All posts by Dave Lindsay
Below are all of Dave Lindsay's postings, with the most recent are at the bottom of the page.
Eddie: Freeview requires a terrestrial aerial, you can use Freesat with your existing dish. If you want a Freesat recorder, then you need two cables from your dish.
As you're only five miles from the Dover transmitter, you "may" be able to receive Freeview with a suitably placed set-top aerial.
This is particularly so if your window faces the transmitter and there aren't other buildings in the way.
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Eddie: I should point out that reception "could" be hit and miss with a set-top aerial.
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jb38: If this is the sort of affect expected with two overlapping SFN transmitters with different polarisations, then do you anticipate that if a national SFN was launched (such as that proposed on C36), that there will be lots of people with reception issues?
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Colin: How did you get on with your wire to the top of the hill?
It is possible that the COMs don't broadcast to the south. Maybe they couldn't get international clearance for them to do so.
The radiation patterns of the transmitters is secret, unfortunately.
See here for a list of multiplexes (those with a bullet in the "E"/England column apply): DMOL Post-DSO Multiplex Channel Allocations
What I suggest you do is focus on one service from each. I usually look for the first in each:
PSB1 (BBC One) = C24
PSB2 (ITV1) = C27
PSB3 (BBC One HD) = C21
COM4 (ITV3) = C25
COM5 (Pick TV) = C22
COM6 (Yesterday) = C28
So for COM4, look at ITV3 if it is tuned in on your receiver, or manually tune to C25 until you pick it up.
They installed a taller mast at Rowridge for DSO, so you could always go and ask if you can have a few sections of the old one to mount your aerial on.
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Tony: This is the two-tier terrestrial television transmitter network we now have, I'm afraid.
Icomb Hill only carries the Public Service Broadcaster (PSB) multiplexes (groups of services).
Those that it doesn't broadcast are the Commercial (COM) multiplexes and these carry the likes of ITV3, ITV4, Pick TV, Yesterday, Film 4 and Dave.
The COMs broadcast from 81 of the largest transmitters (largest by viewer population) and cover about 90% of the population. The other 1,000 or so relays, including Icomb Hill, are PSB-only. The cost to the COMs of including the relays in their portfolio would roughly double their cost of transmission whilst only adding about 8.5% of the population to their potential viewer-base.
As they are run entirely as profit-making ventures and have no "Public Service" obligation, they decided to turn down the offer of additional coverage.
See here for a further explanation:
Will there ever be more services on the Freeview Light transmitters? | ukfree.tv - independent free digital TV advice
In some cases reception of COMs can be achieved from a station that carries them. Obviously this requires a new aerial and in some cases due to poor signal, a big aerial and sometimes big mast.
Failing that, the main option to get more channels is Freesat. There are some channels like Yesterday and Dave that are on full Freeview (COM) but not Freesat.
It's a common question and I believe that "Freeview Lite" has got to be the biggest let-down, particularly as mention of this inferior service doesn't feature in any of advertising. "Subject to coverage" fails to make clear that not all channels are available in all areas.
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The predictor does think that reception from Mendip "may" be possible in your post code. This does carry the COMs, although it has West regional BBC and ITV.
If you can receive the COMs from Mendip, then it would be theoretically possible to have two aerials and combine them (using a diplexer) into one downlead.
I put your post code into Google and the first house showed on Streetview (presumably at the centre of the code) has a Mendip aerial and an Icomb Hill one (photo taken in December 2009): GL54 2PN - Google Maps
Its height and size might be an indication of the sort of thing you will need. Obviously levels of reception can vary widely over a post code area and particularly so where the ground and surrounding ground isn't flat.
I understand that some receivers that have recording functions don't fair too well when receiving signals from more than one transmitter (scheduled recordings not starting). One way around this, if it proves to be the case, is to watch Mendip most of the time and switch to Icomb Hill for regional programming. For example, put BBC One from Icomb Hill on 800 and ITV1 Central from Icomb Hill on 801. Under such circumstances it might not be possible to reliably record from 800 and 801. This final paragraph is just a warning; it's what I've read.
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tina: If you have a booster, then you should remove it. This could be increasing your signal levels in excess of those that the BT Vision box (and any receiver) can handle.
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Jim O'Shea: There is the possibility that your receiver could have tuned to the Ramsgate relay instead of Dover. At the first stage, BBC comes on air on C26 and next week ITV1, C4 etc will be switched on on C23 and HD services C30. There are now Commercial services such as ITV3, Film 4 and Dave from this transmitter, so you are probably best advised to continue using Dover.
If you find that BBC is tuned to Ramsgate by looking on the signal strength screen, then you can avoid this by unplugging the aerial for the first 30% of the scan. This is probably good practice so as to avoid this as a possibility.
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Karen: See the message from Transmitter engineering added after your posting. Apparently the transmitter (BBC services at least) is (or was) of air from 10:01.
The BBC only reports on its own services. If this is due to a fault or a power failure, then obviously it will probably affect the independents as well.
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Gil: You should confirm that you are tuned to The Wrekin for HD channels. There appear a number of possibilities at your location and even though your aerial doesn't point their way, and in some cases is the opposite polarisation, you could be picking them up.
Click the Tradeview link next to your posting and view the channel numbers used by each transmitter for BBCB. Then check what you're receiving by looking at the signal strength screen whilst tuned to one of the HD services.
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Sunday 17 June 2012 9:47PM
Owain: Are you definately receiving Welsh TV from Moel-y-Parc? And if so can you receive BBC and ITV1, S4C, Channel 4 etc? And are they good reception?