All posts by jb38
Below are all of jb38's postings, with the most recent are at the bottom of the page.
AD: If you can receive the main PSB muxes OK, namely BBC1 - ITV1 - HD service then that doesn't require checking, but to check if you have received each of the three commercial muxes try a test by selecting (and viewing) each of these programme channel numbers in turn: 10 ITV3 - 11 Pick TV - 12 Yesterday, and if you can then its liable to indicate all is OK.
You can of course receive these three from Hannington, but by them being indicated on the predictor as "poor" its unlikely that they would be at a viewable level.
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AD: I had also meant to add, that the procedure you used of having performed a factory reset prior to carrying out a re-tune is always the best, as it guarantees that no remnants from a previous scan will be lurking about in the EPG memory to cause problems, such as previously stored channels being lost during night time switch off and caused by the tuners memory capacity having being exceeded.
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Brendan Walsh: In some cases dependant on location, it may be found necessary to manually tune in the multiplex channels required if residing in an area where its possible to receive signals from more than one station, but first of all I suggest that you remove the aerial and carry out a complete auto-tune without this connected, this action being to delete anything stored in the tuners memory, then once completed carry out another auto-tune "after" having first of all reconnected the aerial.
Should you still experience a problem after this action then a post code (or one from very nearby) will be required to determine the transmitter(s) that cover the area.
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Valerie Rowe: On the assumption that its Crystal Palace you are receiving your signal from, then nothing that occurred there should have caused your Sky boxes RF output signal to have been blocked if its on the channel mentioned, but just to verify one way or another if they are responsible, then try another attempt to view Sky upstairs but only after you have removed the "normal" aerial connection into the Sky box.
Should it have returned, then leave it on and go downstairs and reconnect the aerial into the Sky box again then have a check to see if its still there or not, giving an update on results as well as your location. (pref: post code or one from very nearby)
Just to add, that if you do find its vanished then change the Sky boxes RF output to Ch66 and retune your upstairs TV (on analogue) to pick the altered channel up.
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sparky: On the subject of your aerial, if you have found that you getting roughly the same results on BBC when using an indoor aerial then its almost guaranteed that you will be receiving an excessively high level from your main aerial, and something which is liable to cause slight overloading in the tuner, the misleading aspect of this situation being that symptoms experienced are "exactly" the same to that of a weak signal.
By the way, its not uncommon to find reception being difficult from the low powered commercials in areas where the BBC is on full power and has to be attenuated to alleviate overload problems.
Regarding RF outputs, what Dave Lindsay is referring to is that "some" PVR's such as a Humax 9200 have analogue RF modulated outputs to feed whatever is being viewed (or played back) on the box to be fed into a TV in another room, and this RF output can clash with other signals being received if the output channel used on the box isn't carefully chosen not to.
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David Hall: Thanks for the update on the situation and really pleased to hear that the modulator worked out OK, and of course obtained at a good price for a device such as that.
The only problems ever experienced by owners of these devices always being of a non technical nature, that is of them having misplaced the instruction leaflet and wanting to change the RF output channel then attempting to achieve the desired channel by guessing the switch permutations, which of course very seldom ever works!
Yes, the No 8 test signal switch is a useful addition in helping to set the unit up, as the two white bars are easily noticed whilst scanning the TV.
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sparky: Just a little point of clarification regarding my reply, insomuch that when I had stated - "that its not uncommon to find reception being difficult from the low powered commercials in areas where the BBC is on full power and has to be attenuated to alleviate overload problems" - this was said in relation to the latter part of your 12.59 pm posting where you had queried - "if I use an attenuator I may lose the other channels"- which of course is quite possible! but I wasn't necessarily advocating that an attenuator would cure the particular problem you are complaining about with your recorder.
That said though, I do suspect that your signal is very likely to be excessive or you wouldn't be able to use a set top aerial and not notice any appreciable difference, and so an attenuator would help in this respect when being used in conjunction with your normal aerial, as when an RF signal being received is on the verges of being excessively high it can cause the tuner to suffer from mild levels of instability, and this can result in a variety of odd (and sometimes baffling) problems being experienced, and I suspect an element of this is applying in your own case as when a recorder starts to record should not really have any effect on signals being received unless the recorder is generating interference from its recording circuitry.
Maybe you could indicate the model of recorder in question, and when you say "that when it starts recording the signal starts to break up", is this what's seen on the TV you are viewing at the same time as you started the recorder? finally have you tested recording ITV yet?
I agree with your comment regarding analogue and indications on a meter telling the truth, as basically in most instances that was the case, although an excessively high level of RF could also cause problems with analogue reception, but in this case with the warning of this state starting to occur always being seen on the screen in the form of herring bone patterns etc developing over the picture, or the screen turning white'ish with what looked like a super fine mesh over the picture, should it still be there!
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Dave Hunter: Just for information purposes, I carry out frequent signal checks on various channels including SDN from Waltham, and can report that at no time recently has there been any problems with it when received in the Peterborough area, it giving a steady signal with no errors whatsoever being indicated.
As a matter of fact considering its ERP is half that of the main PSB muxes its coming in at virtually the same level as them on a DM log used for test purposes.
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Dean Thompson: This type of problem is suggestive of being caused by bad reception at wherever you are located, but its impossible for anyone to give advice / assistance regarding this without knowledge of your location, this preferably in the form of a post code for greater accuracy.
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Wednesday 4 April 2012 4:53PM
Kent Smith: No problem!