All posts by jb38
Below are all of jb38's postings, with the most recent are at the bottom of the page.
Stephen P: Your post code says it all!! and the reason why your reception is so good with what you are using, that is even although you are just on the verges of being inside of the umbrella effect that exists around a mast where the main beam is effectively over your head.
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Martyn: Regarding that chassis used by your PVR, or to be more precise the tuner which is the cause of the problem by its AFC (auto frequency control) the acceptance range being virtually rigid thereby not coping with the negative offset on the frequency of Ch28.
Be advised that even if the software referred to in the link did manage to allow the channel to be pulled in, you would find that the slightest glitch in the signal would have an exaggerated affect on reception compared to a device that could cope with negative offsets right from the start, as even Vestel's later chassis is notorious for recording's skipping and jumping.
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Steve: Are you sure that you are not getting the numbers mixed up? as the 8700 series are a range of TV's, do you mean SMT-S7800 which is a PVR? if so then there is no reason why you should be getting this problem unless there is a single strand of the screened braiding wire intermittently shorting onto its inner core inside the "F" connector plug, unscrew it and carefully check that "all" of the braiding is folded back over the plastic cable covering.
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Stephen P: Even better! as your reception as such will of a standard as though you were linked directly into the transmitter whereby its virtually impossible to experience signal glitches of any sort.
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John F: Just out of curiosity what type of TV are you using in the caravan? its not a Nextbase by any chance?
Regarding the signal strength, as Dave Lindsay has mentioned its very likely that at the location mentioned you will be suffering from severe signal overloading, and possibly with it being of a magnitude that I doubt would be sufficiently reduced by the use of a normal attenuator, but one never knows!
Another point is, if your caravan is of more recent manufacture then check if it has an aerial amplifier sited in one of the cupboards as most do, and if it has then switch it off and link the input and output plugs together.
The next time you are at the site you should see what like the reception is with a short (about 12") piece of wire inserted into the TV's aerial socket.
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DAVID SNOWDEN: All Sky boxes can be reset, are you sure that you are leaving it long enough for the Sky box to activate when you you powered (inserted main plug) it back up again with your finger on the boxes back button, the point to remember being that your finger has to stay firmly on the back button until all the front panel LEDs light up before releasing it, and there is often a time lag in this happening.
If the box had been OK before then a complete reset of the nature you tried should not really have been necessary, as although what you have complained of could be a box fault its more likely to be caused by either a bad (partially shorted) connection in the "F" plug or possibly the "F" connector on the dishes LNB.
However, to verify if the box is OK or not you should temporarily couple it into the dish feed thats used by the main box.
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martyh: Update regarding your 9625. I popped into at a service depot today whilst on my travels and managed to have a good study at the manual for the model in question, the result being that it appears that there is only one part number listed for the tuner and with no qualifications being made for model variations such as /05 etc, this same tuner also seen used in a few other older models as well, albeit that as would be expected these reportedly having a similar problems to your own.
That said, just out of interest I decided to have a check on the price range charged for the tuner plus I fully intended to query the items supplier regarding its suitability for 8k use, however as things transpired I didn't even manage to get to that stage, as although the item was listed at just under £20.00 it was also tagged as being "no longer available", and with the likely reason for this being that the advertiser of the said item was aware that it was a bit of a red herring by being useless for 8k applications.
I also had a similar result on a second attempt, so it unfortunately appears that you will have no option but to go down the separate box route.
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S.BADDELEY: One possible reason is that its because the receiving device you are using is just holding onto Ch28 and no more, as this is the only channel with a negative offset on its frequency which is like it being slightly off tune all the time.
As a matter of interest what model of TV or box are you using?
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martyh: That's no problem, and pleased to have been able to provide some answers, although its a pity that the answers given had to be of a negative nature.
The other thing that I forgot to mention being, that at least the problem was confirmed as being more of a hardware issue and not of a software up-datable one, that being most likely why there has never been any "over air" updates provided in an attempt to correct this difficulty, as apparently (and with myself being unaware of) this issue was known about back in 2009 when a number of these models were known to fail after the Granada region switched over to 8k operation.
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Monday 23 April 2012 11:27PM
Andy H: If you have a sizable Hill between the transmitter and your location then I can understand why you had trouble receiving the 20kw signal prior to the 4th when the BBC mux (and only) switched to 200kw operation, but when reception is via over a hill its not necessarily the case that the higher the aerial the better chance there is of reception as elements of reflected signal come into the equation, albeit I am aware that "the higher the better" its a commonly held belief amongst many aerial installers, whereas in reality when dealing with this type of situation obtaining the best spot necessitates signal tests to be carried out starting from about 12 feet from the ground upwards and signal checking to either side of the vertical at each test position.
Of course this is inclined to be time consuming and so more suited to a person finding the best position for themselves, as aerial installers cannot really afford to spend excessive time on a job.
By the way, if you have tried a set top aerial "since" the switchover on the 18th and it hasn't improved the situation then its not really worth purchasing an attenuator, as a set top is a positive test of whether a signal is over the top or not.