All posts by jb38
Below are all of jb38's postings, with the most recent are at the bottom of the page.
Lee: Could be! although its a pity in a way that the situation corrected itself before you had a chance of trying the eye straight into the Sky boxes RF2, as if the eye you were using, or its replacement, didn't work by doing that then the problem is with the Sky box, whereas if they did then its suggestive of a cabling / coax plug connection fault.
Still, should the problem return you will know the procedure to use.
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deborah: If the TV in the kitchen uses a magic eye then it must be linked into the Sky boxes RF2 output socket, and if as you say it also links up to the bedroom then the bedroom TV must also be fed from the Sky boxes RF2, the point is that when I mentioned about changing the RF channel I had assumed that you were using the standard method of connecting TV's in bedrooms when proving them with a link to a Sky boxes RF output, the normal procedure being to connect the main TV aerial into the Sky boxes "normal" aerial input, the signals from the normal aerial passing through the Sky box as well as picking up the Sky boxes own analogue RF channel, then both sets of signals passing along the single coax to the remotely positioned TV, you then selecting what you require on the TV.
However I feel that this might not be the case with your installation as the normal TV aerial seemingly does not connect into the Sky boxes aerial input socket, or does it?
On the other hand though if things are connected that way and the Freeview box in the bedroom is connected in the normal way via a scart lead into the TV, then all you would then require to do is select what you want to view using the A/V button on the TV's remote control, that switching the TV from Freeview via the scart, over to analogue via the TV's tuner, this provided that you have a jumper lead between the Freeview boxes output socket into the TV's aerial socket.
Could you please also provide the model of TV you are referring to, because as aforementioned in my previous posting the fact of it being old means it must have analogue.
Apart from that, you also have to bear in mind that starting from April 4th the analogue service you view (if? that is) from Crystal Palace will start to close, and on April 18th cease to exist, as from then onwards only Freeview will be available.
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Jacqueline Simpson: Not if that's all you are doing as it doesn't involve anything concerning the hard drive where you recordings are stored, only the tuners memory is deleted.
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martin: Purely on the issue of your aerial, a simple way to put it is, that if you presently receive your signal from the Whitehawk Hill station then there is absolutely nothing to worry about concerning Freeview HD, as the transmission frequencies used by Whitehawk Hill (inc analogue) has always been in the group C/D aerial reception band, and nothing is changing.
The only thing I would say though is, if come tomorrow you get any hints of picture break up then its almost guaranteed to be caused by an excessively high level of signal being received, as the 4Kw transmitters are only located at only 1 mile away from your code area, so if the aforementioned problem did occur then you would require to fit an attenuator in line with your TV's aerial socket.
I do realise that the BBC mux is already on high power, but I only mention this as HD is more vulnerable to excessive signal level problems, and indeed in some cases can even cut out altogether.
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P. Smith: I noticed that you are located to East of Hannington, and as such you are not alone by any means in having problems with receiving it, and with the high pressure problem that's been in existence for a while not exactly helping the situation, however what I was curious about was your statement of only receiving London, are you meaning it in the context that because you cant get a signal on Ch45 you have to use London?
The other point I wondered about being, when you are intending to manually tune a particular mux channel in on most TV's and boxes, as soon as you enter the channel number you intend to scan into the appropriate box, if any signal is there at all to receive then the level its presently being received at will immediately be indicated on the strength / quality bar. (you don't actually require to carry out a scan)
Of course it should be pointed out that this method is only used to determine if a signal is there, (i,e: tuner being used as an RF sniffer) as even although a signal might be seen indicated it could well be at a level under the reception threshold of the receiver, meaning that it wont be stored.
Is it the case that you don't see anything indicated?
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deborah: Although I already mentioned this in my latest reply, on further thinking about it I feel that your problem is just possibly because of you not having installed a jumper lead between the Feeeview boxes loop through "aerial out" socket and the TV's aerial socket, as although the aerial feeds into the Freeview box then into the TV via the scart lead, there is no way for the analogue signal component in the same aerial lead to reach the TV, this I assume why you have to take the lead out of the Freeview box and transfer it into the TV.
Regarding the older model TV, I feel that this might ONLY be an analogue set, and so as also previously mentioned you simply switch between Freeview and Sky using the TV's AV button, as this switches the TV between its scart input socket and its internal tuner, which you will be using for Sky reception or anything else analogue.
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Bob Abbot: Thanks for that helpful update which has given a better picture regarding the situation, unfortunately though that of suggesting that your signal could possibly benefit from your aerial being repositioned for purposes of improving the signal quality, as its "rapid" dips in the already lower quality indicated which cant always be seen indicated on a TV's scale that's always usually responsible for problems such as you experience now and again.
You see in many installations the signal strength indicated can be quite low (about 40%) and yet the picture is almost perfectly glitch free, this because the "quality" is found to be sitting at almost half as much again over the strength, and although this might be a more extreme example the quality should at least be the same as the strength or preferably lead it (which applies in most cases) yours unfortunately being slightly the reverse of this and is something that only experimenting with the position of the aerial is liable to correct, this being the case where loft installations always score over mounting the aerial externally, although if a gutter mount (facia) is used that does a give a bit more scope for moving it either way in the horizontal plane, but though the key word is experimentation, as its quite impossible to forecast what the best position would be.
Apart from the definite issue of quality, as far as strength is concerned slight variations being seen over a few hours or so is nothing unusual, but where it involves actual fluctuations then that's a different matter as it always indicates elements of interference existing somewhere, which of course is usually to the signal path between the transmitter and receiver and in more country type locations mostly caused by issues concerning vegetation, as although trees wont always have leaves the sap filled branches act like a slight screening mesh to RF signals. The other point being that although you are only two miles away from the transmitter which in most cases would result in a rock solid signal being received, but by the fact of it being low powered (20 watts) makes the signal more vulnerable to any problems that might exist such as from the aforementioned sources.
That said though, I do realise that you have said that most of the time your reception is fine, but if you can get the quality up then its almost guaranteed to be better.
By the way should a loft installation be possible then the usual qualifications apply, like the aerial not facing into a water tank or it requiring to be positioned where its facing through adjoining properties, or the other problem experienced with more modern houses of roof insulation being of the metallic content type.
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charlene: Its not actual Freeview you get but Sky's "free to view" satellite channels which have similarities to Freesat, and you dont require a card installed to receive them. (except for Pick TV)
If you cannot receive anything then a fault exists with either the Sky boxes "F" connector plug, possibly by it having an internal short circuit so unscrew same and check that the braiding isnt touching the middle core, or the other possible reason is that the dish has been knocked out of alignment.
The only other things that can be responsible is a fault in the dishes LNB (on the end of the arm) or even the box itself is faulty.
Remember though, that if you do get it working again you will not be able to use anything connected to the recorder, as Sky retains permanent control of that and access is only given if a subscription (believe £10.00) is taken out.
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Jessica: Another possibility is, that although being located at 18 miles from the Rowridge transmitter because of its sheer power you could be suffering from an excessive level of signal that is overloading the tuner and blocking reception, this type problem having more of an effect on HD reception because of its more critical nature.
For a test if you have access to a set top aerial plug that in and try a scan on Ch21, although if the signal is too strong then an attenuator in line with the aerial is the only permanent cure for this problem, an attenuator of a minimum of 10db being recommended.
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Monday 19 March 2012 11:59PM
deborah: Meant also to say that the part of the post code you provided is not recognised by the reception predictor, if you can give the full code of a nearby shop that would suffice.