All posts by jb38
Below are all of jb38's postings, with the most recent are at the bottom of the page.
Gill: The timings of the symptoms referred to would suggest that the problem is likely being caused by some form of localised interference, for example such as a neighbours washing machine, worn / sparking motor brushes in same being notorious for causing problems of this nature, other potential offenders in this respect being vacuum cleaners or sewing machines, or indeed any domestic device fitted with a brush type motor can be a potential source of interference.
Should you reside in a property with a neighbour through an adjoining wall? a good way of checking for interference from motorised equipment is by using a transistor radio fitted with a LW band. The procedure being to tune the radio to above where radio 4 LW is received (198Khz) followed by advancing the volume until background mush is audible, if you then position the radio close to the adjoining wall (preferably near to a power socket) shortly prior to when the interference is known to start, said interference if originating from a faulty device in a neighbours property will show up on the radio as a loud raspy type crackle.
This test also works on FM radio's tuned "not" to receive a programme, although the interference referred to shows up as a high pitched raspy noise above the background hiss.
Devices used to extend the range of WiFi etc or cable boxes used by Virgin and such likes are also potential sources of interference with reception, although in this case its somewhat more difficult to determine if the use of such equipment is responsible or not except to observe if said interference ever occurs when the neighbour is not at home.
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Agnes Harley : Queries of this nature have always got to be accompanied by a post code or one from nearby, e.g: a shop inc Post Office, as details of the transmitter covering the area and other technical info appertaining to reception is impossible to access without same.
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Terry Hall : No problem! Fully understandable, as I did have my doubts as to whether or not you would actually welcome the idea of possibly having to repeat the admittedly time consuming task of re-installing what you have already done, especially when purely for test purposes, and of course I fully appreciate the fact of you have already expressed the view that you aren't particularly bothered about losing BBC1's SD channels.
Anyway, should at any time you ever have second thoughts on the matter use the procedure as mentioned in my previous reply but with the following change, being to select ITV (Mux 59) followed by reinstalling the attenuator then *slightly* reducing the signal level indicated on same (e.g: if 90% reduce to 85 or 80%) before manually tuning in the BBC SD mux on C55, this action required now it's known that the 76dB previously referred to was taken by the aerial installer and not by yourself. If though this procedure fails to cure the problem then abandon the test, as the whole issue is really down to a tuner or software problem.
Bye the way, regarding the 76dB aerial end signal strength, this would only be expected to have reduced by about 1.5dB or so on high grade cable run of around 30 feet, should this distance be representative of your installation.
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J: Try swapping the coax feed from the dish presently connected into LNB2 over to LNB1, this being the input used for normal viewing, should this action make no difference to the situation? then the problem could be down to either - 1: the dish having been moved (blown by wind) slightly out of alignment - 2: water contamination inside the "F" connector / or coax cable - 3: a fault having developed in the LNB - 4: a defective box, the internal power supply being the usual reason for the problem.
Bye the way, as you are no longer a Sky subscriber then LNB2 does not require an input, as this socket is mainly used for recording which is not possible without a subscription.
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Edward J Hruszka: I suspect that the problem you refer to as well as same experienced by others, is most likely related to conditions associated with the current spell of high pressure sweeping in a somewhat irregular pattern across the country, as seen on Wm Hepburn's Tropospheric ducting charts, early Friday evening having apparently been particularly bad for reception in my own household in the Stamford area, members of reporting severe levels of pixelation on virtually all channels from Waltham and with zero HD reception from Belmont on C28, (more than one aerial in use) a test made later on by myself indicating similar difficulties from the Sandy (Anglia) transmitter, the situation having cleared to a certain extent much later in the evening.
Unfortunately the forecast on said charts for the coming week does not look too promising, as although the high pressure is seen to ease up for a time on Monday it returns a few hours later, Thursday forecast as being the worst in this respect.
By the way, it should be pointed out that problems related to atmospheric pressure can wipe out reception in one area, whilst others residing only around 15 miles away (or less in some cases) are relatively unaffected.
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Stephen kirman: Mustard TV is only viewable in the Norwich area from the Tacolneston transmitter via its Local mux broadcasting on C57/ 762.0Mhz. The only cable alternative to this being Virgin media 159.
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Chris Cottrell: Bluebell Hill, the station that covers the Maidstone area is not fitted with a "Local" multiplex as used by True Christmas (74).
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Julie: Film4 (15) is broadcast from the same transmitter as used by ITV (Wales) / Channel 5 etc and as such your Mum should be able to view it, if for any reason she is unable to, then try carrying out a retune on her set.
As far as extra channels are concerned, a test code of the area fed into the reception predictor did not indicate reception as being possible from anywhere except the local Gilfach Freeview Light station. However that said, a Google earth rooftop check around the higher areas of Gilfach (Dan Y Bryn) could suggest that reception "might" be possible from the Wenvoe main station located at 12 miles away, as a couple of aerials were seen pointing in that direction. But though it all depends on where your Mum is located relative to the area mentioned, a post code (or one from nearby e.g: shop /post office) required for checking.
By the way. Although your posting was made under the Bargoed stations heading, my reply was purely with reference to you having said that your Mum resides in Gilfach.
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Ray: Although Digital UK's reception predictor indicates that the area in question is covered by both Oxford @ 17miles / 262 degrees and Sandy Heath @ 31miles /47 degrees, however, a Megalithia terrain check on both stations reveals that the signal path from Sandy suffers from multiple line-of-sight obstructions starting from approximately 15miles prior to the given location, therefore I would be inclined to favour Oxford for reception.
As far as aerials are concerned, I would recommend using an aerial of the Log Periodic variety such as a Log 36, as this type of aerial will cover any future changes to the frequencies used for DTT transmission, the other bonus being that it incorporates protection against any possible interference from 4G transmissions.
Under is a link to a supplier of the aerial referred to, just scroll down to the appropriate section.
ATV`s Choice Of Aerials for digital TV
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Sunday 20 November 2016 10:54AM
Terry Hall : Good news then! At least up to a point anyway, as although its pleasing to know that you have found a way around the problem, although the method used to alleviate same can suggest that it's really being caused by varying levels of instability in the tuner, your previous report of C50 levels varying between 60% and zero being inclined to back this up. Therefore, although not wishing to say - "upset the apple cart" - I would really be interested in the result of carrying out the following test based on you having previously reported an aerial lead reading of 76dB, as although this level is generally perfectly OK on the majority of recently manufactured Freeview devices, it's possibly a tad high for your slightly older TVonics, as the "in practice" target levels are 51 - 71dB, Ofcom recommended levels being 45 - 65dB.
The test involves reinstalling the attenuator and adjusting same to give a reading of 70dB followed by carrying out a manual tune on Mux55, should this knock out C50, reduce the attenuator to 65% followed by carrying out an "auto" retune. If though none of these tests achieve the desired result, then unfortunately have no option other than to revert to retuning the box minus C55.