All posts by Michael Perry
Below are all of Michael Perry's postings, with the most recent are at the bottom of the page.Sandy Heath (Central Bedfordshire, England) Full Freeview trans
Wednesday 27 April 2016 10:30AM
Trowbridge
Wednesday 27 April 2016 10:30AM
Trowbridge
Seff:
Indoor aerials rarely work reliably and as you are some way from the transmitter they are unlikely to give any satisfactory or reliable results.
A good UHF aerial mounted externally is what is needed (not a 'digital' one, that's a con), aimed carefully towards the Sandy Heath transmitter.
If you put your full post code into this website, you will be able to see the transmision/reception conditions for your location. You will also be able to see whether there are any interuptions to 'line of sight' reception due to buildings or hill - they can cause signals reception problems.
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Our digital signal for ITV has disappeared in the last week -
Wednesday 27 April 2016 10:34AM
Trowbridge
Wednesday 27 April 2016 10:34AM
Trowbridge
Cynthia Brack:
To be able to offer any advice, we need to know your location, given as a full post code (or that of a very nearby shop/post office).
With that information we would know which transmitter you should be using, whether there is any engineering work currently, whether there are any obstructions between you and the transmitter, etc.
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My ITV/C4 Freeview channels have disappeared - what can I do?
Wednesday 27 April 2016 10:37AM
Trowbridge
Wednesday 27 April 2016 10:37AM
Trowbridge
Leslie Ann Bennett:
To offer any advice we need to know where you are in relation to the over 1000 transmitters in the UK. Help us to help you by giving a full post code (or that of a very nearby shop or post office). That will then give information about which is your local transmitter, whether there are any engineering works currently, whether there are any obstructions between yourl location and the transmitter, etc.
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Barry Angus:
It is better to contact Forces TV directly, try looking at http://forces.tv/.
Thos website is independend of all broadcasters and is mainly intended to assist viewers with reception problems, etc.
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Richard Baguley:
If your signal strength is just 20% then your aerial system is faulty. You need at least 50% strength but not more than 80%. If it was the transmitter at fault there would be thousands of viewers complaining. As there are not, it must be down to your system.
Check all your aerial connections. If necessary, replace the flyleads from the wall socket (if you have one) to the set.
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Can I receive UK free-to-view TV in Southern Spain? | Help! Out
Friday 29 April 2016 1:24PM
Trowbridge
Friday 29 April 2016 1:24PM
Trowbridge
Nicolas:
Please check the satellite footrpint coverage before making your suggestions. Mijas POueblo is outside of the even the 5 metre dish reception area!
You also need to check the legality of what you suggest as may areas do not allow such large dishes anyway. Plus there are legal and copyright iussues.
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Henry Bailiff:
Forces TV is on Sky channel 264, Virgin on 277 and Freesat on 652. More information at http://forces.tv/. It is not available on Freeview.
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Nicolas:
Please recheck your understanding of copyright issues, that it may be received in a private home is irrelevant!
Note that I was the Senior Technical Training Manager responsible for teaching all about reception, installation and maintenance of all satellite system for then the worlds largest TVC rental company, so I know something about the issues. I have worked in the TV industry since 1960 so again have considerable experience.
Before trying to carry a large dish and signal strength meter around any country, you should inspect the freely available satellite footprint maps. There are some on this website and SES (the owners/operators of the Astra satellites) also publish such maps and they are on the internet. Only when you know there is likely to be a signal of sufficient strength to be worth testing should you ten resort to a dish/meter set-up to confirm the availability of strong enough signals.
You cannot connect two LNBs in parallel, it doesn't work that way. Using more than one amplifier in series is not good practice, if you need extra gain then use and amplifier with an inherently higher gain. There are many instances where signals just are not available in the area. For example, someone asked about Freesat reception in India - that is just not possible as the footprints do not reach that far East nor at any measurable signal strength so it is not even worth trying pre-amps.
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nicholas:
The resistance of a coaxial cable is irrelevant at higher frequencies. It is the impedance at the frequency in use that matters and that is unrelated to the cable resistance. A satellite IF signal at around 1700 MHz will be born along the cable inner core by the few molecules at the surface of the inner conductor, the well known skin effect.
Cable intended for satellite IF use does present lower loss and is good for use with both UHF (Freeview) and Satellite IF (Sky and Freesat, etc) signals. When used for UHF the losses are generally less than with 'conventional' UHF cable.
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Monday 25 April 2016 11:15AM
Trowbridge
Janette:
I don't follow how you were receiving French channels on Freeview as they are not transmitted in the UK!
What may have been happening is that you were receiving signals from across the Channel transmitted in France. If that is the case then they are going to be unreliable due to distance and the effects of the tidal water between you and France. It could be that the French concern responsible for the transmitter may have altered the aerial pattern so the signals do not reach the UK any longer. They have done that elsewhere to reduce the objectionable interference effects they were causing in some circumstances.