All posts by Dave Lindsay
Below are all of Dave Lindsay's postings, with the most recent are at the bottom of the page.
Mr KN Young: I suspect that the changes to channels at Steyning are to do with the clearance of C61 upwards for mobile 4G use. A number of transmitters are affected and this October seems to be at least one of the times when retunes are going to be needed.
Unfortunately there is no such change due for Haslemere.
One of the issues is that C31 to C37 are being cleared at switchover. This is (or was if the powers that be can make up their minds) going to be used (auctioned off, naturally!) for other TV channels. Consequently, Group A channels that are available for use went from 21 through to 34 to only 21 to 30. As aerials (particularly in the past) tended to be for a particular Group rather than the whole band, most transmitters have kept the same Group (for Public Service channels at least). So now there are effectively less Group A channels available, which is why Haslemere clashes with CP. In other areas, *some* Group A transmitters have some or all Commercial channels (Pick TV, Yesterday etc) out of Group (higher up channels), requiring most people who use them to get a new aerial if they want to watch these channels. As I say, in most cases Public Service channels are in Group.
Even though Midhurst is less than six miles away, you don't have line of sight and from what I can see, the hills that the signal comes over to get to you are covered in trees which isn't good:
Terrain between ( m a.g.l.) and (antenna m a.g.l.) - Optimising UK DTT Freeview and Radio aerial location
Perhaps you could contact your local newspaper about this.
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PurpleV: From Pontop Pike all channels are on the same power. There is engineering work there too.
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Terry: Bring up the signal strength screen and check that it is tuned to C55 and not C22 which is Fenham.
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Mary Middleton: You live high up appear to have direct line of sight to Hannington (21 miles), Oxford (16 miles) and Crystal Palace (43 miles). This, on the face of it, would appear to mean that you may be in an excellent reception area.
As jb38 says, check that you are tuned to the transmitter to which your aerial faces.
If it's not tuned correctly, a workaround can be suggested.
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Mary Middleton: I cross-posted with you.
In answer to your question, BBC1 is tuned to Hannington and ITV1 is tuned to Crystal Palace.
Because of the way in which the frequencies of these three transmitters are spread out, you can unplug the aerial lead during the scan to avoid picking up the ones you don't want.
Oxford is north north west and transmits BBC Oxford and ITV Central. To ensure that you are only tuned to it, run the automatic tuning scan with the aerial unplugged up until 57%.
Hannington is south south west and if your aerial is pointing at it, then start the scan with the aerial unplugged up until 30% and then unplug at 57%.
If, after doing this, you are missing and channels and you have manual tuning on your TV, tell us what they are and we will tell you what you need to manually tune to in order to add them. You will need to say what transmitter you are using.
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Mary Middleton: Your problem appears to be that the aerial faces one way and the TV has tuned to another transmitter(s) which would explain poor reception. This can happen in areas where signals from different transmitters can be picked up.
You need to establish which transmitter the aerial faces so as to get it tuned correctly. My suggestions for Oxford and Hannington are above. Hannington broadcasts ITV Meridian by the way.
If your aerial faces Crystal Palace which broadcasts London programming and is east, then run the scan with the aerial plugged in and unplug at 30% and leave it unplugged until the scan completes.
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According to Ofcom, C48 is subject to "reactive power reduction of 87,000 Watts if
required". Does this mean that they (somehow) monitor it and if it starts to carry in to Pontop Pike's area, then they turn it down?
http://licensing.ofcom.or….pdf
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Mary Middleton: Now you are sure that your aerial is facing Oxford, you need to get all the channels tuned in from there, as you have different ones from different transmitters.
The user manual for the Panasonic is here:
Support - Downloads - Panasonic UK & Ireland
(Choose the bottom of the four that says it is 11.8MB)
Page 47 talks about tuning. Basically you have three options:
1. Auto-Setup Restart - This wipes the stored channels and scans for available channels.
2. DVB Manual Tuning - This allows specific channels to be added.
3. Add New DVB Services - This doesn't wipe what channels that are stored, but scans to see if any new ones are available.
If you use number 2, manual tuning, without clearing what you already have, you may find that it achieves nothing. This depends on the design of the receiver. As the Oxford channels may be stored in the 800s, as soon as you manually tune to them it may consider that they are already stored, and therefore do nothing. What you are trying to do is get Oxford in their proper logical channel number positions (1 through to 728).
For this reason you need to wipe what channels are stored using some method. Running the Auto-Setup Restart may accomplish this.
The go to DVB Manual Tuning. For Oxford you need to add the following five channels: C53 (BBC One), C60 (ITV1), C62 (ITV3), C59 (Pick TV), C55 (Yesterday). Note that C62 is expected to change to C50 in October next year.
On the DVB Manual Tuning screen, use the up/down buttons to select a channel number. Then press OK and it will look at that UHF channel and after a short wait it will list all services carried on it. Depending on how it works, you may be able to carry on adding the other channels, or you may have to press EXIT and then go back into DVB Manual Tuning and do the next.
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Helping you with the Bush TV may be a little more tricky as the manual does not appear to be available online.
However, if it has manual tuning, then follow the same general procedure as outlined above. That is, aim to clear what's stored and then add the five channels.
Alternatively, whilst performing its automatic tuning scan it gives a percentage progress, then start it off with the aerial unplugged and then plug in when it gets to 57%. If there is manual tuning and you are missing any channels, then use it to add them (using channel numbers given above).
The objective of unplugging the aerial is to have the aerial disconnected whilst it is scanning frequencies used by Crystal Palace and Hannington, thereby irradicating the possibility that it will store them instead of the Oxford ones.
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jb38: With apparent clear line of sight as Mary has, surely the likely prediction would be 100s right across the board (or near 100s), except where signals from distance station(s) may interfere. Therefore is it not likely to be the case that the lower scores are as a result of other transmitters?
It would surely be useful if the Digital UK Tradeview predictor would indicate which station(s) it thinks may degrade reception as the level to which they will do in practice surely depends on factors such as the design of the aerial and its location such as if there is an obstruction to help block the unwanted signal.
Also, the fact that Mary has a high gain aerial surely reduces her chance of interference, particularly where it originates from outside the main acceptance angle. Or is the true in a way, except for where there is a reflection of the unwanted signal that is in the direction to which the aerial faces.
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Friday 27 April 2012 7:18PM
Mr KN Young: Have you looked through your 800s to see if there is Meridian in there?
Have you confirmed that C28 and C22 (from Haslemere) are not receivable?
The predictor at your location reckons that Guildford is the best. A long shot perhaps, but I wonder if it has tuned to that which is off the back of your aerial and that in actual fact Haslemere is still receivable. You may have already have gone along this road, but if not then I suggest that you check.
To avoid the possibility of picking up Guildford, run the automatic tuning scan and unplug the aerial when it gets to 30%.
Then see what BBC and ITV you have by bringing up the signal strength screen. For Haslemere it should be 28 and 22 respectively. It may be 23 and 26 which is CP. If it is, then see if Yesterday is on programme number 12. This is C28 from CP. Similarly look for Pick TV on number 11 which is C22 from CP.
If you find that Pick TV and Yesterday are coming in on 22 and 28, then you know that CP is swamping the Haslemere signals, even though the aerial doesn't face it. If they aren't there, then see if BBC and ITV from Haslemere are in your 800s.
If you manually tune to 22 and 28 and get a signal but no quality, then you know that the two are interfering with one another with no winner.
Hope this helps. As I say, I commend this to you in case you haven't already tried it.
If you do find that Haslemere's channels are in there, then it may need a bit of work to get them under the proper logical channel numbers. I can offer further suggestions should that turn out to be the case.