All posts by Dave Lindsay
Below are all of Dave Lindsay's postings, with the most recent are at the bottom of the page.
Gary: Unfortunately Keighley isn't one of the transmitters which will carry the new HD services. If you can receive from Emley Moor then you might get them.
Changes may happen, IIRC, in 2018 at the earliest. The idea behind the new multiplexes is to encourage purchasing of Freeview HD equipment (with DVB-T2 type tuners). It's basically a pre-switchover state.
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Mike Barker: No.
The signal is directional towards Liverpool. See the page for Winter Hill. On the map click "LLH" to see the expected coverage area.
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Gary: The current quasi-national network of 30 transmitters was built on a shoestring with hardware that had previously been used for pre-digitalswitchover services. Plus, during the allocation of TV frequencies there was a gap left from channel 31 to 37 - the new HD muxes occupy this space.
A plot of the terrain between you and Emley Moor is here:
Terrain between ( m a.g.l.) and (antenna m a.g.l.) - Optimising UK DTT Freeview and Radio aerial location
The obstruction is between 2.5 and 4 miles out. This includes Daisy Hill and almost intersects Lynfield Mount Hospital (click "View a map of area..." below the plot).
If you do have an aerial installed for Emley Moor, I would keep the Keighley one just in case reception is poor. Obviously it "could" vary by time of day, time of year, the weather etc.
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Charles Hobbs: I would suggest, like MikeB, that the problem is closer to home.
There are in fact five signals for standard definition and one for high definition. So if you have lost BBC One, ITV, ITV3, Pick, 4Music and BBC One HD then they have all been lost. It's unlikely that something in the signal path, such as a tree, would affect all frequencies in this way. Therefore I would consider connections along the aerial lead. If there is a signal amplifier (booster) then this could be a cause of such a problem. Do not assume that just because the power indicator light is on that it is functioning normally.
Retuning in such a situation is a waste of time and simply compounds the problem because what you are doing is "untuning" the set when in fact the tuning is correct. Therefore it requires repeated retunes which take time in order to see if the signal(s) is/are back whereas had you left it as it was you could have just turned on the set, perhaps replugging leads/ moving cables and observing anything appearing on the screen.
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Gary: Perhaps they face Emley Moor because that is the better ("less worse") of the two. A terrain plot Keighley transmitting station to Canal Road shows that Rivock Edge, which is a stones-throw from the transmitter, is obstructing line-of-sight.
The obstruction to Emley Moor is a little worse than at your location, what with the ground rising up about half a mile away.
The point is that signals travel in straight lines. Receiving where there is no line-of-sight can be fraught with issues because you are relying on signal bending around objects (diffraction) and bending through objects (refraction). Because objects on the ground are changing, whether it's vehicles moving, trees blowing about or rain falling on buildings, then the signal received can vary.
So there are no guarantees and you must be aware of the potential issues you could experience, although you might find that reception is stable due to the high power of the transmitter.
And while the strength of the signal can vary, the quality is important. In days of analogue you might have experienced the picture going grainy and/or varying ghosting due to multipath (the signal taking more than one path which don't arrive at the same time). With digital the digits can be lost, hence picture break-up. If the signal level is generally too low this can be corrected by amplification, whereas poor quality cannot. So a strong poor quality signal is no good. A weak good quality one can be used possibly subject to amplification.
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Colin: It depends where you are in Torquay as possibilities vary due to the terrain.
If you are tuned to Stockland Hill then you won't get Motors TV as it's carried on the new quasi-national COM7 HD multiplex. Beacon Hill has it, this being closer to Torquay, although as I say it depends on the terrain between you and the transmitters as to which you might be in with a shot at.
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Thursday 4 December 2014 2:06PM
Gary Blackledge: You won't get BBC Radio Cymru or BBC Radio Wales on the national DAB multiplex because it's the same multiplex all over the UK.
The local BBC radio stations (or "national" in Wales and also Scotland and Northern Ireland) can only be carried on local multiplexes which are operated by commercial broadcasters.