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All posts by Dave Lindsay

Below are all of Dave Lindsay's postings, with the most recent are at the bottom of the page.

Thats Oxford
Saturday 25 July 2015 12:19PM

P Castle, jb38: That's Oxford is on C29 and not C51, which I believe was its original allocation. In Upper Heyford COM4 (SDN) from Sandy Heath may be available on C51.

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Anthony: Should you have two aerials one on Mendip and one on Wenvoe and these combine into one downlead, then this may be the cause of your issue receiving PSB1 on C49, and indeed any channel below C51 from Mendip.

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ITV 4
Saturday 25 July 2015 5:50PM

Anthony: In answer to your question: because in the real world everything that is in the surroundings is having some effect and therefore in practice it can be the case that reception appears different on different channels. The objective is to get a spot where reception is good on all channels.

The only way all different frequencies, which are broadcast from the same point and which are identical in all other ways, are received identically would be if there were no objects in the surroundings -- no ground, no buildings, no trees -- and there was a vacuum.

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Anthony: Unfortunately not. I'm not an aerial installer myself and I'm a long way away in Yorkshire.

If you have two aerials, wired as described in my previous posting, then you will probably be able to turn the Wenvoe-facing aerial to Mendip, this obviously forfeiting reception of Wenvoe. The other alternative is to replace the Mendip aerial with a log periodic such as the Log 36 mentioned here (this, I believe, being a 36 element log made by Vision Products):

Mendip Transmitter

V10-36L 36 Element Stub Tuner Super Log Periodic Aerial ? Vision Products - Powerful Products. Easy Installation. Excellent Value

A terrain plot shows you would have a clear path were it not for high ground at about 3.5 to 4 miles out and 6 to 7.5 miles out:


Terrain between ( m a.g.l.) and (antenna m a.g.l.) - Optimising UK DTT Freeview and Radio aerial location


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Mr stevens: To answer such a question with any degree of certainty isn't possible due to no location being given. As Tewkesbury is in a valley then this by definition often means reception is difficult or some options are out that are otherwise available to those on higher ground.

However, a cursory glance would suggest that, in general, the town is much better served by Ridge Hill, this offering ITV West which is relayed from Mendip (as well as ITV Central). However, only BBC Midlands is carried by Ridge Hill, this being due to differences in editorial regions of the BBC regions and ITV regions.

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All free TV channels in the UK
Sunday 2 August 2015 7:44PM

Steve Riley: They don't both have Freeview because the box is Freesat, which isn't Freeview!

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CBS Action
Sunday 2 August 2015 7:46PM

simon: Yes, with a DVB tuner USB dongle.

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Gary Lausch: Knowledge of your exact location, preferably in the form of postcode is really needed.
If you're in a flat and have no power as to where your aerial is directed then your hands are rather tied. But that said, I expect others in the block have been along the same road, so you might be out of luck.
Unfortunately the not-widely-talked-about thing about Freeview post switchover is that it's a two-tier system, with a small minority not being able to receive all channels. An explanation is here:
Which Freeview channels does the Londonderry transmitter broadcast?

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Gary Lausch: The link I provided explains why there is a two-tier system. The Tay Bridge transmitter carries only Public Service Broadcaster multiplexes -- because they have an obligation to provide a Public Service. The other channels have no such obligation, rather only one to generate profit.

Line-of-sight is much more important than distance from a transmitter. This is because signals travel in straight lines. The more you tend away from line-of-sight the more you have to rely on signal bending effects which is, generally speaking, more and more likely to give variable/flaky reception.

The reason that Angus isn't so good in Dundee is because the terrain slopes downwards to the water. I imagine that those on the north bank are more likely to have difficulty with Angus because they are more in the shadow of the terrain. The good signal is higher above the ground!


In order to attempt reception from Angus, I suggest that you use the manual tuning function. Enter the UHF channel number but do not press the scan/OK button immediately. Instead, wait and see if you get any reading of strength/quality and then move the aerial to where it is better, giving it several seconds to catch up.

Channels for Angus are:

PSB1 - BBC One - C60
PSB2 - STV - C53
PSB3 - BBC One HD - C57
COM4 - ITV3 - C54
COM5 - Pick - C58
COM6 - 4Music - C49

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