All posts by Dave Lindsay
Below are all of Dave Lindsay's postings, with the most recent are at the bottom of the page.
Martin Raven: Some sets won't work after switchover due to the change in mode of the signals being transmitted. They were in 2k mode before switchover and are now in 8k mode.
Unfortunately some older sets weren't built to comply with the full DVB-T specification and 8k mode was ommitted.
If you post the model number of the device in question, we may be able to find out its specification.
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benard powell: It could be that the signal in the HDMI cable is interfering with that in the aerial lead. The lower ITV3 signal may therefore be more susceptible.
Try removing the HDMI cable completely.
Perhaps keep the two apart and/or use more heavily screened aerial lead.
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L Spinks: The reason is because the Commercial multiplexes from Sudbury are on low power and have been since switchover. They will go up to full power on 27th of this month when a retune will be required to restore them.
The wait has been necessary in order for the perminant frequencies to become available as they are used by transmitters in Kent until they switch to digital on 27th.
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I have finally sorted the problem with my loft aerial.
Since Emley Moor switchover last Semptember I've had an issue with the reception on my Sony RDR-HXD870. The picture was freezing for a second or so every so often. It was worst on the COM channels (maybe every 10 or 15 minutes on those).
I tried it with the Panasonic TU-CT41 set-top box and Hauppauge WinTV-HVR-900 USB stick turned on, with all three tuned to the same channel and only the Sony skipped.
The aerial was a 10 element wideband contract bought from Argos around 15 years ago. The downlead was 10 metres of solid-core coax with silver foil and 10 silver strands for screening. All this worked fine prior to switchover.
I replaced the aerial with a DM Log and the cable with Webro WF100, mounting the new aerial in the same place as the old one. It didn't make any difference.
I tried turning it a little off-beam and moved it further down the loft and the problem persisted.
There is another aerial in the loft which serves another room, and the Sony worked perfectly with it. This aerial looks like it could be a Philex SLx 32:
Philex Electronic (UK) Ltd. Homepage
My aerial was attached to an "L" shaped pole fixed to one of the rafters.
The solution was to use a straight pole fixed to the top of one of the joists so as to give more clearance between the sloping roof and the back of the aerial. Previously there was around a foot and now there are two or three feet. The aerial is therefore now a little further forward than it used to be.
Whilst the Philex aerial is also mounted on the rafters, which means it doesn't have much clearance between its back and the roof, it does have a very large reflector, so I guess that this was the reason why it worked.
Why might this problem have manifested itself with the post-switchover signal? (DN31NJ)
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The direction to the transmitter is about 30 degrees off being perpendicular with the ridge.
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ashley: I think that the most likely culprit is the Clennon Valley relay transmitter being only a couple of hundred metres from you.
What the reason is for this happening warrants further investigation. It depends on whether your aerial points to the adjacent Clennon Valley transmitter or the one on Beacon Hill:
1. If your aerial points to Clennon Valley, then it will be vertical. Check that BBC One is tuned to UHF channel 52 (this information is usually given on the signal strength screen). Likewise ITV1 should be C48 and BBC One HD should be C56. If these are correctly tuned to Clennon Valley, then I suggest that the problem is signal overload and you need to fit an attenuator inline with the aerial lead. The fact that you have high signal strength which drops to nothing at times suggests that your receiver could be being overwhelmed by the level of signal.
Clennon Valley does not broadcast the Commercial channels which include ITV3, Pick TV, Yesterday, Dave, Film 4 and others. If these are tuned in, then reception may be poor and they are coming from elsewhere.
2. If your aerial points to Beacon Hill, then it will be horizontal and pointing 34 degrees anti-clockwise of the Clennon Valley transmitter. The direction of Beacon Hill is 310 degrees.
With the aerial on Beacon, see if the receiver has tuned to Clennon Valley instead. Check the UHF channel that BBC One is tuned to by looking on the signal strength screen. Beacon is C60 whilst Clennon is C52. For ITV1, Beacon is C53 and Clennon is C48. For BBC One HD Beacon is C57 and Clennon is C56.
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Bob: On 12th BBC standard definition channels switchover to full power digital so if you don't retune on that date then you will be unable to view them.
On 26th the rest switch over.
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Alain: Can you manually tune to these three channels 50, 59, 55, and does your receiver give any indication of signal strength and quality when you do so? Different receivers are designed differently and some give more clues away than others so you might like to try different devices.
The only thing I can wonder is if you are picking up too much signal from another transmitter that uses these three channels, such as Midhurst because your aerial happens to be in a good spot for it.
As well as performing the above test, try a manual tune to C61 and C62 which are also used by Midhurst. See if these give any signal reading.
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Further to Colin's message, there are a number of pages that return similar Fatal errors. For example, Freeview:
https://ukfree.tv/s/?23=29
Fatal error: Call to undefined function getbloggoto() in /home/admintv/public_html/s/index.php on line 21
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Monday 11 June 2012 10:58AM
Jane Macaulay: Digital services are carried in groups known as multiplexes. You are missing multiplex "ArqB" aka COM6.
See here for a list of services and which multiplexes they are on:
DMOL Post-DSO Multiplex Channel Allocations
Yesterday, Film 4 and ITV4 are all carried on COM6.
The three COM multiplexes have been on very low power since switchover last year. The frequencies they use now are temporary until the perminant ones become available. Once the transmitters in Kent complete switch over on 27th of this month, the frequencies that Sudbury is due to use for its COMs will be available for use.