All posts by jb38
Below are all of jb38's postings, with the most recent are at the bottom of the page.
john hardingham: The one item you havent mentioned, and which can be the cause of your problem, is the brand / model of device you are using to view HD images on.
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ANTHONY CARROLL: If you cannot get anything showing on the TV when a scart lead is connected between the Hitachi's AV1(TV) output socket and the TV's AV1 then that indicates that the box is faulty, this said though assuming that when you were testing the Hitachi you tried pressing the A/V button on the TV's remote control just in case the Hitachi hadn't switched the TV over to it, plus that you did connect the aerial to the Hitachi?
The point is, that when you previously carried out the DVD test you were connecting it (the TV) in exactly the same way, except that the other end of the scart was in the DVD's AV1 output rather than the Hitachi's.
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alan: Thanks for that update / explanation, as I had a sneaking suspicion that there just had to be something out of the ordinary connected with your set up regarding reception, as on the face of it you are managing to get away with doing something that would have caused others at similar distances from the transmitter as yourself to suffer from total blocking of reception, this no matter how good the tuner in their equipment might be.
I will admit that the "umbrella" effect I mentioned does manifest itself much more so in situations where the radiated signal is from a vertically polarised aerial, (i.e: dead spots top and bottom) which of course does not apply in Sudbury's case, although being located under the level of the mast does have the effect of bringing you further into the shielding skirt.
That said though, I still feel that an element of tuner input desensitizing is very likely to be applying in your area, something which only a failure of the main multiplexes would reveal, as if desensitising was in evidence then the problem channels would immediately come up in strength, this why I mentioned about experimenting using a variable attenuator (albeit hit and miss) as it can simulate (crudely!) the effect of being further away from the transmitter.
If you felt inclined you could also try experimenting by tilting your aerial upwards or downwards which would alter the balance of the various signals received, however its quite a time consuming exercise as well as it not being the best of weather to be carrying this out.
Of course the actual tuners used in different brands of equipment can also play a bit part in what its possible to receive and so hard and fast rules cannot be adopted, as what can help in one situation wont necessarily apply in another where a different receiver is involved, as some have the tendency to burst into instability at the slightest provocation, this meaning an excessively strong signal.
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J. R Hill: Going by the post code reception predictor (trade view) the only channels shown as being presently possible to receive is the BBC (Mux Ch50) and SDN /ITV3 etc (Mux Ch40), the latter being in the category of variable.
This changes on 22nd Feb next year when all PSB muxes increase power, with the commercial muxes doing likewise between 4/18th of April when all six multiples are then indicated as good.
I will say that Oxfords PSB muxes are shown as being presently possible to receive, these being on Mux Ch53 / Ch60 / Ch57 (HD) the station being located @ 41mls / 330 degrees, but whether or not you would actually pick it up is another matter altogether.
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SARA: I feel that it should be pointed out that nothing you have reported can really be classed as abnormal, insomuch that reception indications (trade view) for your p/code area shows that only variable reception is presently possible from the 4 PSB multiplex transmitters in use, with only the 3 commercial muxes showing as reasonably good, these covering programmes like ITV3 / Pick TV / E4+1 / Yesterday / ITV4 etc.
This being the case there is nothing you can really do about it, as its doubtful if any tweaking of your communal aerial set up would really improve anything.
The other downer I noticed is, that come next April when stage 2 of switchover takes place the situation reverses, as then its only the main PSB muxes that's shown as OK for reception, as the 3 commercial ones that's presently indicating as reasonable take a dive into the status of being variable.
Reception predictor forecasts does have its faults as far as accuracy is concerned as they cannot cater for local conditions regarding signal obstructions etc, but they cannot be totally dismissed.
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Bob Brundret: Unfortunately not as far as Midhurst is concerned, as using Ryde post office as a reception test code indicates variable as applying even in 2014, that said though you may well receive it better next March 14th when its power increases from 2Kw to 20Kw, but it is still shown as being variable so nothing is guaranteed.
Rowridge on the other hand "might" become possible (albeit via a stable reflection) next March 21st when the PSB muxes go onto high power operation, that is up from 20Kw to 200Kw, in April 18th the commercial muxes likewise increase power, although this only up to 50Kw.
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Dave Lindsay: Yes! you could possibly be quite correct there, as although anywhere that forecasts about 100% variable reception across the board for the given code never really contains that many chosen spots where it doesn't apply, I fully appreciate that they do exist.
Bob Brundrett: This being the reason why as Dave Lindsay has touched on, post codes are so essential with queries such as yours, as it helps to cut down the element of error that's always present with any reply to a reception query, as RF signals up to a point have a mind of their own and frequently do not conform to forecasts made about where they will reach, or indeed not as the case may be, especially in areas such as your own.
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SARA: And just on the subject of tuning, you should try to refrain from the temptation of re-tuning every time you find an EPG channel is missing, because as far as your box is concerned it wont be! but just that the signal has dropped to under the level that can resolve a picture on your particular TV / box, as if you re-scan and its still at that level the box might not capture it, this creating the situation whereby rather than just having a quick check to see if its came up in strength again, you will have to carry out repeated re-scans to try and recover it, as the previous re-scan will have scrubbed it from the memory.
To prove this point, when on any problem channel go into the signal check menu and note the signal strength being shown, then if you lose the channel again (for the aforementioned reasons) stay on the EPG number and carry out another signal check (albeit on the blank screen) where you will no doubt notice that the signal is still there but just at a lower level, this applies to all boxes TV's and boxes.
The motto is, once all the channels are there in the EPG do not carry out any further re-scans, as it achieves nothing.
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John C: Have you been previously receiving them OK on the Sony? and when you say that you have them on your Humax box are you meaning that you can view them? or its just that they are on the EPG list?
Its just that I had a check and cant see anything mentioned about engineering work in progress at the site.
If though you haven't been receiving them OK on your Sony could you provide the model number of the set, this for checking purposes as there is a sizeable number of models that can have problems with BBC reception if they missed the over air downloads to update their software.
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Monday 19 December 2011 8:00AM
kasalilly: When you move to the other house you will either have to take the present dish with you and install it there, or alternatively have another one fitted, so you aren't really changing anything and there isn't any other options available unless you stop subscribing to Sky and change to Freeview via a normal aerial, that is provided Freeview reception is possible at the new location.