All posts by Michael Perry
Below are all of Michael Perry's postings, with the most recent are at the bottom of the page.
4G will not be the answer for everybody, in the very rural parts of Wiltshire or Snowdonia for example. £13 per month is way more expensive than we currently pay for a TV licence - my wife is over 75 (she'll kill me for telling you all that!) so it currently costs us nothing. So why would we want the system to be changed? 4G will be quite a long time coming due to sparseness of population and hilly terrain making reception more difficult in some hamlets (we're lucky to be on a hill but nearest neighbour is 'over the scarp edge' and can only get very poor reception at best). My current mobile phone costs me a few pence a month, it's on PAYG and has little usage - again partly due to poor signal coverage in this area.
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Rawlinson
You don't indicate where you live so we can't work out which transmitter you would be using. It doesn't much matter about elements touching woodwork as long as they are not distorted. Pointing the opposite way may be a problem though, I assume you are viewing the aerial as having the longest part of the boom in front of the folded dipole aiming away from the transmitter. You should not be trying to get a signal strength of maximum for all channels, too strong a signal causes the exact problem you are describing and affects HD services most..
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Please see BBC News - New-look iPlayer unveiled by BBC where it talks about the changes made to iPlayer ready for this change to BBC3
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Chris Vowles:
At only 3/4 mile from the transmitting aerial you should not need a booster at all. It could be that your signal is too strong rather than too weak. When the problem occurs, try removing the booster and coupling the two coaxial plugs together with a proper coax coupler, making sure that it is the amplifier you are temorarily taking out of circuit and not just a power unit feeding to a masthead amplifier.
Then let us know what the result is, please?
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Ralph
Almost certainly due to the weather, high pressure causes such problems frequently. Nothing you can to to prevent it and please do not try a retune - you may well lose the programmes you currently have.
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Looks to me like flawed research. A sample size of just 36 is not statistically significant so any extrapolation from it is meaningless! Such is the state of 'modern scientific research' and gives rise all sorts of erroneous 'results'.
Add to that the fact that many may not want the 'smart' features but liked the look and performance of the TV set then you might start getting a different picture.
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Martin Szczerbicki
You need a log periodic aerial that covers all channels in use now and will be suitable for all future transmissions. There is no such thing as a 'digital' aerial, all aerials used for TV reception are designed to receive all services in the UHF bands (and some are 'grouped' to receive a sub-set of the channels).
What you don't want is a 'wide band yagi' aerial as they are not able to give the same reception across all channels as will be needed in the foreseeable future. Also you do not need any amplification in your aerial system.
It is better to have a good quality log periodic aerial fitted and correctly aimed at the transmitter. As you are so close to Whitehawk Hill you may need some attenuation if the signal strength is too high - you do *not* want 100% strength.
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G Bryant
It is possible that the current region of high pressure is causing unusual transmission distances and hence interference from other transmitters some distance away but using the same channels.
There is nothing you or anybody else can do about it, it is a well known natural phenomenon that affected analogue TV as well as digital.
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Moo Moo, Ad, Steph and others having the same problem
It is almost certainly due to the high pressure around the country. It causes 'tropospheric ducting' which makes the signals travel far further than intended. One correspondent here reports getting signals in North Wales from the Sandy Heath (Bedfordshire) transmitter.
If this happens you should *not* attempt a retune as you are highly likely to lose some services - as has bee found by some writing here.
The is nothing anyone can do about this as it's a natural phenomenon that has been affecting UHF transmissions for more than 50 years - and probably before then but we didn't use UHF as much back then.
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Saturday 8 March 2014 8:39PM
Briantist
I was querying the figures given as being doubtful and your contribution above confirms I was correct to doubt.
I was not comparing SD with HD in performance terms but in considering whether many without HD equipment will yet see any benefit in spending money they can ill afford on HD equipment when they can see no distinct advantages as they are not technophiles, they watch a programme for it's entertainment content and may well be satisfied with whatever resolution they currently have. They will only comment if their viewing pleasure is seriously reduced to the point where they are uncomfortable watching current equipment - only then might they consider a change to new equipment and hence gain the 'benefits' of HD.