All posts by Dave Lindsay
Below are all of Dave Lindsay's postings, with the most recent are at the bottom of the page.
Andy Slater: Read my response to another person in Stroud:
Top questions | ukfree.tv - independent free digital TV advice
Bring up the signal strength screen whilst on ITV3, Pick TV and Yesterday and see which UHF channels they are tuned to.
Refer here to see the three COM multiplexes:
DMOL Post-DSO Multiplex Channel Allocations
ITV3, Pick TV and Yesterday are on COM4, COM5 and COM6 respectively.
Maybe you are picking these up from Wenvoe. If you are, then you find that they are on C42, C45 and C49 respectively.
Or from Mendip they are on 48, 52 and 56.
| link to this comment |
kate: As the FM stations are off the air as well, I think that the weather is unlikely. Are all Freeview channels off?
| link to this comment |
Kate: I don't know then.
Check that for PSB1 and PSB2 that you are tuned to Hastings.
Bring up the signal strength screen on BBC One and check that it is tuned to UHF channel 25 and for ITV1 that it is C28.
Depending on your location, there are other possible PSB transmitters that your receiver could be picking up instead. Where this is the case, then it needs correcting.
| link to this comment |
kate: The most likely C24 signal is that from Rowridge which on the Isle of Wight and is the main transmitter serving a large portion of the south coast.
Sometimes it's possible to unplug the aerial for part of the automatic tuning scan to miss out unwanted signals. However, Rowridge and Hastings all use neighbouring channels.
If you can wipe your tuner's memory, and manually tune to Hastings, then that is probably the best thing to do. Whether you can do that depends on the design of the device.
For Hastings you need to manually tune:
25, 28, 22(HD), 23, 26 and 30
See above for which services each carries.
| link to this comment |
Rosemary: See the page for the East Grinstead transmitter (follow the link).
For people whose aerials face the East Grinstead transmitter, there are no Commercial channels which include services on numbers 10, 12 and 15. This is because it carries Public Service channels only.
If those people (who have aerials pointing to East Grinstead) received any Freeview before switchover, then they MUST have been picking it up from another transmitter as East Grinstead did not broadcast any Freeview before switchover.
Transmitters that carried (full) Freeview before switchover carry fulll Freeview after switchover. In general terms, those who could receive pre-switchover Freeview can receive the stronger post-switchover full Freeview. However, where this was/is done using an aerial that faces another transmitter, then intermittent or no reception is possibility and whilst the bit about picking up Freeview after "may" apply, it's much less cut and dry. At the end of the day, in such cases the aerial is being used for something that it wasn't installed for; is installed to receive from the transmitter that it is directed.
Of course, there may be areas of East Grinstead that have aerials directed at another transmitter, such as Crystal Palace, and they would be expected to be likely to get the full service.
Obviously I can only be very general. However, the first question I would ask is where does the aerial point?
- If it points to East Grinstead transmitter, then only the Public Service channels will be available. East Grinstead transmitter is to the south of the town on Saint Hill. Aerials will be vertical.
- If it points to another transmitter such as Crystal Palace, then the full service should be available and it therefore warrants further investigation as to why it might be that the Commercial channels aren't available.
| link to this comment |
Corin: Please do not take my quote out of context!
I advised that the best thing NOT to do when there are lift conditions is retune. You may end up either loosing services or getting ones tuned in from the distant transmitter whose signal is interfering from the one you want. This could even be a foreign one.
Please explain how this is beneficial...
| link to this comment |
Steve F: Check that you are tuned Sutton Coldfield for BBC, and not The Wrekin. Do this by bringing up the signal strength screen whilst on BBC One. It should say C43 for Sutton Coldfield and not C26 which is The Wrekin.
If you find that you are tuned to The Wrekin, run the automatic tuning scan with the aerial unplugged for the first 30% to miss out scanning of The Wrekin's channels.
If it is tuned to Sutton Coldfield, then maybe it is the signal level which is verging on being excessive. See Freeview signals: too much of a good thing is bad for you | ukfree.tv - independent free digital TV advice
| link to this comment |
Bibby: Try again tuning the HD services. I have read reports on here of people with the same issue and someone even suggested that once switchover happened in the South East, HD wasn't being broadcast. Someone has posted this morning to say that they have retuned today and are now picking up HD from Tunbridge Wells transmitter.
| link to this comment |
Roland Rippingale: HD Ready means that the TV can show HD pictures but does not have the means to receive HD signals. Follow the link by clicking the words "HD Ready".
In order to show HD pictures broadcast after switchover, each TV will require a separate receiver (box).
| link to this comment |
Thursday 28 June 2012 8:09PM
Kate: If this has just happened now (in the evening), then I suggest that it isn't scheduled maintenance.
Arrow and Heart broadcast from the Hastings transmitter on 107.8MHz and 102MHz respectively.
The most common reason that a transmitter goes off the air is a power failure. The fact that TV and FM are off air makes this a possibility in view of it not appearing to be scheduled work.
BBC Reception says no problems for Hastings, so maybe it's only just happened.