All posts by Dave Lindsay
Below are all of Dave Lindsay's postings, with the most recent are at the bottom of the page.
Parsley: jb38 makes a very good point that Winter Hill could be intermittent. If you do manage reception from a full-service transmitter, then I suggest that you retain your aerial on Chinley as a backup.
Perhaps you can check the direction of your neighbour's aerial.
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Mark Edwards : It is expected to be up mid-morning. See
Digital UK - Relay transmitter switching times
The reason being that there are only a finite number of engineers who must commute.
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Parsley: Use of this terrain plotter would tend to suggest that it isn't Fenton!
Terrain - shows radio profile between two UK sites to optimise you DTT, Freeview, DAB or analogue TV reception
Convert your postcode to an OS Grid Reference: SK037826
Put that in as that of the "base" station and select region and transmitter.
Shining Tor is in the way and it is 300m higher than the top of the transmitter.
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Parsley: jb38 mentioned reflections. I wonder if your installer was swinging the aerial around to see if there are any reflections from Winter Hill which is why he had the aerial facing the wrong way.
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Thomas: The DUK predictor suggests for you that BBCA and BBCB will be "variable" but gives nothing for D3&4. I wonder if this is due to the way in which the signal disperses, or whether it is due to interference from another transmitter. Waltham would seem the only likely candidate as it uses C29 but not C26. This could perhaps be a possibility if your aerial points away from Bilsdale and to Emley Moor.
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Chris: That is correct.
The Commercial (COM) channels cover 90% of the population from 81 of the largest transmitters (largest by viewer population). The other 8.5% who can receive Freeview only get the Public Service Broadcaster (PSB) channels. This is because there are over 1,000 PSB-only relays like Whitby and for the Commercial broadcasters to transmit from these would roughly double their cost of transmission.
As they operate purely for profit from advertising which they show to as many viewers as possible which they wish to acquire at lowest possible cost they declined the offer to increase their coverage.
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Chris: I think that Freeview Lite as it's unofficially called is the well unpublicised. It must be the biggest let-down and will likely only be discovered at switchover.
Due to you being low-lying, I don't think you have any chance of reception from Bilsdale, unfortunately.
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Chris: The Commercial broadcasters were not mandated to mirror the coverage of the PSBs. This is down to politicians not requiring them to do so as a requirement for their licences.
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Chris: If your father's aerial is on Bilsdale, then he "may" be able to receive all channels and "may" need a replacement aerial in order to do so. It is only really possible to determine if the current aerial will function once the signals are on the air.
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Tuesday 25 September 2012 9:34PM
Parsley: Around 8.5% of the population that can receive Freeview can only get the Public Service (PSB) channels. The Commercial ones cover 90% of the population.
The reason for this is because the Commercial broadcasters use the 81 largest transmitters (largest by viewer population). There are over 1,000 small "filler-in" relay transmitters like Chinley and Ladder Hill and these only carry Public Service channels. The projected cost to the Commercial broadcasters to transmit from these 1,000 plus sites is about the same as that of the current 81. They decided that they didn't wish to double their cost of transmission in order to increase their potential viewer-bases by about 10%.
Coverage predictors should always be taken with a pinch of salt. They exist because there is a demand for such a service and not because they can ever be totally accurate. The best gauge of whether a signal can be received at a particular location is for an installer to measure the signal.
As I say, Ladder Hill is also Freeview Lite/PSB-only.
Because of the terrain of your area there are quite a few relays which are PSB-only. Also, what can and can't be received can vary over short distances and this could be the case here.
In the North West/Winter Hill transmitter group, the full-service transmitters are Winter Hill, Pendle Forest, Saddleworth Moor, Lancaster and Storeton.
If you do decide to approach another installer, bear in mind that you may have to be prepared to have a large aerial mounted on a tall mast, perhaps with a mast-head amplifier as well in order to receive from Winter Hill ***"if"*** it is indeed possible. Also, trees in the way could kill any chance of picking up such weak signals unless the aerial can "see" over them.
Winter Hill is at 310 degrees and aerials are horizontal (elements flat). For Chinley and Ladder Hill aerials are vertical.
If your neighbours have switched their aerial, then perhaps they would recommend the installer who carried out the work.