All posts by jb38
Below are all of jb38's postings, with the most recent are at the bottom of the page.
Mary Middleton: Judging by what you have reported could suggest that even although there didn't seem to be anything stored in the memory that there possibly has been otherwise the rescan would not have missed BBC on Ch23 from Crystal Palace when it picked up ITV from there on Ch26, although and as you will probably appreciate, that CP is being picked up on the semi-rear (about 50 degrees out) of your aerial and likely because of its sheer power which is double that of Oxford.
Just out of curiosity, when you referred to having set your recorder what model of device is it? and do you use this for the general viewing of Freeview or do you also have a dedicated Freeview TV, and should this apply then its model, my only reason for requesting this info being that three of Oxfords channels have offsets on their frequencies and some types of equipment cant cope very well with this situation, and which can result in glitches being seen in an otherwise OK signal and this aspect has to be eliminated.
I have to also say that although things like the inversion effect does play a large part in the recent bout of bad reception reports I do feel that a lot of your problems are caused by reasons of vegetation, (trees) as they can have different blocking effect levels dependant or whether they are wet or dry, plus a more erratic effect when their branches blow about in the wind, and as aforementioned in my previous posting trees are not exactly in short supply all around your region.
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Mary Middleton: Thanks for the update re: equipment used, and on studying same I feel that because you are in an iffy area for reception it would be better if the aerial was not looped through the Panasonic and into the TV as that method is inclined to reduce the signal level to the TV, albeit that this is procedure is OK in good reception area's, therefore I would advise you to use a two way powered splitter to feed both devices, as that not only guarantees that each would get the same level of signal but also with the addition of a mild boost.
That said though, a point that I wondered about regarding the upstairs TV is what aerial does it use? as if the cable in the living room comes from being linked into the socket upstairs then that will have to be altered, insomuch that the two way powered splitter would then be better placed upstairs, and with the aerial from the roof going straight into the splitter, then one of the splitters outputs used to feed the downstairs lounge and the other output for the upstairs TV.
Of course "if" the coax is routed like mentioned, then for a test switch your Freeview recorder onto its signal checking screen and choose a channel that's less than full scale and noting the indication seen, then go upstairs and take the coax plug out of the wall socket and go back downstairs again and see if the signal level has increased any on the Freeview recorder, but remember this is only applicable if the lounge coax comes from the bedroom socket.
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Dave Lindsay: The terrain indications seen on sites such as Magalithia and also I notice having recently been added to this site, may well be OK for reference purposes to give an idea of whether or not any major obstructions exist between two given points such as a hill of any great magnitude is concerned, but its folly to take the indications seen as the gospel as they only show obstructions of a fixed nature where it involves a hill and "not" even anything man made, or even worse that of one of the biggest causes of poor and erratic reception in the UK, namely forests or other types of situations where dense patches of trees are in existence, and as far as Mary's location is concerned you don't require to look far in any direction to come across some, as I have done on test views at points between Nuffield and each of the stations.
I consider that all info gathered from these indicators / or predictors whether it be for terrain purposes or DUK's reception predictor has to be treated with caution, although in the case of DUK's trade view predictor if it indicates poor reception in a particular area and this is coupled to a number of reception complaints from that area, then it can be reasonably safely assumed that the forecast is correct, but though when a terrain check is carried out in the same area and one observes a clear line-of-site being indicated, then in this case it has to be assumed that the reception problem is caused by vegetative reasons, which means that terrain forecasts are not reliable if used for reception purposes.
By the way, I have the service manual for that Bush and which also shows its menu facilities before that actual service info, and to say its limited in tuning flexibility is being nice about it, as I couldn't see any manual tuning being offered (only on analogue) and no reset options on the set either, not the best of models for an area where a particular station is required to be singled out.
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Ray H: Well one very possible reason springs to mind, being that when you had previously made the check the normally occurring variations in signal strength that occurs most of the time dependant on time of day as well as weather conditions, had allowed the signal to be just that tad stronger to the point that it was partially blocking the tuner, whereas when checked the second time it had dropped just enough to allow the tuner to operate as normal, as the difference in levels between these two situations occurring is very small.
This is a peculiar effect associated with digital reception that mystifies many, as if a persons reception is being blocked because of an excessive level of signal and they fit a variable attenuator, its generally always found that if the attenuator is fully in operation (max attenuation) then the signal is OK at maybe about 70 or 80%, but if they slowly advance (kill) the attenuation and observe the signal strength / quality rising until the max indication of 10 (or 100%) and is not stopped at that level, then any further advancing will result in the signal suddenly crashing and accompanied by low strength and zero quality reading being seen again.
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Avis: It depends entirely where your mother is located, as the programme you have referred to is not broadcast in Freeview light (PSB only) areas and when you re-tuned you might have picked up that type of station, but I cant give any advice on this without a post code, or one of a nearby shop (or anything else) as thats the only way I can check on the reception possibilities in your mothers area.
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Terry: If your daughter has Freeview in her bedroom and you have a Freeview TV (HD or otherwise) in the kitchen, then why not just run a cable from the bedroom to the kitchen? as you should have a really good signal from Crystal Palace, and so all you would require to do is fit a two way splitter in the bedroom and feed one of its outputs to the kitchen.
By the way a loft aerial should suffice at your location.
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AM: If you are not capable of receiving HD transmissions then this possible reason cannot be 100% verified, but Ch28 has a negative offset on its frequency and some devices cannot cope properly with that as the signal is in effect off-tune, there might not be a cure for that on the device you are using but am unable to check myself at this present time.
The only reason I mentioned HD is that also has a negative offset, the others do not.
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Liz: You have not given your exact location and so this aspect cannot be checked, but you "might" be receiving an excessively high level of signal and that can cause the type of problems you mention, try a test using a set top aerial and see if that improves reception, or of you do not have access to a set top type then a short piece of wire (about 12") pushed into the inner part of the aerial socket is also a good test.
Further advice dependant on reply.
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Liz: Not really, as its more inclined to indicate that your signal is excessively high and is overloading the TV's tuner and with it not doing using the wire because it doesn't pick up so much of a signal, and so you will require to purchase an attenuator to place in line with the aerial socket of your TV, these costing about £4.00 or so.
With regards to the attenuation level necessary, I would think that one of about 10db rating would suffice, although its always best to try and get a variable type as you can adjust it for the best result, variables being 0-20db.
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Saturday 28 April 2012 12:32AM
Ray H: If you are referring to Rowridges HD service on channel 21 then as I have also said to g.baseley you will have to try a test by reducing the signal level received as HD will always cut off before SD if the signal received is excessively powerful and giving exactly the type of signal indications as you have mentioned, as the signal blocks the tuner and that why it either indicates low or nothing at all.