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All posts by jb38

Below are all of jb38's postings, with the most recent are at the bottom of the page.

J
Indoor aerials | Installing
Tuesday 26 July 2011 9:26PM

John: Well, on looking at the reception possibilities (using trade view) for the post code mentioned I would say its very doubtful if any reception would be possible using an indoor aerial of any sort, the nearest station I can see being Hannington @ 17 miles away on a bearing of 232 degrees from his location.

If he has a room of his own with a "South facing window" then one of these inexpensive portable Satellite kits would work indoors provided he could sit the dish tripod facing out of the unopened window, other than that there really isn't much that can be done, as is not until February 2012 onwards that the possibilities reception "might" start to improve.

By the way, these Satellite kits referred to plugs into the TV's rear scart socket.

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J
Indoor aerials | Installing
Tuesday 26 July 2011 9:34PM

John: Just noticed Mazbar's reply, and agree insomuch that the landlord has nothing to lose if a tenant volunteers to pay for the aerial himself.

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Garry Walker: This is the problem with chimney mounts in areas where reception can be a bit iffy, as where an aerial is positioned in the horizontal plane is sometimes more important than its vertical one, (height) and the point for best reception is not by any means always necessarily where the chimney might be positioned, this being where gutter mounted aerials can be much more flexible in this respect for obvious reasons.

With regards to what the aerial people had said, I cant disagree with this as nothing can be guaranteed whatsoever, with the very nature of what's being done being time consuming.

The aspect of what you have said that gives me doubts about success is the fact you report than the reception went downhill before you had the new aerial installed, and considering the size of the object you consider has caused the problem moving the aerial might not make any difference.

The reception levels you indicate are certainly not good, and trying out a booster of about at least 15db could lift the signal up to a slightly better level away from its cut off threshold, other than that I would hold off until next April when transmission changes "might" help the situation.


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J
Indoor aerials | Installing
Wednesday 27 July 2011 8:02AM

Briantist / John: Yes, thanks Briantist, that's the type of kits I was meaning, or even the one that Aldi has in stock now and again, the dishes supplied with these are a bit on the small side for use in Northern parts of the UK (Scotland) as far as ease of alignment is concerned, but no problem in Southern areas.

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mark: Plugging devices into any of the TV sockets should have no effect whatsoever on the signal strength being received, "unless" that is that either the cable going into the TV's aerial plug / socket is loose and is being disturbed by any slight movement of the TV, or that there is serious deficiencies with your aerial system, this is being unknown.

You are only 1 mile from the Brierley hill transmitter and in theory should be receiving a good signal "if" your aerial is pointing to it, BBC being on Mux Ch68 and ITV1 etc on Mux Ch65, your aerial being mounted vertically, have a check on this via your TV's tuning menu.

Also have a check up in the 800 ranges of channels, as you might find better reception from some of the channels up there, if you do check what Mux (not EPG) channel numbers they show as, which may well be Brierley Hill.

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mark: Brierley Hill being at 215 degrees from you.

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Peter Dawson: Work is constantly going on at Belmont in preparation for switchover next month, and although engineering information bulletin's are frequently seen as having been given, I really do think if they represented the true picture of whats happening there would be twice as many as what there are.

I have a number of friends in the Newark area and they are always on about it.

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J
Sutton Coldfield (Birmingham, England) Full Freeview transmitte
Thursday 28 July 2011 4:33PM
Wolverhampton

jordan: Obviously local terrain plays a large part in reception possibilities where you are located, as the post code on your last posting gives glowing reports on both Sutton Coldfield and the Wrekin, although with the latter being variable on Mux A /SDN until 28th September.

This is in contrast to a test code (WV5 9HA - Wombourne Civic hall) based on the named location (P/Code inoperable!) you gave in the first posting, as the predictions on that indicated Sutton Coldfield as being out of the running, and with only three Mux's being possible from The Wrekin, with Ridge Hill also three but not brilliant!

"If" you are located at the last code given then I cant see any problems with an indoor aerial, indoor meaning loft and not facing into a water tank.

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J
Diagnostics - old version
Thursday 28 July 2011 8:47PM

james cully: There really isn't any connection between the receiving side of the set and its A/V input facilities. If you haven't already tried it, I would completely disconnect the set from the mains, then wait about 15 seconds or so before plugging it back in again, leaving the DVD unconnected for the time being before reconnecting the mains.

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Ian: Yes, that statement could really have been cut out, as its partially duplicating what has already been mentioned about wideband being necessary to receive Ch5 on analogue in the early days when it first started.

As most people who already receive Belmont will already have a wideband aerial no further alterations are necessary, except maybe to remove any aerial amplifiers that may be fitted to avoid the possibility of tuner overloading problems, this of course done after switchover should any signal overloading problems be suspected, e,g: signal cutting out or even no signal at all, as too powerful a signal can have exactly the same symptoms as one that is too weak, that being the beauty of digital, totally misleading symptoms to baffle the non-technical!

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