All posts by Dave Lindsay
Below are all of Dave Lindsay's postings, with the most recent are at the bottom of the page.
andy: From 18th April Crystal Palace will be a full Freeview transmitter. There will be no services on low power to protect against interference from other areas (that have not switched over yet) as has happened with Sudbury.
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brian: Maybe; you will have to wait and see for a definate answer.
What I will say is that whilst the Public Service Broadcaster (PSB) multiplexes will go on full power from the day after tomorrow (BBC standard definition TV and radio) and 21st March, the commercial (COM) ones will stay on low power until 18th April.
When the PSBs go on to full power on their respective switchover days, they will be transmitted horizontally and vertically at 200kW.
The COMs will remain horizontal only (at low power) until 18th April when they will change channels and their vertical component will be added. The COMs will be 50kW horizontal and 200kW vertical, so you might find that you get a better reception of the COMs by switching your aerial to vertical polarisation. But be aware that this won't be available as an option until 18th April.
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brian: Clearly adjusting polarisation of the aerial will be more necessary for those further away from the transmitter. The predictor suggests that you will probably be OK at your location.
Switching your aerial to vertical polarisation will also help under lift conditions where signals are coming from the Continent. In France they use a lot of horizontal polarisation, hence you will be less susceptible to interference from those transmitters.
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brian: In answer to your question, that is correct; bars point into the air (at right angle to its current position).
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Derek Hewitson: If you receive your TV from Sudbury then many many people are in the same position, in particular with Arqiva B multiplex which carries Yesterday, Film4 and others.
All the Commercial multiplexes will remain on low power until 27th June.
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john pateman: What was your reason for retuning? Rowridge does not switchover until tomorrow.
However, the first stage of switchover at Midhurst was 29th February. From your location Rowridge and Midhurst are in the same direction. The distance to the former is for times that of the latter which is 21km or 13 miles.
Are you sure that you are not receiving from Midhurst instead?
Perhaps your receiver has tuned to the wrong transmitter for BBC (and maybe others even though they seem stable or maybe not).
The predictor suggests that you will get a good signal from Hannington which switched over in February (and is therefore on full power).
Go to the signal strength screen whilst BBC One is on and check that the UHF channel is 55 for Midhurst. For Hannington it will be 45 and Rowridge is 24.
Do the same for ITV1. For Midhurst it is C65 to change to C61 on 14th March. Hannington's is on C42 and Rowridge's is C44.
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Carole: If you receive your TV from the transmitter in Findon, then you will not get the full Freeview service as it is a "Freeview Light" transmitter and only carries the Public Service Broadcaster services.
Findon is not a new transmitter; it is just that it has only ever carried analogue up until now.
If you give your location (preferrably in the form of a post code) and the direction of your aerial, we may be able to advise.
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Barry: If your aerial is directed at the Salisbury transmitter, then it is on channel 57 along with the other BBC standard definition services on the BBC A multiplex.
BBC Two is now no longer available on analogue as it has made way for the full power BBC A multiplex.
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Carole: I had a look around your area on Google Streetview (although your road isn't on there) and all the aerials I could see are on Findon transmitter. It is situated to the south of the village on West Hill. Aerials on Findon are vertical (elements up/down).
The predictor suggests that you won't get much else even less chance of getting the Commercial channels that Findon doesn't carry. Me thinks Freesat may be your only option for extra channels.
Your current aerial is expected to be suitable for digital services. Unusually but perhaps fortunately for you, the digital signals from Findon will be much stronger than the old analogue ones.
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Monday 5 March 2012 7:22PM
Pat Brock: In general terms, the digital signals for Public Service Broadcasters (PSBs) after switchover will match that of the current analogue.
Transmitters serving the Worcester area have switched fully to digital whereas those in Bishop's Stortford have not and are therefore on low pre-switchover power or, in the case of the Bishop's Stortford relay transmitter, does not carry digital at all yet.
One thing is for sure and that is if your daughter's aerial is directed at the Bishop's Stortford relay transmitter which is on Rayners Road Industrial Estate (the aerial will be vertical), then she will not be able to receive (certainly reliable) Freeview before switchover and after switchover will only receive PSB channels.
If analogue reception is poor, then this could be because the TV has tuned to the wrong transmitter. That is, if the aerial points at Bishop's Stortford it could be tuned to Crystal Palace (or another transmitter) or vice versa.
If your daughter's aerial is on Crystal Palace, then hopefully it will be OK. I would suggest that it is best to wait until April because the current aerial may work fine come switchover.