Digital switch-over problems
Brian Butterworth published on UK Free TV The Sutton Coldfield transmitter that serves Birmingham is having all the current analogue and digital services moved to a second temporary mast. This work was due to be completed last month, but the bad weather has not allowed the "air work" to be completed quickly.
With the power level reported to be about an eighth of normal, this has caused many people reception problems in second largest city in England.
Despite being close to the first digital switch-over in Whitehaven, it seems that people using the Bleach Green transmitter are unable to scan for Freeview services. However, they do work if the viewer manually tunes their box toC53, C57 and C60. "Digital UK says they are now working with Ofcom and the broadcasters to fix the problem".
Down in Cornwall, the Redruth transmitter is stuck in limbo. Cornish people can now watch digital TV from the transmitter and relays, but the commerical multiplexes are on the old power levels and old frequencies until 30 September 2009.
It would appear that the 30 September Freeview retune will be an important date nationwide.
Help with Freeview, aerials?
In this section
Monday, 27 February 2012
Annette Lewis: It's a bit hard to suggest things without knowing your full postcode.
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Kaye Marchant: Please see Single frequency interference | ukfree.tv - independent free digital TV advice for help.
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Thursday, 1 March 2012
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Peter Wood1:30 PM
Corby
We had a new 'up-to-the-minute' (suppliers words) aerial fitted just before the changeover (we have a decent SONY HD ready TV), and everything was much improved until the actual changeover over. Now we are plagued with multiple loss of signal strength to the main channels, and just as irritatingly, now receive Yorkshire area local TV etc., when we live in the East Midlands (NN17 3DE postcode) - I've lost count of the number of times we have re-tuned through the TV ('multiple times a week) - do we need to get the supplier back in to re-tune the aerial?. Hope you can offer some advice.
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Peter's: mapP's Freeview map terrainP's terrain plot wavesP's frequency data P's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Peter Wood: There is a possible simple answer to this and that is that when the TV scans frequencies it goes from low to high. The lowest frequencies at your location come from Belmont in Lincolnshire which broadcasts Yorkshire TV. Thus any poor reception is due to the fact that the aerial is facing the wrong direction for the signal that is tuned to.
I am assuming that your aerial is pointing at Waltham (north west). The simplest and most generic suggestion to affect a resolution is to run the automatic tuning scan with the aerial unplugged up until 55%. This will ensure that you don't pick up Belmont or Sutton Coldfield.
You will then need to manually tune to channel 29 to add "SDN" multiplex from Waltham which carries ITV3 and others.
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Peter Wood: I would like to add one final thing.
Belmont uses two channels within the same range as Waltham (for which you will have your aerial plugged in), so there is perhaps an outside chance that your TV might go with these. You might like to confirm that you have the correct (Waltham) ones and you should be able to do this by going to the services in question and bringing up the signal strength screen and ensuring that the UHF channel that it is tuned to is correct.
Pick TV from Waltham is on C56 and Belmont is on C53.
Yesterday from Waltham is on C57 and from Belmont is on C60.
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Peter Wood: Some receivers, having completed the automatic tuning scan, give the user a choice of "Network". This is basically a choice of transmitter where multiple transmitters have been picked up.
I know that Belmont is something like "E Yorks & Lincs", so Waltham might be something like "E Midlands". If you recall seeing something like this at the end of the tuning scan, then there is no need to do the unplugging aerial trick; just run the scan and select the appropriate Network.
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Wednesday, 7 March 2012
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David Chalcraft4:09 PM
Cranleigh
We are in the Midhurst range & retuned the tv on the 29th Feb 2012 & it was OK. From that date the freeview DVD recorder box developed a reluctance to respond to the remote control-sometimes not holding the signal & reverting to the tv. The box has been retuned. A family member less than a mile away has experienced the identical problems. TV is an LG 321d350 Box is an LG Rht498.
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David's: mapD's Freeview map terrainD's terrain plot wavesD's frequency data D's Freeview Detailed Coverage
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M Rogers6:20 PM
My Goodmans feeview box worked fine for a few days but now when I switch the TV on I just get a message stating 'OTA searching in progress. Exit - cancel'. I am unable to get rid of it using the freeview remote and have to use the TV remote to get a channel. Hence I have no freeview channels. Does anyone know what is wrong and how to get freeview back?
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Thursday, 8 March 2012
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Mike10:54 AM
Romsey
We had 1st phase switchover yesterday 7th March(Southampton, SO51 6JY). After retuning we can get all channels, but the TV has become very slow in some functions. In particular, when changing channels it sometimes takes several seconds before the programme changes after pressing the remote button, and occasionally it locks up and won't change at all. Need to switch off to reset. Teletext is almost un-useable because it is so slow to respond. Again, it sometimes appears to freeze, displaying "loading" and we need to switch off to recover. I have tried re-tuning a couple of times, but it makes no difference. TV is a Philips 26PF5520/10 digital LCD, and it was fine prior to switchover.
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Mike's: mapM's Freeview map terrainM's terrain plot wavesM's frequency data M's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Thursday, 15 March 2012
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Martin Child11:30 AM
Since the analogue signal was turned off (we are Midhurst Ariel)when we want to watch a programme on Sky through our kitchen or bedroom tv the quality is very poor. It still works on the main tv to which the Sky box is connected. When trawling through Google some forums have suggested switching the RF outlet channel on Sky to a different number. Is this correct or is there another way?
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