All posts by Michael Perry
Below are all of Michael Perry's postings, with the most recent are at the bottom of the page.
Bill Wardhaugh:
Pixilation you describe can be caused by a number of possibilities. How are you 'sharing' your aerial signal between two TVs/Digiboxes? Are you using a passive coaxial splitter (does not have any power applied) or an active splitter (has power supplied to it)? Apassive splitter will reduce the amount of signal feeding the TVs/digiboxes and that your distance from Oxford the signal may not always be strong enough at the sets. If you are using an active splitter, these often increase the signal strength and could be a little too strong. When it is 'misbehaving' can you please check the signal strength and quality - but do not retune. You TV and/or Digibox user manual will tell you how to take those readings. When you have them, please post back here and the contributors to this site will likely try to help you further.
I note you live close to Dorcan Way, I used to live in Sywell Road, Coleview. I had a good aerail system that supplied both Mendip (HTV West) and Oxford (Central South ITV) signals and Oxford was definitely the poorer signal.
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Greg:
Sorry, no! The TV transmitter signals do not reach that far. I doubt whether you could even get FreeSat either as that is targetted at the UK and not Croatia.
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It is a fact of manufacturing these days that many products are designed to have a shorter useful life than was the norm a few years ago. A few examples from my experience, a valve analogue TV set (CRT and all that) might last 15 years (but may needs a few repairs in that time), a semiconductor one might go for 20 with repairs, an analogue radioof 1950/1960 vintage was likely to last 30 years. Now so few devices seem to be repaired, though it is often possible, and they are discarded far sooner than before. A tumble dryer might actually last 20 years with a few repairs but people are chucking them away after 5 if something basically simple fails (I've just repaired ours, 12 years old, simple thermostat replacement for £6.99). Cars are designed for a shorter working life too, my Dad used to have a 1937 Austin that wasn't retired by the subsequent owner until 3 years ago! Try doing that with a modern car!
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And it's on Logical Programme Number 67. Channel 67, Frequency 837 MHz, so is in the 4G band and no longer available for TV usage.
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Briantist
I would venture to suggest that use of the word 'channel' in LCN leads to additional confusion in the non-technical user. 'Industry people' do not always choose the most helpful explanations for the general public, so they end up getting somewhat confused.
I'd suggest we need a meaningfully correct terminology and that, in my view, the term LCN or its expansion is not helpful.
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Charles Stuart:
I like your suggestion of a dual tuner radio system, especially for a car. My experience over a great many years driving arounnd the UK and other countries is that VHF FM is generally superior when the signal strength is sufficient but leaving then served area of one transmitter for another leaves the effect you describe. But if the radio had two tuners they could be designed, with suitable software controls, to seek the best signal for the service being listened to. As you say, RDS is useful but has problems.
DAB in cars just doesn't work for me. The fairly rural county I live in is poorly covered by DAB sources so it is often so bad you can't listen at all. I'm waiting to be convinced that DAB+ has the answer as that doesn't appear to address the availability of a good enough signal for the data to be decoded without lots of errors and 'dropouts'.
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For me, my taste in music does not include the stations Charles mentions, so they are no loss.
FM radios are just as easy to use as DAB ones so no gain/loss there - I've been using them at home and in cars for fifty years+.
The stations I like for information and entertainment are available on FM and I can get them both at home and on the move in the UK. So the benefit of DAB or DAB+ for me is nil - especially as I prefer the true stereo and reproduction quality afforded by a good FM radio (but not the 'cheap' ones!).
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There are already stories of internet connected home devices being hacked, such as a fridge being used to send out spam emails.
A hardware firewall is perhaps the best way to provide some protection. 'Cloud' based services do not themselves 'close' the holes in systems as you access them via your computer connecting through your modem/router (or the terminal equipment and a router if you're on fibre) so the potential access 'hole' is still there. (I write this as a technical author for a software house.).
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Further to that said by me above, please see: Connected Home refrigerator used by hackers in cyber attack | Connected TV | ukfree.tv - 11 years of independent, free digital TV advice
I just love it when the hackers find a new way to play with our toys!
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Tuesday 29 April 2014 8:42PM
Carl
The TV licence is not actually to pay for the BBC but a permit to allow you to operate a broadcast receiving equipment such as a TV set. The money collected goes straight into the general 'coffers' of the government. That they happen to dole out some of the money they collect in taxes, etc to run the BBC is purely incidental.