All posts by Chris
Below are all of Chris's postings, with the most recent are at the bottom of the page.Hi. Please can someone explain why HD itv from Tacolneston carries Meridian news and weather when my TV is in Suffolk and I should get Anglia itv?
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I use the Tacolneston transmitter from my IP17 location but can no longer get channel 94 after the 6 June retune. Advice please!
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Yes, I have checked these thoroughly and re-terminated a couple I thought might be imperfect - no change. What I can't understand is why COM7 on channel 55 is consistently 90% signal strength, 90% signal quality, whilst COM8 (which I thought had about the same 24kW output at COM7) and is on a bearing of 142 degrees from Tacolneston to me, and therefore not restricted by the radiation pattern (according your polar diagram), is currently zero signal today and yesterday (but was solidly 90% on Saturday and has in previous weeks been absolutely fine). 8MHz higher frequency should not affect reception that much.
Are we sure the wind hasn't blown the COM8 aerial away!? A comparison of channel 55 and 56 signal strengths at your location might be interesting.
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MikeP
Thanks for that information. At the last retune (July I think) COM8 was off for several days due to a transmitter problem so I don't have the 100% confidence in it that I might have! Also when something has worked for months (up until last week) it's hard to dispel the idea of a fault outside my property.
However I will try a few more things with my aerial as you suggest, otherwise I feel Freesat coming on!
Thanks anyway
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MikeP Channel 56 is now alive and well again here at IP17. I did replace the aerial cable to eliminate a join halfway, using the latest and greatest all copper cable, but making no other changes, and the signal was good without those alterations. Back to 80% signal and 50-100% quality. Earlier loss is unexplained so far I am concerned.
But thanks for your help and encouragement.
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MikeP
The unexplained always does come back! I had problems again today with Channel 56 and this time really dug into the problem. Mostly I was getting high signal level but minimal quality on c56 - odd and previously put down to interference or poor connections.
I now believe that what is happening is that my very local (1 1/2 miles) Aldeburgh Freeview Lite transmitter is overloading my TV and blocking reception of weak channels such as c56. I have an ultra high gain wide band aerial with a mast head preamp to get c56 from Tacolneston but I suspect it has a side lobe towards the local transmitter. Turning off the preamp improved c56 reception quality but made the signal so weak it was unreliable in that way. I have ordered an overlap blocking filter and hope this will do the trick. I doubt I am the only person to have this problem!
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MikeP
Yes - I did do that and I think the blocking is stopped but the c56 signal is now undesirably weak. It's a difficult balance. The filter should arrive today and that will be interesting to try. Annoyingly it's a DC blocker so I can't rely on the power from my Labgear distribution amp to power the mast head amp. Fortunately I have a separate power supply I can patch in.
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MikeP
Well, my Overlap Blocking Filter (a PROception proOBF1E) turned up yesterday but it seems to be defective! It is marked as having a Channel 39 to 60 passband but in reality channels below 30 come through strongly and channels 40 to 43 are entirely blocked (and these should be my PSB1 and 2 and COM4 channels!).
However, the problem on c56 is fixed so I think I'm on the right track. I plan to speak to the manufacturer tomorrow... Why is life so difficult?
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MikeP
The replacement Overlap Blocking Filter arrived yesterday and I installed it today. This one seems to work correctly, with substantial attenuation of channels 20 to 30, which is what I wanted. Channel 56 is now 80% signal strength, 80-100% signal quality which is also what I had hoped for, and all the usual channels are also good. So the diagnosis of blocking of weak signals due to input overloading from my local Freeview Lite transmitter seems to be correct. Maybe some of the problems others have with poor reception could be due to the same problem and benefit from the same solution.
Hope this is useful feedback.
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Monday 24 October 2016 5:19PM
Saxmundham
I'm on the edge of the Tacolneston service area (IP17 1NP) and although most of the multiplexes are OK COM7 and COM8 are too weak even with a DAT45 + MRD. Any suggestions? Will this improve after 2019?