All posts by Michael Perry
Below are all of Michael Perry's postings, with the most recent are at the bottom of the page.My Sky box has a "no signal message" - what do I do? | Help! Fr
Tuesday 31 March 2015 9:31PM
Trowbridge
Tuesday 31 March 2015 9:31PM
Trowbridge
Tom Haid
To help us to help you we really need a post code, or that of a nearby shop or Post Office. Then we can determine which transmitter you should be using and whether there is any maintenance work being done. We could also check if there are any particular difficulties associated with your location, such as hills/mountains, tall flats, etc.
It would also help us if we knew what equipment you are using. I presume you have a TV with either built-in Freeview or else a Set Top Box. It also helps if we know what sort of aerial installtion you have, whether it is outside on the roof or inside in the loft and in which general direction it is pointing.
Or are you using Sky or FreeSat through a dish?
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Sutton Coldfield (Birmingham, England) Full Freeview transmitte
Thursday 2 April 2015 10:19PM
Trowbridge
Thursday 2 April 2015 10:19PM
Trowbridge
Carolyn Gardner
It does say at the top of this page that "SUTTON COLDFIELD transmitter - MainPossible service interruptions" which means there could well be loss of channels and poor recption until the maintenance work is completed. As you haven't given a post code we cannot be certain that you are receiving from Sutton Coldfield transmitter.
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My Sky box has a "no signal message" - what do I do? | Help! Fr
Thursday 2 April 2015 10:38PM
Trowbridge
Thursday 2 April 2015 10:38PM
Trowbridge
Mary Frewin
If you wish to cancel your Sky subscription, you need to contact them direct. They give a number on their website of 03332 022 135 but that may not be useful from your current location, it being a UK freephone number. The alternative is to contact them via their website Contact us | Sky.com You will need to have your Sky Viewing card to hand as they may well ask for the card number. Be prepared for some awkward questions because of the Tenerife location as that is outside of the intended service area.
Note that once the subscription is cancelled the equipment can no longer be used for the chargeable programmes nor for recording, though it may be useable for Freesat if the signals are available at your location, but I suspect they are not.
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Briantist
Problems accessing postings from the email. Happens in IE11, FF and Chrome. Can you have a look please?
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Briantist
The links seem to be working OK this morning, thanks for your efforts.
The issue reported by MikeB above is also apparwent on my system in FF. The line reading "UK Free TV is here..." looses the word "be" at the end of the line, so it seems the width settings for the text space and the bounding box seem to not suit FF.
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Gary Lausch
Another point to consider is what aerial you are using. You stated that you took it with you from London, so is it an aerial you have in the same room as the TV equipment or is it an external aerial mounted on the roof (or perhaps in the loft)?
If it is one in the same room as the TV set then you are very unlikely to be able to receive anything from the Angus main transmitter, that sort of aerial is not good enough for such reception only being able to receive very local signals.
If your aerial is either a loft or roof mounted type, the aerial used in London is only suitable for signals between channels 21 and 37 (normally referred to as Group A) whereas the Tay Bridge Freeview Lite transmitter uses channels 41, 44 and 47 only. The aerial for that should be a Group B or wideband type and have it's rods (not the support boom) vertical. The Angus transmitter uses channels 49, 54, 53, 57, 58 and 60. The aerial needed for this is a Group C/D or a wideband with the rods (not the support boom) mounted horizontal.
If you need to change the aerial then it should be replaced with a log-periodic type so it can be used for the foreseeable future. Do not fall for the trap of having a 'digital' aerial installed at greater cost, *all* UHF TV aerials receive the TV signals irrespective of whether they are transmitted using analogue or digital coding systems.
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Lisa:
To be able to offer any guidance we need a post code so we can determine which transmitter you might be using and what the local reception conditions are like.
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M. Smith:
No. You will need a different aerial unless you already have a wide band or a log-periodic type. Plympton transmits in Group A whereas Caradon Hill is in Group C/D - so totally different frequencies and so need a different aerial to receive Caradon Hill. The aerial has to be set horizontal for Caradon but vertical for Plympton - and in a different direction. Look at the 'digitaluk trade' box beneath your posting to see the details.
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Terry Brennan:
Try writing to Ofcom - but don't hold your breath. Look at Contacting Ofcom | Ofcom for their contact details.
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Monday 30 March 2015 8:03PM
Trowbridge
Gaking:
Plus there is the problem that no currently available UK TV set has the facility for Conditional Access Control, which is what is needed to make a subscription service workable and is used by Sky amongst others for that purpose. Without that CA system there is no control over what can or cannot be viewed.
As MikeB suggests, a good read of Briantist's article is an advantage.