All posts by jb38
Below are all of jb38's postings, with the most recent are at the bottom of the page.
Anne: Just out of interest where is your aerial installed? because indications are that you are located at only 8 miles away from the Emley Moor transmitter and as such (in theory anyway) should be getting blasted with a signal from there, if you have a set top aerial kicking around try a test using that.
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Graham Cole: There is a number of stations that appears as being possible to pick up from your location Hannington @ 25 miles / 309 degrees being the only one indicating reasonably good, I feel that your best policy would be to scrub anything already stored by resetting your TV or box and then using the "manual" tune facility to tune in each of Hanningtons muxes one at a time, storing the results.
First though just to make sure that your loft aerial is correctly positioned go into your devices manual tune screen and enter Hanningtons mux Ch45 (BBC) but do NOT press search or scan, because as soon as you enter Ch45 its signal strength / quality should be indicated on the bars, just leave that screen on and use it for trimming the aerial alignment for maximum quality, albeit with the assistance of another person observing the screen.
You can then press search followed by storing the results of the search, once completed use exactly the same procedure to capture the remaining muxes.
Hanningtons channels being /
45 - 42 - 39 (HD) - 41 - 44 - 47.
PS: If by any chance your initial manual test on mux Ch45 results in a very low reading and which is not helped any by trimming the aerial, then give an update on this as you might require the aid of a signal booster.
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Graham Cole: Just to add to that already said, when I referred to your loft aerial being correctly positioned this does not necessarily mean correctly angled from one fixed position but also to experiment with it in various parts of the loft, and with the reason for saying that being that the signal path between your location and Hannington is seen to suffer from obstructions at various points along the way starting from roughly 7 - 16 miles, 12 miles being the main one and these type of situations generally demands a certain level of experimenting to obtain the best position, this being where loft mounting generally scores over roof installations, and so when trying the initial signal test I referred to on BBC also try a few positions to the left or right just to make sure that you have the best spot, it would also be prudent to carry out the same test on say Ch41 (ITV3) as the six muxes used by main transmitters are seldom ever received at the same strengths, and of course the three commercial channels from Hannington only transmit on half the power of the PSB channels.
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Steve: If Dave does not appear on the EPG listings then go into your boxes tuning menu and select "manual" tune and enter Ch22 but do NOT press search or scan because on most equipment the signal strength of that channel will immediately be seen, make a note of whatever it is for reference purposes THEN press search and observe if any channels are found, storing them if they are as this will add them to your EPG list.
If though on the other hand nothing is found, then this simply means that the level seen indicated is under the reception threshold for the box being used and likewise the signal requires boosting.
You can test the level required for reception by carrying out the previously described manual tune test but this time using either Ch27 (ITV1) or Ch25 (ITV3) and noting the levels indicated, then you compare the levels obtained from those two against that from Ch22 which failed to store anything.
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Roy Barton: With regards to you having doubts about the problem having possibly been caused by your own installation, which of course has not been proven as yet, but this is the type of situation where its sometimes advisable to make some local enquiries for purposes of determining if the problem is being experienced elsewhere, as its by far the quickest way to confirm (or otherwise) if your installation is at fault or not.
As far as Vertical as well as Horizontal transmissions are concerned, its just simply the case that the transmitter output (via a matching unit) is connected to the radiating elements used for the two polarities involved, this just the reverse situation of a viewer receiving from two stations that radiate of different polarities, both the aerials being combined in a diplexer and fed to the receiver via one coax.
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Steve: Meant also to ask, are the three boxes you refer to of the same manufacture? and if by any chance they are it would be of interest to know the model number of the device.
The other point being, I noticed that you mentioned trying the aerial connected straight into the TV, then unless you find out that your problem is being caused by the reason mentioned by KMJ,Derby and which "is" a distinct possibility, then you should really use a two way powered splitter to feed the signal into your TV and box as this is the only way that guarantees that each device will be receiving exactly the same level of signal.
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Paul Parkinson: This can be caused by a number of different reasons, many of being by-passed if you could either try the box on someone else's dish (even if single feed) or alternatively them trying their box on yours.
However, as two input feeds are used on that box then the first thing to try is swapping the LNB1 and LNB2 inputs over, because any problem that might have developed on the LNB1 input feed will trigger that warning as LNB1 is the main input, LNB2 used mostly for recording purposes.
If the situation is still the same then the next ting to do is carry out a signal level check using the following procedure, as even although "no signal" might be indicated its not necessarily the case that none whatsoever is there, as it could be but at a reduced level to that required for reception.
