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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.


Jean: I suggest you try the box in different rooms and report the findings here. Further suggestions can be made.

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Andy: No, it's not. Also note that the radiation pattern isn't as great as the other channels -- it's a leaf shape in the direction of the city centre.

As you will probably know, a wideband aerial may well be required, but that may have already been fitted for Channel 5 analogue or digital.

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Andy: There's talk here of a transmitter at Grenoside to serve those whose aerials point to Emley Moor, however I'm guessing that as you're better served by Belmont that you are probably on south or south each facing slope and therefore not in with a shot at that either:

Sheffield Live TV - Freeview - Digital Spy Forums

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mike blackett: What's the common factor(s) with respect to the terrestrial aerial system feeding the 2 TVs? A powered amplifier may be at fault if there is one.

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Nikki Leone: These services are on the multiplex (signal) COM5 which is found last during the tuning scan. Sometimes what you describe happens because there isn't enough memory to remember all multiplexes, the symptom being that the one picked up last is forgotten.

You might find that it is storing signals from other transmitters and that preventing it from doing so will mean it won't forget COM5.

How you might achieve this depends on whether your TV has manual tuning and, particularly if not, what the unwanted signals are, the latter not being able to be ascertained without knowledge of your location.

If you have manual tuning then run the automatic tuning through with the aerial unplugged so as to (hopefully) clear everything that's stored, or there may be an option for this. Then tune in the channels:

PSB1 - BBC One - C27
PSB2 - ITV - C24
PSB3 - BBC One HD - C21
COM4 - ITV3 - C51
COM5 - Pick - C52
COM6 - 4Music - C48
COM7 - BBC News HD - C32

PSB3 and COM7 are only applicable if you have a HD receiver. COM7 may be unavailable as it's on lower power, whether you had it previously may be an indicator as to whether this might be the case.

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John Tenner: No, COM7 and COM8 aren't going to become available from Guildford. They are built on a shoestring owing to their relative short life of five years.

The only thing you can do is consider whether you can receive them from another transmitter such as Crystal Palace or Hannington.

I don't know whether BBC Four HD might move onto PSB3.

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Nikki Leone: Let us know if the manual tuning trick works.

Knowing your location you may be picking up Crystal Palace and its frequencies and interleaved with those of Sandy Heath so it will be nigh on impossible to avoid it by repeatedly unplugging and plugging in the aerial (because they are so close together).

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John Luke: At switchover the Stroud relay transmitter became co-channel with Sutton Coldfield's PSBs albeit that it's vertically polarised. Therefore I would suggest that this could be the cause of your woes.

Unfortunately it would seem your only other option is Ridge Hill. If you find that the lower-powered COM channels are not good enough then you may be able to combine Sutton Coldfield's COMs with Ridge Hill's PSBs.

As Ridge Hill is all Group A, a wideband yagi isn't the best thing to use:

Rowridge Transmitter

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john evans: There are a number of possibilities of how they might have been and how they might best be now. Do these aerials feed into the same cable so you can watch the output of both on the same TV/box? Are they vertical or horizontal? When you received RT One could you also receive TV3?

As I say, there are a number of possibilities and this is complicated by reception of RT and other channels from the South.

However, Divis is on a bearing of 243 degrees with the aerial horizontal. This will give you all the Freeview channels and the local Belfast service, NVTV.

RT One, RT Two and TG4 are available from Black Mountain, horizontally polarised so as to match that of Divis. This is on a bearing of 223 degrees and a Freeview HD receiver will be required in order to pick this up even though the pictures are standard definition. Thus, if you have a single horizontally-polarised aerial then it should be directed somewhere between the two (the idea being that a single aerial will do for both in most cases).

However, if your other aerial is vertically polarised *and* you received all Saorview channels, including TV3, then you must have been receiving from a transmitter in the South (as TV3 isn't carried by Black Mountain). If your aerial is vertical then I would suggest it's probably for Clermont Carn, although I can't give you a bearing, only around 200 degrees.

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