All posts by Dave Lindsay
Below are all of Dave Lindsay's postings, with the most recent are at the bottom of the page.
m coles: Unfortunately the Wattsville transmitter only carries Public Service (PSB) channels as the Commercial broadcasters don't wish to pay to transmit from it and over 1,000 other similar small transmitting sites. This is because they don't consider that the expense is justified by the return, them operating purely for profit.
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Kat: Because two multiplexes changed channel in the early hours of Wednesday. This means that a retune is required.
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Kat: I should point out that this affects users of the Midhurst transmitter only.
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victor: Yes.
Switchover at Limavady will take place in two stages. The first stage is on this coming Wednesday when BBC Two analogue will be switched off and the BBC standard definition digital services will go on full power. The rest of the analogue channels are turned off on 24th and the other digital channels come on the air on full power then.
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Brian : No, never. This is because the Commercial broadcasters don't consider it worth their while to transmit from over 1,000 small relay sites like Sheriff Mountain.
In Northern Ireland, only Brougher Mountain, Divis and Limavady will carry the Commercial multiplexes.
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stuart db: Generally speaking, aerials installed in the days of analogue for Crystal Palace and Midhurst will be fine as digital channels are within the former analogue channel groups. The booster may not be needed and it is worth trying without.
With an existing satellite dish, it is possible to add extra feeds (to other rooms). Quad-LNBs are available from online sources such as eBay.
It is possible to combine the feeds from two aerials providing that the UHF channels used by each permit. In the case of Crystal Palace and Midhurst this is possible as the former's are Group A and the latter's are Group C/D.
You need a diplexer:
Online TV Splitters, Amps & Diplexers sales
The one that "splits" at C38 should do, whlist still allowing reception of C36 should the power that be ever decide that it will be used.
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m g hunter: A common reason for a relay transmitter going off the air is because of a power failure. It wouldn't be expected to be engineering work at this time.
If you receive your TV from the Mevagissey relay, then there may be clues of the power failure. Burglar alarms on properties that are also affected may be sounding. The Mevagissey site is also home to base stations for four GSM mobile phone networks and 3's 3G network, so if you have no or much lower than normal signal then they too will be likely off the air.
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ROBERT WORLEY: Often they put out messages in advance of an upcoming change. If they haven't then I can only say that that is the way these days....
The change was so as to throw free frequencies for 4G mobile phone networks (to be sold to the highest bidder).
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Sam: The relay transmitters at Poole, Westbourne, Luscombe Valley and Canford Heath are "Freeview Lite", meaning that they only carry Public Service Broadcaster (PSB) multiplexes, and so they don't carry Film4.
If you are receiving Film4 in the Bournemouth area, then I imagine that you are likely to be picking it up on UHF channel 28 which is from the main Rowridge transmitter which is on the Isle of Wight.
Rowridge is unique among the high-power main transmitters in that it broadcasts all signals vertically as well as horizontally (from April 2012). The Commercial (COM) channels (COM6 carries Film4) are lower power horizontally. The power of the PSBs is equal horizontally and vertically so as to be compatible with existing aerials (which are horizontally polarised).
Switch your aerial to vertical polarisation to take advantage of the 200kW COM signals (which is the same as the PSBs).
There shouldn't be any need to replace an aerial on Rowridge. There is a possible need to replace aerials on some other transmitters due to the UHF channels (frequencies) used by COM channels, but this isn't the case with Rowridge as PSBs and COMs are within the range used by former analogue.
I would also try without the booster (unless it's used for distribution).
Wideband yagi aerials from DIY shops are less sensitive on UHF channels used by Rowridge. The advertised gain will be on higher channels. For this reason, you may be best to stick with the former analogue aerial.
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Thursday 4 October 2012 10:39AM
unionhall: Yes, at switchover the power of Clermont Carn will be increased to 160kW. It will also change from C53 to C52, so a retune will be required.
See the list of Saorview transmitters from RTNL:
http://www.rtenl.ie/wp-co….pdf