All posts by J Darnell
Below are all of J Darnell's postings, with the most recent are at the bottom of the page.
Please can someone help?
We receive our TV signal from Belmont transmitter in Lincolnshire. We previously had a loft aerial but at the 'switchover' a few years ago we had the latest version of roof aerial fitted instead and all the new cabling to the internal TV points. Everything has worked fine ever since with our Freeview reception. Until this past month.
The main TVs are newish and do not need a STB. Reception quality is perfect, no problems there. However, the one in the dining room (which I watch daily) has now become a pain to watch. It is Panasonic (not all that old, with flatscreen etc) and I use a STB with it. I have not moved its location, fiddled about with the cables etc (except to reset as advised elsewhere and to check if they have been pulled loose when I'm cleaning) and there are no other electrical appliances nearby that have not always been in the vicinity.
Now the picture quality is terrible, pixilating every few minutes and wavy 'interference 'lines going across the picture at various places. The continuous strap of text on SKY News and BBC News 24 which scrolls continuously across the bottom of the screen with the latest news is unclear and difficult to read at all times. From time to time (about every couple of hours)the screen goes blank and the blue box saying 'NO SIGNAL' appears momentarily. The picture then resumes without me having to do anything. Sound quality is fine as are subtitles.
The STB is pretty old now and I wonder if that is causing the problem. I haven't another one available to swap it for to test .I wondered if there was something obvious I was missing that I could try before maybe buying a new STB. The TV serves my purpose well otherwise and I don't want to replace it until necessary.
Any suggestions will be gratefully received and acted on.
Thank you
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Dave:
Thanks very much for the suggestion but I can't see any solar panels anywhere nearby.
Also ,all other TVs in the house are working perfectly.It's just this one which is the only one with the STB.
Any other ideas please?
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Thanks again, Dave. Sorry to be taking so much of your time but I really appreciate your help and advice.
Forgive me for being so 'thick' but what do I have to do with the battery-powered AM radio in order to locate the source of the interference please?
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Jean:
Thanks to everyone who gave their help and advice. Sorry I didn't report back sooner but all is now well! I tried most of the solutions suggested but to no avail. A friend had a little-used digibox that they no longer had any use for and let me have it. I thought it was worth a try and once installed my interference problem was solved immediately and we have enjoyed trouble-free telly ever since. What a relief! Am so glad it wasn't anything that called for any more tinkering or, even worse, having to call in an aerial expert.
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I'm completely unable to access channel 81 despite several recent retunes.
We receive our Freeview channels from the Belmont transmitter. We can actually see it in the distance when lit up at night (about 10 miles away) across open countryside. Reception has always been excellent with a rooftop aerial (upgraded at the big switchover a few years ago).
My husband keeps going on about channel 81 as he receives it without problems on the main TV that he watches that has built in Freeview. I tend to watch on a TV in the dining room/study which has a digibox and it's this one that refuses to let me tune in channel 81. The latest retune showed loads of new channels but just not 81. After Channel 78? there's just a gap in the channel numbers until 120 (CBeebies or something like it)
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MikeP, thanks very much for that advice
but
I think jb38 has hit the nail on the head! The channel numbers you mentioned are not listed on my available channels list and I know my equipment can't receive HD channels. I hadn't realised Talking Pictures was a HD transmission. I'll stop trying to tune it in now and save myself a lot of time and frustration. Thanks so much for the advice jb38.
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Tuesday 16 August 2011 8:51AM
Please can you tell me the best time of day to perform the retune of our TVs on 17th August? We are served by the Belmont transmitter.
Thank you