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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.


rob: I had also intended adding to my previous reply that out of the two devices mentioned the Wi-Fi box is is only one of the two that is designed to emit a radio signal, whereas anything radiating from the Virgin box would be unintentional in the form of interference, however the problem should now be easily solved should your neighbour be willing to purchased another brand of Wi-Fi device, my reason for stating another brand is just in case whatever they are using has a reputation for being responsible for this type of problem.

Maybe you could enquire as to the brand / model of device they are using?

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In that case, as your own VM hub is installed a good distance away from the TV then it wont really be known whether or not its also capable of causing similar problems to that experienced from your next door neighbours, as it might well do!, but though it would be interesting to know the result of an interference level comparison test between your neighbours hub and your own by using the same portable radio as before when positioned at a fixed distance from the hub, e.g: from exactly 3 or 4 feet above it, noting the result and then repeating the procedure on your neighbours hub.

The main aspect about this type of test being accuracy, that is ensuring that the radio is positioned in exactly the same spot in both locations and that no alterations are made to the tuning or volume settings on the radio between the two households.

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J
Full technical details of Freeview
Sunday 9 February 2014 5:15PM

Dsb : No problem! your findings when using a temporary connection into the aerial referred to somewhat proving that your problem was indeed caused by a fault on the input feed from the communal loft aerial, at least when the aerial installer has re-routed the cabling you will no longer be reliant on the communal system.

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Monday 10 February 2014 12:03AM

Paul: Compact fluorescent tubes of the type mentioned do not use external starters, because if your light fitting uses a two pin tube then the starter is an integral part of the tube (square section in middle) whereas the 4 pin version is triggered via an external high frequency ballast unit

Needless to say, your particular light fitting only requires the spike suppressor to be fitted across the light switch, and which I will fully agree should be isolated from the mains prior to fitting the suppressor.



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rob: Yes, most modern light weight power adaptors are what's known as SMPS devices, short for "switched mode power supplies" and which in practical terms are high frequency power converters, most of being prone to emitting high levels of RFI across a wide band of frequencies albeit only over very short distances of around a maximum of 3 feet or so.

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Tuesday 11 February 2014 11:49PM

neil larmour: Problems of the nature mentioned are usually always caused by one of two things, (1) a non-software related fault having occurred on the box and which in most cases is usually associated with its internal power supply, or (2) the dish having been moved out of alignment by such as strong winds etc.

Judging by what you have said with regards to already having tried a few procedures and with all of having resulted in failure, then your best policy by far is either try and test your box out on someone else's dish or alternatively their box on yours as this will then instantly reveal which one of the two reasons mentioned is responsible for your problem, as otherwise there really isn't any further procedures you can try.

By the way, if your box is a standard (non Sky+ type) you can still try it out on someone else's Sky+ installation, as the twin inputs from the dish used by Sky+ boxes are technically identical to each other.

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SteveK: When you say that you are line-of-sight with the Vodaphone mast are you purely referring the this in a visual sense and "not" connected with the direction that your aerial is facing? as the only Vodaphone mast that I can see on the Ofcoms mast locator is situated close to Northlands Avenue near to Janes Lane and which appears as being to the North of you, this then meaning that any signal received from that source is at nearly right angles (least sensitive area) to a mast pointing towards the Heathfield transmitter albeit that its just about in-line with reception from Crystal Palace.

I also checked out your location relative to that of the Heathfield transmitter using the terrain indicator, the result of being no glaringly obvious reasons for your bad reception being seen (by opening the undermentioned link) although if others in your area suffer from exactly the same C49 problem as yourself then some other factor has to be involved and which "might" possibly be connected with tuner input swamping being caused by a powerful 4G signal, although if this was the case then one would have expected the BBC on C52 to also be affected in one way or another.

The question being, do others in your area suffer from C49 reception problems?



Terrain between ( m a.g.l.) and (antenna m a.g.l.) - Optimising UK DTT Freeview and Radio aerial location


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Full technical details of Freeview
Saturday 15 February 2014 12:14PM

Neilo: What you have reported would suggest that the problem is more connected to a fault having developed in your TV tuners memory system rather than anything associated with any potential 4G problem. You should try carrying out a "factory reset" on the TV prior to retuning it as this action completely wipes the tuner of anything possibly retained in it, factory reset also being called "first time installation" or "default settings" etc dependant on the brand of equipment being used.

If the problem remains the same after having carried the aforementioned out then the next thing to try is to remove the aerial connection "prior" to switching the set off at the end of the evenings viewing, keeping it out until "after" the set is switched on the next day before reinserting it, because should this again result in missing channels then it strongly points to a tuner problem.

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Full technical details of Freeview
Saturday 15 February 2014 1:16PM

Neilo: You could of course just carry out the aforementioned procedure by leaving a gap of around 1 hour or so between the tests rather than overnight, the only reason for suggesting same being to introduce a time factor into the test as some types of problem may not always show up straight away.

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Saturday 15 February 2014 4:45PM

Nick Anderson: In answer to your first question, not necessarily! and in some cases could actually be detrimental as far as picture glitching is concerned, although dependent on where a person is located relative to that of the transmitter satisfactory reception might only be achieved with the addition of a booster being fitted in line with the aerial.

On the latter question, the wind has no effect whatsoever on reception except if its causing tree foliage and such likes to obstruct the signal path from the transmitter within the final 75 yards or so to where the receiving aerial is installed.

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