All posts by jb38
Below are all of jb38's postings, with the most recent are at the bottom of the page.
JamesT: Purely on the issue of the frequency, you can quite safely ignore the difference referred to as this difference is well within the automatic frequency lock on range of the tuners fitted in all modern TV's or boxes, the precise frequency being given on this site only really being for information purposes, as other wise its neither here nor there because in Freeview devices it cannot be tuned with a decimal point anyway.
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glenn: Have you allowed the TV long enough to populate the guide? as unfortunately many TV's including the excellent Panasonic models can take quite a considerable time to fill the programme guide in, this sometimes being as long as 30 minutes or so and thats just to indicate the next 24 hours.
You should select Freesat and try the guide test on that mode, as usually (but not always) programme guides on the Freesat mode are populated considerably faster.
Will say though, that these guides are totally dependant on the broadcasters having sent out the information in the first place.
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Grant: Predictor indications suggest that you should have good reception from the Gartley Moor transmitter at 5 miles / 160 degrees, the aerial being vertically mounted. (elements up and down)
You should carry out a signal check on Gartley's BBC mux Ch58, this done by going into your TV / boxes "manual" tuning menu and entering Ch58 into the box, but with this action NOT followed by pressing search or scan, because should any signal be received its strength / quality level will on most equipment be indicated immediately after entering the channel number.
Should anything be received, then make a note of the levels seen and then change the number to Ch61 (ITV1), once again as before noting what's indicated and giving an update on the result.
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anne cosgrove: If both Sky boxes are being fed from the same dish albeit with each box having its own feed directly from the dish, then your problem has to be caused by either (1) a fault on connection between the dish and the box, this including the possibility of water having entered the "F" connector on the dishes LNB, or (2) the port used on the dish being defective, (3) the box itself having developed a fault, so try swapping the two over.
All said on the assumption that you are using two boxes? and not just one box feeding the modulators signal via RF1 or 2 to another TV.
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Phil C Chester: If the filter referred to was genuinely installed to stop interference from a local radio ham then that should not (in theory anyway) have any relevance to your problem, as the frequencies involved are vastly different.
The only thing I do find odd about what you have reported being you having said that your neighbours do not experience any problems, as numerous people have complained about reception difficulties with Ch50 immediately after the retune, this raising the question about your own installation with regards to whether or not you can receive programme number (11) Pick TV or (82) Sky News? as these channels are transmitted on mux Ch49, because if you cannot receive them either then it points to an aerial problem, further advice on this dependant on reply.
It would also have been of assistance as far as being able to assess the signal levels expected at your location is concerned if you had provided a post code, or at least one from somewhere nearby such as a shop / post office.
(Ch49 be)
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Phil C Chester: Thanks for the update, the content of being inclined to suggest that although you might well be receiving COM5 (Ch49) its not necessarily with a surplus of strength, as 50 / 60% could be considered to be slightly on the low side and especially where the quality is concerned, as ideally it should be much higher than the strength, this being where I would like you to try a further test.
The angle I am getting at is, that its undeniable that the BBC channel is down in "certain" areas compared to what it previously was on Ch62, although I am inclined to put this down to the differences in propagation that exist between frequencies, but though still something which would appear worse by any deficiency that might exist with the aerial system being used.
My reason for saying this being, that Winter Hills channel span before the recent retune was Ch's 54 - 62, and with this range being more than adequately catered for by a group C/D aerial (identified by green blanking plug on end of aerial) which has an operating range of between Ch's 48 - 68 thereby giving an ideal overlap at each end of Winter Hills channel span, whereas the channel span now of 49 - 59 results in the aerial having virtually no overlap worth talking about at its lower end, and of course an aerials reception efficiency is always slightly lower near to each end of its operating range and especially so at the lower frequency end, something which would obviously be detrimental to an already low Ch50.
This being where the aforementioned further test referred to comes into the equation, as I would like you to carry out a signal level check on the following channels but using the "manual tune" procedure which in effect uses the receivers tuner as a signal meter, the method being to enter the tuning menu / manual tune and enter the mux channel number to be tested but NOT being followed by pressing the search or scan button, as the signal level of the mux channel should be seen as soon as the number is entered, make a note of the levels seen and then enter the next channel number and so on, this being a more accurate way of assessing a situation.
Channels to test (in COM order) being: 50 - 59 - 54 (if you have HD) - 58 - 49 - 55.
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Colin Elliot: Yes, but when Freeview (DVB) is selected on your Freesat TV is it able to receive (15) Film 4? because Film 4 is transmitted on mux Ch49 from the Blairgowrie transmitter.
You can check if the signal is being received by going into the Freeview "manual" tuning menu and entering Ch49 into the box, but with this action NOT being followed by pressing search or scan, because if a signal is being received its strength / quality will be indicated immediately after having entered Ch49.
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Sean Connelly: A no signal warning does not always necessarily indicate that nothing at all is being received, and so there is always the possibility that a signal is being picked up but not at a level high enough for the receiver to decode, hence its ignored.
You should carry out a signal check using the following procedure:
Press "Services" on your Sky remote control and you will see the main menu with "Options" being highlighted.
2:- Select the "Settings" menu using the right arrow button and press select.
3:- Use the left / right arrows to scroll to "Signal" and press select, the the grey bars displayed will show you the strength of the anything that might be received.
If you do see anything indicated then the strength / quality levels being indicated for both tuners have to be around 55% minimum or more to produce a picture, because if its significantly less than this then it points to the dish being slightly out of alignment.
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Richard: Try carrying out a "factory reset" on your box, this also being called "default setting" "reinstall all services" or "first time installation" as the receivers tuner has to be wiped clean of anything stored in its memory and the aforementioned procedure is the only effective way of doing this.
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Saturday 20 April 2013 4:41PM
DebbieK: Even although the signal may well have presently vanished as a direct result of the frequency changes etc, there is always a chance of it partially returning at some point in the next month or so as signal propagation is usually always affected by seasonal changes to the terrain, the effect of being far more noticeable in areas such as yours and where any signal that is being received is likely only to be through signal diffraction. (bending over objects such as hills)
Of course the problem there being, that even if the signal did return to a level that produces a picture its usually always of a short lived nature to the extent that it cannot be relied upon, Freesat being the mode that's virtually guaranteed to provide perfect subscription free reception for about 99.9% of the year, and with the only time not being for a few minutes at the most during a very heavy thundery type downpour, or alternatively in other instances during spells of heavy snow and where some may have accumulated in the bowl of the dish, this being easily cleared if the dish has been mounted within reach of a long brush handle.
By the way, in any Freesat installation where a dish is "not" being provided through a subscription, its always best policy to request that what's known as a "Zone 2" dish be fitted, as indeed is done as standard in Scottish regions, because by it being just that little bit larger it provides a slightly higher level of signal over that of Sky's standard (English region) Zone 1 types, this making it that little bit more resistant to being affected by heavy rain etc.