Help with Television sets?
Wednesday, 12 June 2013
Hi,
We're in a Freeview fringe area without any line-of-sight transmitters, but we can just get a signal from BlaenPlwyf (over the hill, 40km away).
I've installed a Digital High Gain aerial (the best signal is when it's pointing up a bit), a Masthead Amp and an Indoor Distribution Amp. A further indoor amp merely increases the signal level without improving signal quality. PSB reception is generally ok, but the COM multiplexes are a bit iffy (the set-top box reports signal qualities around 6/7 and 5 respectively).
Would a second aerial improve matters? I understand how they should be stacked vertically, but I can't find a suitable coupler - could I use an F splitter as a masthead coupler?
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Chris Bell: why not save your money and use Freesat? It is designed for people in your situation.
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Chris Bell: for the money you would be spending in something that may or may not work you could get a dish with a quad lnb and a few basic freesat HD boxes.
If you must have the UKtv channels a basic sky subscription would still come in cheaper.
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Chris Bell: The power of Blaenplwyf's COM channels are 10kW and its PSBs are 40kW. The COM channels also use a transmission mode that is less robust and therefore more susceptible to being affected quality-wise due to objects in the signal path. This is done in order to fit more services (more shopping channels) in.
The prediction for your postcode (taken from your website) suggests that Carmel may be "good" for the PSBs and non-existant for the COMs. However it gives a poor rating for the 24W Mynydd Pencarreg relay 13km away! The COM channels of Carmel and PSBs of Mynydd Pencarreg are the same. I suspect that this is one of those strange results that the predictor throws up sometimes. The non-existant COMs from Carmel may be on the assumption that Mynydd Pencarreg interferes.
I then inputted into Digital UK your house name, which means that the area predicted changed from your whole postcode to your property (that's the theory). The poor prediction for Blaenplwyf and that of Carmel disappeared completely so perhaps you are in a spot that is generally poorer than some other parts of your postcode.
Blaenplwyf uses Group A channels exclusively so a wideband yagi aerial is the wrong type:
Rowridge Transmitter
If you require a high-gain aerial then I suggest that you haven't got one for what you're using it for if it's a wideband.
With yagis, the directivity and therefore gain drops off on lower channels. A higher gain aerial focuses on a narrower beam (has narrower acceptance angle). This could potentially be a disadvantage the further away from line-of-sight you are.
The distance to Blaenplwyf is 24km and Carmel is 38km. You might try using Carmel instead.
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Thursday, 13 June 2013
Thanks for that, Dave.
Observations to date below - the last one is pretty good most of the time...
Carmel, 10-bay C/D x-beam (13dB fwd):
weak PSBs, no COMs.
Carmel, wideband triboom (17dB fwd):
stronger PSB, no COMs.
Blaenplwyf, wideband triboom (17dB fwd):
even stronger PSBs, weak COMs.
Chris.
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Sorry, I forgot to mention... Nothing from Pencarreg at all (and, yes, I know it's vertical!).
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M
mazbar3:21 PM
Chris Bell: non of these are good enough you need at least 40dbuv of signal. What type of meter are you using ?
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Friday, 14 June 2013
Thanks for all the interest and help offered. 120 Freeview tv and radio channels are now working adequately enough for me to leave things as they are. And, if weather or the season of the year degrade things to unacceptible levels, then we can always turn to Freesat.
Ceers,
Chris.
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Monday, 19 August 2013
S
sue cassinelli8:45 PM
Colne
I have retuned my freeview but cannot get pick tv , could I put this channel in separately and what frequency and ban b width do I enter in my search
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sue's: mapS's Freeview map terrainS's terrain plot wavesS's frequency data S's Freeview Detailed Coverage
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