All posts by jb38
Below are all of jb38's postings, with the most recent are at the bottom of the page.
T Harman: I am more inclined to suspect that the indoor aerial you are using is not really providing a signal at a high enough level for reception because as far as I can see that model does receive Freeview, the nearest transmitter to your location being the relatively low powered Eastbourne relay @ 3 miles and with the main (all channels) station being Heathfield @ 12 miles away.
What you could try though is to select "set up" then "manual tuning" and make sure that DTV is selected, then enter UHF 26 (do not press update) in the box provided and where you will see the strength bar being indicated underneath, try moving the aerial around whilst watching for anything being indicated on the bar, if no movement is evident change the channel number to UHF 56 which is from Heathfield and try the same test, if anything is seen it has to be about half way along the scale, and if it is press up date.
If though nothing is seen then you will require an external aerial to be fitted.
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ANDY: Your TV might well be top of the range, however Sony menu's are not all the same and therefore it would be of assistance if the model number of the set was known.
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Daphne Tregear: The present channels are as follows / 62(BBC) - 59(ITV) - 54(HD) - 58(SDN, ITV3 etc) - 61(Pick TV etc) - 55(Film4 etc) As from April 10th / 50 - 59 - 54 - 58 - 49 - 55.
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Daphne Tregear: Just to add, that 62- / 54- / 61- indicates that these channels are transmitting with a negative offset on their frequency, this meaning slightly lower than on the exact frequency than the channel number corresponds to, this mostly being done to avoid them from causing interference to a channel used by another station located in an area that's within reception range, or on the other hand the other channel interfering with them.
These offsets being taken off (with exception of HD service) on the 10th when the channel numbers are altered on the BBC and ArqA (Pick TV) muxes, but as far as reception is concerned these variations are neither here nor there as your TV or boxes tuner is designed to accommodate this type of thing.
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Andy: As you are using a Humax PVR then what are the actual levels (percentage) being indicated for both the strength and quality? also is the quality observed to be jumping up and down or is it low but reasonably stable?
Advice dependant on reply.
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Andy: Meant also to say, that as you dont actually appear to have BBC1 stored go into your Humax's tuning menu / manual tune and enter Mux Ch49 but do NOT press search, because the level its being received at should be indicated when you enter Ch49, although it will be at a lower level to what is required to resolve a picture.
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Andy: I suspected that might be the case and something thats rather a pity, because if the quality had been reasonably stable and not prone to diving down to zero now and again, then you might well have managed to get reasonable reception on the BBC mux by using one of these SLX 0-20dB variable gain boosters as sold by Argos item No 534 / 4235 @ £11.99, these being excellent devices.
However in cases where the quality is fluctuating badly then about the only thing that "sometimes" helps is by moving the aerial to the right or left of its present position, because boosters only help in situations where although a signal might be weak, its accompanying quality although also being low is stable.
I only suggested a booster because I dont really see the reception problem on Ch49 being rectified at an early date, because in a technical sense anyway, it possibly does not come into the category of being a fault as such.
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Norrie: And just to add to that said, success when using a non-powered splitter is totally dependant on whether or not you reside in a good signal area as splitters of that nature always have a slight attenuating effect on the signal, and should this happen resulting in picture glitching etc, then a powered type has to be used as they provide each of the output sockets with exactly the same level of signal.
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Bizman: Although I fully appreciate what you are meaning, but though I very much doubt if a "boost free" signal being received from Mendip @ 26 miles away would be capable of overloading a tuner no matter what level might be indicated on a TV or boxes strength / quality scale, unless that is the levels were being viewed on a Humax devices indicator as these are much more in line with reality rather than the grossly enhanced indications seen on some equipment, such as for example Panasonic TV's albeit that these are fitted with top tuners.
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Monday 1 April 2013 3:19PM
Watt: I only mentioned what I did purely on the basis of the Labgear device shown in link that you provided as being an example of what your Wickes looked like, and of course that model shown in the example has a socket whereby you can use the unattenuated output of 18dB as well as the normal outputs.
However apart from that, although I fully realise that you now have everything set up to your liking, it would though have been interesting to know what the result would have been if you temporarily rigged up the offending Wickes near to the Humax just to find out if it acted in exactly the same fashion to when it was installed in the loft, because by it being installed at a jumper lead length away the Humax it would have been relatively easy to carry out some experiments with it, such as for example trying each of its outputs in turn whilst observing the effect, or in the case of RF instability being suspected watching for any minor changes in the signal quality if you clamped your hand over the casing etc, to name but just a couple of tests.
Still, I suppose as you have now found a use for the amp that does not involve the Humax then that's all that matters.