All posts by jb38
Below are all of jb38's postings, with the most recent are at the bottom of the page.
Martin Cooper: On having re-read my reply to you I think I omitted to ask the obvious question, that being to carry out a BBC signal test "on the TV" with the aerial being connected directly into the TV and making a note of the levels being indicated, then carry out another test as before but when the aerial is being looped through the non activated (in standby) Hitachi, once again noting the levels seen, finally activate the Hitachi by taking it out of standby then follow this by pressing the source button on the TV's remote control which as you have reported results in a blank screen, then "whilst on the blank screen" carry out another signal test and see what is being indicated, because something should be irrespective of whether or not the screen is blank.
Giving an up date on the result.
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chad: In addition to that said by MikeP, if you are referring to one of these LNB's thats fitted with a red and green LED to assist finding a satellite such as are supplied along with portable sat dish kits of the type that fit on a tripod then yes! as LNB's will work with any Sky of Freesat system.
The only snag about these being, that they cannot distinguish between a satellite positioned at 19.2 degrees over those used for Sky and Freesat at 28.2 degrees and although these may appear on paper to be well separated, however in practice they only represent a nudge away from each other.
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Muz: The line of sight from the Rowridge transmitter (@ 25 mls / 121 degrees) is indicated as being blocked from roughly just under 2 miles out from your location although problems could possibly start from roughly 10 miles out dependant upon the nature of the terrain in that area, however as you have mentioned that your aerial is old is it still mounted horizontally or has it been changed to vertical, that is elements facing up and down? because Rowridge is a dual polarity transmitter but with its maximum power output on the commercial channels only being radiated on vertical transmissions, that is 50Kw horizontal whereas 200 Kw vertical.
As far as checking is concerned, the best check of all is to make some local enquiries with a neighbour etc for the purpose of determining if the problem is also being experienced by others, as this saves needless checking of your own system.
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steve jones: If the problems being experienced on the boxes LNB1 input have not been rectified by swapping the leads over then this definitely points to the fault being within the box itself, and with the reason for ranging from a defective joint behind the "F" connectors input socket to the actual tuner (or power supply to) having developed a fault.
If not already having done so place the box in standby for a couple of minutes before disconnecting it from the mains, this followed by reconnecting it again after about another 45 seconds and see if anything has changed once it reloads the EPG, further advice dependant on the result of this procedure.
Just a point though that I would like you to clarify, as you have specifically referred to the problem being with 861 then are all other channels OK? or possibly not as the case may be.
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Alex: With regards to trying to find a way around the problem of Darvels COM's suffering from possible co-channel interference from the Divis transmitter, without wishing to appear as a prophet of doom but speaking from a long term RF / equipment engineers point of view I can say with a level of confidence that any attempts made to try and get over this difficulty are almost guaranteed to prove as having been futile.
The problem is that the signal from Divis is somewhat enhanced by it skipping across the sea and with this resulting in it being received on many occasions at a higher level than the reception predictor would suggest, which of course does not (and cannot) really take this factor into account as the higher level of signal referred to is vulnerable to fluctuations in level caused by tidal changes as well as reasons connected to atmospheric conditions, and so any predictions given would require to be updated about every month or so.
The other point to note being, that even if the more sophisticated type of aerial arrangement was set up, namely a phased array, this being a type of aerial that's "very" occasionally used to help alleviate co-channel problems, but its most unlikely to perform as intended when used under circumstances such as these as this type aerial is extremely critical (and time consuming) to set up and is generally only used in circumstances where both sets of signals are of a reasonably constant level, and not where one or both can be fluctuating as is liable be the case from both Darvel and Divis.
A trough aerial, albeit this not really being used in domestic circumstances, is also unlikely to make that much of a difference, as the offending signal from Divis could well be arriving on the Darvel facing aerial via being reflected from higher ground between the transmitter and receiver, this being another time consuming exercise in determining if this situation was applying or not.
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steve jones: Getting back to your original posting where you had said that the signal strength & quality on input line 1 (taking it you are referring to LNB1 input) was indicating zero albeit that it must be fluctuating, then if you swapped the "known to be working" LNB2's input over to the LNB1 input socket and the situation did not change then this is a positive indication that the boxes LNB1 tuner is defective, and so its pointless carrying out any further checks because your "swapping leads over" procedure has completely eliminated any possibility of the problem being connected with a defect in the LNB or cabling from / to.
The other point that has to be appreciated is that when using a Sky box of the type capable of recording (any + type) is that normal viewing is always via the LNB1 inputs tuner as this is the main input, LNB2's tuner in most instances only being used for recording.
Also with regards to you not being able to access the LNB's settings, if as you have previously mentioned that the LNB2 input is indicating OK then its quite unnecessary to check the settings as they must be correct otherwise nothing would be received.
By the way, these and lots of other installer settings can be accessed by pressing:- services - options - settings - press select to highlight picture - followed by pressing (in quick succession) "0 - 1 - select".
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Wendy Leak: Unfortunately as far as I can remember these messages cannot be turned off on T2 albeit that automatic software updates can be, and so although inconvenient as it may be to carry out and especially so when you have to use manual tuning so as to avoid picking up Belmont, but I suggest that you carry out a "factory default" on the box as this will scrub everything already stored (including messages) but with the exception of anything previously recorded, that is so long as you do NOT accidentally check the "Format HDD" box, as that would then result in you deleting previously stored programmes.
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Wendy Leak: Meant also to say, that after having carried out the "factory default" should you prior to having carried out this action had any programmes set up for recording then unfortunately you will have to set them up again, as the factory default reset deletes any personal preferences that you may have made, in other words it scrubs everything that you have already done but with the exception of your recordings so long as the format HDD box has NOT been checked.
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Della: Although this type of question is always difficult to answer and basically because that variables in reception are always involved, but due to the fact that three other transmitters are indicated as being possible to receive in your area, although Mendip (@ 56 miles) on mux Ch52 is by far the main contender even although its 36 degrees out from being a perfect reverse pick up on your aerial, and so there is always the chance that COM6 (Film 4 etc) from this station might be picked up by your box in preference to Oxfords COM6 on mux Ch55.
Although I realise that you do not really wish to carry out manual tuning on your box, but though I would be interested to know what model of device has been fitted?
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Thursday 6 June 2013 6:20PM
anonimouse: In that case all you require to do is to temporarily connect the "receiver only" box into the position used by the PVR (recorder) and connect any one (as both the same) of the two feeds used by the PVR into the box, then once its powered box up carry out the first time installation procedure, if this results in the EPG list being populated again then the feed used for this receiver only box is defective.
Further advice dependant on findings.