All posts by jb38
Below are all of jb38's postings, with the most recent are at the bottom of the page.
steve williams: Your problem can either be caused by a fault on your aerial system or indeed by the box itself, its a pity though that you tried retuning it as all you will have done is to lose the channels already stored in its memory, that is "if" they were still being shown on the EPG list prior to the re-installation that you carried out?, because should they not have been then that can indicate a faulty tuner, as the only other thing that can cause the EPG list to vanish is by the box having picked up more channels during a retune than the tuners memory can cope with, and in the case of the Polaroid its only 48 and a number which could be very easily exceeded.
If you previously received ITV3 then Winter Hill (@ 13 miles) is your most likely station, and so you should go into the boxes manual tune screen then enter and press tune on Ch62 (BBC), if though you could NOT previously receive ITV3 then you are most likely receiving from the Norden PSB transmitters (@ 1.2 miles) and in that case enter and press search on Ch53 and see if the BBC channels (and only the BBC) shows on the EPG list, giving an update on your findings.
The aforementioned said on the assumption that the box actually offers a manual tuning facility? because these boxes can be manufactured by any one of a number of middle Eastern companies hence no service details are obtainable for "checking the spec" as they say! as the Polaroid name is just a badge.
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NICK ADSL UK: Yes spot on! as the problem with LG and Samsung tuners is that they do not have a very good signal level tolerance range, whereby on one hand they require a reasonably good signal level to produce a glitch free picture whereas on the other hand they cannot cope with situations where even slight signal overload conditions exist, likewise will block reception well before any of the two devices I mentioned show any signs of problems.
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Jonathan Snowden: I don't really think that its quite so much a case of you having missed something obvious on any of the checks you have made, but more one of experiencing the type of problem that many do when receiving signals from out with the coverage area of a transmitter, and something which applies in the case of the missing Ch25 from the Lancaster SDN transmitter as this station is not seen indicated anywhere as covering the Arnside areas due to signal path obstructions apparently within 1.5 miles of your location.
There is a possibility that the signal is still actually there but sitting at a level that's under the reception threshold of your receivers, this being something you can check on by going into the manual tune facility on one of your boxes and entering Ch25, but do NOT press search or scan, because on most devices as soon as the number is entered the level that its being received at should be indicated.
If you do see anything indicated, then make a note of it and change the channel number to Ch22 (on the assumption that you can get Film 4) and once again make a note of the level its seen indicated as being, because the reception threshold level will be at some point between the two indications.
By the way do any of your neighbours receive Freeview from Lancaster? as most of the aerials I seen on a scout around the area would appear to be facing towards the Kendal PSB only station.
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Ian: Another point being, that if your client happens to reside anywhere in the LE10 area then reception from Waltham is only predicted as being poor anyway due to en-route signal path obstructions, and although many people contrary to the predictors indications might well manage to achieve reasonable reception but what they do manage to receive is not by any means guaranteed as lasting, as in many cases the level that the signals are being received at is not at what could be considered as being a robust level by being not that terribly much above the reception cut off level of their equipment, this meaning that any relatively "minor" variations in transmitter output that would not even be noticed by most would however have more serious consequences to equipment whose reception was near to the aforementioned level.
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Ian: Of course it isn't! as analogue reception can work right down to near zero signal level when the picture can barely be picked out from the background speckles, whereas with digital reception a picture can "only" resolved from between two set levels, namely the lower and upper thresholds, the problem being that under the lower as well as over the upper results in exactly the same symptoms and why set procedures have to be used to determine which applies.
The DUK's reception predictor in common with anything associated with RF signal prediction is never guaranteed to be 100% accurate as RF signals in the frequencies used by Freeview etc cannot ever be accurately predicted, but when transmitter coverage maps do not indicate that the signal being radiated from a certain transmitter covers an area then any reports of bad reception from the said area has to be associated with the fact of it not officially being covered, and as such anything that might be received could be classed as being purely through good fortune.
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Jonathan Snowden: Well should you be fortunate enough to be located in a favourable position to receive Freeview from Lancaster then some other factor must be applying, and so what Dave Lindsay has mentioned just might be a possible factor as Caldbeck is indeed at a 180 degree bearing from Lancaster, and in many cases the level of reception from the rear of an aerial is found to be only slightly down to that of when the aerial is pointing directly at the transmitter.
