All posts by Dave Lindsay
Below are all of Dave Lindsay's postings, with the most recent are at the bottom of the page.
Andrew: I don't think you stand a chance of receiving Freeview until switchover.
When it does happen though, Bilsdale will be Group A for Public Service Broadcaster (PSB) multiplexes and Group B for the Commercial (COM) ones.
The power of the PSBs will be 100kW whereas the COMs will be 50kW. The latter will also use a less robust mode so that they can fit in more services.
As Robert Hill says, you could use a Group K aerial which covers Group A and Group B. However, by extending the range of frequencies that the aerial works for, there is a trade-off in sensitivity (gain).
Looking at the Digital UK Tradeview predictor, you will need all the gain you can get.
You could opt for a Group B aerial on Bilsdale for the COMs and continue to use your C/D Guisborough aerial for the PSBs. Then diplex the two together.
If the downlead is old, then it may be a good idea to replace it with double-screened cable such as Webro WF100.
For lots of information and products, see www.aerialsandtv.com
I'm not a professional on this matter, so perhaps others on here could be more specific.
However, there may be a marked difference in the strength of the signals coming down your aerial lead. I expect that the ones from Guisborough will be stronger. I wonder if a masthead amp will be necessary for the Bilsdale COMs aerial...
Some pages on ATV's site that may be of particular interest:
Bilsdale TV Transmitter
Online TV Splitters, Amps & Diplexers sales - The diplexer that splits at C51 will allow you to combine your Guisborough aerial with the Group B Bilsdale aerial.
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Sarah: I think that the main reason for USB sockets appearing on DVD players, TVs etc is so that you can put photos and maybe videos onto a USB pen drive and play them. The USB socket isn't for connecting it to the TV.
If there are HDMI sockets on both the DVD player and TV, then that should be the prefered method of connecting the two, even if there are no HD pictures to show. Failing that, use the scart.
You can get right angle adaptors for these things. For example, put <<right angle hdmi>> into Google. There are right angle scart adaptors, but looking at photographs of them, I'm not sure how much space they might save.
I'm surprised that the wall mount blocks access to the sockets on the TV.
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Andrew: Another page to look at on ATV's site is the one with gain curves on:
Gain (curves), Again
This shows how yagi aerials aren't so good at lower frequencies and why a wideband (probably high-gain) will not be the best for you if you decide to receive all services (PSBs and COMs) from Bilsdale.
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Ann: Have a look in the 800s; you may find Midhurst's ArqB services in there.
Depending on the design of the receiver, it may be that C50 has been picked up in the past and put in the 800s. When you manually tune to C50, it may do nothing because as far as the receiver is concerned, it has that channel stored in its memory.
A rescan may be in order to rectify the problem.
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Brian O'Keefe: The Hertford relay, as part of the Crystal Palace group, completed switchover last Wednesday when it began to use C54 for digital. It had previously used C54 for Channel 4 analogue.
Now that Crystal Palace has switched and is on full power, you could try manually tuning to its ArqA on C22 and ArqB on C28. You may be able to receive these off the back of your aerial until Sudbury goes to full power.
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Bill Harrington: Yes, although it and the other Commercial channels are on low power from Sudbury until 27th June when a retune will be required.
If there is a manual tune option, try it. ArqA which includes Pick TV and Sky News is on C54 up until 27th June.
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Ann: I found your post code on a previous posting of yours and the Digital UK Tradeview predictor doesn't even make mention of Midhurst at your location. Hordean transmitter is predicted as being excellent for you so I expect that it will wipe out any chance of reception of C50 from Midhurst, even though they are different polarisations.
Why does your aerial not point to Rowridge? According to the pages for Midhurst and Rowridge on this website, the BBC and ITV regions are the same for both, so changing wouldn't affect the regional programmes that you get.
The thing with Rowridge is that it now transmits horizontally and vertically. The Commercial channels are stronger vertically than horizontally (200kW vs 50kW); the Public Service channels are the same in both planes (200kW). So if you have an aerial installed for Rowridge, then it should be vertical.
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Kim: This problem is usually caused by the TV not having enough memory to store all the channels it finds. Fear not though because what they usually do is store channels from other transmitters, so the trick is to prevent it from doing this.
In my experience helping on this site, this problem seems to affect some Philips models.
What happens is that the automatic tuning scan "looks" at different frequencies from low to high. The fact that you have channels in the 800s means that it has picked up signals from other transmitters.
Of the services from Oxford transmitter (which I assume your aerial is directed at), ITV1, C4, C5 are higher than others. The only group higher is the one which carries ITV3 and others, so I wouldn't be surprised if the problem affects that one as well.
There is a simple solution and that is to run the automatic tuning scan with the aerial unplugged and then plug it in when it gets to 50%. This will prevent it from picking up the signals from other transmitter(s) which are filling its memory, leaving no room for the ones that you want.
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Pongo: Take a walk around the area and see what transmitters the other houses are using.
Any prediction or suggestion made here would need investigating as only when an installer is on site can confirmation be given that it is possible to receive from a particular station. Local obstructions can affect what can be picked up.
Digital UK Tradeview predictor suggests you might have excellent reception from Portishead relay transmitter. However, it is a Freeview Light transmitter, carrying Public Service Broadcaster (PSB) channels only. These being BBC TV and radio, ITV1, ITV1+1, ITV2, Channel 4, Channel 4+1, E4, More 4, Channel 5 and the four HD channels.
It would appear that reception from Mendip is out of the question.
The predictor says of reception from Bristol Kings Western, "good" on some channels and "variable" on others. I wouldn't be too concerned about the latter; what an installer finds when on site is what matters. Bristol Kings Western is a full Freeview transmitter and therefore carries the Commercial (COM) channels as well as the PSBs. It is a relay of Mendip (as is Portishead) and therefore carries the same regional programming.
You are predicted as being able to get excellent reception from Wenvoe. It too is a full Freeview transmitter but it carries Wales region programmes. The channels used for Wenvoe and Portishead will allow an aerial on each to be combined (diplexed) together into one downlead. You would then be able to watch West programming from Portishead transmitter and receive the COMs from Wenvoe. There are, however, some receivers that don't fair well when picking up some channels from one transmitter and others from another, this being an issue for some recorders that may not record due to this.
If possible, I would say that your first preference must be receiving the full service from Bristol Kings Western.
The Portishead transmitter is on the top of Hanhover House, Friary Road which is at 208 degrees (roughly south south west). Aerials directed at it will be vertical. Bristol Kings Western is at 86 degrees (east) and aerials will also be vertical. Wenvoe is at 265 degrees (west) and aerials will be horizontal.
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Wednesday 25 April 2012 2:26PM
Briantist: There is no SDN shown after switchover.
ArqB is shown as being on C42 after switchover when, according to DUK Tradeview, it is on C41. SDN will be on C42.
Postcode Checker - Trade View