All posts by Dave Lindsay
Below are all of Dave Lindsay's postings, with the most recent are at the bottom of the page.
Hannah Chacko: Being tuned to the signals from the transmitter to which the aerial faces is pretty fundamental to good reception!
If your aerial faces south, then it is pointing to Waltham.
Attempt a manual tune on UHF channel 29 which is the missing multiplex (COM4/SDN). Try turning your booster down a bit, say to give about 70% on other channels.
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Donald Clark: This is how it is likely to stay. See here for an explanation:
Londonderry transmitter | ukfree.tv - 10 years of independent, free digital TV advice
Unless you can receive from another full-service transmitter, then you won't receive the Commercial (COM) channels. In some areas another region's full-service transmitter can overlap and be used in conjunction with the local relay but the hilly terrain you live in probably rules this out.
Judging by the coverage maps on this site, then if you live high up, then you "might" be able to receive the other channels from Lancaster transmitter.
This isn't the answer you might have been hoping for, but I make this simply as quite possibly the only way, if indeed you are lucky enough to have it as a possibility.
Additional channels are also available via satellite, the main free-to-air service being Freesat.
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Hannah Chacko: The only observation I can make (not saying that this "is" the problem) is that Bilsdale which is the southern-most main Tyne Tees transmitter switched to digital on 26th September and it uses C29. Waltham doesn't share any other channels with Bilsdale.
I would be surprised if the Bilsdale signal were to affect reception in the loft at your distance but they do say that TV reception is a black art.
Digital UK reports possible weak signal, so it could always be that:
Digital UK - Planned Engineering Works
It certainly wouldn't be worth doing anything with the aerial until the engineering work has completed.
Can you not have the aerial outside?
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Gez: In which case, it is probably your landlord who is responsible for the system. See if your other neighbours have difficulty with reception of Yesterday and other COM6/ArqB services.
See here for services by multiplex:
DTG :: DTT Services by Multiplex
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Hannah Chacko: Bring up the signal strength screen and ensure that it is tuned to C29. Other possibilities may be C30 (Belmont), C51 (Emley Moor), C42 (Sutton Coldfield).
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Ian Drury: Digital pictures are an all or nothing sort of thing. There is very little inbetween where they break up a bit. It is said that there is a "cliff edge" over which the picture can't be resolved.
If it is interference, for example from Fanad, then it could have been that, previously, whilst the picture was "perfect", the signal was being interfered with, but not to the degree to push you off the cliff.
What this means is that there is only a "slight" change to the level of degradation required to move from "only just" being good enough (which produces a "perfect" picture) to "only just" being not good enough (which produces no picture).
Such a change could have come about due to a change in the Fanad signal (if that is what is the cause) and this may be something that has moved and is causing a reflection in your direction. Or perhaps there was something that was acting to block or reduce the signal from Fanad that has now moved. Or maybe something has acted to reduce the signal from Limavady.
I mentioned that Fanad is co-channel simply as an observation. If you could receive analogue from Fanad (to some degree, even if not watchable, and particularly so on your Limavady aerial), then this might perhaps add weight to its digital signal being a possible cause of your woes.
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Ian Drury: Should it prove to be interference from Fanad and you have a grid aerial, such as that shown in this picture, then perhaps a more directional aerial will be better:
Aerials, TV Aerial and Digital Aerial
Grid aerials have a wide acceptance angle and therefore less gain than more directional ones. This is because to get more gain, the aerial simply focuses on a narrower "beam".
Both Holywell Hill and Limavady are on similar bearings and a grid aerial with its wider acceptance angle would therefore be perfect for such an application. However, its wider acceptance angle leaves it open to picking up interference that a more directional antenna would be likely to "reject".
Obviously if the interference is eminating from the direction of the transmitter, then a more directional aerial will still pick it up.
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Martin Engwell: Thetford only carries Public Service (PSB) channels. It also uses Group A channels so a Group C/D or Group E aerial for Tacolneston won't really be suited to Thetford.
You say that putting the aerial on the roof won't overcome the interference caused by the tree. The signal outside will be stronger than in the loft, as it is higher up and doesn't have the roof tiles in the way.
I write here in general terms, as a non-professional.
For lots of information on reception, see A.T.V (Aerials And Television) TV Aerial, DAB Aerial, FM Aerial.
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Wednesday 31 October 2012 5:23PM
Gez: Switch your aerial to vertical polarisation to take advantage of the stronger signals on the COM channels (of which Yesterday is carried on one of them).