All posts by StevensOnln1
Below are all of StevensOnln1's postings, with the most recent are at the bottom of the page.
Fiona Summers-Smith: The transmitter engineering information comes from an automated feed published by BBC Engineering. Several of Bilsdale's relays have already been brought back on air either by turning around the receive aerials and retuning to another transmitter, or by using a satellite backup feed. If the West Burton is able to receive a signal from the temporary mast at Bilsdale then it will come back on air around the same time that the temporary mast is switched on.
West Burton does broadcast the main HD channels (as do all 1,000+ Freeview Lite transmitters since DSO) which are listed near the top of this page, so perhaps your TV doesn't have a DVB-T2 tuner which is required to receive the PSB3 multiplex. The transmitter serves less than 500 homes so there is no chance of any additional channels ever being provided, as the commercial broadcasters aren't prepared to pay for their channels to be transmitted to such a small potential audience. If you want more channels, look at getting Freesat.
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Jean Folks: Nobody is forcing you to pay for any subscription channels. If subscription TV channels didn't exist then the dramas you are talking about would probably never exist either, as most of the free channels would never be able to generate enough advertising revenue to pay for expensive drama productions. The only free to air broadcasters who can afford to make lots of big budget dramas are the BBC and ITV. Even Channel 4 & Channel 5 only make a few big drama series each year. If you wait a few years, many drama series originally shown on pay channels will eventually appear on free channels once the initial rights deals expire and repeat run rights become available that the free channels can afford.
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Geoff Thirlby: There are no Sky boxes that can receive Freeview, do you mean that you are receiving the free to air (FTA) satellite channels on a Sky box that doesn't have a subscription? Have you tried powering the box off at the mains, checking the connections on the cables going to the satellite dish and then turning it back on again?
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Arqiva have issued a further update today with two main pieces of news. Firstly, they have added the D1 and SDL National commercial DAB multiplexes to the Eston Nab transmitter, which should restore coverage of the national commercial DAB stations for much of Middlesbrough, Stockton-on-Tees and the coast to Hartlepool.
Secondly, a temporary 15m mast is being installed at Arncliffe Wood, which should be operational by this weekend and should deliver a significant improvement in TV coverage for viewers in areas including Darlington, Stockton, Catterick, Leyburn, Masham and Ripon. It has not yet been confirmed which frequencies/UHF channels will be used, or whether viewers in these areas may need to retune once the mast is in operation.
Arqiva's dedicated news/updates page can be found at the link below (reposting so that it appears on this page of comments):
https://www.arqiva.com/ne…mast
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William Local: As per my post just above yours, Arqiva have said that they intend to have a temporary mast up and running at Bilsdale by the 28th August, although at 80 meters it will be considerably shorter than the main mast and therefore won't have the same level of coverage so you may find you get a weaker signal than normal. Ceefax closed in 2012 so definitely won't be available, but if you actually mean the BBC Red Button text service, it will return at the same time as the main BBC channels.
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Valerie Smith: Arqiva never publish an end date as it can be affected by factors such as weather conditions which are beyond anyone's control.
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Jim Good: Are you watching ITV HD on 103 or ITV SD on 3? There is currently only 1 version of ITV Meridian available in HD on Freeview so you will get the news for that sub-region if you watch in HD. If you switch to ITV SD on 3 you should get the correct news for your region. There is currently only one version of BBC One HD for the whole of England, which does not carry any regional news, therefore you get the red screen telling you switch to SD. All of this is due to change next year (although no exact date has been given) as the BBC have announced that they will be launching regional versions BBC One HD and will share the cost with ITV for providing fully regional HD channels on Freeview.
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gwil John: A wideband type aerial such as a log periodic is generally recommended rather than a grouped aerial (unless you are in an area of weak signal) as it will cover all frequencies which could be used in the future, rather than just the frequencies used now.
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June Breed: I can only see the first 2 seasons on Prime Video. It looks like season 3 is currently being shown on Sky Witness (channel 107 on your Sky box) with Season 3 Episode 6 due to be shown at 9pm on 25th August according to Sky's online TV guide. You should be able to download the previous episodes, although as I don't have Sky Q I can't guide you through how to find them.
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Friday 13 August 2021 10:27PM
Arqiva have issued a further update this afternoon that they are bringing in an 80m temporary mast at Bilsdale and aim to reinstate TV services for the vast majority of affected viewers within the next 14 days (by 28th August). As the temporary mast is much shorter than the main 314m mast, some viewers in areas further away from the transmitter may receive a weaker signal than before.
Arqiva's full announcement can be found at:
https://www.arqiva.com/ne…mast
Freeview have a dedicated information page at:
Bilsdale Freephone information line and more channels available from Eston Nab and Arncliffe Wood | Freeview