All posts by Michael Rogers
Below are all of Michael Rogers's postings, with the most recent are at the bottom of the page.
Chris, I agree! My issues are, simplified:
1. Auto-retuning of my "smart" TV to unwanted Carmel. I plan to replace the old wideband log-periodic with
a Blake Group-A aerial modified with a larger mesh reflector to supress Carmel (north)
in favour of wanted Huntshaw (south) That will, hopefully, "outsmart" the TV :-)
2. Complexity of registering for, and selecting, streaming options. Why must we register?
All online services want too much personal data. This is unjustifiably intrusive -
and increases online vulnerability !
3. Longterm, obscure plans. Fibre or 5G are unrealistic for many, particularly in rural areas.
As you say, this will probably get bogged down for years to come!
| link to this comment |
Hi all!
Thanks for your postings. As Chris says, I am kinda savvy :-) West of Ilfracombe at 125m elevation; clear view of Swansea. Licenced radio amateur. Degree in computing. Bucketfulls of DTT experience with aerials and interference... We had a local self-help relay, managed by me; discontinued when Carmel switched to our Ilfracombe channels, obliterating it as our feeder. Even before DTT, as the Bristol Channel tide rose and fell,
I had to manually switch between Preseli and Carmel. We had a local self-help relay, managed by me; discontinued when Carmel switched to our Ilfracombe channels. Our ante-deluvian TV obediently stuck with the channels I assigned, initially Preseli and Carmel, later to Huntshaw. Now upgraded (???) to "smart", our TV knows better - and frequently auto-retunes from Huntshaw to Carmel when the tide temporarily delivers a stronger signal and demotes Huntshaw to the 800s (no always the same one). Curent plan-A : install a Group-A yagi with a more efficient mesh reflector. Plan B : dunno. Perchance persuade the XYL that a second dish for 28E might be acceptable after all. My existing ground-mounted dish is on 19E.
73s Michael
| link to this comment |
Chris, your expertise and guidance are impressive!
Question : Is there a website which lists all transmitters on each channel/frequency ?
Thanks!
Michael
| link to this comment |
Thanks for that, Chris. As you state, it will keep me busy for a while :-) I can do it the long-winded way on this site under "transmitters", but was hoping for a spreadsheet with channels down the left and transmitters along the right. I'll try the links you suggest.
I am in the process of coating my new Blake yagi with corosion-proof gunge, after adding more reflector bars to, hopefully, keep unwanted transmitters out. That, of course won't help with signals bouncing along the ducting from the same quadrant as the wanted ones :-) Freeview streaming is cleverly designed with hurdles to disuade people from watching. Similarly, DAB and internet radios are a pesk to tune, with many not offering more than 5 instant presets. Progress could be wonderful...
| link to this comment |
Sort of reassuring - so not my new modified yagi -:) Arq A and B went borderline again...
Is there a technical reason why the 10kW muxes can't be upgraded to 20kW
like the BBC and ITV muxes? Or is it simply down to cost???
| link to this comment |
Steve and Chris: That all makes sense! I actually thought interference might get worse with all muxes now rivals for "power" in the lower end of the new DTT spectrum. Ofcom arguably did a good re-allocation job! During the "tinklering interval" HX was better. My diy-yagi helped, but Carmel still sneaks through reflector gaps :-) I will work on an "upgrade" with a less penetrable mesh reflector, to be mounted in the Spring. If our Panasonic smarty allowed auto-retuning to be de-selected, I would be happy. But, hey ho, we are where we are!
Unrelated : Why-oh-why does Auntie insist on extended live coverage on the News Channel when it has
at least one spare channel, often used for sport or music broadcasts, for special event coverage???
Sometimes ch 231 is even duplicated on BBC1 or 2.
| link to this comment |
Steve, thanks for the Kippure info. Didn't know about that! Yes, I was on mb21, a very helpful source when I was trying to save our self-help relay.
My "patent" yagi survived the night's weather. I will look further into the Kippure radiation pattern and hope to exclude it in the Spring.
Thanks again for the valuable pointer!
Michael
| link to this comment |
Is there any information anywhere on the kind of engineering works notified as being undertaken on so many transmitters?
The only clue I have is of antenna units being replaced locally by European-sourced units.
If this were happening on a wider scale, a reliability issue might explain it.
Checkiing local planning applications might be worth a try...
| link to this comment |
Some transmitters are "reportedly" replacing far-eastern modules for Europe-manufactured ones...
One wonders why...
| link to this comment |
Saturday 30 September 2023 9:41AM
Chris, thanks for the reassurance! I plan to replace my corroding log-periodic with a Group-A yagi. There are persistent musings about an eventual switch-off of DTT, with all broadcasts moving to fibre-Internet and satellite. This would be problematic for rural areas - and for older viewers who might be perplexed by the complexities of "smart" TV navigation. Likewise the plan to transfer all telephone services to fibre. Maybe for future generations :-)