All posts by jb38
Below are all of jb38's postings, with the most recent are at the bottom of the page.
John Glover: Its not really possible for anyone to offer advice on your problem without first of all having knowledge of the device you are referring to, i.e: Sky / Freesat or Freeview, and in the case of the latter mentioned, your location, this being in the form of a post code or one from nearby, e.g: a shop / Post Office.
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Graham: If the indoor aerial referred to is of the "same room" type, then nothing can really be guaranteed as far as reception is concerned, although loft mounted aerials are generally OK provided that said aerial is not facing into a water tank.
However, the Divis transmitter @ 12 miles away is indicated as being the main station that covers your area, the three channels you report as missing being transmitted on Mux C21 from this station, and so go into your TV's tuning menu and select "manual" tune, entering C21 into the box then pressing search or scan, should the missing channels be received during the manual scan, then they will (or should) be automatically added into the programme guide.
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Neil: Although the Durris transmitter is indicated on DUK's reception predictor as being possible to receive in your location, reception is not necessarily guaranteed to be glitch free, as a terrain check indicates that a line-of-sight obstruction to the signal path from Durris exists at around 4 miles or so. This being the case, I would suggest that your best policy would be to try a test by temporarily installing the Telecam aerial in the loft and couple it into any TV with a manual tuning facility.
The procedure being to select manual tune on the TV followed by entering the Durris transmitters BBC1 on Mux C28 into the box but "not" pressing scan, because on most (but not all) Freeview equipment, if any signal is being received then no matter how low it might be, the level of will be indicated in the strength / quality bars.
You can also use this procedure as a signal indicator whilst you are experimenting with aerial positions, as it turns the tuner into a form of low cost signal meter.
Further advice can be given dependant on the outcome of the test.
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Neil: In addition to that said. If the test using the Telecam aerial does not pick up the slightest trace of a signal from the Durris transmitter located @ 45miles away on a bearing of 191 degrees, then reception from Durris is not possible with an aerial in the loft no matter what type it might be, because although set top aerials are never really recommended for the reception of DTT signals because of their vulnerability to movement (human) within the room they are located in, they can be very effective when used at height.
However, if you do manage to receive a reasonably stable signal from Durris, "stable" referring in particular to quality, then the log aerial used in conjunction with a variable gain booster should meet your requirements.
By the way, a variable gain booster ideal for use in conjunction with a Log (or any) aerial is the SLX brand device sold by Argos: item number 107 / 1533.
PS: Its easy to determine if anyone in your area (albeit sparsely populated) is receiving signals from Durris by having a look up at their aerial, as any aerial used for reception from Durris will be mounted horizontally, whereby the Rosehearty relay transmits on vertical polarity.
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Alan Green: The frequency of 866.00Mhz would, if it existed, correspond to Ch70, and the fact that your TV is indicating this channel does point to some other factor coming into the equation as the highest frequency used for Freeview transmissions is 786.00Mhz / Ch60.
Purely for test purposes, whilst you are viewing 866 on the signal check screen, remove the TV's aerial plug and connect a short piece of wire (about 2 feet or so) into the socket, as I am curious if 866 is still seen or not, as it might be originating from some source in the block.
Another thing I wondered about is, as your reception would appear to be OK in the early hours of the morning, is 866.00Mhz still being indicated on a signal check screen? or does it only appear at the same times as you are having problems?
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Mr Mark Sandeman: Dave is transmitted on ArqA / COM5, the same multiplex as used by (11) Pick TV / (132) Sky news / (41) Food network etc, should you not be able to view these channels either then you should carry out a manual tune on COM5, the problem being that I am unable to provide the Mux channel number to scan as you haven't given your location, this preferably being in the form of a post code or one from nearby, e.g: a shop / Post Office.
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Alan Green: Sorry for the slight delay in replying. However, on having had another look at the manual for your model, and in particular the additional search menu which you refer to, as this section is really intended for searching for additional channels "after" an auto search has been completed, I really don't feel that venturing into this area is going to assist in any way with alleviating your problem, therefore you should revert to carrying out an auto-tune "minus the aerial being connected" then on completion, reconnect the aerial and carry out a second auto-tune to reload the programme EPG numbers into the tuners memory.
The main point being, that the fact of you having reported that the problem does not seemingly exist when viewing is carried out in the early hours of the morning, strongly suggesting that the problem is "not" being caused in any way by anything you have done, but by factors elsewhere.
That said though, it wouldn't do any harm to purchase one of those attenuators referred to by MikeB purely for the purpose of determining if a slightly over the top signal is the cause of the problem, although I do have to say that I very much doubt if it is, as I cant quite see how anything could have changed from what it previously was when nothing has changed power wise on the transmitters
I do have another line of thought, and being, that an element of the coincidental is involved in the timing of the problem having started, and that it could be caused by someone located in an adjoining apartment (inc above or under) having started to use (during daytime hours) some device such as an Ethernet mains power line adaptor etc, as these devices have a reputation for causing interference to a range of RF receiving devices including DTT, the fact of your reception being OK in the early hours of the morning possibly coinciding with the device having been switched off during bed time hours.
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Mr Mark Sandeman: Redruth is indicated as being the station that covers your area, and with COM5 / ArqA transmitting on Mux C52.
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Steve: If both of the additional magic eyes are known to be working, and that they were definitely tried in the Sky boxes RF2 socket and not accidentally in RF1, then the fault must be with the box, because even although your cousin may well have seen 9 volts being indicated on his meter, the reading could well have dropped to zero as soon the eye was connected into the socket, as its not exactly unknown for a voltage regulator to develop a problem whereby it fails on load.
You should get your cousin to prise open one of the magic eyes and measure the voltage whilst its plugged into the RF2.
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Wednesday 29 October 2014 11:13PM
Alan Green: Although the problem you are experiencing "is" symptomatic of the TV's tuner reacting to an excessive signal level being fed into the aerial socket, the fact of you stating that it was perfectly OK before the recent retune rather indicates that something other than an excessive signal level is responsible for the problem, at least that is based on the assumption that the company responsible for the maintenance of the communal aerial system did not make any adjustments to distribution amplifiers at the time of the retune.
However, although you may have manually deleted various channels, its really better to carry out a first time installation (or reset) on the TV, as this completely deletes anything stored in the tuners memory including any corrupt data that may have been picked up, but though I cant see a reset facility mentioned in the manual for this model, therefore you will have to resort to the second best.
This involves carrying out an auto tune "but" with the aerial connector having been removed beforehand, as this procedure will (or should) scrub everything in the tuners memory ready for the aerial being reconnected and a normal auto-tune being carried out, although in your particular model, after the aforementioned retune minus the aerial, its best to first of all switch the set completely off (from mains supply) for about 30 seconds or so before powering it up again, then carrying out the initial installation.
By the way, all said is based on your reception being from Sutton Coldfield, which on checking does indicate this being the case, albeit that the local (2,5 miles) Allesley Park transmitter is indicated as being possible to receive but on the basis of being variable, its BBC being on Mux C25, ITV on Mux C22.