All posts by Mary Middleton
Below are all of Mary Middleton's postings, with the most recent are at the bottom of the page.
jb38: I thought I was tuned to the Oxford transmitter, but BBC1 is channel 45, ITV1 is channel 26 if that means anything to you?
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thank you both Dave Lindsay & jb38. from the orientation, the aerial points to Oxford, I've tried running the scan with the aerial unplugged and it didn't pick up any stations BUT .. I do remember reading about needing to clear previous settings, there doesn't appear to be a 'first time setup option but it looks like that's what's happened now, I've run the scan again with the aerial plugged in and BBC is 53 (Oxford), ITV is 26 (Crystal Palace) with max signal strength/quality on both. BBC from Hannington last night was showing minimial signal strength and quality. all I need now is either some sunny, clear weather or a some heavy rain to see whether the reception holds up ... at least I know where my aerial points and to find out which channels are from which transmitters, thank you both so much for your help. the set does have a manual tuning option but I hope not to have to use it!
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jb38: I use a Bush LT26M1CA LCS tv which has a built in freeview tuner, also a Panasonic DMR-EZ27 recorder/player which also has a built in freeview tuner, connected to the tv by scart. the aerial plugs into the Panasonic, then there's a coax connector from the Panasonic to the tv. the TV input is selected via the TV remote as TV or scart. I've repeatedly re-tuned both freeview tuners for months now but neither the tv or dvd box reception has been reliable. interestingly, upstairs I have an old portable crt tv with built-in VHS tape, I connected a super-cheap Dion freeview tuner from Tesco a few months ago and that set-up works reliably in all weathers, so if I want to be sure of recording something I tend to give up on the expensive, new high-tech stuff downstairs and go back to the old reliable 14" portable! the same aerial serves both tv's. thanks again.
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jb38 & Dave Lindsay: what can I say? I am blitzed with useful information and totally gobsmacked by your technical authority!
the aerial splitter is outside the house, the aerial is mounted on a 10ft mast on the chimney stack, the cable runs down the front of the roof into a box on the wall, from this 2 cables emerge, one goes down and in through the sitting room wall, the other goes across the front in in through the bedroom wall
the invoice says it's a DMX52WB Digital Aerial connected with low loss digital coax cable and 1402 transformer splitter
the connection to the Panasonic DVD/telly with the coax loop was done by the installers, who took a lot of trouble to tune it for me and did get rid of a lot of extra channels, but of course the numerous re-tunes required by the digital switchover have lost all that
thanks for the guidance on manual tuning, I have the Bush tv manual and will look through that for the equivalent procedures
one simple-minded female question: why did I never have any problems before all this digital stuff started? I never wanted 130 channels of rubbish tv!
ok, another one, if the tv/dvd recorders are self-tuning, shouldn't they automatically find & set the best signal out there?
and another one, why does the Digital UK advice service always blame the equipment and 'moisture entering the aerial cable'? nobody there even mentioned tuning options so I am grateful to all you experts out there for the ideas
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jb38 & Dave Lindsay: I had thought for some time that the reception was equipment related because the upstairs setup works fine with the cheap Tesco tuner, and what you've said confirms that
jb38: you're right about the Bush tuning, I got the manual out and couldn't figure out how to find out what channels it's tuning to, I guess it's just a very primitive tuner
since I always watch the Bush telly via the Panasonic box unless I'm recording something on that, it's a minor problem
but is this a silly question: since the Tesco tuner upstairs seems to work so well, could I attach another one of those to the Bush and tune it through that? the thing only costs about a tenner
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Jane Bruce: north of Henley, no ITV channels since some time last night I RECORDED DOWNTON ABBEY AND GOT NOTHING!!! re-tuned 10 mins ago and lost all channels. had to clear the lot by pulling out the aerial and doing a setup, then putting aerial back in and doing another setup. everything looks ok now. why is it so unreliable? I am absolutely SICK of my TV service disappearing without notice, having a signal so bad I get recordings with pixellation and half way through packing up with a Bad Signal or No Service message
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Friday 27 April 2012 6:16AM
Henley-on-thames
I am absolutely fed up with the unreliable quality of reception since the 'improved' digital service was introduced. When I moved here (near Henley on Thames) 5 years ago, everything worked fine. Within a couple of years the reception deteriorated and the picture would intermittently break up. I paid a professional aerial installer over £300 to replace the aerial with a high gain one and tune it. This was ok for a while until the recent activity, when I have had to re-tune numerous times, and it's still not reliable. Any sort of settled fine weather and we get the 'inversion effect' and rubbish reception. Last Saturday, as far as I remember, the weather was not exactly fine or settled. I set my recorder for the first episodes of 'The Bridge' on BBC4. When I tried to watch it last night, surprise surprise, 'Bad Signal' and two hours of blank screen. What am I paying the licence fee for and why does 'progress' always end up with something worse than we had before? I'd rather have 5 channels I could reliably watch that 130 channels of American soap and TV shopping.