All posts by jb38
Below are all of jb38's postings, with the most recent are at the bottom of the page.
Liz sargeant : As no engineering work is being carried out at the Nant-Y-Moel transmitter, the transmission failure comes into the category of being an unexpected fault. Times for resumption of service being impossible to forecast as it all depends on the reason for the failure, as it could even be down to failure of the mains power supply to the station, rather than the actual transmitter.
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Liz sargeant : In addition to that said. I should also have added "not" to be tempted to carry out a retune on your TV whilst the signal is down, as all this will do is to delete everything stored in your tuner, the result of this action being that you will not know when the signal has returned without having to carry out a series of further retunes, whereas reception would have returned of its own accord without anything being done.
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Maureen: 254 (Showcase TV) is a Freeview data channel that can only be viewed on TV's or boxes capable of being connected into the internet with a minimum broadband speed of around 2Mb/s, although preferably higher.
Whether your TV or box is capable or not is dependant on when the equipment was manufactured, plus of course you having a suitable internet connection.
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Maureen: In addition to that said, and although probably not applicable in your case, but Showcase TV can be viewed (free) on a Sky box channel 261, or 402 on Freesat.
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Carol: HD ready TV's are not (in most cases) capable of receiving HD transmissions, as they are only fitted with DVB-T tuners, DVB-T2 being required for the reception of Freeview HD transmissions, EPG81 being transmitted by the COM7 multiplex (C33) which is an HD transmitter.
You can easily check if your TV or box is capable of receiving HD transmissions by selecting either EPG 101 (BBC1HD) or EPG 103 (ITV1HD)
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GMAN73: Apart from that mentioned by MikeB, another factor has to be taken into consideration, this being the fact that engineering work is presently taking place at Blackhill, a warning of "possible weak signal" having been posted on this weeks engineering notice board.
Its always advisable to check if anyone else in the area is also experiencing similar problems with reception, or if the problem is confined to your installation, such as by a deficiency in your aerial installation. If though on the other hand the problem "is" being experienced by others, then there is nothing you can really do about the situation except to wait until the TX power returns to normal.
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robert wilson: As far as the problems with reception are concerned. No faults have been posted on the engineering notice board (as yet) concerning transmission failures at the Durris transmitter, nor is any engineering work in progress at the station. However the undermentioned should be noted, as it's very much applicable to the two postal code areas referred to.
Although DUK's reception predictor does show Durris as being the station covering the AB43-6 postal code area, however, it might as well not be!, as only three out of Durris's eight multiplexes are indicated as being receivable in the area, but though with only the BBC's HD mux (C22) in the category of "good", both BBC (C28) & ITV (C25) indicating "poor".
A subsequent terrain check of the area in question revealing that the signal path from Durris suffers from three line-of-sight obstructions starting from approx six miles out, the worst being from three miles out.
AB42-1 has slightly different prediction for reception, insomuch that all Duriss's eight multiplexes are indicated as being receivable, but though with only COM7 HD (C32) in the category of "good", the remainder being "variable", the signal path from Durris suffering from a continuous line-of-sight obstruction from approx five miles out.
Line-of-sight obstructions of this nature always have a much greater affect on reception the closer they are located to the receiving end of the signal path, reception in these areas only being possible in the first place through diffraction (signal bending), something which is less effective if located too close to the obstruction. (the shielding effect)
Another aspect being, that reception under these conditions is more vulnerable to being affected by seasonal changes such as to the surface of the terrain etc. (e.g: summer / winter effect)
The L.O.S obstructions referred to can be seen by opening the undermentioned links, the first two being reception predictions for AB42 and its corresponding terrain. The bottom two being similar but for AB43.
Coverage Checker - Detailed View
Terrain between ( m a.g.l.) and (antenna m a.g.l.) - Optimising UK DTT Freeview and Radio aerial location
Coverage Checker - Detailed View
Terrain between ( m a.g.l.) and (antenna m a.g.l.) - Optimising UK DTT Freeview and Radio aerial location
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Peter Robinson: As no technical problems are listed against the Craigkelly transmitter, your best policy would be to ascertain if anyone else in the area is also experiencing similar difficulties with the reception of STV channels, as although your aerial is not that terribly old, a bad (oxidised) connection has in the past, been proven as being capable of being frequency selective, i.e: only causing difficulties on one single channel.
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Peter Robinson: Another test you can carry out being. If you have anything coupled into your TV via an HDMI lead, try removing it whilst you are witnessing the fluctuations in quality , as some HDMI leads are also capable of radiating a high level of frequency selective interference which can be picked up in a coax jumper lead.
Needless to say, this, as well as the latter statement in my previous reply, should only be taken into consideration if checks reveal that the problem referred to is purely confined to your installation.
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Sunday 27 September 2015 6:23PM
Kris butcher: Clarification is required on the following points raised in your posting.
(1) : Are you referring to a Sky box? if not, please state the model number of the device in question.
(2) : If "password" is indeed associated with a Sky box? then the box will still work perfectly OK on all "free to view" channels without a password being required, the only channels that do require a password being those associated with a Sky subscription package.
(3) : When you say "keep getting cut off", is this being said with reference to your "phone" contact with the call centre?
Further advice dependent on reply.