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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.


Andy springer: I had also meant to add, that if the picture is a bit grainy when coupled directly into the TV (no splitter) then trying different channels at each end of the scale (21-30 or 58-68) is about the only thing that you can do to help the situation without actually using a small booster between both devices, as some Sky HD boxes are known to have modulators with rather low RF output levels.

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J
Digital switch-over problems | Switchovers
Thursday 10 May 2012 9:01PM

Jan Robins: You are indicated as being roughly 16 miles away from Crystal Palace and as such an outdoor aerial could be receiving an excessively strong signal from the now high powered multiplexes, the symptoms of an over the top signal being very similar to that described.

If you use any type of booster then this must be by-passed, if though you do not have one then purely for an initial test try using a set top aerial on the lounge TV, and if you get reception of sorts then that indicates that you are indeed in an exceptionally strong signal area and so an attenuator will require to be placed in line with the aerial downlead.

Apart from reasons mentioned, another possible reason could be, albeit its less likely, that your TV's have tuned to an alternative transmitter during the re-tune.

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MR &MRS GODDARD: If you received Freeview HD before Rowridges (@ 25 miles) switchover to high powered operation then its most likely because your signal is now excessively high and that will block HD before SD, so if you use any type of booster then try by-passing it.

If you do not use a booster, then should you have access to a set top aerial trying plugging that in and carry out another re-tune, giving an update on the results.

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maureen williams: I think(?) that I understand your system, its just that its unusual for a property to use two dishes.

Yes, check out the "F" plug, although there is another way that you could verify if the lead was at fault or not and that is by temporarily trying the Sky+ box on it using only its LNB1 input, although I do appreciate that to try this would probably cause an upset to your layout, especially if the Sky+ box was housed in a cabinet of any sorts.

The point to remember though being, that each lead from an LNB on a dish is totally independent from any of the other outlet ports seen, and if its found that a "no signal" indication is obtained from more than one port then in 99.9% of the cases its because the dish is "very" slightly out of alignment in its horizontal plane, a slight nudge being given on either its left or right hand sides "sometimes" bringing it back into alignment.

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Joe: On checking back on your original posting I see that you have two Sky+ boxes, and so the easiest way of finding out where the fault is located is by swapping the two boxes over, as should the fault stay upstairs then it has to be something connected with the dish feeds, such as the "F" connectors / cable being having become waterlogged, so the "F" connectors on the block should be unscrewed and checked out.

The other point is, that if the upstairs uses two of the feeds from the dish arms quad block and the other two is used for downstairs, then the dish must be aligned OK or it would affect downstairs as well, so that aspect can be excluded from the equation.

An LNB port on the block could have failed, and this was the reason that I previously requested that you swap LNB1 input over with LNB2, as you will only get a signal showing if LNB1 input is OK.

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J
ITV +1
Thursday 10 May 2012 11:32PM

Jane: No!, only ITV1+1

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murf: ITV3 (epg 10) is now operating on high power from Sandy Heath on SDN mux channel 51 but has only been doing so since early yesterday morning, so I suggest that a complete reset should be made on whatever she is using followed by another auto-tune being carried out.

If she doesn't live local to you then ask her to remove the aerial and carry out an auto-tune without it as that will blank out anything stored, then reinsert the aerial again and carry out a final auto-tune and that will load the channels back in again.

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Deborah: By being located at only 10 miles away from Crystal Palace its very likely that you are receiving an excessively high level of signal and that can cause problems in the tuner, so if you have any form of booster this must be removed or by-passed.

If though you do not use a booster, then for a test try a set top aerial plugged into the set and carry out a re-tune with that installed, or if you cant borrow a set top aerial a short piece of wire about 12" long or so pushed into the inner part of the aerial socket would work, giving an update on results.

A re-tune must always be made with any of these tests as the TV or boxes memory will be partially blank.

I would also like if you could give the model of TV involved, as there is a range of models that has problems with a certain technical aspect of the new transmission modes being used.

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maureen williams: To save any confusion regarding the Sky+ box test on the upstairs TV, when you coupled it up using a scart lead from the Sky+ box into the TV its assumed that you did see the service menu displayed on the TV in question after you pressed the "services" button on the Sky remote control? because if you didn't then the TV might not have automatically changed onto its scart input socket whereby it would still be sitting on its own internal tuner, and which if the TV is an analogue only set would be showing a screen full of speckles.

Just wanted to verify this point before giving any further advice.



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Jan Robins: Far from it! as digital reception has to be within two levels of high and low or it will cut out, the problem for viewers being that the symptoms displayed are nearly identical to each other in both cases even to the extent that an excessively high signal can indicate the exact opposite, and being caused by the circuitry that measures the strength only being able to sample the part of the signal that isn't unstable, the part that is being immeasurable.

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