All posts by jb38
Below are all of jb38's postings, with the most recent are at the bottom of the page.
Stephen Platt: Not really! as its a three multiplex Freeview "Light" Public services only station because of the commercial interests not being willing to contribute towards the running costs of additional multiplexes, basically due to the small area covered / population involved not making it a viable proposition for them as far as returns are concerned.
These type of stations are dotted everywhere throughout the UK.
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Bob: It could possibly be that the signal you are receiving is a little too strong for the set that isn't working (new TV?) as you are only 9 miles away from Blackhill, it being located at 198 degrees from you.
That said though, Craigkelly (@ 23 miles / 76 degrees) does indicate as being slightly superior to Blackhill, possibly because of your proximity to the hill South of you, and which is known to partially block the signal from the high powered Blackhill station for "some" people, although maybe not you.
The test for an over powerful signal is to try a set top aerial on the set, or even a short length of flex (12/15") and see what an auto tune brings up, and should this work then you will need to incorporate a simple attenuator in line with the aerial socket, these costing about £4.00 or so.
It should be appreciated though, that no two receivers have the same sensitivity as far as reception is concerned, and this can result in one working where another wont, the one that wont usually being the most sensitive and likewise quicker to suffer from overloading.
Anyway try a set top etc, giving an update on results.
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Martyn: You cant really compare Sky with the problem you are referring to as they are totally different systems, i.e: Satellite vs terrestrial via a normal aerial, the aerial you are using for the TV being the aspect you haven't mentioned anything about, because at only being 13 miles away from the high powered Durris transmitter should the aerial be roof mounted coupled to any type of booster being used, then it could be overloading the TV's tuner and which can block reception of anything.
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Dave Lindsay: No two devices have the same sensitivity, and the problems you are having with the Sony is likely because its a bit less sensitive and as such demands a better signal, the signal indications you have given not being particularly sparkling considering the power that Emley Moor is transmitting on.
You could maybe clarify another point though, this regarding the problem being seen when only the Sony is switched on, are you meaning when the aerial is only connected to it and nothing else? because if the aerial is still coupled to the other devices then try it whilst its disconnected from them, as you haven't said anything about the method used to split the aerial between these devices, and if you are using some form of passive splitter then the more that's connected into it the less the signal will be to each device, this applying whether they are switched on or not, powered splitters always being best for this type of thing unless a person sited within a very strong signal area not that far away from the transmitter, you being 25 miles away from Emley Moor.
That said though, I feel that irrespective of answers given the situation could likely be improved by spending some time on re-positioning your aerial within the loft, as most people who fits an aerial into a loft usually plumps for the easiest spot to fix it in, irrespective of the fact that it might not necessarily be the best spot for the signal.
On the subject of the aerial, if it was working OK before switchover then there is no reason whatsoever why it shouldn't be now "if" you are picking up from the same station as before, as since analogue days right up to the present your aerial has always been a group B.
You could probably benefit by replacing the co-ax though!
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somlad: Carry out a factory re-set or default setting on your box, as you are forecast as being able to have good reception from not only Waltham but also the main multiplexes from both Sandy and Sutton Coldfield.(+ArqB)
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jack: Having read everything that's been said regarding your problem, I would like to point out that it should be appreciated that when any signal received is that strong that its hovering on the verges of grossly overloading a tuners input then the symptoms seen by the viewer are "exactly" the same as a weak signal that keeps dropping out of the box by it falling down "under" the reception threshold.
The difference being, that when a picture is observed to be jumping on or off / breaking up etc when in areas relatively close to a transmitter, its happening because the "over the top" signal is causing intermittent instability to occur in the tuner, and "not" because the signal is going down in strength, quite the reverse! albeit that the boxes indicators might make it appear that way.
The reason for this is that the signal strength / quality indication circuitry in digital equipment gets completely swayed by over powerful inputs and is prone to giving totally incorrect readings, these usually always being very low, the indications seen being quite different when viewed on various brands of equipment, as no two devices responds in the same way to overload situations, sensitive sets being worse for obvious reasons.
I will say though, that reception underneath a transmitter mast can in some cases be somewhat less than would be expected because of an umbrella effect, but this usually happens within a couple of miles or so of a mast and is unlikely to be applying at your distance of 8 miles away.
That said, the power increased massively at switchover and that's an indisputable fact, and if there are no massive hills (I haven't checked!) between the station and you then your aerial system is grossly excessive for the distances involved, as a simple DM log (or DM18) with no booster should be perfectly suffice at your distance.
Have you tried a simple set top aerial? as I don't see this having been mentioned as already done.
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Thomas: There is no difference between a Sky box dish and a Freesat one, and so long as the dish hasn't been moved out of alignment then there should be no problems.
You could maybe even purchase a twin tuner Freesat PVR, and if necessary just change the LNB on the dish arm over to a quad version to enable the recording of two separate channels at the same time.
Quad blocks being under £10.00 from numerous e-bay outlets, have a look at the LNB though as it may already have a quad block fitted, that is if the previous owner used Sky+.
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David Tudor: "If" by any chance the box being referred to is either a Goodman's GDB2 or a GDB3 then you will experience problems, the B2 not working at all because of the 8K problem, and the B3 likewise but only if any multiplex in the group being scanned has a negative offset on its frequency, it will though pick the others up.
These models not being shown on Briantist's link.
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Andrew McArthur: The reason Auchtermuchty is a Freeview "Light" public services only station is quite simply because the commercial interests were not willing to pay the additional running costs involved with additional multiplexes, basically because of the low population involved in the coverage area not appearing as an attractive proposition as far as returns are concerned.
This of course in exactly the same way as does larger companies who hesitate about advertising in the smaller circulation local newspapers.
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Thursday 13 October 2011 5:57PM
George Deeney: If as I suspect, your Sky+ box is the older non HD type it then it should have two scart sockets, one for the TV and one for a VCR connection, should it be the type referred to then just connect the DVD into the VCR's socket and it will play back through the Sky box in the same way as would a VCR.
The only slight problem that "may" crop up being, that the DVD may hold the line through the Sky box even if its (the DVD) in standby, (some do!) so it would have to be completely unpowered to avoid this.
The only other method being to purchase a two way scart switch box, the common going into the TV's single scart socket, and with the Sky box and DVD using each of the two sockets available, you simply selecting which you want to view via the push buttons on the box.