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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.

J
Upgrading from Sky to Freesat | Freesat
Saturday 15 June 2013 8:52PM

DAVE: The two leads are completely independent of each other and so you can use them in whatever way you want so long as each of is being used for a receiver and not a Freesat recorder, as both would then be required.

If you wish to use two Freesat recorders then you can change the LNB on the dish for a quad type and run an extra pair of cables to the second location, but though as far as the LNB is concerned have a look at where the two cables enter the block and see if there are two spare ports, because in recent times Sky engineers fitted quad blocks as standard.

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J
Hannington (Hampshire, England) transmitter
Saturday 15 June 2013 9:17PM

Richard: Newbury postal areas can be RG14 or RG20 with the reception possibilities varying quite considerably between the two districts as more than one station is involved, however nothing has been posted on the TX fault site with regards to any problems being in existence nor are any engineering works taking place.

You should check with a neighbour to find out if the fault is purely confined to your own installation as it might not be.

A more detailed answer can only be given when a post code or one from nearby has been supplied, as its impossible to access info regarding reception or the transmitters involved without this information.

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CC40: You are obviously well organised! but thanks for the update on these two points and especially on the issue of signal strength, because as you may already know the symptoms of a slightly over powerful signal is almost identical to that of one on the weak side thats hovering around the receivers lower cut off threshold.

As far as your ITV problem is concerned, I dont wish to appear as a prophet of doom but the work going on at Waltham should in no way be connected with this difficulty you are experiencing as there isn't really anything wrong with its signal apart from the fact of it suffering from unannounced reductions, although please note that Waltham "is" officially liable to suffer from spells of interruption to its service for the week starting this Monday.

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Cheryl: Thanks for the latest update on events and yes, a little bit of sideline assistance always helps.

I don't really envisage that you are liable to experience any great problems in setting the Humax Freesat box up, as satellite equipment is far more straightforward to set up by the fact of it not having so many variables as far as tuning errors are concerned when compared to that experienced on many Freeview devices, as with Freesat once you have entered your post code (or one from anywhere nearby) into the set up menu box everything is automatic.

Just as a matter of interest, should for any reason you want to be able to view the local ITV news service from any other area in the UK, then this can easily be achieved by picking a post code used by some business in that area and enter this into the set up menu's post code box, because once the box responds to this it will act as though you reside in the area of choice, this being something that no-one can do on a Sky box as the post code info has to programmed by Sky into the viewing card.

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CC40: Just as a final on this, I was thinking again about your tuner problem and purely for elimination purposes I would appreciate if you could try one final test, that being to see what happens when you enter and attempt to tune in 737.6Mhz, insomuch that if you do manage to tune in and store the content of this mux channel then select ITV1 does the procedure of notching up a channel then down again still resolve a picture or not?

The reason for this request is by having further investigated other possible reasons for this problem it still comes back to the tuner having difficulty latching onto a previously stored channel that happens to have a negative offset on its mux frequency even although it initially managed to tune it in, as these two actions are not exactly the same by the fact that selecting the channel requires the tuner to switch at high speed whereas during tuning its a slower process.


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Jason Wright: In addition to the checks you have already made you should eliminate the possibility of the booster having developed a fault by connecting the down lead from the aerial directly into one of the room feeds, in other words bypass the booster.

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J
Upgrading from Sky to Freesat | Freesat
Sunday 16 June 2013 12:37PM

DAVE: No problem! but just to clarify / emphasise that when I mentioned each of the two leads being used for a receiver I was referring to a "Freesat" receiver, as these leads from the dish cannot be used for Freeview (terrestrial) reception.

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Jason Wright: Being unaware with regards to the method you used to take the booster out the equation as just switching it off would in most cases kill reception, if that's what you done? because apart from a faulty (corroded) connection where the coax terminates on the aerial then the only other reason for the problem has to be caused by the boosters internal power supply having failed (which of course they can do) or alternatively that the mains power supply to the booster has accidentally been switched off.

By the way Midhurst at just under 13 miles away is indicated as the station covering your area and nothing as yet has been posted on the engineering page as far as any problems are concerned, nor is any engineering work taking place at the station.

As far as the booster connections are concerned what you have said could indicate that its fitted with "F" connectors, if it is then you should unscrew the gland nut retainers on the two cables previously referred to, i.e: aerial in / TV feed out, then hold the two plug bodies together with a piece of Scotch tape or whatever and bridge the two copper wire centre connectors together with a piece bell wire or similar.

I realise that this is a bit of a bother as a back to back "F" coupler of the female variety should really be used, but this action "might" avoid you from having to call out an engineer with the costs that can involve, because should the booster prove as being defective its not exactly a high-tech operation to replace it.

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Dominic Payer (CC40): With regards to that said being quite true, but as far as I understand it CC40 was experiencing the problem immediately after having manually tuned in Walthams PSB2 frequency and so waiting time wasnt really involved.

CC40: But though "if" you can receive Belmont at a reasonable strength then try scanning COM4 / Ch30 545.8Mhz or COM6 / Ch60 785.8Mhz as both of these channels have negative offsets on their frequencies.

Best deleting everything already stored before carrying out these tests.

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J
Hannington (Hampshire, England) transmitter
Sunday 16 June 2013 5:49PM
Newbury

Richard: If the signal path from the transmitter (Hannington) passes over trees (unable to check) then this can affect one mux more than another, however on the other hand as you reside at a distance of only 7 miles away from the transmitter and with a clear line of sight being indicated (land only) on a RG14 2PF test code, if you are using a booster then temporarily try bypassing it just in case the signal is a little over the top strength wise for the tuner fitted in your TV or box, as this possibility cannot be discounted

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