All posts by jb38
Below are all of jb38's postings, with the most recent are at the bottom of the page.
MikeB: The present difficulties related to atmospheric conditions is causing all sorts of odd reception problems, as when I returned home this evening reception of PSB3 transmissions from both Waltham and Belmont was a no go, as although the strength of the signals from both were still around normal at 80% , the quality was zero, the situation remaining the same when tested a few minutes ago.
The strange thing being that Walthams COM7 HD (C31) was perfectly OK.
By the way, I use a pair of Logs for reception, one feeding each of the two TV's
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Matt: Yes, quite so, as analogue reception was far more robust as far as coping with interference is concerned, albeit that double images /ghosting, or images sweeping across the screen in the back ground were commonly experienced during high pressure related problems, digital signals unfortunately not being near so tolerant, picture break up or even vanishing on experiencing relatively low levels of interference.
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MikeB : Sorry for the delay in replying. Yes, the situation is still the same when tested a few minutes ago, great signal but accompanied by zero quality. C31 still OK though!
Reception of Mux 26 (Pop) is not really possible in my area, at least not in an even remotely reliable fashion.
Of course PSB3 HD reception also vanished for a few hours on Sunday, returning later on in early evening, but though hopefully this issue will have cleared up by Wednesday.
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MikeB : Well, even if I could receive Mux26, there is no danger of that happening, as anything remotely suggestive of a musical(?) assault on the ears, or alternatively orientated along the lines of sport of any description, automatically triggers the "change channel" or "off" button on the TV in my household.
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RichardW: Both sets of reception predictors indicate your area as not being particularly good for reception, the reason for, basically being down to the signal path from the Rowridge transmitter being subject to an almost continuous line-of-site blockage starting from around 5 miles prior to your location.
As there is no way around this problem, I was just wondering if you had ever considered changing over to Freesat?, as although a Google earth sky view appears to indicate a row of trees in line with the direction a satellite dish would be facing, it has to be appreciated that the signal approaches the dish from an angle above this, likewise dishes can be used in locations closer to trees than might be expected, reception using this mode being far in a way more reliable than Freeview in areas such as yours.
The line-of-sight blockage referred to can be seen by opening the undermentioned link.
Terrain between ( m a.g.l.) and (antenna m a.g.l.) - Optimising UK DTT Freeview and Radio aerial location
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Frank: If you were previously receiving Freeview? when residing at BT9, then the situation should not be that terribly different at BT28. Divis being located at 3 miles away from BT9 at an angle of approx 320 degrees, whereas at BT28 its now located at 7 miles away on a bearing of approx 33 degrees.
The strength of the signal being received from Divis will be significantly different between the two locations, and "if" you were using an indoor (same room) aerial at BT9, then this is unlikely to be good enough for reception at BT28.
Further advice dependant on feedback.
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Steven Szulecki: Nothing as yet, is listed against Heathfield on the engineering notice board, more than one check having been carried out.
Taking your location into consideration, the problem "might" possibly be caused by single channel interference from one of the French transmitters using the same Mux frequency (C41/634.0Mhz) as Heathfield's COM6, the offending signal being received on the rear of your aerial, as signals from French stations can reach parts of the UK's Southern Coastline in exactly the same way as does the signal from Heathfield (or Rowridge) in France.
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Phil Bailey : Me having mentioned "the rear of the aerial" was said specific to the direction that Steven Szulecki's aerial would be facing, ie: around 348 degrees, an angle which could "possibly" make the problem experienced by same slightly worse, that is, "if" said problem is indeed being caused by interference from a French transmitter.
But though, when dealing with interference of this nature it doesn't really matter what direction an aerial happens to be facing, as the offending signal is beamed down from above via the inversion effect, likewise is in most cases, picked up directly by the actual receiving element on the aerial (immediately in front of the reflector) irrespective of what direction the actual aerial elements happens to be facing.
I am really a bit surprised at the lack of complaints of this nature having been made at this time of year, as viewers who reside along the South Easterly coastline stretching towards Dover complaining about problems with reception, have been commonplace in recent years. (not necessarily only on this site)
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Jean: Talking pictures is transmitted on Belmonts COM7 which is an HD transmitter, and which is only receivable on TV's or boxes fitted with DVB-T2 tuners. Is 101, 102,103 etc seen on your programme guide? if not, then this would indicate that your box is not capable of receiving HD transmissions.
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Monday 2 November 2015 8:58PM
Matt: The erratic reception problems presently being experienced by a large number of viewers is "mainly" caused by difficulties related to changes in atmospheric conditions rather than anything connected with transmission problems, albeit that some TX's do indeed have a "possible weak signal" listed against them.
The difficulties referred to being due to a wave of high pressure slowly sweeping across Mid / Southern parts of the UK, creating havoc with the reception of digital signals in the process, bouts of erratic reception being experienced as it drifts across from West to East.
The good news being that it's forecast to clear away from the UK in a N / North Easterly direction by late Tuesday / Wednesday morning, when (hopefully!) reception should then return to normal.
Needless to say, absolutely nothing can be done to help alleviate this problem.