Check the signal strength / quality using this procedure: (Sky+ HD with later menu)
(1): Press services on your Sky remote control then press the right arrow once to navigate from "Options to "Settings", pressing on this will cause the menu change to one with "Picture" being highlighted. (do not press on this)
(2): Press the right arrow three times to select and press on "Signal", the grey bars now displayed will show you the strength / quality level of the signal.
Any signal level indicated has to around the 55% (or equivalent of) minimum level to resolve a picture and especially where the quality is concerned, because if the quality is observed to be under that of the signal strength then that generally indicates that the dish has moved slightly and requires re-aligning, this usually (although not always!) being rectified by it being moved the merest fraction either way in its horizontal (right to left) plane.
If though nothing is indicated then you will have to check the LNB settings using the undermentioned procedure.
LNB checking - reset on a Sky HD box:-
(1): Press services on your Sky remote control then press the right arrow once to navigate from "Options to "Settings", pressing on this will cause the menu change to one with "Picture" being highlighted. (do not press on this)
3: Press "0 - 1 - Select" in quick succession to access the Installer setup menu (this menu is not listed on the Settings menu options).
4: Finally press Select to see the Setup menu displayed and with the Hi and Lo band frequencies indicated.
The correct LNB values should read:
LNB Type: Standard
1: Low Band LO Frequency: 9.75
2: High Band LO Frequency:10.60
3: LNB Power Supply: ON
4: 22 KHz Command: ON
Press the red button to reset them to default values even although they may
already be indicating them.
Whilst on the installers menu you should also check "TXponder" to the right of "Set up" the correct values for this as below.
Frequency: 11.778
Polarisation: V
Symbol Rate (Mbaud): 27.5
FEC: 2/3
Further advice dependant on results, although if all settings appeared to be OK you could try "Install" which you may have noticed in the set up menu.
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Roy Barton: With regards to the latter part of my reply and where I gave an example of a reverse situation to transmission involving the reception of H & V polarised signals from two aerials being combined in a diplexer and with reference to this in relation to the first paragraph of your latest posting, I did actually say >> a viewer receiving from "two" stations radiating on different polarities << and not two aerials of differing polarities being diplexed when receiving from the same bi-polarity station, something which I feel would be a pointless exercise anyway.
It has to be appreciated that when dealing with RF signals in any frequency band under that of microwave that "nothing" is exact once the signals have travelled via airspace, and so have to be looked at in a somewhat different way to that as though they were still contained "within" a transmitter station and being carried via trunking or cabling, as once an RF signal has left the mast this is where theory and practice generally starts to part company and elements of educated guesswork is the order of the day in attempting to solve any reception problem, but of course based on knowledge of the range of variables that is likely to apply, as the problem with remote diagnosing of reception difficulties is that the only way of assessing the situation is by feedback supplied by the viewer and so the more info supplied the better!
That said though, nothing can really beat an on site visit armed with a quality signal meter and a test aerial of the medium sized log periodic type so that the levels indicated are not being biased by the characteristics of the aerial, as well as it being beneficial for other bits and pieces to be at hand to either boost or reduce the signal level dependant on the location in relation to that of the transmitter, as a number of physical checks can be carried out on an installation in the first stages of an on site visit that cannot really be done without exceptionally lengthy two way "questions and answers" postings being involved.
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Roy Barton: Just noticed that Jamie has made a posting earlier on regarding the subject of polarity, me having likewise composed a reply earlier on elsewhere then copied and pasted it into the sites reply box "without" having checked first.
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Friday 22 February 2013 9:11PM
kevin: Yes, many thanks for your input regarding that particular procedure as I am unable to test this for myself by not being in possession of an Irish viewing card, which of course is a bit of an impediment to say the least.
I also feel that you are possibly correct regarding your suspicion of not being able to plan a recording in advance, this being one of the snags that can crop up when trying to defeat the system and why I had mentioned the procedure as having an element of "hit and miss" about it, as info I received from two of my contacts in Eire that use Sky+ HD boxes have given somewhat contradictory reports, this rather indicating that success (or not) is inclined to be box dependant and possibly connected to the software version installed, therefore purely for reference purposes I would be interested to know the software version installed in your particular box as well as the model number that's printed on the label, this either being on the underside or the rear panel label.
With regards to cancelling the contract with Sky but opting to pay the £10.00 per month to be able to use the recording facility, yes! that's what quite a number of people choose to do, although paying £120 per year simply for the privilege of using the recorder is likewise considered by many others as not being particularly good value for money, and so generally end up purchasing a subscription free Freesat PVR as this is 100% compatible with the Sky dish system, whereby once that the purchase price is paid there are no further expenses involved.