All posts by jb38
Below are all of jb38's postings, with the most recent are at the bottom of the page.
Mr. J. Carrington: Leicestershire is obviously a very large area where many locations are somewhat screened by either valleys or forests, so you really have to indicate your location so that the reception possibilities as well as other factors can be assessed with the aid of the post code reception predictor, plus of course possible knowledge of the area.
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Sharon: Whether or not you would get away with using an aerial such as you mention is totally dependant on your location in relation to the transmitter, with this aspect being something you haven't revealed.
Advice can be given in receipt of a post code, as this would then enable your reception possibilities to be checked on.
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john ledbury: I was reading your back postings concerning the problems you are having with reception from Belmont / Waltham etc, and so being located in the Stamford area which is roughly the same distance (+5 mls) from Belmont as yourself I decided to carry out a signal check from both stations involved, the results being that all six multiplexes from Belmont were being received with a stable signal with only about a 5% variation in strength between each of them, and with Waltham being very similar across all channels.
Yesterday I managed to carry out another test whilst at a location on the same bearing as you are from Waltham but at roughly 6 miles before your suspected location, (Gorefild side of Wisbech?) the results being 97% strength / 100% quality being indicated on a Panasonic TV, and with 85% / 100% respectively shown on a Humax 9200 box using the same aerial, the slightly lower indication on the Humax being quite expected as their strength indicators are inclined to be more realistic.
By the way, this was the signal received straight from an 18 element side wall mounted Yagi @ approx 20 feet from the ground, no boosters involved!
This being the case I really feel that if there are no dastardly obstructions between where I was (Moulton Eaugate area) and wherever you might be (and observations in your direction did not show anything) then I see no reason why Waltham should be radically different in your area, the main thing to remember being that auto-tuning equipment (albeit convenient) is not advisable in most East of England areas unless located within about 20 miles of a main transmitter, as its just inviting channels from more than one station to be picked up.
I would suggest that you face your aerial towards Waltham (approx 280 degrees) and after having "factory reset" your TV or box "manually" tune in the channels used by Waltham, do not be tempted to use the auto-tune facility, as I feel that's where you are going wrong.
Waltham's channels: Ch61 (BBC) - Ch54 (ITV) - Ch29 (ITV3 etc) - Ch56 (ArqA / Pick TV, Sky news etc) - Ch57 (ArqB / Russia today, Film4 etc)
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Harry: The easy way for anyone to know if they have picked up an HD signal is if anything is shown in the EPG list from 50 to 54, because as you obviously realise HD (from Rowridge) is not available in your area until March 21st and its very unlikely you will be picking it up from elsewhere unless through freak reception conditions.
That said though, if you did see anything in the 50 / 54 carry out a signal check whilst viewing it noting the Mux channel number shown associated with the strength bar and this can be cross checked with any possible sources.
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Manickam: Did you connect the TV to an old Sky dish or was it newly installed? there isnt any connection between Sutton Coldfield and your satellite problem.
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Manickam: Further to what said, when you say you get a limited range of channels what type of Freeview aerial are you using? as although you might well be that close to the mast that you could be partially screened by something know as an umbrella effect, but should you not be, then you would probably get away with using a set top aerial due to your proximity to the transmitter, albeit though that in normal circumstances I wouldn't normally suggest this type of aerial being used for Freeview, however if on the other hand your aerial is on the roof then you have to be cautious as you are very likely to suffer from partial blocking of your Freeview tuners input through it being grossly overloaded with an excessive signal level, which if in evidence can result in many channels being missing.
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Mark: Unfortunately RH6 Horley areas are indicated as being at approximately 5 miles away from the Reigate transmitter and which is only rated at 200 watts output, therefore I could not really recommend a set top type of aerial to be used in these circumstances, as if a reasonable picture was obtained (which is doubtful!) it would be very susceptible to suffering from frequent glitches caused by movements within the room, as the slightest thing is liable to interfere with the signal.
If you managed to borrow one for a test then there is obviously nothing to lose, but I couldn't recommend that you purchase one as I feel that the results would not be satisfactory therefore a waste of money.
Cant you use a loft aerial?
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ross walker: Are you in effect saying that the LG Plasma device does not have any normal sockets on the rear? as if you are meaning that then the Plasma device is purely a monitor for purposes of working in conjunction with PC devices via a VGA socket, something which you should see somewhere on the rear.
Maybe you could confirm or otherwise if this is correct, although if it is then you cannot use it for that purpose intended, but could you indicate the model number of the device so that its specifications can be checked on, as although I am aware that there are a few of these devices around that does have tuners built in I cant quite remember too many details about them.
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Karen: Freesat installation doesn't really involve anything more than simply unscrewing the "F" connectors on the Sky+ box and transferring the lead from the dish over to the similar socket on the Freesat device you are purchasing.
If you are purchasing a Freesat receiver rather than a PVR (Freesat equivalent of Sky+) then you can use one dish lead for Freesat and the other for the ex-Sky+ box, as when its no longer a recording device you do not require two inputs, if though you don't want to do that straight away just leave one of the leads not connected to anything as they are electrically independent of each other.
If though you intend to purchase a Freesat PVR then it will require two inputs (just like the ex-Sky+ box) and so you will require another input from the dish if you want to use the Sky box in another room, the extra lead (only lead) "might" be possible if the dish was originally fitted with a quad LNB and it has two spare outputs, otherwise the LNB will require to be changed over for a quad version, these available for around £10.00 from numerous e-bay outlets.
As far as your recordings are concerned, you will have no option but to transfer them (in real time) into an old DVD or VCR recorder, because as you realise the recorder will cease to operate as soon as you cancel the Sky subscription as Sky retains control of that side of the device.
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Saturday 31 December 2011 12:51PM
Tim CO14: Sorry for my delayed acknowledgement to your posting, however what you have mentioned highlights the difficulty in giving advice to anyone with Freeview problems, insomuch that the tuner fitted in the device (TV or box) they are using can be a contributory factor to the cause of their problems, that is coupled to many other factors.
The ironical aspect being that tuners that are inclined to be somewhat lacking in sensitivity generally perform better than sensitive types in situations where the signal strength is a bit over the top in strength, whereas the latter types mentioned score over the former when in weak signal areas.
What really causes problems with Freeview receivers is when they are used in situations where the powers that be have decided that its OK for a stations main multiplexes (e.g: Sudbury) to be operating with an ERP of 100Kw whilst another multiplex is only on 1.1Kw, as it takes an exceptionally good tuner to cope with that type of situation as its one that usually only communication receivers can deal with properly, this because of them having adjustable RF gain controls as well as in some cases variable RF input tuning, rather than in the case of Freeview equipment where both are not unexpectedly fixed, this obviously because of the equipment being very low priced compared to the semi-professional devices referred to.