All posts by Andrew Hannay
Below are all of Andrew Hannay's postings, with the most recent are at the bottom of the page.
Thanks Chris for the links and further information. I never realised that detailed information was on the freeview site, I thought it was just basic information for average users. It's nice to see the bearing information too, which shows The Wrekin being at 103 and Sutton Coldfield 100 from my position, which shows just how in line they pretty much are.
So it looks like it must be picking UHF48 up from Sutton Coldfield, even though the signal is over 10dB less than the 200kW multiplexes. The Wrekin is 13km away, Sutton Coldfield 62km away. I know inverse square law sigificantly reduces power over distance too though don't know the maths to try and work out theoratical signal strength or dB loss compared to to both transmitters received here.
For comparison and for interests sake here's a table of what main TV can receive.
Wrekin Strength/Quality
23 D3&4 20kW 100/100
26 BBC A 20kW 100/100
30- BBC B 20kW 100/100
41 SDN 10kW 95/100
44 AqvA 10kW 97/100
47 AqvB 10kW 92/100
Sutton Coldfield Strength/Quality
46 D3&4 200kW 35-37/24-25 Watchable, no pixelation
43 BBC A 200kW 48-50/57-66 Watchable, no pixelation
40+ BBC B 200kW 0-30/0 No signal decoded
42 SDN 200kW 31-32/0 Major errors in signal, watchable intermittently in bursts of a few seconds
45 AqvA 200kW 36-37/13-17 Watchable, no pixelation
39+ AqvB 200kW 0/0 No signal decoded
55 COM7 56.162kW 0/0 No signal decoded
56 COM8 56.162kW 0/0 No signal decoded
48 L-BRM 15.8kW 0-27/0 Intermittent signal
Interesting that two of the 200kW signals I don't receive at all! When on the fringes of reception, even the frequency can have an impact. Roof aerial is shown to be able pick up local signals between UHF 23-47 and UHF39-40 which I don't receive signals are in that range too. Not sure what group the aerial is offhand, I've only had this house 3 years and noone has been on the roof!
| link to this comment |
PS. It put ?'s in place of the degree's symbol in the post above for the transmitter bearings.
| link to this comment |
Wednesday 4 March 2020 12:05AM
Hi, I live in Shrewsbury, and as a computer technician know a fair amount about Freeview multiplexes and the UHF channels they use and often help family and friends optimise their reception.
Due to where I live, my rooftop aerial is pointing at The Wrekin transmitter, and I get excellent reception, but Sutton Coldfield is also pretty much in a direct line, so I manually tune my TVs to select the optimal UHF channels whilst avoiding the Sutton Coldfield ones.
Wrekin UHF's
23 D3&4 20kW
26 BBC A 20kW
30- BBC B 20kW
41 SDN 10kW
44 AqvA 10kW
47 AqvB 10kW
Anyway, I've noticed Birmingham TV appear on one of my TVs on EPG channel 7, and it's picking it up from UHF48, however nothing on shown on The Wrekin, or Sutton Coldfield on this UHF channel on this site (shows UHF 51 on here) so I'm trying to work out where I'm getting it from. The signal is very weak but just about watchable with some pixelation at times (maybe current atmospheric conditions are allowing it).
I've had a look here at Ofcom, and it shows Sutton Coldfield broadcasting local TV on UHF48 at 10kW and not UHF51. Is the UHF channel numbers correct on the site? Without visiting the birmingham area and using a TV or bringing a TV closer to the transmitter to check, I can't confirm.
https://www.ofcom.org.uk/….pdf