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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.


Adrian: Thanks for the update regarding your problem, which I will say is one that quite a number of people have suffered from after having carried out an auto-tune when residing in an area where more than one station can be picked up, this unfortunately applying right across the Central belt of England, or alternatively another reason being because they have carried out repeated re-scans in an attempt to obtain channels lost, then only to lose them again because what has been found has taken the total number beyond the memory capacity of the tuner.

Some TV / boxes (later Panasonic's to name but one) have a facility whereby that after a re-scan a choice box comes on where you can choose the region you require, and once selected it deletes any channel out with the region chosen, but its not a foolproof system and doesn't always work correctly in certain circumstances.

Although you seem to have ironed out the problem for now this is unfortunately liable to get upset again on the 22nd Feb when a re-tune is required because of channel changes, I would therefore suggest that rather than auto-tune you carry out another re-set followed a "manual" tune of the six muxes involved, as this will guarantee that you don't get a surplus of channels.

Channels required are: 45 - 42 - 39(HD)- 41 - 44 - 47, but remember do not do this until 22nd.

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J
Hannington (Hampshire, England) transmitter
Friday 10 February 2012 4:31PM

Richard: If you simply have a powered splitter then the amplification obtained from these devices is minimal and as such they can really be looked at as a no-loss splitter, however this may still take the signal over the top if its already very high, so all you require to do is fit an attenuator in line with the splitters input
and that will retain the isolation the outputs have from each other in the same way as at present. (this always being desirable)

I would suggest about a 10dB attenuator should suffice, although variable types are the best as you can trim them to exactly whats required, albeit of course that they are not precision devices and tend to be a bit crude when adjustments are being made. (have to be adjusted really slowly).

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Neil: With any query made involving a reception issue its not really possible to offer advice when a persons location isnt known, this preferably in the form of a post code, as it would then enable an assessment to be made of the signal level expected at the given location and from what station, as it might involve more than one choice being available.

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J
Diagnostics - old version
Saturday 11 February 2012 8:08AM

JRichards: What you were told on delivery could possibly have been because it was generally known that Freeview was not available in your particular area, which of course is something which can apply dependant on wherever a person might reside, but this cannot be verified or not as the case may be except by knowledge of your location, this in the interests of the accuracy of reply preferably in the form of a post code.

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Hannington (Hampshire, England) transmitter
Saturday 11 February 2012 5:26PM
Fleet

tim w: You have to appreciate another point concerning the reception problems you are experiencing, insomuch that using Church Crookhams Ridgeway Parade Post Office as a test code of GU52 6NY (yours being unknown) the DRG's reception predictor quite clearly indicates that at present its only possible to receive the BBC Mux and no others, not even with the status of poor.

Reception predictors by the very way they collate and display the information always have elements of potential inaccuracies in what they might forecast, as they cannot take into account any local difficulties that might cause obstructions to the signal path, but when it predicts that its only possible for one multiplex to be received this generally indicates that the area referred to is liable to be of a nature where moving only a few yards or so can result in large variations in signal strength, this possibly why Andy Frazer seems to have reasonable reception whereas you haven't.

However on April 12th all multiplexes are indicated as being OK on the test code used, although as a guide on what to expect come that date use BBC1 as its presently operating on its final power, as will the ITV and the HD service be on Feb 22nd when they also join BBC on high power.

This said of course excluding any possible deficiencies that may (or may not) still be in existence connected to mast feed problems at the station.

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w hicks: Quite simply because the standards of professionalism has fallen off over the last few years, this coinciding with a new breed of young "trendies" finding their way into positions that really demanded
long term experience rather than modern qualifications to obtain a position, that is as well as who they might know in higher places!

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Jo: You probably cannot find it because the TV is still set to DVB (digital Freeview)
go into the TV's menu and select "analogue" and Ch6 should still be there.

This said of course assuming that its the same TV? and that when you say you lost the terrestrial signal you are actually meaning that the analogue transmissions ceased.

On "some" TV's the selection between analogue and DVB can be made on the remote control, whereas on others its via the menu.

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mr.moe: Unfortunately no! as the card is programmed by Sky to in effect instruct the box to tune and store the programme channel(s) associated with the subscribers location and placing them into the EPG listings, but when the card is removed the Sky box reverts back to its default settings of London news etc as it loses the personalised aspect.

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Neil: Thanks for the update regarding location, armed with this knowledge I have now checked the reception predictions indicated for your area, this showing that Sutton Coldfield (@ 27mls) as well as Waltham (@ 26mls) are the main choices, with the Derby (@ 4mls) PSB only relay also being shown.

Without actually knowing which one of the stations you are using, but "if" you are receiving from the very high powered Sutton Coldfield transmitter then the distinct possibility exists that the signal you are receiving is slightly over the top strength wise, as the symptoms of an over powerful signal is "exactly" the same as to one that's on the weak side, even as far as the signal strength being indicated is concerned, so if you are aware that this is the station you are using then I suggest that for a test you by-pass the booster for a day and evaluate the result.

If though you are not sure where you are receiving from then select BBC1 and carry out a signal strength check, this not so much for the strength aspect but more to note the Mux channel number shown associated with the strength indication, if its Sutton Coldfield its Ch43 whereas if Waltham its Ch61. (Derby Ch48)

Maybe you could give an update on the channel number seen, also your local news service can help indicate where you receive from, as if its anything "other" than East Midlands today then its Sutton Coldfield, if though its East Midlands today then than can mean either Derby or Waltham.

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mr.moe: Not really, as you cannot get away from having to use the "other channels" facility to view programmes other than the boxes default ones mentioned, as when you go into the other channels menu and enter the frequencies etc of any hitherto local channel that was previously received, you are in effect just simulating what the Sky card was programmed to do, albeit a lot more conveniently. (with the card)

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