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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.


Ms C Ashley: Even if you aren't affected by the current 4G test, the Ofcom Sitefinder site indicates that there is a O2 3G base station on the corner where the Blythe Hill Tavern is.

A look on Streetview and it can quite clearly be seen. It may appear as if it were a flag-pole attached to the rear of the building. At the bottom of the "flag pole" is a black box and black trunking running downwards...this looks like a base station to me.

If this doesn't currently host 4G services then it "may" do soon.

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dave: Excellent.

I know what you mean about the junk channels. On retuning, I go through and skip them so that they don't appear in the programme guide.

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Winter Hill (Bolton, England) transmitter
Tuesday 23 April 2013 11:29AM

vincent: It appears that you may reside in a block of flat. For this reason I wonder if you are using a communal aerial. If so then it may require adjustment to allow the new frequency of the BBC services through. The same applies for COM5 which carries Pick TV, Dave and others.

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chris: I don't understand the question. You ask about "ITV channels" when there is only one "ITV". Are you referring to ITV, ITV2, ITV3 and ITV4. If you have your aerial directed to one of the transmitters on the island then you will have ITV and ITV2. You won't have ITV3 and ITV4 because they are carried on the Commercial multiplexes which aren't available from those transmitters. No amount of boosting will make them appear!

If your aerial points to a transmitter on the UK mainland or Northern Ireland then you may be able to receive the Commercial channels. However, you will need to say which transmitter your aerial is directed to. Your location, preferably in the form of postcode or nearby postcode would allow prediction of transmitters that might be available. Knowledge of the direction and polarisation (horizontal or vertical) of your aerial would probably allow us to deduce which transmitter you are using.

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Diagnostics - old version
Tuesday 23 April 2013 3:40PM

S Foster: The point is that when the receiver carries out the scan of frequencies, having 'looked' it has to decide which to go with. In this case it is going with the broadcast from a Welsh transmitter perhaps Wenvoe, the main transmitter near Cardiff.

From what I understand, BT Vision boxes don't have any option for manual tuning, which means that you will have to try and have the aerial unplugged for the unwanted channels.

Finding out whether this is feasible and which part it needs to be unplugged for and when it should be plugged in for requires knowledge of which transmitter you are supposed to be using. That is, we need to find out what channels you want (those from the desired transmitter) and which you don't (from the undesired transmitter).

If you should be using Mendip then you may, with some trickery, be able to prevent it from picking up Wenvoe. I am assuming here that these are the wanted and unwanted transmitters.

I'm not familiar with the BT Vision box, so I don't know what indication it gives as to its progress during the automatic tuning scan. Often devices give a percentage or they may give UHF channel numbers (21 to 69, which are equivalent to frequencies) or the may give both or they may give none.

Wenvoe UHF uses channels up to 45 and Mendip's lowest is 48, so you don't have a big margin for error.

If it gives percentage, then start it off with it unplugged and aim to plug in at 50%. If it gives UHF channel numbers then plug in once it's got past 45.

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D Russell: Confirm that it is tuned to Selkirk by observing the signal strength screen. It is on C50 or it may have tuned to Chatton on C45.

If you have two aerials, one on Selkirk and one on Chatton, and these are combined then the change in channel from Selkirk may mean that your Chatton aerial is being used to pick it up.

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ITV 3
Tuesday 23 April 2013 8:28PM

sharon: You may require an aerial replacement in order to pick-up the Commercial channels.

Some of the population can only receive the Public Service channels, which I assume are those you have. In some cases a different aerial may pick up the Commercial ones.

Which transmitter are you using? If it's Lark Stone which is roughly north with your aerial vertical it may require replacement.

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D Russell: In which case the diplexer that combines the two feeds may be one that "splits" at C51 and consequently C50 will now be being picked up by your Chatton aerial which is pointing the wrong way for Selkirk:

Television Aerial Boosters / Amplifiers, Splitters, Diplexers & Triplexers

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A Sharkey: You've said that your aerial is on the roof, which is a good start. However, I will have to assume that it is pointing to Winter Hill.

Try having the aerial unplugged for the first 50% of the scan (if it gives percentage progress). Or, if it gives UHF channels (21 to 69) as it scans, start it off with the aerial unplugged and plug in when it gets to channel 46.

If this causes any further issues such as missing channels, then use the manual tune function to restore them (if there is such a function):

Pick TV - C49
BBC One - C50

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