All posts by Michael Perry
Below are all of Michael Perry's postings, with the most recent are at the bottom of the page.
Dave Andrews:
This website is owned and managed by Brian Butterworth. There has been no sign of his activity on this site for several months now, despite the best efforts of us regular contibutors to make contact with him. So, sadly, the site details are not being updated as only Briantist can do that.
If you want the current, and future, channel allocations for transmitters have a liik at the Digital UK Coverage Checker, at http://www.digitaluk.co.u…er/, and enter an appropriate post code and house number.
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Marilyn Dutton:
The engineering work normally only lasts for one day. However, no contributor to this website will know how long any work is planned to last, only Arqiva will know that and they are very reluctant to release details.
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Shane Durrant:
As regards the atmospheric variations, you were lucky as most people suffered it ever since UHF transmissions started in the sixties. I worked at the time for a TV manufacturer in a responsible technical position and we were well aware that it would become a factor before the BBC started transmitting BBC2 on UHF, it was the first of the 625 line transmissions that also later gained the ability to broadcast colour transmissions.
It is a very well know scientific factor in RF transmissions. Do you remember the problems with Radio Luxembourg transmissions on 208 metres? It kep[t fading in and out, especially evenings and worse in warm weather. That was entirely due to the way the atmosphere affects transmissions at certain frequencies, which is why some UHF multiplexes are affected whilst others are not - but that will vary depending on the exact nature of the inversion at the time.
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Martin R:
There is a very well known and documented atmospheric phenomenon often referred to as 'tropospheric lift' though there are other names used as well. This gives rise to signals travelling far farther than is usual, sometimes extending the range to more than 200 miles! It is a perfectly natural occurrance so nobody can prevent it. It affects UHF signals rather more than VHF or short/medium/long wave signals.
The effect on UHF signals is often frequency selective, so it may only affect a single multiplex at a time, but it is highly variable and hence rather unpredictable. Plus the area affected will differ across the country, partly depending on local weather conditions.
It tends not to affect satellite transmissions as they use much higher frequencies, usually in the 10-12 GHz range, and they are very much more directional, hence the need to use a dish with an LNB aimed at the satellite.
Note that Freeview is terrestrial TV nowadays there are no other terrestrial (ground based) TV transmissions in the UK. All other TV services are either via satellite or internet.
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P Baxter:
Please be patient, the hot weather is currently affecting transmissions of Freeview channels across the country, afffecting some areas more than others.
There is nothing anyone can do about the natural phenomenon that causes it and it's nothing to do with 'global warming'.
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Michael Williamson:
It is almost certainly due to the weather, high pressure and high atmospheric temperatures cause a natural effect whereby signals travel further than normal and cause interference. Sometime that is enough to disrupt normal reception. DO NOT RETUNE.
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Donald Kirkbride:
The Cupar transmitter is a Freeview Lite one so only provides the BBC A, BBC B and D3&4 multiplexes. However, you would be able to get a wider range of services from the Angus transmitter, see Coverage Checker - Detailed View which is the Digitl UK Coverage Checker results for your location. If you have your aerial changed to a wideband type and aimed at 4 degrees East of North then retune, you should get all of the available channels shown on that page above.
As for the loss of signals, there has been no report of it here nor else where. Please check all your aerial connections and do not retune just for that.
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Johnathan Neale:
The worst thing you could do was to retune! The current weather conditions are causing problems for many, but not all, with reception of Freeview. Patience is needed to wait for the weather patterns over some parts of the UK to change.
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Mich Pope:
The weather! There have been no changes at the Rowridge transmitter for several weeks now.
Put your full post code into the Digital UK Coverage Checker at Digital UK - Coverage checker That will tell you what che=annels are in use from Rowridge and give an indication of the expected reception conditions.
Bear in mind also that the current hot weather is causing a lot of reception problems and there is no cure, so please DO NOT RETUNE.
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Thursday 5 July 2018 4:06PM
Shane Durrant:
The simple answer is Yes! If the aerial is trying to 'see' through the panels they will absorb some of the RF signal making it much weaker when it reaches the aerial - if it gets there at all. Solar panels are electrically active devices and so will act both as a reflector for some RF signals and an absorber for others. They act as if they are a partial Faraday Cage, see How Faraday Cages Work | HowStuffWorks and https://en.wikipedia.org/…age. Note that some explanations claim a Faraday Cage has to be earthed, but that is not scientifically correct.
It is best to have TV and radio (even DAB) aerials outside and well away from any electrically active devices - such as solar panels. So it is better to have the aerial positioned away from the panels and not even looking across their location (that can cause phase related fading). That is one reason for not having such panels.