That said though, if Caldbeck's predicted coverage map is blown up there are no traces whatsoever of the signal from that source even as high up as Keswick let alone anywhere remotely in your area, however the possibility always applies that if Caldbeck's Ch25 is involved then its maybe purely through signal reflection such as from a hillside etc due to the seasonal changes in the terrain, and although Caldbeck radiates in the horizontal polarity compared to Lancaster's vertical when dealing with a reflected signal this factor does not to a certain extent hold the same importance.
This is really type of situation where people with loft aerial's have a decided advantage, as should they be able to access their loft they can leave the TV or box on the signal checking screen and slowly turn the aerial around 360 degrees whilst observing the quality indicator and noting the angle that gives the best quality, as quality always has priority over strength.
Of course if you are receiving Ch25 at roughly the same signal strength levels as Lancaster's other muxes then its maybe just the case that the signal quality is being corrupted by something more local, this being where it always saves a lot of time by simply making an enquiry elsewhere (but not too far away) to find out what the situation is at the other location, "if" that is the household at that location is also able to receive Freeview from Lancaster, and should it be able to but with the same Ch25 problem as your own then there really isn't anything that can be done about the situation as its outwith your control.
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Dave Lindsay / (Jonathan Snowden): Although the diplexer idea might well result in being able to view the correct ITV regional programmes for the Arnside area but though it would not make any difference to the situation concerning Ch25, and with this being basically because that "if" Caldbeck's Ch25 is the source of the problem by being picked up on the rear of the Lancaster facing aerial then nothing that can be done is likely to change this situation except by "possibly" trying an alternative aerial position, the highlighting on possibly being because success is by no means certain and with my opinion being that in this situation it wont be.
Jonathan Snowden: Regarding the issue of possible reception from Caldbeck, which I have to say was obviously thought about when the frequencies to use were being decided upon hence why both Caldbeck and Lancaster have offsets of either + or - on their frequencies and due to the fact of five of Caldbeck's frequencies clashing with Lancaster's, although its only two that are of any concern and namely Ch25 and Ch28 as the others (Ch27 / Ch24 / Ch22) are aimed at the Scottish region.
However you can easily test if anything is actually being received from Caldbeck by once again using the manual tuning menu on one of your various devices (pref one with quality indication) and entering Calbeck's Ch26 (ArqA) to see if anything is being indicated as well as what level, then change the channel to Caldbecks Ch29 (ArqB) and likewise noting what's seen, giving an update on results.
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Chris Foley: Although already having been touched upon, but in all cases where reception is involved its essential for anyone assisting to have knowledge of a persons location, this in the form of a post code or one from nearby such as a shop, as this would then enable the signal reception predictor to be accessed as well as info on the transmitters involved.
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Ian: Exactly!! as although it cannot be denied that lots of people find Freeview to be perfectly OK for their requirements and especially those who have TV's or boxes fitted in a number of rooms, as it simply involves using an aerial splitter or distribution amp and running a single coax to each of the remote locations, whereas with Freesat or Sky each location requires its own individual feed from the dish, or x 2 to each location if a PVR is involved.
But though convenient as Freeview might be it still it doesn't take away from the fact that reception via terrestrial digital is by its very nature not near so robust as when received via a satellite system where the signal arrives from above, and as such is for 99% of the time impervious to being interfered with, this unlike in the case of Freeview reception where the signal from the mast frequently experiences obstructions of various sorts along the way then when it arrives at the receiver it (the receiver) has to battle with such things as atmospheric induced (or otherwise) co-channel interference etc as well as a whole host or other types of problems that are too numerous to mention, many of them not being of a rectifiable nature.
The problem with the aforementioned being that the situation will never improve, and indeed could get worse for some as channels are squeezed into a smaller area for the purpose of allowing the bands that they were operating in to be sold off for mobile phone use, something I intensely disagree with.
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Friday 1 February 2013 8:35AM
john: And just to add, that when you cancel your subscription you will still be able to view all of the programmes that you presently do except the ones dedicated to a Sky package, you can check on what these are by simply removing the card from the box, because any that are dedicated to a package will come up with a caption.
The only other thing that would happen when you cancel your subscription is, that if you are using a Sky+ box everything associated with the recording or playback will become inoperable.