All posts by Michael Perry
Below are all of Michael Perry's postings, with the most recent are at the bottom of the page.
John and Ralph:
The symptoms you describe are exactly what others across the south and east of the UK have been experiencing. It is due to the natural phenomenon of the atmosphere ducting distant signals to interfere with our Freeview signals, resulting in temporary reception problems. Sometimes this is total loss of signals and sometime intermittent loss. As it is a known natural effect there is nothing anyone can do apart from recommend patience. Do *not* retune your equipment.
Please also note that when seeking assistance, it is imperative that your give a full post code so that your local reception conditions can be assessed.
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The Turtle:
Under the current weather conditions, you should *not* have retuned your TV set, all that will do is empty the tuner's memory of what channels you used to have, hence no channels found! You need to wait until the warm weather changes to something cooler, and perhaps wetter, and then try a retune again. These weather conditions have been known for more than 60 years to cause reception problems, it's why Radio Luxembourg (Wonderful 208! as was) faded worse during the summer.
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J Henderson & Bob Rowatt:
It is very likely to be the current atmospherics that causes apparent loss of signals. The high pressure area is expected to move away over the weekend.
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Gussie:
A full post code is essential so we can look at where you are in relation to the many transmitters in use.
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J Jenkins:
Further to that said by Richard Cooper, we need a full post code so that we can check whether or not you are receioving sigfnals from Sutton Coldfield, especially as there are several nearer transmitters that may be possible.
Also, as you appear to be on a shared communal aerial, have you asked your neighbours whether their Freeview signals have been giving problems at the same time yours have? If they have, then you need to contact the management organisation and have the system checked. If they have not, then you may have problems with connections within your flat or with the TV equipment.
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Mary (and Richard):
It is not just pressure that is relevant but the temperatures of the several layers of the atmosphere as well - which is why it's often referred to as a temperature inversion effect. The problem occurs at the boundary layer between lower warm air and higher cooler air and causes RF signals used for TV transmission to travel further than usual. That means it becomes possible for a more distant transmitter using the same frquency to interfere with your reception. That used to happen on the south coast when French signals caused problems, but that has largely been reduced by the adjustments made by the French authorities to the transmission patterns they use across northern France.
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Bob Rowatt:
We have no way of changing the perfectly natural variation of the atmosphere. It has happened for as long as transmissions at the frequency range usually affected by the phenomenon have been in use for TV transmissions, more than 50 years. It will happen again at any time there is the atmospheric conditions for it to occur and will continue to do so all the time such frequencies are used - which is why it doesn't affect internet connections made via copper/aluminium, coaxial cable (Virgin) or fibre optics, but it may affect some WiFi services.
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Briantist:
I've noticed that the last two daily emails contained entries that were apparently badly formed and hence did not have links that were 'clickable', so a manual search was needed. In yesterday's, for example, the entry "My Freeview box has! no EPG, is blank on FIVE, ITV3, ITV4, ITV2+: " was unlinked. I found the items but not as easily as normal.
Maybe there is a solution?
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terry newman:
To answer this we need to know rouighly where you live and hence what transmitter is in use. To do this we need a full post code please.
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Tuesday 7 June 2016 1:30PM
Richard Cooper:
Yes, I knew that but they are not DAB services.
These are ideal for caravaners, and many others, who take a digital TV set with them while travelling. Most of the radio services on Freeview are carried on multiplexes that also carry television services, one of the benefits of digital encoding that allows multiple services on a single carrier frequency.