All posts by jb38
Below are all of jb38's postings, with the most recent are at the bottom of the page.
Russell Bedford: Your problem could simply be down to the signal level received via your internal aerial being low to the extent that its under the "capture" level required by your TV's tuner.
Your best policy would be to tune the additional TV on the the main TV's aerial to load the channels into the tuner, then move the set back to its previous position and select BBC1 or ITV1 then move the aerial around to see if anything is picked up.
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Russell Bedford: OK, but further to that said, I just had a look at your location in respect to the station that you are receiving your Freeview signal from, namely Midhurst @ 16 miles away and a distance that could be considered as somewhat excessive for reception to be attempted using a "same room" type of aerial, as indoor aerials are seldom ever satisfactory at the best of times unless the aerial is positioned within a reasonable line-of-sight situation to the mast, a qualification I doubt will be met where you are located, the numerous trees seen around your area being another added signal killing problem.
However, apart from that previously said, you should also try a check using the indoor aerial on the main TV, (do NOT retune it) because if nothing is received on it either then I would abandon the indoor aerial and think along the lines of buying a two output powered booster / splitter and running another feed to the second TV.
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Craig: Indications are that's its doubtful as to whether or not you would receive a better signal from Hannington (@ 29 miles / 1 degree) as although the signal from Rowridge ( @ 15 miles / 200 degrees) suffers from the obstruction referred to at approximately 1.5 miles prior to your location, the signal from Hannington is seen to be obstructed in three separate places starting from just under 12 miles.
However as far as Rowridge is concerned, are you receiving this station on vertical or horizontal polarity?, because if its the latter then you should try rotating your aerial to its vertical mounting position to take advantage of the fact that the COM channels (SDN / Arqa / ArqB) are radiating on 200Kw on vertical whereas only 50Kw on horizontal, excluding COM7 or L-SOT which do not radiate on vertical, as apart from power increase sometimes vertical polarity signals can overcome problems better than horizontally polarised ones.
You could though try a simple test to see if any traces of a signal can be detected by carrying out a "manual" tune test on Hanningtons BBC or ITV1 channels, this achieved by entering BBC1 C45 (666.0 Mhz) into the box but NOT followed by pressing search or scan, because if anything is being received the strength / quality of the signal will be seen in the signal bars, if nothing appears then try ITV1 C42 (642.0 Mhz)
Your aerial is of course approximately 20 degrees out from being a proper rear pickup of Hannington and so that error has always to be kept in mind with this type of test, also if your aerial is vertically mounted for Rowridge then this test is unlikely to work anyway.
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Maggi Reimann: It should not automatically be assumed that reception will be possible using a "same room" type of aerial as indoor aerials of the type mentioned are frequently found not to work.
Your best bet would be to try and tune your TV on an neighbours "outdoor" (or loft) aerial to load the programmes into the tuners memory, this would then give you a better chance of finding a good spot for reception back in your own room by leaving the TV on BBC1 or whatever and moving your aerial around to see if anything is received.
By the way, your signal will be from the Craigkelly transmitter located across the water near to Burntisland.
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Mike: No obvious reasons are seen for this problem, as your move only amounted to around two miles or so further away from the Belmont transmitter but still on the same bearing of 157 degrees from same.
ITV4 is on COM6 Mux Ch60 and with ITV4+1 being on COM4 Ch30, and so its a question of whether or not you can view (18) 4Music which is also on COM6 or (10) ITV3 which is on COM4, and if you can then you should try carrying out a retune with the aerial connection removed for the purpose of wiping out everything already stored, then on completion reconnect the aerial followed by carrying out a further retune to re-load the programmes into the tuner.
By the way, a somewhat superior method to the above is to carry out a "first time installation" procedure, this also known as a "factory reset" or "default setting".
However, if you cannot receive the two programmes mentioned then are you on a communal aerial system? or do you have your own aerial? if on the former I would check with others to find out if they are also experiencing similar problems.
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Mike: On having studied the terrain between the Mendip and Rowridge transmitters relative to that of your location, I have to honestly say that I feel nothing can really be guaranteed as far as continuity of reception throughout the year is concerned due to the signal paths from both stations suffering from line-of-sight blockages, in the case of Rowridge this being mainly at around 2.5 miles prior to your location, albeit that the signal could be affected from around 6 miles out, whereas in the case of Mendip the problem mainly starting from 11 miles out but could be affected in various ways from as far out as 16 miles.
As far as your suggestion is concerned, yes! as that mentioned would in theory anyway be about your best action to take, although on the subject of boosters, I would use one of the variable gain types with a rating of around 15db (min) or so, as anything under this would be a waste of time.
I would like to add though, that reception under these conditions is always liable to suffer from signal quality issues corresponding to changing weather conditions altering the reflective effect of the terrain.
By the way, you can see for yourself the problems referred to by opening the undermentioned links.
Terrain between ( m a.g.l.) and (antenna m a.g.l.) - Optimising UK DTT Freeview and Radio aerial location
Terrain between ( m a.g.l.) and (antenna m a.g.l.) - Optimising UK DTT Freeview and Radio aerial location
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j.robinson: You can safely use any channel from 62 to 68, as nothing transmits in that range.
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Nick Taylor: As Channel 5 is on the same Mux (D3&4) as ITV1 / Channel 4 etc then there is no reason for you not being able to view it unless some glitch has taken place in the tuner, therefore as a first measure I would try removing the the aerial from the device followed by carrying out an auto-tune for the purpose of blanking out anything stored in the tuner, once completed reconnect the aerial and make sure that you get a "no signal" message if you try to select a programme channel, if not (which is correct) then carry out another auto-tune to load the programmes back into the tuners memory.
If Channel 5 has returned good and well, but if not then you will have to carry out a factory reset on the hard drive device, this also brand dependant known as "default setting" or "first time installation".
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Nick Taylor: Re: my reply to your posting, please cut the following > > if not (which is correct) < < which on reading over same tends to be somewhat ambiguous.
I also meant to add to my reply, that channel 5+1 which you report as being able to see is not transmitted by the same D3&4 Mux as used by Channel 5, but by the COM4/SDN Mux as used by ITV3 / Drama / QVC etc.
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Thursday 22 May 2014 5:31PM
Annie : In addition to that said, although you will see a range of "FREESAT" boxes advertised in a variety of places I would advise you to think along the line of the more reliable "Humax" brand devices, one I can personally recommend by it being in constant use without fault in my household for the past three years, namely a "Foxsat - HDR / 500 -G", these managers specials offering excellent value for money along with a one years guarantee.
HumaxDirect