of a coaxial plug, from the downstairs room to where it should meet an aerial in your loft. The working connection upstairs is probably already connected to one of the aerials you've found.
Once you hace traced the cables, check all the connections are sound and that the cable(s) are not damaged and are connected properly to the aerial(s). The dish connections can only be used with a Sky or Freesat box.
Then put your full post code into this website to see which of the over 1000 transmitters serves your location. It will also tell you what channels to tune your TV set to if you can't do it automatically. Your User Manual supplied with the TV will tell you how to do that.
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Wilfred Gardiner :
If it is transmitted on the ITV services you should check TVCatchup - Watch ITV One to see if that particular programme is available on-line.
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Tuesday 27 June 2017 10:23AM
Matthew Crowther:
A full post code is essential in these cases so that contributors can examine the reception conditions at your precise location, simply stating 'Aylesbury' is not specific enough to look in detail at what might be the problem.