All posts by jb38
Below are all of jb38's postings, with the most recent are at the bottom of the page.
denise : Considering the circumstances that the dish is being used under then the very first thing to suspect would be that the dish has been accidentally moved, as even the very minutest of movement of a magnitude that an experienced eye would not even detect is enough to knock the signal off.
Is the dish mounted on a pole attached to the caravan? or does it sit on a tripod? because irrespective of what might apply the dish alignment will require checking.
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Richard Tonkin: To be quite honest about the situation, anyone complaining about problems after having carried out a retune would under normal circumstances be suspected as having made some form of error during the process, but considering the number of people complaining of reception problems (especially BBC) from Mendip since the retune strongly suggests that something is amiss at the station irrespective of what the R/T transmitter fault reporting site might indicate, and I say this as an engineer myself.
That said, engineering notices were published regarding the service from Mendip and associated relay's being liable to interruption as from last Monday 25th March.
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Emma: If the programme EPG is still being seen even although that selecting BBC1 results in a blank screen, then rather than carrying out another auto-tune, which by the way should never be necessary anyway unless having been previously announced, just go into the signal check screen whilst on BBC1 (albeit blank) and carry out a signal strength test, as in most cases the signal is still there but is sitting at just under the level necessary to resolve a picture.
If though nothing is seen, then go into the boxes "manual tune" facility (should it allow) and enter mux Ch49 (BBC Mendip) but do NOT press search or scan, because the level that the signal is being received at should be indicated, giving an update on results.
Another point being, that before carrying out an auto-tune on a box or TV its always advisable to carry out a complete "reset" or "default setting" first to blank out anything already stored, if though the box has a "first time installation" facility then that should be suffice. (Ch49 BB)
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Richard Tonkin: Further to that said, even although nothing has been picked up during an auto-scan the signal will likely be there but at a level under that necessary to resolve a picture, and so for purposes of checking on exactly what this might be you should go into your TV's "manual tune" menu and enter mux Ch49 (Mendips BBC) but do NOT press search or scan, because on most equipment the level that the signal is being received at will be indicated and it would be interesting to know how this compares to a similar check being made on Mendips ITV mux Ch54 which you have reported as being perfectly OK.
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Brenda: Although I am unaware as to the present situation at the Glossop relay because the TX fault reporting website does not appear to have been updated as yet, but if your TV / box has a "manual" tuning facility could you enter mux Ch28 into the box but do NOT follow this by pressing search or scan, because "if" any signal is there the level / quality of should be indicated, giving an update on the result.
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Watt: Thanks for the update, but just a little query regarding the signal passing through the Humax and which I am not quite sure about the answer.
If you view the TV whilst its aerial is being looped through the Humax is this when reception on the TV is poor? because if it is then have you tried using another jumper lead between both? because the signal from the aerial passing though the Humax should not really be that much different (if at all) to when its connected directly into the TV, maybe you could clarify on that point.
Secondly, although you may have already done this, but go into the Humax's power management settings and make sure that the "power saving on standby" is switched off, because if not that kills the aerial loop though facility when the Humax is sitting on standby.
On the subject of the power levels between Lark Stoke a Sutton Coldfield, although a massive difference does exist between the two it has to be looked at in another way, insomuch that the signal from Lark Stoke (@ 14 mls) is relatively line of sight as well as being nearly 10 miles closer than Sutton C at nearly 24 miles away, but with the signal path from it travelling close to the ground in the latter stages of its travel.
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Rob Wilkins: Pleased to read of your success with regards to sorting out the reception problem on your mothers TV, but when say that the initial advice given by the Philips rep of carrying out a full retune did not work are you referring to "reinstall all services" via the installation / service set up menu?
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phil: If every time you carry out a rescan the outcome is different then thats inclined to indicate that you might be intermittently picking up channels from another station, however its not possible for anyone to be able to assist without having knowledge of your post code or at least one from nearby such as a post office etc, as only then can details of the transmitter covering your area be accessed as there are two Burnham's.
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Watt: That's OK, as my query was only really concerned with that mentioned in the first paragraph of my reply, and which you have now clarified.
As far as the power saving in standby is concerned, the only reason I mentioned this is because most people leave their PVR box in standby when its not actually being used, and which in most boxes does not kill the aerial loop through whereas it will in a Humax "if" the power save is on.
Regarding external factors, I very much doubt if anything external is responsible for the problem if your TV is capable of receiving the same mux "glitch free" that the Humax has difficulty with, as otherwise I would not really consider that any problem exists, and especially so with knowledge of S.C's signal path routing, but though by the fact of you having observed that a number of aerials are seen to be facing towards Lark Stoke (same programmes as Sutton.C) is strongly inclined to indicate that your area is one where reception can vary quite considerably within relatively short distances, hence the reason for an aerial installer possibly deciding that Lark Stoke is a better bet for reliability.
On a lighter note though, I think that the problem is really caused by that "super tuner" used in your Philips, something that I intend to check on at the first opportunity I get, because I feel that even if you temporarily installed the Humax on one of your extension TV's (even using a scart) its liable to perform just the same.
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Saturday 30 March 2013 5:21PM
Watt: Well I did have my doubts as to whether or not the improvement found by moving the box was just purely coincidental hence why I mentioned "seemingly", although it does have to be admitted that many flat screen TV's are guilty of emitting quite high levels of "low frequency" RF interference which can in some cases interfere with signals carried in HDMI cables etc and so what ian from notts suggested is a valid point.
On the subject of the Humax suffering from picture beak up whereas the TV on the same channel doesn't, obviously that is something which cannot be disputed irrespective of how alien this might seem to myself or anyone else with knowledge of Humax boxes and their performance, and of course it cant be down to a rogue box by you having said that this is a replacement, although I remain highly suspicious as to the reason for this and feel that some other as yet undiscovered factor is involved, although this could soon be verified or not by the box being given "exactly" the same comparison test (between TV and box on same muxes) but on another installation, as its about the only way of verifying one way or the other as to the exact reason for this apparent anomaly.
Of course, not unless unbeknown to myself Humax have started fitting alternative tuners to that normally used and which are possibly of somewhat less sensitivity than the originals, I might check up on that! although I would appreciate if you could inform me as to the model number of your Philips TV for the similar purpose of checking up on its particular tuner.
I would like to reiterate though, that the main reason for my interest in what you had reported was purely concerning the issue of the signal breaking up on the Humax but not on the Philips, because apart from the fact that in situations such as yours (low signal path etc) reception difficulties are almost inevitable to occur at certain times of the year its also quite common for muxes "not" to be received at the same (or even near to) level as each other for reasons other than that connected to the aerial being used, simply because that no matter how carefully things are planned in the design stages RF signals do not beam out from the mast in exactly the same way, as well as the fact that even if they did, then they can still be received at differing levels connected to the terrain that the signals are passing over.