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All posts by jb38

Below are all of jb38's postings, with the most recent are at the bottom of the page.


Gavin Atkinson: The reception predictor for your area certainly doesn't appear to offer many choices as far as Freeview reception is concerned, the local Icomb Hill station being the only one, Oxford and Hannington being either poor or non existent, however, on the 28th of this month ITV1 / Ch4 / Ch5 etc as well as the HD service should become available from Icomb Hill, as your report of only receiving the BBC channels matches up with the predictions seen.

It should be pointed out though that Icomb Hill is a Freeview light PSB only station, and as such you will not be able to view the full range of channels as would be obtainable from a main station.

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rob: The point is that if your aerial is pointing towards Oxford (@ 22 miles) then it will be at about 345 degrees, whereas Hannington (@ 15miles) is at located at 215 degrees, so this alone is liable to make your reception from Hannington more susceptible to performing adversely to any minor fluctuations in the signal received.

Oxford BBC1 is already on high power, and if you are receiving it OK then you should do with the other multiplexes on the 28th, however should overloading be suspected at any time (signal cutting out etc) then a simple attenuator in line with the TV's aerial input will instantly cure the problem, if that is, its not an easy task to remove the mast head amp.

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DB: Well, if you are meaning to use this remote powered splitter to distribute the "Freeview" signal from the loft aerial to the other rooms in the house then yes! that should be perfect for the job.

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J
Hannington (Hampshire, England) transmitter
Monday 19 September 2011 9:47PM

Dave: As Hannington is indicated as being your best bet on the trade predictor you should carry out a signal check on BBC1 to make sure that Mux Ch50 is seen, and not Ch25 (Crystal Palace) or Ch53 (Oxford)

Although if any of the alternatives mentioned are seen then Hanningtons Mux Ch50 will likely be up in the 800 ranges, the only way around the problem being the manual tuning in of Ch50 after having blanked the channel memory out, this done by scanning without the aerial being connected.

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Gavin Atkinson: If you are presently receiving BBC1 on a stable and reliable fashion with your present aerial, then there is absolutely no reason that you should have any problems whatsoever when the ITV (or HD) service starts, as they are on the same power.

For your own peace of mind, you could if you wish carry out a signal strength / quality check on your TV, usually done via tuning menu, this just to make sure that the BBC signal you are receiving isn't hovering around the 50% mark on quality, (stable as it might be!) as the Icomb transmitter is low powered as well as it being biased against radiating towards the East, but by it being located 3 miles away at 63 degrees from your own given position there shouldn't really be anything to worry about.

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Gavin Atkinson: Just to further clarify, no! as judging on what you have said I would say that there isnt any reasonable risk of you requiring another aerial, that is provided that your quality indication is above the 50% level, as its varying quality levels dipping under that figure that usually causes problems.

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DB: Yes, you could do, but the problem is that you would require an additional cable to link your loft aerial directly to the Sky boxes aerial input, using the existing cable as a return from Sky's RF output to the splitters input in the loft, but the following would apply.

Needless to say, the TV in the living room would not have a Freeview aerial input, this being where I would recommend the purchase of a simple two way powered splitter to use near to the TV / Sky box, then connecting the lead from the loft aerial directly to its input, with one of its outputs going to the living room TV, and a jumper from the other output going to the Sky boxes aerial input.

Using this method would keep the aerial signal from being dragged down, plus giving it a very minor boost before going through the Sky box so that the boxes modulator was less likely to cause any odd types of problems.

You would of course have to ensure that your Sky boxes RF modulator was two channels either side clear of any of the multiplexes used by wherever you are receiving Freeview from.

The power supply by the way, could be used in an upstairs bedroom as it works on any one of the splitters outputs.

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Michael Murphy: Yes, you are quite correct, as the service is classed as a Freeview "light" one, and as such will only transmit public service broadcasts, this because of the commercial interests not being willing to pay for the cost of running extra multiplexes.

This is not that uncommon in lesser coverage area's, and is a source of complaint from many people.

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Robert: Yes, but only as far as ITV1 etc is concerned, as the latter three multiplex channels, namely SDN - ArqA - ArqB will remain on 12.5Kw low power for an indeterminable period.

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