All posts by Ed
Below are all of Ed's postings, with the most recent are at the bottom of the page.
Chris.SE:
Thanks Chris. My postcode is DY8 2DU. The powered aerial was fitted 13 years ago and I had no problems until now. Normally, both signal strength and signal quality was a steady 100%. About 4 to 5 weeks ago I noticed intermittent, bad pixilation on most channels but only for a few hours. But since around 10th Sept there is very bad permanent pixilation or 'No Signal' on all channels except BBC SD. My TV is saying the signal strength is 100% but signal quality is low (10%) and fluctuating. I haven't manually retuned during this period.
| link to this comment |
Thanks again Chris. I phoned RestoreTV and they said a telephone mast is a possible cause. They will call me in the next 5 days to arrange an engineer visit to check my system and establish what the fault is. In the meantime they are sending me filters to see if that resolves the issue.
I don't know anything technical about how the aerial is powered. There is a small box on my internal lounge wall that had an LED and sockets for TV and DAB. A lead comes from that box and is plugged into a wall power socket.
I am on a hill and Brierley Hill is the other side, so several nearby houses have aerials pointing to the Wrekin. I always tune my TVs manually by selecting the only channel numbers for the Wrekin (23, 26, etc), and this is when I see the 'Signal Quality' figures fluctuating wildly.
Perhaps it is just coincidence that engineering work begun on The Wrekin transmitter when the problems started? The advice on the engineering page is basically to put up with any pixilation or loss of signal until the engineering works is complete. The Wrekin engineering appears to have been ongoing for 4 weeks and counting.
| link to this comment |
Thanks Chris, Steve. The amplifier box on my inside lounge wall is Fringe Electronics Power Unit P1285-2. A lead comes through my wall and is plugged into the 'Input' Socket on the unit. There are two 'Output' sockets numbered 1 & 2. A power lead with a plug on the end comes out of the unit and is plugged into a mains plug next to the unit.
My plan was to add the filters to the back of my TV sets. Would it be better to insert a filter between the end of the aerial lead coming through my wall and the amplifier's Input socket? Would this mean I don't then have to add more filters to my TVs?
| link to this comment |
Just an update...I received the two filters and tried one first, then two in series on both my TVs in different rooms. I inserted the filters directly before my TV aerial socket (i.e. between the wall socket and and the TV input socket).
The filters had no effect whatsoever. This leads me to think the issue is with my TV aerial or there is a faulty wire or connection somewhere. A Restore TV engineer is coming Friday so I'm hoping the root cause will be known - but not necessarily fixed - in a week's time.
| link to this comment |
It's fixed.
The problem was the Fringe Electronics P1285-2 power unit. It was boosting the signal but not in a constant/stable way. When he looked at the Freeview signals on his display they were fluctutating quite a bit. A guess my TV wasn't sensitive enough to capture these fluctuations as it showed a constant 100% power.
He fitted a new power unit but also noticed a strong mobile signal in the range above the Freeview frequencies, which he thought could be a problem in future if ever that mobile signal was boosted. So he also fitted a filter to the aerial box in my loft to strip out mobile frequencies.
The only issue with the new power unit is that it only has one output and has a different socket. The one output isn't an issue for now as I only use that box to feed a dab stereo. There is radio aerial fitted to the roof along with the TV aerial. I use other aerial sockets to feed my televisions. I can either buy an adapter so I can plug my stereo lead into the new box, or I could buy and fit a new power unit identical to the P1285-2. I think I'll just use an adapter on the single output socket for now.
| link to this comment |
Monday 2 October 2023 2:30AM
I live in Stourbridge in the West Midlands and am tuned to The Wrekin via a roof aerial and powered signal booster, For the past 3 weeks, I have only been able to receive BBC SD channels. I have seen that engineering works on The Wrekin transmitter have been scheduled' the past few weeks and I assumed this was the cause. But there is nothing in my local newspaper about this and can't see any publicity about it online. Surely it would be very well publicised if the lots of people are being affected? I now find it hard to believe that these works have going on for such a long time and are the cause of my reception problems for all these weeks. I don't know what to do and am close to asking an aerial company to check my home aerial. Can anyone give me any advice? Also, when are the Wrekin engineering works due to be completed?