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All posts by Dave Lindsay

Below are all of Dave Lindsay's postings, with the most recent are at the bottom of the page.

Divis (Northern Ireland) transmitter
Monday 12 December 2011 12:15AM

Jack McKnight: In order to get the full set of commercial channels, your sister's aerial will need to point at Divis. Whether reception from Divis is possible at her location is another matter and a post code might help get an idea.

It is also worth looking to see what the neighbours have (types of aerials and their direction). Google Streetview might help with that.

The main relay in Glengormley is Carnmoney Hill and post-switchover this will be a Freeview Light transmitter, meaning that it won't broadcast the commercial multiplexes.

Here's what mb21 says about the reason for Carnmoney Hill:
mb21 - The Transmission Gallery
"Carnmoney Hill was built due to what I've named the bowl effect. Newtownabbey is shielded from Divis by Cavehill, a rock outcrop in North Belfast - like a cereal bowl with a hill in the middle. Newtownabbey is sandwiched in the valley below and can't receive Divis."

If your sister can't receive from Divis and she already has an aerial on Carnmoney, then I suggest that that will be the best that she can get on Freeview and therefore that no replacement aerial will be needed.

If you are looking at DIYing, then I recommend you have a look at ATV Sheffield's website for lots of information on this subject: www.aerialsandtv.com

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duryard: I would guess the answer is no you can't because you live in the bottom of a valley. The Digital UK predictor only suggests that you can only receive from St Thomas.

If I were you, I would look around at neighbours to see what they've done; whether they have aerials on other transmitters, and if so which one(s) and will they provide the additional services?

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Emley Moor (Kirklees, England) transmitter
Monday 12 December 2011 4:14PM

adam: When you go onto one of the HD channels, go to signal strength/quality and it should say on that screen that it is on UHF channel 41. This might be shown as "Ch" or "Channel" or similar.

If it is 54 then it's tuned to Wheatley or 27 is Halifax. If you have either of these, then that is your problem and you need to get to 41. Depending on the operation of your receiver will affect how easy this might be.

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Looking through the comments
Monday 12 December 2011 4:45PM

brian bunting: Are you saying that you are unable to receive BBC and ITV? Have you tried manually tuning them?

Are you sure that your aerial points at Tacolneston? They are at the same strength as the other channels from Tacolneston.

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Jamie McKellar: Take your son's set-top box to an aerial point which you know works and then tune it. If it has manual tuning, you need to enter UHF channel 59 for ITV, C4, C5 etc from the Rothesay Town transmitter. BBC should be tuned to UHF channel 50.

"UHF channel" is the frequency the services are broadcast on. If the UHF channels are 28 for BBC or 25 for ITV, then it the receiver is tuned to the Rothesay transmitter instead which is likely to cause issues as your aerial points at Rothesay Town.

Once you get the box tuned in, don't rescan. This is because having tuned it in, you know that it is tuned correctly and therefore that any remedial work must be to the signal which feeds into it.

If the aerial cable runs up the stairs and through doorways, perhaps it has been trapped or squashed by being trodden and it is this which is the problem.

Bear in mind that different equipment has different sensitivity. So you might find that one receiver works at one aerial point when another doesn't. It might be that the former "only just" works and the latter "only just" does not work.

If there is a control on the booster, then perhaps it needs turning down. Don't assume that if it doesn't work that it needs turning up! It could be, for example, that it's running on the high side and that some slight change (increase in level) of signal has pushed it up too high.

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sharon jones: What transmitter is your aerial pointing to? If you do not know that, then what direction is it pointing in and what polarisation (horizontal or vertical)? The answer to why you can't get these channels depends on what transmitter your aerial is on.

For a picture of horizontally and vertically polarised aerials see here:
Aerials, TV Aerial and Digital Aerial

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Welcome to UK Free HDTV | High definition
Tuesday 13 December 2011 1:00PM

Jim Embleton: HD services are available from all transmitters in your area.

If I were you, I would try manually tuning and to know what to tune to you will need to know which transmitter you are on (or which direction it is pointing in).

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Welcome to UK Free HDTV | High definition
Tuesday 13 December 2011 1:02PM

Jim Embleton: I think that the most likely transmitter you are on is Waltham which is at 116 degrees. If this is the case, then go through the menu tp the manual tuning option and tune to channel 58.

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Emley Moor (Kirklees, England) transmitter
Tuesday 13 December 2011 5:20PM

D.A.Butler: There are only four or five different HD feeds for ITV regions, hence most of them have to take those of another region.

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Stephen: Well, as the saying goes, two out of three ain't bad.

Bearing in mind that there are lots of people that can't get these channels now, you are doing well.

Not all devices are of equal sensitivity.

You could take the VHS/DVD to another aerial socket if you have one; or plug it straight into the aerial outlet if it's via another device or extension lead.

Or try wiping the tuned channels on the VHS/DVD and manually tuning them all, doing C63 first.

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