All posts by byrnefm
Below are all of byrnefm's postings, with the most recent are at the bottom of the page.
Thanks StevensOnLn1 & Chris.SE for your replies. Hopefully things will improve again after September 4. When the Freeview transmitters were on low power before analogue tv was switched off, we picked up all 6 UK muxes without any problem. Could be that ch 40 is being tested out, as you mention - some days it is perfect, other days unwatchable.
Now, I recently repointed my DAB antenna to point at Divis to pick up ch 11A .. I haven't tried moving it again to see if it is causing issues on ch 40, even if the DAB antenna isn't meant to pick up past ch 13 (the signals are combined into one aerial cable for the tv / radio ports in the house.
Thanks again!
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Ok, I did the retune today. Even with my old yagi wideband antenna from 2009, all channels came in. Interestingly, the weakest channels are those on COM6 (Yesterday, CBS Drama, ...) On ch 46. Signal strength is 20% lower than the other commercial muxes. Same as before switchover - that mux is the weakest, even though your guide indicates it is the same strength as the other 2?
Either way .. no new / narrower aerial is required .. for now, anyway. My TV is too old to pick up the BBC HD mux, so can't test that at the moment
Question: is my 4G filter any use now to be kept plugged in, now that all the channels have shifted down? I'm assuming I'm losing a little gain with it inline but was not sure.
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Thanks, Chris, for your reply! I live in Letterkenny, in Co Donegal. I'll leave the 4G filter in for now and see how it goes with the weakest mux. It was slightly damaged so if I unplug it, I might not get it back in, should it be necessary! If it wasn't for the fact my aerial is on the roof of a two-storey house, I'd be tempted to upgrade it to a K band aerial, since it cost 150 last time for installation..
Btw - thanks also for all the info you have on your website!
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Hi, back again! A few weeks on, ch 46 is so weak that it is frequently unwatchable, such as this evening. I tried looking up your coverage maps but they do not appear to be updated yet post-5G changeover?
C46 (674.0MHz) after switchover | free and easy
The above does not show any channels from Limavady.
I've noticed that ch 43 can be unwatchable at times (mornings in particular) and then without any errors the rest of the day. Definitely far more interference since the latest changeover...
Ch 43 is stronger than ch 46 yet their apparent transmission power is the same.
(I'm in Letterkenny, at a high enough point where one time, I used to get ch21 from Divis, showing Channel 4).
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Hi! I was wondering when the UK channel coverage maps will be updated on your website? For example, if I click on ch 46 on the Limavady page to see what other sites use ch 46, the map of transmitter sites does not show Limavady. I'm thinking it is showing the map of pre 5G changes.
Thanks in advance!
..Francis
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Was there any problems with Freeview Limavady this evening? Poor reception across all Muxes, including BBC1. Signal normally 70%, now 45%. It was fine yesterday. I'm wondering if it has to do with the current weather?
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Hi Chris,
Thanks, as always, for your replies. As it turns out, the channels are all back to their normal strength, except the mux which Pop is on (which despite its reported Mux power of 10kW on COM6, comes in much weaker than the others). It is unwatchable but at least appears again. It looks like the very poor weather at the start of the week was really degrading the reception.
I live relatively high up in Letterkenny, so am in a spot where I pick up both the Saorview muxes from Holywell Hill near the Derry/Londonderry border and the Limavady muxes, all in the same direction. Since RT are on ch 22 and ch 25, I have an aerial that covers ch 21 - 48. It's a Vision 48 element High Gain aerial from CPC (https://cpc.farnell.com/vision/122814/v12-x7fak-aerial-ch21-48-group/dp/AP03390?st=element)
You're correct - I'm at the edge of the reception range and the maps indicate similar. As I'm not in the UK, I can't use my postcode to check for signal reception. However, I used to get full reception with minimal issues during the very weak output pre-digital on the DTT channels (when the commercial muxes were on 800w). Ever since the move down the band, either the power was reduced or shielded in my direction to prevent as much overspill. I was hoping that the new aerial would give more gain than the older ch21 - 68 yagi I had but it's about the same as before - and possibly weaker. Meh. The aerial man showed me the before and after signals at the time - it's marginally weaker but with a cleaner signal/noise ratio. He also replaced my masthead amplifier which looked like it got slightly fried at one point of its 20 year lifespan.
I suspect if I went for a Group B aerial, I'd lose RT on Saorview, unless I combined it with a smaller aerial for the local Letterkenny transmitter for RT - but the combining of the two aerials would probably lose the few dB I'd gain by using a slightly stronger aerial?
I do have a Freesat box, so I'm not stuck as such - it's just nice not to have to keep swapping between the two (Freeview/Saorview and Freesat) and I only have an aerial socket upstairs.
Thanks and regards,
..Francis
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Hi Chris,
As far as I can remember from the aerial man, the masthead amplier gain was a 25dB model, replacing the old one of the same strength (installed around 2000)
It is COM6 which is by far the weakest mux - I clicked on the ch46 oval where the list of channels is listed on this web page for Limavady, to see what other transmitters are also on ch 46 in NI / Donegal but I see the ukfree.tv's website has not yet been changed for the post-5G cutover? I'm wondering if there is another transmitter on that channel causing me some interference, as the others are relatively-speaking ok (as in, they are watchable - COM6 seldom is, except occasionally on my bedroom TV, which seems to get a marginally better signal). As "Pop" is on COM6, it matters to the kids :-) but they're now used to tuning it in on FreeSat
The mux strengths are as follows today, according to my 2009 Samsung TV:
PSB1: 70 to 72 (out of 100), bit error level: 0 out of 10
PSB2: 70 to 72, bit error level 0
PSB3: n/a: I *just* missed out on Freeview HD coming out on both my TVs by a year
COM4: 63, bit error level 1
COM5: 63, bit error level 1
COM6: 45 to 48, bit error level 7 out of 10 (basically, unwatchable at the best of times).
SaorView on ch25: 85, bit error level 0
SaorView on ch22: 85, bit error level 0
The reception appears to be affected now on really bad weather days on the COM5/6 muxes.
Thanks, ..Francis
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Hi Chris,
My apologies for taking so long to reply .. life with young kids keeps one very busy!!
I have noticed that the reception with my newer aerial is very much weather-dependent. The better the weather the better the reception. Tonight the weather is not great (a lot of rain) .. and for the first time, I'm seeing even BBC1 showing some pixellation and signal strength only 50 - 60% (instead of 72%).
I'll probably need to contact my local TV aerial person back to have another look. I now wish I kept the older (ch21 - 68) aerial, which never exhibited this problem...
Thanks for all the info on nearby transmitters!
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Sunday 18 August 2019 8:31PM
Hi,
For the last few weeks, COM4 has been breaking up really badly for me, while it was fine before that. I live in Letterkenny, Co Donegal. Reception was perfect before that. Is there any changes on ch54 which could be causing this? It was ok for a day or two ladt week but is totally pixellated again. Thanks!