All posts by Michael Perry
Below are all of Michael Perry's postings, with the most recent are at the bottom of the page.
Harry:
I have relatives in the south east, north west and north east whilst I live in the south west. On all our journeys DAB breaks up at several places, usually when we are not using motorways. The family use different cars, one being an expensive Audi, so it is not just a case of a poor radio as they all behave the same way in some known locations. What is the use of a national radio service that does not provide truly national coverage?
I have been a radio, TV and electronics enthusiast since the age of 8 and worked for 50 years in the domestic electronics and software fields so do have some knowledge of how things work - or should.
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Peter Toye:
They are entirely legitimate and were set up under the authority of an agency run on behalf of the UK Government. They have been mentioned several times on several of the pages on this website in answer to posts about possible 4G signals causing problems. Take a look at at800 | 4G & Freeview | 4G interference | 4G Filters | 800 MHz and you will see that at800 are responsible for helping TV viewers and others who do or may suffer from intereference due to the changed usage of the frequency spectrum from around 800 MHz and above that was used for TV services on Channels 60-69. These are now allocated for use as 4G services. But as some TV transmitters broadcast digital TV signals up to channel 60 then some viewers may suffer interference if and/or when a new 4G service is started.
That you have received their card suggests that there may well be plans for a new 4G service in your area and that may affect your Freeview TV reception. If that is the case, as seems likely, you should accept the offer from them aof a free 4G filter to insert in your aerial cable. The best way is to buy another coaxial flylead, they are cheap, and fitting that into the back of the TV where the aerial feed is currwently and connect the other end to the filter outlet. The current aerial cable being fitted to the filter input socket. That makes sure that the weight of the filter does not damage your TV set's input socket.
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Mr C Veasey:
We need an indication of your location, preferably by giving a full post code of where you live (or that of a very nearby shop, public building or post office) so that reception conditions lacal to you can be checked.
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Richard Cooper:
It is always difficult to determine whether lip sync issues are due to transmission or reception equipment. As it is not very common these days, the first check is the reception equipment. But as more and more people in the area served by the same transmitter were reporting the same problem it became clearer that it was more likely to be the transmission equipment end. Hence the first check, the viewers' equipment, and then the suggestion to contact BBC and hence Arqiva who operate the transmitters. I stated that the contact with BBC/Arqiva was worth following up. As it was subsequently proved to be at the transmitter equipment then those of us, me included, making the suggestion have been proved correct.
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Mrs Bowler:
It may be a problem within your Freeview box. One thing you can try is to make it perform a full reset. To do that, switch off the box with the remote control, then switch off the mains socket it is connected to and unplug it from the mains supply. Wait five minutes and then carefully put the mains plug back in, switch the socket back on and then wait another 5 minutes to let the box reset. Then switch the bopx on again with the remote control. Check whether you are getting all the channels, if not perform a ful retune.
Hopefully that will overcome the problem. If it doesn't then you may have a fault within the box needing specialist attention inside.
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ALEX TURKELTOB:
You could buy a plug-in USB receiver for your laptop. That will need to be connected to a suitable aerial, such as that you may be using for a 'main' TV but to be able to use both you have to use an active splitter to avoid serious signal loss. There are several makes, I use one from Hauppauge that has dual HD tuners so I can watch one programme whilst recording another onto my laptop's HDD.
Some, but not all, of the programmes are available via the internet - providing you have a fast enough connection (for SD it needs to be at least 4 Mbps, for HD it needs to be better than 12 Mbps).
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BobD:
Are you using the Sutton Coldfield main transmitter? If you are not then a full post code is essential as jb38 states. Then we can see which transmitter you are most likely to be using and to see whether it transmits the services you want, not all of them do.
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Alan Goss:
Further to that said by Richard and MikeB, another factor to consider is whether you have too much signals. That tends rto give the same effect as too little. However, as you are getting the same effect on three different makes of TV, therefore having three different tuner sensitivities, it may not be relevant. The only way to check is, as suggested by MikeB, to check the signal strength reported by the three TV sets.
Ideally, for SD reception the strength should be between 60% and 80% or so. For HD reception, it varies between makes but generally you need at least 60% and not more than 85% - though it does depend on the set.
When you make your signal strength checks note down the values for each of the available multiplexes as shown on all three sets. They may well vary a bit as the software used differs. Then let us know what values you've recorded. That may help give us more clues as to the cause.
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Phillip Ellis:
You cannot split satellite signal feeds so that two Sky/Freesat boxes get full control over what is received. Each of the coaxial feeds not only carries the signal down from the LNB but also carries the supply power up as well as the control signals. These are sourced individually from the Sky/Freesat box for each of the two downleads normally used. There are satellite signal splitters available but they only allow one of the Sky/Freesat boxes to control the individual LNB. That means that one box sets the LNB for what polarity and what band it receives. Because of that, the second box has no control and has to receive the same as the 'main' box! Also because of that recording on both boxes can be a nightmare with lost programmes or parts thereof!
The only successful way to have two, or more, boxes running off the same LNB assembly is to have a quad (to feed two boxes) or an octal (to feed up to 4 boxes) LNB with individual cables brought down to the several box locations. If your existing dish is giving good reception then this should continue as long as any change to the LNB is done correctly (the skew angles are important).
I'm afraid it has to be a case of 'biting the bullet' and having the extra cables laid in and a possible change of LNB at the same time. Note that adding a second dish of any size onto the same building would require planning permission, which is not always granted.
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Friday 1 July 2016 2:24PM
Alexei Romanov:
Once again it appears that you have local interference that is causing all your problems. You will need to investigate that as it is impossible to do it remotely via any website.
Look for equipment that comes on or goes off about about the times your signal problems start and/or finish.