All posts by Dave Lindsay
Below are all of Dave Lindsay's postings, with the most recent are at the bottom of the page.
John Brockett: Sorry, the first sentence should say that I believe that the message does not have "intelligence" to know whether the retune has been carried out.
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Catherine Burns: In your general area it would appear to be variable as to what can and can't be received. As a result, my answer is somewhat open.
If you can receive analogue from the Republic, then you will be expected to be able to receive Saorview afterwards, if indeed you can't receive it now.
On the B53 which is adjacent to Lough Melvin and I gather you are in this area.
I looked at Streetview and some houses have two aerials; one on the local Gortnalee relay transmitter (aerials vertical) and one horizontally polarised and pointing in the opposite direction to Gortnalee. By my reckoning the latters are pointing to Truskmore whose digital (Saorview) signal will increase in strength on Wednesday.
For reception of Saorview you will need a Freeview HD receiver.
It would appear (bearing in mind that I don't have local knowledge and am relying on online sources) that you will be limited to the Public Service Freeview channels. This is because Gortnalee will only carry them which are BBC standard definition and high definition, BBC radio, UTV, UTV+1, UTVHD, ITV2, Channel 4, Channel 4+1, Channel 4HD, E4, More4 and Channel 5.
Only main transmitters carry the Commercial channels like Film4 and Dave but due to what I gather is the low-lying land you live on it is doubtful that you will be able to receive from one of these transmitters which are Limavady and Brougher Mountain.
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Catherine Burns: If you don't receive analogue from the Republic now and this is because you don't have an aerial on one of its transmitters, then you will of course need to get one installed (assuming that at your exact location reception is possible).
If you have a single aerial on Gortnalee then you will receive only Freeview Public Service channels, as explained above. Gortnalee will not broadcast RT, TV3 or TG4.
Due to the channels used by Gortnalee and Truskmore it will be possible to combine the feeds from two aerials into one downlead using a suitable diplexer. This will allow reception of signals from both transmitters on the same receiver(s).
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G4LDS: The receiver has tuned to the wrong transmitter. Moel-y-Parc broadcasts BBC on C45 and ITV1, C4 etc on C49; the signal strength screen should tell you which UHF channel it is tuned to.
The weaker BBC North West... I wonder, could this be from Lancaster? I say this particularly as Lancaster uses low channels (in the 20s) and will therefore be found before Winter Hill. Is Winter Hill further up in the 800s?
It may well also be the case that other national channels will be tuned incorrectly and will therefore be being received off-beam of the aerial which obviously could result in poor or intermittent reception.
Winter Hill channels are: 62, 59, 54(HD), 58, 61, 55
Lancaster's are: 27, 24, 21(HD), 25, 28, 22
Moel-y-Parc's are: 45, 49, 42(HD), 51, 52, 48
These six channels each carry a multiplex and in order they are:
PSB1 | BBC One
PSB2 | ITV1
PSB3 | BBC One HD (and other HD services)
COM4 | ITV3
COM5 | Pick TV
COM6 | Film4
The automatic tuning scan goes from UHF channel 21 to 69. You will note that Winter Hill's are the highest and so get picked up last. You may be able to manually tune to them (if the receiver allows and probably after what is already stored has been wiped).
Or run the automatic tuning scan with the aerial unplugged and plug in about 65%. This should get it in for the Winter Hill channels.
Once done, confirm that the five channels (or six if it's HD) are correct.
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Mark Blanchard : Have you confirmed that your receiver is tuned to Pontop Pike for all channels? UHF channels are given at the top of this page.
If they are correct, or having corrected them the problem persists, then perhaps the signal is on the high side due to your close proximity to the transmitter. See:
Freeview signals: too much of a good thing is bad for you | ukfree.tv - 10 years of independent, free digital TV advice
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G4LDS: So you will have seen mb21 and the articles in the IBA staff newsletter:
mb21 - The Transmission Gallery
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M. Partington: I'm not sure. I know that receivers that indicate UHF channel numbers usually just give the number with no offset.
Some receivers cannot receive post-switchover signals with negative offsets. I don't think there are any that cannot do so with positive offsets, but I may be wrong.
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Joe1987: You need a Freeview HD box/TV because Saorview uses MPEG4 for pictures whereas Freeview standard definition uses MPEG2 and hence they don't usually incorporate MPEG4 codecs.
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Declan McGrath: Check that it is tuned to Llanddona for all channels by viewing the signal strength screen on each of the following:
PSB1 | BBC One | C57
PSB2 | ITV1 | C60
PSB3 | BBC One HD | C53
COM4 | ITV3 | C43
COM5 | Pick TV | C46
COM6 | Film4 | C50
If you observe that all channels are tuned correctly, then you know that it isn't incorrectly tuned. I guess that Winter Hill near Bolton (North West) might be a contender at your location. It uses channels:
62, 59, 54(HD), 58, 61, 55
If the problem is the TV doing as it pleases and retuning, then look to see if there is an option within the menu to prevent it from "updating" channels or something similar. Not all devices that retune when unattended allow this nuisance function to be deactivated.
As you are close to the transmitter, it could be too high a signal level. The symptoms are largely the same as low signal.
An attenuator which fits inline with the aerial lead is available from sources such as eBay for £3 or £4. It reduces the levels of all the signals.
Use of such a device may give two advantages:
1. It will reduce the level of the signals from Llanddona if the problem is too high a signal level.
2. It will reduce the level of signals from Winter Hill which might make it less likely to be picked up.
Whether an attenuator will reduce the signals enough, particularly those of Winter Hill, is something you will have to try.
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Sunday 21 October 2012 1:57PM
John Brockett: I don't believe that the message does not have "intelligence" to know whether the retune has been carried out. Therefore it will continue for as long as it is broadcast.
Stockland Hill uses channels in the 20s and Beacon Hill's spans 40s, 50s and 60, so if you have the aerial unplugged for the first 30% of the scan this should miss out scanning of Stockland's channels.