All posts by jb38
Below are all of jb38's postings, with the most recent are at the bottom of the page.
Mel Bruce: I find it a bit strange that your elderly father was set up with a Sky dish rather than a Freesat one in the first place, however as far as the problem is concerned its suggests that its the box at fault, so did you try re-setting it by removing the mains power to it, waiting about 10 secs or so before reconnecting, then after it starts to respond to the remote control when Sky is pressed letting it go through its usual "searching for listings" procedure.
A Freesat box works on the same dish as a Sky one, as there is no difference between the two as far as that side of things is concerned, and unless something has been added to the shed to obstruct the dish view to the satellite then nothing will have changed.
Satellite reception can be had anywhere in the UK provided the dish can view South and not into a "tall" obstruction like a tree or close by high rise building etc.
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Sally: The magic eyes are purely Sky box devices and cant in any way be used to control anything else.
If you are saying that the magic eyes do not work now, I am assuming that you have been trying to use the Sky boxes RF output into the Freeview box, then the problem is likely because you are killing to magic eyes power supply by connecting the Freeview box into one of the leads from the Sky box without the use of a two way powered splitter in one of the TV's leads "after" the magic eye, (between the magic eye and the TV) the lead that went into the TV now going into the splitters input, and one of the splitters outputs going to the same TV, with the No2 output going into the Freeview boxes aerial socket, the Freeview box being coupled to the TV via a scart lead.
You have to ensure that the Sky boxes RF2 output is not clashing with any of the Freeview channels in use, but unable to advise on what channels to use as your location (post code) is unknown.
You could of course use the old TV to also view the Sky channels via its aerial socket, and to that you would link the old TV's aerial socket into the Freeview boxes RF output socket, making sure that the said boxes RF modulator is not clashing with anything else, these being the Sky boxes RF output or any Freeview channels.
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Sally: Should have also mentioned, or you could just plug one of the leads used "from" the magic eye to the TV into the Freeview box rather than the TV, then use a jumper from the Freeview boxes RF output into the TV's aerial socket, scrapping the powered splitter suggestion.
The main thing is, always watch to see that you aren't killing the magic eyes power supply when connecting anything, as if you are then the magic eyes red light will go out.
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Mark Anderson: The ITV4 programme you cannot receive is on Mux Ch55, so you should try a manual tune on that to see if anything shows listed during the scan, or indeed if you can see anything indicated at all on the signal strength / quality bar when you select that channel to scan.
If nothing, I would try and check with neighbours on the same aerial system to see if they are having any problems, this just in case the problem is with the distribution system.
It should be said that come the 21st of September when switchover stage 2 takes place, that channel will be changing to Mux Ch39 as well as its power increasing, but indications are that you should be presently receiving it.
Anyway try a scan etc as suggested, giving an update on the result.
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graham campbell: Well what both Sony and the DVD supplier have said is quite correct, as they aren't responsible for you receiving a poor signal, this aspect of reception possibilities unable to be checked on as you havent mentioned where you are located (pref:post code) nor anything about your aerial being used, such as loft or roof mounted, or maybe even on a communal system.
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graham campbell: Apologies, just noticed that you did state that your aerial was on the chimney, if you indicate your location the signal expected at your location can then be checked on.
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Robert: Just out of interest I was checking your various postings, and on Dec 11th 2010 @ 07:11PM you stated that the aerial that was affected worst was the one that was the highest mounted.
I found you comment interesting, as this is why that in difficult reception areas where distance is not the cause of the problem I always advocate that the usual rule of "highest is best with the largest dB gain aerial possible" being mounted on the chimney stack does most definitely not apply, as the best signal is often found a few feet away from the stack or even much lower down altogether, this obviously not being terribly convenient for the person installing the aerial as well as it being a time consuming task to arrange, if at all possible!
This is where aerials such as amplified logs score every time over large pieces of metal work mounted on high poles, as if the best signal is found to be lower down at about loft level, then aerials such as mentioned mounted in the loft are much better by being easier to move around to obtain the exact "chosen spot".
Gutter mounting of these type of aerials getting over the occasionally experienced problem of the signal being degraded somewhat by certain types of wet roof tiles, or even snow, although when they are loft mounted facing into a gable end (TX direction permitting) then they don't suffer in the same way as they possibly can when facing through sloping roof tiles.
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Kathryn: Without knowing the full post code its a bit difficult to assess where you are receiving your signal from, as indications are that you can get first class reception from either Emley Moor or your local Sheffield transmitter, the latter showing "0" distance on an S10 code, but whether or not that is where you are receiving your signal from isn't for certain.
To check on this, if you carry out a signal check on BBC1 Emley would be Mux Ch52 with its HD Mux being on Ch39, whereas Sheffield BBC1 is Mux Ch27 and its HD Mux being Ch21.
If you hadn't have previously had HD reception I would have been suspicious about the capabilities of your TV, but if its manual states in the tuner spec section DVB-T2 capable, then that can be excluded.
The other great possibility is that the signal is too strong, so "if" you have a set top aerial around carry out a re-tune with that temporarily installed, of course trying it out beforehand to make sure you can actually get BBC1 / ITV etc using it, if HD is received via the set top then you will have to purchase a simple attenuator to place in line with your aerial socket.
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Mrs Friel: Anyone living in Market Rasen is virtually underneath the umbrella of the Belmont mast, and as such liable to be receiving an exceptionally strong signal to the extent of it verging on blocking a sensitive sets tuner.
If you have a set top aerial around try using that to see if that cures the problem, if it does then you will require to purchase a simple attenuator to place in line with your aerial socket.
By the way you should give the set another re-tune with (if available) the set top aerial, this just in case anything was corrupted on the previous re-tune by the signal strength being received on your normal aerial.
(Wouldn't go amiss just to carry out a factory re-tune)
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Friday 26 August 2011 5:49PM
Mike Dimmick: Yes, but these loses you refer to have elements of "in theory" attached to them, as it all depends on whether or not every additional point installed is actually loaded up by something being plugged into them, and if something should be then what the device actually represents impedance loading wise on the circuit, considering that is we are not dealing with professional spec equipment and so nothing can be taken as exact, as indeed nothing can when dealing with anything connected with RF signals, as assumptions are frequently the order of the day!
Or in other words, in practice, Lawrence would not notice one iota of a difference in the signal received if done via a four or six way splitter, unless maybe rather than looking at it on the TV he was observing the level on a good db meter where small variations of signal level would be noticed.