All posts by Dave Lindsay
Below are all of Dave Lindsay's postings, with the most recent are at the bottom of the page.
Jonathan : Whether it's a transmitter or any other type of structure in the way makes no difference - the question remains: can you receive successfully from desired transmitter?
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Mike Johnson: Pull the aerial out for the first 30% of the automatic tuning scan (or until it gets to UHF channel 30. This will miss out Crystal Palace and get Bluebell Hill.
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richard: It could be that your receiver is tuned to the wrong transmitter for ITV3 (certainly if you had good reception prior to retune). Knowledge of your location is required to ascertain whether this might be so, as well as what the wanted and any unwanted ITV3 might be. Location is preferred in the form of postcode or that of a nearby property such as a shop,
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Mike Johnson: Or the alternative may be to use manual tuning, if available on the set concerned. UHF channel numbers and frequencies in MHz are near the top of this page.
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richard: That probably puts a different light on it.
There aren't likely to be any other alternative transmitters you could be picking up and it may in fact be the case that the aerial system is filtered so as to only allow through signals from the designated transmitter, Crystal Palace. For that reason, it may need adjustment for London Live and the new HD multiplex which carries BBC Four HD, BBC News HD and others. These are on UHF channels (frequencies) 29 and 33 respectively, and it might be worth asking the estate manager about these, if they haven't already been done, seen as the engineer may be visiting anyway.
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Steve Dickens: Payment of the Licence Fee is required by law for anyone receiving broadcast television. It does not guarantee availability of signals or ability to receive them, irrespective of whether this is by terrestrial or satellite means.
In any case the Licence Fee goes exclusively to the BBC. The BBC is a Public Service Broadcaster (PSB), just as ITV/STV/UTV, Channel 4/S4C and Channel 5 are. Public Service Broadcasters have obligations in terms of coverage. To serve less than 10% of the population means installing lots of small low powered transmitters to fill in in locations where the terrain prevents reception from a main transmitter. Crucially, the cost-per-viewer of these transmitters is much higher than for the large high-powered transmitters. So as to provide a Public Service, PSBs must go to this expense.
Those channels which are carried only by the main transmitters and a select few smaller ones are the Commercial channels. They pick and choose and it isn't surprising that they serve the most people for the least possible cost. For a further explanation, see:
Which Freeview channels does the Londonderry transmitter broadcast?
Thus, the idea of paying less to the BBC where Commercial (not PSB) operators choose not to serve is absurd. The issue is one of whether the Commercial operators should have an obligation to serve the public by greater coverage and that decision was taken prior to commencement of broadcasts as being "no they don't".
If the argument is one of "we should pay for what we get" then that means you should actually pay more for what you get because you are actually paying for placement and operation of the transmitter which serves you , and as I say, per viewer the cost is greater.
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Steve Dickens: It is the case that you could have Freesat, for which there are no on-going payments to make, just as with Freeview. Once the equipment has been purchased you can watch all channels for no additional charge.
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phil shaw: Without knowledge of your location (preferably in the form of postcode) it is an open-ended question!
In some cases, yes. In others one may have the issue of COM7's lower power not being good enough and therefore consideration as to whether a different aerial and/or amplifier might bring it in.
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Saturday 1 November 2014 1:21PM
Mr Mark Sandeman: Caradon Hill is just under 15 degrees anti-clockwise of Redruth from your location so you could potentially find that it is picked up instead, particularly as Caradon's channels (frequencies) are lower than those of Redruth and so will be picked up first during the scan. Having the aerial unplugged for the first 30% of the scan (or up to UHF channel 30) should avoid this.