All posts by jb38
Below are all of jb38's postings, with the most recent are at the bottom of the page.
john tebbs: Reception from Waltham has historically always been iffy in the Newark area and with the signal from same becoming somewhat worse in locations stretching out to the West past Southwell, and with in your particular location a terrain check revealing that the signal from Waltham is obstructed from approximately three miles prior to reaching Edingley meaning that the reception you do have from Waltham is via diffraction (signal bending), this generally resulting in it being liable to suffer from the variables associated with the so called "summer and winter" effect caused by the changes to the reflective surface of the terrain, something I feel very much applies to your situation of residing in a country
location where the reflective effect referred to can be experienced to a greater extent.
I do realise that East Midlands news is more appropriate to your area over that from Belmont albeit that this station is indicated as being superior for reception, however what you have mentioned with regards to the problem experienced with interference from passing traffic makes me curious as to your aerial arrangement, insomuch where is the aerial installed and do you use a booster?
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Steve N: The signal strength / quality indicator on your Humax is one of the few devices around that does give indications more in line to that obtained if using a more professional meter, albeit that the latter's indications are in dBuV rather in percentages.
On the subject of the SDN mux on Ch29, I checked this over a period of 10 minutes or so in the Stamford area around 6.00pm this evening and its indications of both strength and quality were rock steady on a Humax box, and indicating 82% strength / 100% quality, the rather over inflated indications on a Panasonic TV being 100% on both S & Q.
By the way, to my knowledge no engineering work is being carried out anywhere at present.
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Steve N : Further to that already said, I carried out another 10 minute check at 23.00hrs and can report that the situation remains unchanged, i.e: a rock steady signal from "all" of Watham's mux transmitters including Ch29 the one in question.
Of course I am receiving the signal from a different sector on the mast and that under certain circumstances can make a difference, although I feel that your problem is not connected with anything concerning the transmission of the signal and is caused by either a faulty connection somewhere on your aerial system, the point where the coax is terminated into the aerial being a favourite spot, or on the other hand possibly being caused by factors related to the changing weather conditions as muxes are not necessarily all received at the same levels to each other, and indeed in some areas are more frequently not!
Its really a case of making a local enquiry to find out if others are also experiencing a similar problem to yourself, although most aerials I see in your area are facing towards Sutton Coldfield and not Waltham, the former indicated as providing a superior signal.
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Timbo: The immediate reason that would spring to mind is that your main TV has carried out an automatic channel update and in the process of has picked up and stored the channels in the 20 / 30 range as used by Crystal Palace, Sudbury's channels being in the 40 - 60 range.
Some Freeview devices carry out this procedure "automatically" every 24 hours resulting in problems for many who reside in an area where more than one station can be received and likewise have to use manual tuning to store the mux channels required, whereas on most other equipment this facility is offered as a switchable option.
Have a look in your TV's set up menu for this option, if seen disable it.
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Gavin: Considering the fact that this transmitter is only on test and is not due to go into service until next year, then the fluctuations seen in the signal level could well be as a result of the equipment being tested as engineers have a free hand in this type of situation.
However, as far as your location is concerned, I tried out quite a few test p/codes around your area and with none of them indicating that you would be able to have reliable reception from C30 transmitter even when in service, although this can be verified or not as the case may be with knowledge of your post code.
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Gavin: Well yes! so long as you have selected LBT and blown the picture right up, although you can obtain a more detailed prediction of reception by clicking on the undermentioned link, entering your post code and checking the "detailed view" box, this method retaining your privacy as far as exact location is concerned, although any predictions seen have always to be taken with the proverbial pinch of salt as no-one can give a 100% accurate prediction of where an UHF/RF signal will, or will not be received.
That said, the other aspect of knowing a post code is that it enables a detailed terrain check to be carried out for the purpose of determining if the signal received at a given location is via line-of-site or not, because if not then that received is via diffraction (bending) and can, dependant on other factors, be susceptible to the reflective effects of seasonal changes to the terrain, i.e: the so called "summer and winter" effect.
Digital UK - Coverage checker
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Gavin: Having read over my previous reply I just noticed my grammatical error of "site" being typed in when obviously "sight" was being referred to, I shall put this down to pre Christmas fatigue!
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Johan: With regards to trying a manual tune on C28, after you enter the channel number do "not" press search or scan but wait and see if anything is being indicated on the signal strength / quality bars, because even although the BBC channels were not picked up on your previous auto-tune its not necessarily the case that nothing at all was received, but just possibly one that was under the level required to enable the TV or box to store it.
Can your neighbours receive the BBC OK? and where have you installed the aerial?
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Dave Lindsay / Johan: As far as I can see both stations are indicated with a clear line-of-sight from your location, albeit with Shatton edge just having!, Shatton Edge @ 2.8miles / 108 degrees and Hope @ 1.1 miles / 84 degrees.
Terrain between ( m a.g.l.) and (antenna m a.g.l.) - Optimising UK DTT Freeview and Radio aerial location
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Tuesday 17 December 2013 10:31PM
Andrew : By the way, Hannington is indicated on the reception predictor as being particularly bad and with three of its six muxes not being receivable, whereas on the other hand Crystal Palace is not indicated as being poor for reception, although I would be inclined to take this with the proverbial pinch of salt as signal obstructions of the magnitude seen on the terrain indicator generally results in the summer / winter effect on reception coming into the equation.
You can observe the reception predictor by clicking on "Digital UK tradeview" at the right hand side of your posting.