All posts by Michael Perry
Below are all of Michael Perry's postings, with the most recent are at the bottom of the page.
Mardler:
Look at http://www.digitaluk.co.u…rks, which is the official site for the operators of the Freeview services, being a combined activity with Arqiva and the broadcasters. That shows there may be weak signals this week from the Tacolnston transmitter, found in the section covering Anglia. That information is more reliable that most other potential sources.
Note that we contributors to this website do so out of our desire to use the technical knowledge and experience gained over many years in the industry to assist others who are having reception problems. We advise only - it is up to you whether you accept our advice or not.
It is my experience after 50 years in the industry that many blame 'the transmitter' for having 'faults' where in fact most problems occur in the home or local area only. Bear in mind that the Tacolnston transmitter serves hundreds of thousands of homes and it would be expected that if there is a fault occuring then a great many will comment about it publicly. I would suggest you do not believe whatever appears on any social media platform. If there is suspected to be a fault, your first action should be to ask your immediate neighbours who are also using Freeview (so as to eliminate those using Sky or Freesat and those using streaming such as BT TV or Virgin TV) whether they are experiencing exactly the issues. If they are not then that indicates there could well be a problem with the aerial system or the equipment in the affected home.
In that case, we would advise checking the aerial system and the receiving equipment. Which is what a television service engineer would do every time.
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Ian:
An aerial fault can affect just one multiplex. Experience shows that a poor connection can be the cause. So please check all your aerial cables and unplug all the coaxial plugs and sockets. Then refit them. That will clear any corrosion/oxidation from the contacts and could well return your system to good working order.
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Colin Wright:
What do you have shown on programme 61? In some areas it is known that True Entertainment has been temporarily renamed True Christmas.
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McFadden:
Firstly, please give your full p[ost code so we can look up the expected reception conditions for your location.
Secondly, check all your aerial cables and the plugs/sockets. Unplug all the coaxial plugs and then refit. That is to ensure there is no corrosion/oxidation on the contacts - which is a common cause of the problem you report.
Thirdly, put your post code into the Digital UK Coverage Checker and select Detailed View. Then scroll down and look at the suggested transmitter(s) you could be using and not lower down the channel numbers for the multiplexes. Then check that you equipment is tuned to those channels.
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Steven Harper:
Sorry, not possible as this website does not get advanced notice of any engineering work carried out by the owners/operators of the transmitters. They are owned/operated by Arqiva and only they know in advance when they plan to do such work.
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Dorian:
Please carefull check all your arial cables and connections. Unplug all the plugs/sockets and then refit them, that will clear any corrosion/oxidation from the contacts whci is a common cause of the problems you report.
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Dan:
To offer and advice we need you to provide yiour full post code. Only then can we check the reception conditions at your location and hence check for 4G, etc.
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Mervyn Lammiman:
No work is being reported at present and no one else is commenting about loss of BBC News HD. Please check all your aerial cables and connections, unplugging all coaxial plugs/socketys and then refitting. That will clear any possible corrosion/oxidation from the contacts, which is a common cause of loss of one or more siignals. DO NOT RETUNE.
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Dan:
Using that post code you are predicted to be using Crystal Palace transmitter, see Coverage Checker - Detailed View which will be good for most of the available channels except COM7 which will be very poor and COM8 which will be variable.
During this last week there has been some engineering works at Crystal Palace resulkting in a possible weak signal, see http://www.digitaluk.co.u…rks. That may well be the cause of your problems.
You should not retune as all that will do is delete some channels that are already correctly tuned.
Best advice is to wait until the engineering work has been completed. Arqiva never say when that will be.
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Tuesday 11 December 2018 12:04AM
David Leard:
Please check all your aerial cables and connections, as suggested by StevensOnln1. Also unplug all the coaxial aerial plugs and sockets and then refit, that will clear any possible corrosion./oxidation from the contacts that is a well known cause of such problems.
In Holly Close you are very close to the transmitter, you can see it just up the hill behind the school, so please ensure that the signal strengths are not too high, they should ideally be between 60% and 85%.