All posts by MFPA
Below are all of MFPA's postings, with the most recent are at the bottom of the page.My father-in-law tells me the signal from the Bath transmitter is down again today. Any ideas?
He also tells me it came back on yesterday at about 1530 and not at 1242. (It was 1330 when he was on the phone moaning about having had no TV all day...).
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Dave: thanks for the link. Anything I have been able to find by googling suggests it was all fixed by yesterday afternoon - and it did come back on from around 1530 yesterday until well after midnight. But this morning it was down again when my Father-in-law got up at 10 o'clock, and was still down when I spoke to him about 10 minutes ago.
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I live in a block of six flats, which share a single aerial on the roof pointed at the Mendip transmitter.
There is a distribution amp in the loft, but I have no idea how powerful as it's not my loft. I estimate the aerial cable runs to each flat to be about 15 metres for two flats and nearly 30 metres for the other four. The flat whose electricity powers the amp frequently loses power for several hours when their key meter runs out. This results in no TV signal to all six flats for long periods.
Given that there is no communal power supply, it would be desirable to find a solution that does not require an amplifier. How many aerials would this be likely to need? (I know this is a "wet finger in the wind" type of question.)
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MFPA: Thanks for replying, Mike.
The answer to why a builder 20-odd years ago set the TV aerial distribution system up in a particular way is anybody's guess. But a communal power supply to supply just a TV signal amp would likely have cost much more for each flat's share of the standing charge alone than the usage has been costing the occupiers of that one flat.
Any changes would be in the remit of the residents' management company, so there is not a commercial or absentee owner to poke.
I guess my real question was would each flat really need its own aerial, or is it likely a fairly decent aerial with a splitter might be sufficient for two flats? Six aerials would be a bit of a forest, but three could look OK.
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Thanks, MikeP.
My thoughts were to try something like a Log36 aerial with a two-way unpowered splitter. Not having to route through the loft where the existing distribution amp is installed would also reduce the estimated 30-metre cable runs to about 20 metres.
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Sunday 22 May 2011 7:33PM
Bath
Hi. Block of 6 flats in Peasedown St John . Communal TV aerial on the roof is a 14-element group c/d contract aerial pointing at Mendip (but first it points through the branches of a tree about 12 feet away and then a line of trees about 40 yards away on a hill). Distribution amplifier in the loft of one of the flats. The old analogue service was watchable but fuzzy, and an additional signal amp near the TV set made it close to perfect. Freeview has frequent dropping-out of sound and blockiness or freezing of pictures; the "no signal" message is less frequent but still multiple times per day. Without the set-back amp, Freeview shows only the "no signal" message.
Are any of the following likely to improve the reception?
* relocate the aerial to miss the nearest tree?
* put it on a taller pole to maybe help with the next line of trees?
* replace the aerial with a Log 40, Yagi 18, or DY14WB?
* I know nothing about the quality of the distribution amp; might it be better to replace it with a masthead amp and a splitter?