All posts by Dave Lindsay
Below are all of Dave Lindsay's postings, with the most recent are at the bottom of the page.
bob smith: You probably can get all the Freeview channels.
The transmitter that serves your area the best is the small Dallington Park one. However, this is a Public Service transmitter only and therefore does not carry Commercial channels such as Dave, Film4, Quest and many others. To get the full Freeview you will probably have to go with Sandy Heath to the east.
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Tim Bishop: There is a "Brighton Central" transmitter which acts as a low power "filler in" for areas with difficulty receiving from the main transmitter in Brighton which is Whitehawk Hill.
Brighton Central transmitter is on the top of Theobald House and directs its signals to its east.
However, Brighton Central did not carry Freeview before switchover and now switchover has completed it only carries Public Service multiplexes (BBC, ITV1, ITV2, Channel 4, E4, More4, Channel 5, HD and a few others).
The long and short of it is that if you received Freeview before, you were almost certainly picking it up from Whitehawk (and certainly not Brighton Central) and that you should probably like to continue to do so now so as to provide you with the full range of Freeview channels.
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Noel de Souza: In order to answer such a question knowledge of where you are and what transmitter you are using is really necessary. If you do not know the name of the transmitter, then with your location and direction of the aerial we should be able to work it out.
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steve: The first question is how likely is it that you can receive from Rowridge? There is no guarantee that you can receive from Rowridge or any transmitter that carries the Commercial channels.
A quick look suggests that the area is very low lying, so in general, if you live at sea level, then your chances are pretty much non-existant.
To give a better indication as to your chances, what is location, preferrably in the form of post code?
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steve: The predictor reckons that you will only receive from Ventnor:
Postcode Checker - Trade View
In any case, as you live in a block of flats you would need permission from your landlord. (PO381DN)
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M. Sottilini: The main transmitter for Brighton, Whitehawk Hill, now broadcasts BBC South East rather than BBC South. See the page on this change:
Brighton transmitters will be in BBC South East from 7th March 2012 | ukfree.tv - independent free digital TV advice
I wouldn't be surprised if BBC South Today and BBC South East Today will have varied the area they report news from accordingly.
Further to your west, TV reception comes from the Rowridge transmitter on the Isle of Wight. This transmitter carries BBC South and it can be picked up in parts of Brighton.
The fact that one of your TVs has tuned to BBC South tells us that your aerial, even though it faces Whitehawk, picks up sufficient signal from Rowridge to produce a picture.
When an automatic tuning scan is performed, and signals from more than one transmitter are found, only one transmitter's signals can be stored in the prescribed logical channel number positions. That is 1=BBC One, 2=BBC Two, 3=ITV1 etc. The duplicate BBC One, BBC Two, ITV1 etc (from other transmitter(s) are usually placed in the 800s; i.e. starting at 800).
Some more modern receivers ask the user which "region" or "network" they wish to use (where more than one is picked up), which is really asking which transmitter to use.
Perhaps the one that has tuned to BBC South (from Rowridge) simply goes with the first signal it finds when scanning. Rowridge uses low frequencies and Whitehawk high ones. So when a TV is scanning, it will find Rowridge first and then Whitehawk.
Perhaps the other TV (the one that has BBC South East) is a bit more sophisticated and chooses Whitehawk as it is a stronger signal. I say "perhaps"...I can only speculate as to why what has happened has happened and more to the point, explain why different results may be achieved on the same aerial.
In order to get the TV to tune to Whitehawk (instead of Rowridge), start the automatic tuning scan with the aerial unplugged and then plug it in at 50%. This will have it unplugged when it scans frequencies used by Rowridge and plugged in for Whitehawk.
To watch BBC South Today, you will have to tune to Rowridge. Due to the fact that your aerial points in a different direction, it is possible that reception will not be perfect.
However, if you wish to try it, then I suggest that you carry out the procedure of running the tuning through with the aerial unplugged for the first 50%. This will get BBC One South East from Whitehawk stored under button number 1.
Having done this, go through the menu to the manual tuning function (assuming that your TV has one) and manually tune to UHF channel 24 which is what Rowridge's BBC One (South) is broadcast on. This will add the Rowridge BBC programme channels in to the 800s.
This way you can watch BBC One (South East) from Whitehawk most of the time, and switch over to South on 8?? when you wish to watch South Today.
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Bert: Whitehawk Hill (Brighton) now broadcasts BBC South East. See here:
Brighton transmitters will be in BBC South East from 7th March 2012 | ukfree.tv - independent free digital TV advice
And here:
BBC - FAQs - Why did my BBC Region change from BBC South to BBC South East on Wednesday 7 March 2012?
You may be able to receive South Today from either Rowridge (the main transmitter on the Isle of Wight which also serves a large area on the south coast) or Findon.
Your receiver may have picked up these and put them in your 800s (programme stations numbered starting at 800).
For manual tuning, Rowridge BBC is on UHF channel 24 and Findon's is channel 44.
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Tim Bishop: The mode of the signals has changed from 2k to 8k and this proves fatal for some older receivers - they weren't built to work in 8k mode.
The other possibility is that the signals are too powerful now. This problem can be indicated by receivers as "low signal", but I'm not sure how likely that might be at your location.
What are the model numbers of your TV and digital set-top box?
Do you have any amplification (booster) in your aerial system?
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Mr Smith: You are in an area served by the Aldbourne relay transmitter. Now switchover has happened, this is only does not carry the full range of Freeview channels; it is a Public Service transmitter only. You received full Freeview before switchover, so you must have been getting it from Hannington.
The first thing to do is ensure that your receiver(s) doesn't choose to use the signals from Aldbourne. They use low channels and Hannington uses ones higher up, so as a matter of course, it is a good idea to have the aerial lead unplugged for the first 20% of the automatic tuning scan to avoid picking up Aldbourne.
The Commercial multiplexes will be on low power from Hannington for a few weeks more.
On 4th April, ArqA on C44 (carries Pick TV etc) will switch to its full final power. Two weeks later on 18th April, SDN on C41 (carries ITV3 etc) and ArqB on C47 (carries Yesterday etc) will go to full power.
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Wednesday 21 March 2012 6:56PM
Frazer Palmer: From the first stage of switchover, Whitehawk Hill switched from being BBC South to BBC South East. This, apparently, also meant that the regional news programmes adjusted their coverage as well so that South East Today reports on Brighton. See here for an explanation:
Brighton transmitters will be in BBC South East from 7th March 2012 | ukfree.tv - independent free digital TV advice