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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.


colin1951uk: Signal strength indications taken from rear pick up can on some aerials not be that terribly far removed from the levels obtained from the front, likewise going by what you have mentioned with regards to the location of the 4G transmitter to that of your aerial does place you at a slight disadvantage to others in your area but who are located a different angle to yourself, whereby the 4G transmitters signal would be striking their aerial from the sides, albeit of course possibly still not at the ultimate angle for minimum pick up, namely 90 degrees. However, the fact of you having a group "A" aerial does up to a point give an element of protection to your reception due to the efficiency of the aerial tapering off from C37 upwards, therefore if by any remote chance you did suffer from the desensitizing effect of 4G then the addition of a 4G filter in line with your boxes aerial input is almost guaranteed to eliminate the problem. As far as the 4G service is concerned, if its expected to be up and running in another two weeks or so then the chances are that the transmitter "might" already be in operation for test purposes, but though irrespective of whether it is or not you should carry out a signal strength on the following channels, keeping a note of the readings obtained to use for reference purposes against a second test taken "after" its known that the service has officially started. Of course, the purpose of this test is purely to find out if your tuner is being affected in any way from the effects of the 4G signal should nothing have apparently changed by the time you are notified, because if the tuner is being affected the indications previously taken will all have dropped slightly. Test channels being / C24 (BBC1) @ 200Kw / C25 (ITV3) @ 50Kw / and either C31 (24Kw) or C29 (10Kw) making a note of the readings obtained. As far as your TV is concerned, I have to agree with Jamie insomuch that its most likely to be the TV at fault, basically because digital reception does not suffer from ghosting, this effect purely being associated with analogue TV reception due to such as signal refection from hills etc, although another thing that can result in a form of ghosting (or ringing) is "if" the analogue signal being fed into the TV's scart socket is a little on the high side whereby is overloading the signal processing circuitry. If possible, you should try and check your system out on another TV, secondly is your TV coupled into your Freeview box using comp video (CVBS) or are you using RGB? the latter being better by far!

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S Copeland: Have you as yet tried completely resetting the TV back to its factory settings, this also called "default setting" / "first time installation" or some similar sound name.

It would also be of assistance to know what postal code area you reside in? this being essential to enable access to details of the transmitter covering your area.

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stuart: Apart from anything that has already been said, have you as yet verified if anyone else in your immediate locality is also experiencing a total loss of Freeview reception?

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Al: In addition to that said by MikeP, if as you have said you are presently using Sky on a non-subscription viewing card basis then you should also be aware that if you did purchase a Sky+HD box, then you would only be able to view the BBC channels in HD as well as ITV1HD / Ch4HD and "not" ITV2HD / ITV3HD / Ch5HD etc.

Other HD channels available to view being RT on 518, NHK World 507.

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J
Connecting it all up | Installing
Wednesday 25 June 2014 9:25PM

Lorraine Copley : The manual I have for the R120 indicates that it has two scart sockets, and so follow what MikeB has said but with the following alterations, insomuch that the TV should be connected into the R120's bottom scart socket marked AV1, and with another scart lead being connected from the Grundig box into the R120's top scart socket marked AV2, then press (repeatedly) the "input select" button on the recorders remote control to select AV2 as the input.

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Maureen: Is the dish referred to newly installed? and if so was the installation of same carried out by a recognised installer or was it a DIY job? because if the latter applies and it was it done with the aid of the signal strength meter referred to, then its possible that the "good signal strength" seen on the meter is not from the 28.2 degrees satellite but one of the others positioned adjacent to it, which in movement terms are only a fraction away from 28.2.

If though the dish is not newly installed, as has previously been used by either a Sky or Freesat box then it may have been accidentally moved (knocked) out of alignment, the easiest way by far of instantly verifying if the dish is OK or not being to test it out using another Sky or Freesat box, that is should you be able to borrow one!

Two other little points.

(1) Is the box a Sky+ HD type with twin LNB inputs?

(2) Was the indication of "no satellite signal" the result of carrying out a scan?

Further advice dependant on content of reply.


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Brian: What type of satellite box are you referring to, Sky or Freesat as well as the model involved.

However, when you say that you have good signal strength and quality what level does this represent on the indicator bars?, because both have to be around a minimum of 50% or so for the boxes decoder to operate correctly, anything under liable to give a "no signal" indication even although the signal is actually there, this type of thing applicable to all digital reception devices albeit that the minimum levels can vary from box to box.

By the way, the ideal levels for glitch free reception on Sky boxes is around 70 / 75% strength, and with the quality always being the same or in excess of the strength and never under, because if it is then the dish requires slight adjustment.

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Mandy Powell: Your problem is most likely being caused by the engineering work that is being carried out in the area, four relays being involved and with Dawlish being one of them.

Any breaks in transmission that may take place should only be of a very short term nature.

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J
Sky+ | Digital TV Recorders
Saturday 28 June 2014 7:25AM

cathy bell: If you are referring to switching the box back on again after it has been unpowered for a few hours then are you leaving it long enough to reset itself? as some Sky+ HD boxes can take 3 or 4 minutes before the orange indicator will turn to green.

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J
Full technical details of Freeview
Saturday 28 June 2014 6:50PM

Brian T: Although no faults been indicated by the Winter Hill transmitter there has been a posting by David Roberts (Colwyn Bay) about bad reception from same of the BBC HD channels on Mux C54 including possible reasons for, this seen by opening the undermentioned link.

If indeed your reception from this transmitter has been good over the last twelve months then I feel that this was with an element of luck, because at 56 miles away from the transmitter and with the signal from the TX passing over an expanse of water, variation in the level of signal received is not exactly uncommon, but though on this occasion its possibly dropped slightly under the threshold for reception level, the usual way of getting over the problem being to fit a mains powered variable booster (0 -15db or so) in line with the aerial feed into the TV.


Winter Hill (Bolton, England) Full Freeview transmitter | ukfree.tv - 11 years of independent, free digital TV advice

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