All posts by Michael Perry
Below are all of Michael Perry's postings, with the most recent are at the bottom of the page.Briantist
I don't understand what you mean by "The email get sent out after the delay you selected", as far as I know there was never any option for us to select when the emails were sent! Around 7 PM suits me admirably.
I looked at the page you offered a link to and that seems to be useful, but the format is not anything like the same as the original email listings. I used the listing that was on the left under the picture to see what subject areas had questions and how many responses there had been since the last listing. That was handy to see what people were asking and to help mem decide whether I had sufficient knowledge and experience of the matter to offer some thoughts.
I then used the listing that was on the right to look at specifically linked queries, some of which had not appeared in the left-most listing but some were 'updates' to previously responded queries.
You new page has some of that, so may be useful.
Thanks for all the hard work.
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Read this: BBC News - Railways 'dead zones' for mobiles, report
Thursday 16 October 2014 9:39PM
Trowbridge
Thursday 16 October 2014 9:39PM
Trowbridge
Reception of GSM signals for mobile use is known to be 'patchy' around some rail tracks. Numerous reasons, mainly the sparseness of local populations.
However, Network Rail and Train Operarting Company employees don't have this problem as there is an additional part of the spectrum set aside for railways usage, known generically as GSM-R. It is not accessible from just any phone, only those specifically set for the purpose and those are only supplied to rail staff. I had one such when working as a Technical Trainer for Network Rail and travelled across the UK. The only areas where signal reception was difficult were in the Severn Tunnel and in the extreme far north near Wick and John O'Groats.
I suspect the reason for the better reception at railway stations is that they do tend to be in urban areas and may well have a mast fairly near. Speed of the train is an odd one, the GSM-R service never seemed to fail despite using 125 stock or Eurostar or the faithful DMUs that chug across many low population areas.
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Derek Williams:
This website is privately run to offer assistance, often of a technical nature, to those having problems with Freeview, FreeSat or Sky reception. It is not connected with UK TV in any way and therefore is not intended to provide any programmes for viewing on-line.
If you wish to look at a website specifically related to the UK TV provider, perhaps try looking at http://network.uktv.co.uk/, which is their home page.
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David Whitty
To be able to help with this problem we really need a post code (or that of a nearby shop) so we can examine which transmitter you should be using and any obstructions between you and the transmitter in use.
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Dates are a bit awry. Most people didn't get digital terrestrial TV until 2007 or later when the transmitters were converted to Freeview, though a small number did experiment with an earlier digital trial by ITV that wasn't very successful (processing power was not up to the job demanded I suspect). Sky went digital on the date stated if I remember correctly but they were not used by the majority of viewers, possibly because of subscription cost. DAB was, and still is, a minority choice. However BSB (not the Sky version) was transmitting digital signals from their satellite rather earlier than Sky, around 1992 I think. Remember the squarial? They used Marco Polo House in Battersea for the 'play out' centre.
Most people used analogue TV with few reception problems, though high pressure caused poor pictures but they were often viewable, and FM radio didn't have many problems reported.
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Mike Incles
The real problem is that when software applications are created, it is all too likely that some means of unintended access are accidentally left within the code. Software testing these days does not aim to find such problems, which could be a simple case of omitting protective checks or forgetting to turn them back on before release. So what happens these days is that some nefarious people write little applications that are specifically intended to make use of those little errors and try to gain access to the internal working of your computer. If they can do that, they can leave unwanted things such as a virus or a trojan or a key logger, etc. All of which you do not want on your PC but you may not know they are there!
So there are three things you can do initially to make your computer safer and more secure from these nasty people and their odd ideas. First is to use a good Anti-Virus programme, there are many available. Some are expensive and some are free but they all vary in how effective they are. (I personally use Avast!, see AVAST 2014 | Download Free Antivirus Software for Virus Protection but there are many others).
Second is to update your system with the latest updates available from the vendor of your operating system, but I prefer to set my updates to tell me when they are available but not automatically install them - that way I get to choose what is installed and can leave out any unwanted items that are not essential. You should ensure that you update your IE9 installation. If you are using Windows 7 or later you should have IE11.
Lastly, install and use an alternative web browser. MikeB mentions some good ones. I personally use Firefox.
I am also of the generation who were taught 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it', but sadly your computer is effectively 'broken' by being at risk from attack by the nasty or nefarious 'people' hiding on the internet.
Hope all that helps?
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Mike Davison
I did allude to OnDigital, the ITV service, but it may have been receiveable by up to 90% of the population but very few actually used it! All the time their TV sets worked with analogue broadcasts the general public saw no benefit in attempting to use something that was percieved as being 'too technical'.
No one in my village had or tried OnDigital as it wasn't available! Most people here were very reluctant to switch to Freeview in 2008 when our transmitter was changed over and many still complain about the poor results and constant retunes.
It seems to me to have been an exercise for the 'techy' types at the expense of the viewing public who merely want to watch their favourite programmes.
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Briantist
I suspect you have your system set to receive and install M$ updates automatically. Which means you get *all* the updates installed even if your don't need/want them.
I would advise when try that sort of experiment, you should set your system to tell you about the updates but to not download them and hence not automatically install them. Many AV companies suggest that is better as you get to know there are updates and can select the ones you need, leaving out the unwanted ones - such as the 109 optional language packs!
I have found that works perfectly on a 'native' machine as well as in a VM. It also works fine whether you're running W7, 8, 8.1, etc.
If you try again with the 'manual' settings you can then test in IE9 - but I know you are aware of the potential risks with the older browser software.
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Paul
If your aerial is in the loft and you have solar PV panels or the water heating type on the roof in a position where the aerial is trying to 'look through' the panels, you will have a major reception problem! Best solution is to have your aerial fitted outside the roof space and away from the panels as far as practicable.
If you employ an aerial contractor to move the aerial do not fall for the scam of 'you must have a digital aerial and they are more expensive' as any log periodic UHF wideband aerial will work perfectly with Freeview signals.
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Wednesday 15 October 2014 9:37PM
Trowbridge
SteveK
Sadly a significant proportion of the UK does not have a fast enough connection for Internet TV just yet and some areas never will because of the way the commercial fibre roll out was governed by the profit motive and the BDUK approach is not reaching the more difficult areas for a long while yet, if at all. (Ours in Wiltshire struggles to atain 2.5 Mbps which is barely fast enough for SD, let alone HD!) Some parts are just too remote and too thinly populated to get a speedy connection. Sadly, they are also the places that are not getting the Freeview COM signlas either!
So some will get IPTV probably and others will not. Geography and commercial interests getting in the way of universal TV recption again.