All posts by jb38
Below are all of jb38's postings, with the most recent are at the bottom of the page.
Paula: This type of problem is suggestive of either your dish being very slightly out of alignment or a problem with the coax connection to your dishes LNB, or even the "F" connector that goes into your box as there isnt much else it can be on a satellite system.
You should have a look at the signal level indicator to see if the strength / quality is roughly the same, as they should be, if the quality is seen lagging then the dish could benefit from being slightly re-aligned in its horizontal plane, that is a very slight nudge to either the left or right.
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Homestead: With the exception of the BBC mux Midhurst is not shown as being able to provide good reception at any time on your post code area, as both ITV and the HD service are both permanently indicated as having a variable status and with elements of this on the other muxes, however Crystal Palace does but only from April 18th when all six muxes are then indicated as giving good reception.
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Nitin Tejura: This problem can only really be caused by two possible reasons, being either a strand of wire has accidentally wrapped itself around the middle core when you were fitting the "F" plugs, or that the spare port used on the LNB is defective, as if the cable was new its extremely unlikely that it would be defective, so take each of the "F" plugs off in turn and carefully inspect that the aforementioned possibility hasn't happened.
Before you do this though, you should try one of the other boxes on the newly run feed, which of course should not work.
By the way, you wont have accidentally moved the dish if any of the other boxes still work, although when carrying out tests like that you should always use the same channel, as if the dish was a fraction out its sometimes possible for one channel to work whereas another wont.
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gordon britton: To be quite honest about it, on checking your reception possibilities using the code provided gives indications that at present its only possible to receive the BBC muxes at your location until April 18th, and with this reception of the BBC being from either Crystal Palace, Henley or Assendon, however as far as Henley and Assendon are concerned even from April 18th onwards these stations will only provide PSB transmissions because of them both being relays.
The other point is, that when Crystal Palace does become available from April 18th onwards its HD transmissions are clearly indicated as always having the status of variable as far as reception is concerned, and even although the other muxes are in the green zone (good) they are not as far as I am concerned exactly glowing.
Obviously these predictors cannot cater properly for certain local reception problems (black spots) that may exist, or alternately if a person happens to be located in a choice spot for reception, but that's what's indicated anyway.
If come April 18th your reception proves as being unsatisfactory then I cant see you having much of an option other than considering Freesat.
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Bob Abbot: You should really have indicated your location (pref: post code) with this type of question as it would have enabled the signal levels expected in your area to be checked on, however as far as the vision amplifier is concerned these should really be clipped to aerials supporting pole with a plastic cable tie, but it doesn't really matter where they are located near to the aerial so long as not in front of the reflector or next to the active elements where the coax is connected into.
It should not really be necessary to have an additional amplifier with these type of aerial amps, (except for powered distribution amp) "if" the mast head amp referred to is a gold coloured type fitted into a grey plastic housing as these are quite powerful, but if you come back with an update regarding the location info request it would then make it easier to give further advice that's more appropriate to your location.
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Joan: On having a check at your reception possibilities indications are that from March 21st Rowridge stands out as being the best by far for reception, and with this being indicated whether using its horizontal or vertically polarised transmissions, that said though vertical does have a slight edge.
By the way should you wish to give it a try from March 21st onwards then its located at 22 miles away on a heading of 185 degrees from your location.
Hannington by the way (22mls @ 8 degrees) although not being indicated as good as Rowridge is still shown as possible, but however this never applying at any time as far as the HD service is concerned, as its shown permanently with the status of being variable.
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Roger: With your multi-reception possibilities its somewhat easier to mention the channels to use, insomuch in the high range anything above Ch64 or in the lower ranges anything between Ch33 - 37.
My reason for giving both ranges is because some Sky boxes RF modulators can have a deficiency in their outputs which can show up at either end of their scale ranges, this resulting in grainy pictures, so its really a case of trial and error by conducting a test using either end in turn.
Another thing that can cause grain on an analogue picture is if a reasonably powerful aerial amplifier is being used for Freeview, it wont affect Freeview but gives considerable grain whilst on sky analogue, of course this type of thing is easy to verify by removing the "normal" aerial going into the Sky box whilst viewing a grainy Sky picture, as should this be applying then the Sky picture being viewed on a remote analogue TV will immediately clear up on removal of the Sky boxes normal aerial input.
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Roger: Just to add to that I already mentioned, the RF modulator deficiencies I referred to particularly applied where Sky's HD boxes are concerned, and in many cases a happy medium could not really be found anywhere across the channel range, I only mention this as I missed the fact of you having stated Sky "HD".
Another little point that might also be applicable being, if the grainy picture is a complaint you have had right from the start then trying what's been suggested could possibly help the situation, but "if" the problem has just started very recently it could be caused by the current atmospheric conditions enabling distant DTT stations on the same RF channel as your Sky box is using to be received, as a strong DTT signal will appear as noise if received on top of an analogue channel, needless to say should this be the case then only the "trial and error" method of changing the channel one at a time can be used to obtain a noise free picture.
Of course this situation is also easily detected by the removal of the Sky boxes normal aerial procedure as described in my original reply.
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Brian husband: About the only honest answer that can be given to that question is that it no-one can guarantee that it wouldn't happen given the right conditions, as even although high pressure problems are nothing new the effect they had on analogue reception very seldom ever completely blotted the picture out except in really severe cases, the rest of the time either causing a variety of moving lines to be seen on the picture, or at other times ghost images sweeping across it from the programme that the offending station might be broadcasting at the time.
The problem with digital Freeview is that its basically an all or nothing mode, as unlike analogue where anything that might intrude onto the same channel as the one being viewed would in most cases only result in elements of disruption to the quality of the picture and with it still being visible, whereas about the same level of interference can cause corruption of the digital signal, the result of always being far more severe ranging from varying levels of pixelation / freezing on video, this usually coupled with audio bangs and screeches, to a total blocking of reception altogether.
In other words digital reception is just not tolerant to being interfered with, this why anyone that insists on an almost 100% reliable signal should automatically think Freesat, as about the only thing that upsets it is a really heavy thundery type downpour, and even then if a slightly larger dish is used this minimises the chance of this happening even more.
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Tuesday 13 March 2012 11:29PM
Neil Reynolds: Being unaware of the model number of your Sony TV I cant give precise instructions, but carry out a "factory default" setting or "first time installation" on your Sony followed by manual tuning in of Walthams six muxes, these being Ch61 - 54 - 58(HD) - 29 - 56 - 57
storing whatever received after each channel scan if not done automatically.
This procedure is requested as I suspect that you have picked up some channels from either Sutton Coldfield or Belmont.