All posts by Steve Donaldson
Below are all of Steve Donaldson's postings, with the most recent are at the bottom of the page.
Peter Cannon: No. You can't use a terrestrial (Freeview) receiver for receiving the signal from a satellite.
As you already have a dish then you could have Freesat. The list of channels available are here:
Channels List and On-Demand Players | Freesat
Some TVs have a built-in Freesat (satellite) tuner, in addition to the Freeview (terrestrial) one. As you already have a dish then this may be the best way for you to access to more channels.
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Chris B: In terms of restoring the HD channels on your TV then these are on UHF channel 41 (634MHz) and you should try a manual scan of that channel.
Resetting and rescanning will make no difference because the TV is set to receive the channels of the transmitter. All that this results in is the memory being cleared and missing channels in the TV's memory. The issue lies elsewhere, I would suggest.
You have complained before about missing channels and whilst we don't know whether it could be based on your location (as it hasn't been provided), be aware that other cables such as HDMI, Ethernet and USB running alongside an aerial lead could cause such issues. If you have such cables running nearby, then see if the manual scan of UHF channel 41 gives indication of strength and quality, and see if moving them away from the aerial lead increases the quality (or if strength and quality aren't shown separately, see if the signal strength bar increases when they are moved away).
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Chris B: Knowledge of your location in the form of postcode, or nearby postcode, would allow us to see what sort of signal you might be expected to receive.
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Chris.SE: Windermere is a relay of Kendal.
Kendal is no longer a relay of Caldbeck. At switchover a sub region for BBC North West and ITV Border was created, with Kendal as the parent. This was so as to maintain the regional coverage as it was with analogue, where ITV and C4 were taken from Caldbeck and BBC1 and BBC2 from Winter Hill.
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Chris.B: The 700MHz Clearance spreadsheet is one of the documents I was referring to myself. The Freeview predictor lists only the ITV region, although it omits the sub-region where applicable.
The BT network diagrams from the 1980s show SHF links between Caldbeck and Lancaster:
Lancaster (IBA): BT Microwave Sites
According to mb21, Windermere receives Kendal off-the-air:
mb21 - The Transmission Gallery
The Kendal transmitter group is as follows:
Kendal
---- Coniston
---- Hawkshead
---- Kendal Fell
---- Sedburgh
-------- Millthrop
---- Windermere
-------- Crosthwaite
-------- Grasmere
The indentations are denote the relays. Millthorp is a relay of Sedburgh, and Crosthwaite and Grasmere are relays of Windermere, hence the double indentations.
The sources for this are the 700MHz Clearance spreadsheet, which shows the relays, and mb21, which informs as to whether a relay is fed directly from Kendal or from another relay.
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Alan Thompson: If your aerial points to Bilsdale then check that the PSB channels of BBC1 and ITV are in fact tuned to Bilsdale and not the local Seaham relay. It is a possibility across the area that automatic tuning could pick up the relay instead of the main transmitter, thereby potentially resulting in variable or intermittent reception. Checking the receiver is tuned to the correct transmitter is the first thing to do in such a situation.
Without being familiar with the area, and having looked at the map I thought that the Seaham relay is well-placed to give good signal across the whole town. However, having plotted the terrain at sample locations in Northlea, Deneside and Dawdon it turns out that the line-of-sight path to rooftops, where it exists is low to rooftops under it.
Owing to the fire at Bilsdale, the transmission power at Seaham was increased and a horizontal component added. We don't know whether this has been reverted back to how it was before. The vertical component is a cardioid from a little before 12-o'clock position to a little beyond four-o'clock position (see the radiation pattern shown above on this page). The HP signal isn't as wide as the VP one, judging by the photos on mb21. In those photos it appears to point north (or thereabouts), the opposite direction to Bilsdale. The Freeview predictor says that the VP is 200W and the HP is 600W. It is therefore more likely than before that receivers in the area could pick up the Seaham relay where the aerial points to Bilsdale (or Pontop Pike).
The Freeview predictor seems to be the only source of technical parameters for TV. Ofcom publishes a technical parameters spreadsheet for broadcast radio but I haven't found an equivalent for TV. We also don't know whether the Seaham relay (and other relays) have been reverted back to how they were prior to the Bilsdale fire, and if they have not been, whether they will be or whether they will be left as is. It's quite possible that the Freeview predictor hasn't been updated. It still shows the higher-power Eston Nab HP signals (installed following the Bilsdale fire).
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Chris.SE: Yes, I noticed that too.
The only reason I can think is because there was a plan to use 29, 31 and 37 elsewhere in the area which overlaps Sunderland and Seaham. After all, if it were to be only Sunderland (where the overlap would occur) then Seaham could have used 29, 31 and 37, with just Sunderland SFN with Chatton. But then why wasn't the plan to have Sunderland as SFN with Pontop Pike?
Before 700MHz Clearance, Seaham was co-channel with Chatton's COMs on 41, 44 and 47. Seaham stayed the same, and Chatton's PSBs moved onto its COM channels, thus Seaham is co-channel with Chatton's PSBs now. Chatton got three new channels for its COMs, which are 29, 31 and 37.
Seaham broadcasts northwards into Sunderland's area and therefore if they were co-channel reception would be limited by interference unless they were SFN. Similarly, Sunderland's coverage area has viewers of Chatton.
Pontop Pike isn't used much to the east of Sunderland City Centre. Bilsdale is used quite a bit and this must have been why they added the horizontal component to the Sunderland relay.
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David Graham: Kilkeel receives its signal from Divis via Killowen Mountain. While it's not possible to see with certainty that the Killowen Mountain site is without power, there have been a number of powercuts in the area this evening. See the NIE Powercheck map: https://powercheck.nienet….uk/
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David Nixon : The BBC Reception website [bbc.co.uk/reception] is not showing any faults for the Darvel transmitter.
The HD services are on the PSB3 (BBC B) multiplex, which is on UHF channel 28 from Darvel, and you should try a manual scan of this channel.
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Sunday 2 July 2023 6:47PM
The next question is whether Angus can be used as a second choice, and I think the answer is, unfortunately, "no".
The terrain plot looks good. Barring nearby houses there may be line-of-sight at 46 miles on a bearing of 7:
Terrain between ( m a.g.l.) and (antenna m a.g.l.) - Optimising UK DTT Freeview and Radio aerial location
However, the predictor does suggest good reception may be possible of the three COM multiplexes, but nothing on three PSBs.
The Penicuik relay transmitter at 6 miles out on a bearing of 203 is co-channel with the PSBs of Angus, albeit that it is vertically polarised and Angus is horizontally polarised.
Further, the Google Street View car has been along Torrance Row once, in July 2022. This shows three houses with a TV aerial and a Triax satellite dish. These aerials all point to the Penicuik relay. Moving round onto Pincott Drive it is possible to see the backs of houses on Torrance Way. Three of them have a TV aerial and they are all vertically polarised and pointing at Penicuik.
There are a few houses on Bain Rigg with a Craigkelly aerial and a Triax satellite dish mounted on the same pole, so it looks like it may be the same installer.
The Penicuik relay carries only PSB channels, and therefore does not offer the full complement of Freeview channels. It might be worth enquiring with those properties that have a TV aerial to see if they can offer any more guidance.
I stress, even if you can receive from the Penicuik relay, it will give you only the PSB channels, which are BBC A (PSB1), D3&4 (PSB2) and BBC B (PSB3):
Channel listings for Industry Professionals | Freeview
There is no SDN (COM4), Arq A (COM5) or Arq B (COM6).