All posts by Dave Lindsay
Below are all of Dave Lindsay's postings, with the most recent are at the bottom of the page.
Richard Hillier: As Mark says, HD services are now available from Rowridge. They came on air at the second stage of switchover on 21st March.
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nicholas greenwood: Which channels are you missing and which can you get?
See under the heading "After switchover configuration" on this page (you may have to press F5 to refresh to see the graphic):
Freeview multiplexes | ukfree.tv - independent free digital TV advice
Which groups are you missing? Has it been like this since switchover last April?
Is is the three Commercial ones which are SDN, ArqA and ArqB?
Roughly how old is your aerial?
Did you get any channels before switchover, and if so, which ones (refer to "Before switchover configuration" and identify which rows you didn't get and which you did)?
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Ron Kennedy: It is because the Commercial broadcasters (of which ITV3 is carried on one of their multiplexes) do not wish to transmit from over 1,000 small transmitters such as that you use. See here for a fuller explanation:
Will there ever be more services on the Freeview Light transmitters? | ukfree.tv - independent free digital TV advice
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John: In October the Banbridge relay transmitter will become a Freeview Light transmitter. This means that it will carry Public Service Broadcaster (PSB) services only, those being BBC, UTV, UTV+1, ITV2, Channel 4, Channel 4+1, E4, More 4, Channel 5, and the four HD services.
In order to receive the full range of services, you will need to receive from a main station, probably Divis, if you can.
If you have an aerial on Divis now which picks up the four analogue channels, then it is "likely" to work after switchover.
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betty_chienne: I have just found out that your post code resolves to a block of flats.
Is it a communal aerial system? If it is and it turns out to be at fault, then it is the responsibility of whoever maintains it to provide rectification.
From your test, it would seem to be the case that the signal coming out of the aerial socket is too strong for your receiver to cope with.
This sort of thing can particularly affect communal aerial systems because they often have amplifiers in which make signals bigger. Now that the signals going in at the aerial end are bigger than they were before 18th April, it stands to reason that the level of signals coming out of aerial sockets will also be bigger (if no changes to the system have been made). In some cases, the (higher level) signals coming out of aerial wall sockets may be too high after switchover.
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JC: Heathfield switchover starts on Wednesday and completes on 13th June.
I suggest that you wait until 13th June to assess whether you need a different aerial. Before switchover, for four channel analogue, Heathfield is Group C/D (roughly top third of the band used for TV).
The current digital broadcasts have a much lower transmission power than will be used after switchover and some are out of group as well.
After switchover it will be Group B (middle third of the band). However, there is a bit of overlap between the official definitions of B and C/D. Also, aerials drop off in sensitivity and don't receive nothing on "out of group" channels.
See here for some example gain (sensitivity) curves:
Gain (curves), Again
The link takes you to the C/D group traces.
Information on aerial groups is here:
Aerials, TV Aerial and Digital Aerial
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John White: If your post code is BN2 9YJ, then I don't think you have any chance of ever receiving from Dover!
Considering that you are around 600 metres from the Whitehawk Hill transmitter, then why would your aerial not be directed at it???
It switched over in March and even before switchover you would have been expected to have had good reception at such close proximity.
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Eugene: See Television Aerial Boosters / Amplifiers, Splitters, Diplexers & Triplexers
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Colin: UHF channel 29 (equivalent to frequency) means that you're receiving the signal from the Waltham-on-the-Wolds transmitter, near Melton Mowbray.
For Sandy Heath, you may need a wideband aerial. This would replace the "traditional" aerial type (Group A) used in the days of four-channel analogue.
If you are receiving Pick TV on C52 and Yesterday on C48, then this suggests that your aerial is fine. (You found that ITV3 is on C29, so carry out the same procedure to find out what channels Pick TV and Yesterday are coming in on.)
The objective, therefore, is to get ITV3 tuned to C51, which is that used by Sandy Heath.
If your receiver has manual tuning, then this may be the way around the problem.
You may be able to run the automatic tuning scan with the aerial unplugged so as to "blank" the memory, so that no channels are stored. Then manually add the five (or six) groups of programme channels (known as multiplexes).
For Sandy Heath they are 27, 24, 21(HD), 51, 52, 48. These correspond to BBC One, ITV1, BBC One HD, ITV3, Pick TV and Yesterday, respectively.
As a matter of good practice, I suggest that, having tuned, you check that these are all correct so that you know that it is tuned fully to Sandy Heath.
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Tuesday 22 May 2012 12:37PM
michael: Follow the link:
Postcode Checker - Trade View
Ilfracombe C61- will change to C49
Carmel C61 will move to C49
This is expected to happen in May next year.