All posts by Graham Lewendon
Below are all of Graham Lewendon's postings, with the most recent are at the bottom of the page.
Dear NigelJ RE Friday 13 July 2012 11:05PM 12 hours ago Wisbech. Have you had a new neighbour move very close by that's using power line type Home plug adaptors instead of a wireless router with a PC for networking the house LAN. These device's can produce bad harmonics all over the RF spectrum & are bad news if you like to use short wave and in some cases have been known to effect DAB (band 2 FM as used for 405 TV in 30's-40's-50's through till final turn of in I belive late 80's or very early 90's Even extending into the UHF band See on web what the Radio society of Great Britain thinks of them. Nasty bit of kit! Problem is they are aproved standerd issue to customers who use the BT vision system. Its a bit like when astra started up in the late 80's and some manfactures said they could produce cheap 65 cm dia dishes with a beam width of 3 degrees which worked fine untill eutelsat took up its pre standing location option and replaced a weak satellite at 16.0 degrees east of south with a much more powerfull one. The problem not understood by UK MPs as at time astra was positioned at 19.2 degress east of south and if the astra home dish was of by only 0.2 degrees say pushed by strong gust of wind in a gale UK Gold was on same astra transponder downlink frequncy as the Egyptian channel "MBC" from eutelsat 2F2 or was it 2F3 positioned at 16.0 degrees east of south. All the positioning given to eutelsat had been granted by the european govening bodied based on recieving dishes being 90 cm dia or greater and as such had a acceptance angle or beam width less than 3 degrees so had to be much further of alinement for a problem to occur. Affected users would get a kind of co channel interferance as a result... is that why S.E.S Astra is now at 28....ish degrees east of south for digital use in uk ie like any lens the smaller the diameter the wider the beam. using a 1 meter PM dish on a H to H mount I had no problems and could see the weak feeds from a weak eutelsat parked between the above mentioned sats even if tuned to same frequncy and pol as UK gold. Following web address PLT / BT 'Home Plug' / PLN / Radio Interference / PLA / Powerline Telecoms / Broadband By Powerline (BPL) - QRM Part 1 - M0MTJ Will show how annoying these home plug adaptors can be. Whether this could be your problems source is not always easy to prove and or resolve even with much diplomacy. Have read on line of suffers offering to supply kit and instal to replace offending newsance when all other options have been tried. Another thought is has a construction crane poped up in your local area that during daytime because of its size or shape and even position is acting as a reflector at problem frequncy. Third thought :- Have you got two UHF aerials on the mast placed such that both dipoles are in line one above the other in same polarity this can cause problems but would always be presant. Forth thought :- Is person next door new user of sky box which is connected via boxes modulator if a older syle box (It maybe second hand) rather than via skart The modulator can be turned of from a user accesable menue. The cable used if poorly screened might be acting as a low level TX dipole if installed just on other side of wall to your viewing room again diplomacy may help resolve problem Following web address is full of aerial instal tips including my third thought interestingly in the sites section tab for aerial positioning find the table of results and note the effect found at ch 27 they report a 2.0 db signal loss. Quite a informative site. A.T.V (Aerials And Television) TV Aerial, DAB Aerial, FM Aerial. Hope above gets you on road to a cheap and simple answer.
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Re comments K.M.j Derby and his on FM
I find the suggestion that back ground hiss is tolerable on FM totally abhorrent Does he really think that some one with a 7:1 capable AV amp and speakers would be happy hearing any kind of back ground noise when replacement value of the amplifier and speaker system exceeds £6ooo + cabling and well installed FM Arial (8 element yagi) I say to ditch the lowest common denominator approach as proposed by him and for the BBC to continue providing the best possible quality content on there signal and then it is up to end user to extract cleanest sounding programming which is how it has been for as long as I have used FM and yes I do use DAB but need a 4 element yagi at commuting distance from Cambridge The FM yagi pulls in BBC London cleanly from Wrothem in Kent. Also a point forgotten is the fact that few cars have DAB tuners so how are folk to adapt when car audio system is integral with cars dashboard the common sense way might to have a low power convertor that re-modulates DAB content to the FM band 1 or outputs the audio via a wire so that all existing in car systems can reproduce the FM replacement service and it could be a simple add on since many in car systems now have a media input jack for use with I players and the like.
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Can I use a Freeview box if there is no SCART connector on my TSunday 23 November 2014 10:58PM
Saffron Walden
jb38: RE :- Can I use a Freeview box if there is no SCART connector on my TV?
Before under taking any work with electrical equipment be sure to isolate all of it from the mains supply.
If your equipment makes it available R.G.B is best but not all equipment manufactures equip their recent products to I-P via Skart quite often you may find your to choose from either H.D.M.I or PHONO composite (colour code is yellow = video, red = audio right , white = audio left) also some Televisions may also have a component input using same connections for the audio but with three extra connectors of the same style as the yellow one but these sockets will be colour coded red green and blue and if this is the case you may need to select either Component or composite via a set up menu option. you need a cable with 5 phono lines to utilise the component input (or a combination adding up to five. These colours make it easy to match up cable ends to respective socket but electrons don't care what colour code the terminals are. If you make up a lead comprising a set of leads coded yellow red and white set of phono and a skart to phono adaptor which may often be included with video recording equipment (you could have one tucked away somewhere) So connect one end of the phono lead to the skart adaptor. Connect the remaining phono connectors to the corresponding sockets on the Television the skart end going to your set top box. Hope that helps
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Suggest you try reading the detailed Ofcom document re 700Mhz band to close to free view
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G
I have a Panasonic TV with integrated Freeview how can I recordThursday 18 December 2014 4:30AM
Saffron Walden
Caroline
Preparations on TV Via manual down loadable from PANASONIC TX-32LXD85 OPERATING INSTRUCTIONS MANUAL Pdf Download. Begin at page 38 and study instructions through to page 43.
VHS/DVDR deck Preparation See page 28 in relevant user guide (can be freely downloaded) Your model DMR-EZ48VEB is forerunner of my own (DMR EZ49B) simply google DMR-EZ48VEB
Things to remember or check.
(1) You will have to select via remote control the correct video input AV1-AV2 skart sockets on rear panel or AV3 at front of machine these are RCA phono and S-Video. But avoid all this by selecting TV as an input source rather than AV 1or 2 or 3 and pick VHS for recording all from menu with remote controller. When recording TV signal you must have recorder set for PAL (English TV system) not NTSC (American TV system) you might see some sort of picture but in black and white and out of vertical position if your lucky!
(2) Regarding no BBC 1 & BBC2 etc. sometimes you have to remove aerial from device socket perform full tuning set up as if you have just come home with new equipment then reattach aerial to equipment and repeat tuning again. This wipes out rubbish and all tuning data and reloads with latest tuning data and is given as corrective advice in other parts of this web site.
If your determined to use TV as tuner following notes may help
(3) When using HDMI lead between TV and recorder you cannot set TV skart out to RGB `as the recorder inputs skart has the RGB option greyed out and can not be selected. So set the in and out skarts to video on TV and recorder.
(4) You have to select recorder input source via menu using remote control and have your skart plugged into correct socket - Selecting wrong socket will result in blacked out screen
(5) Re question to Larry there is no auto tune button all tuning most other functions and much of day to day operation is done with remote control in the menu system my machine has a few control buttons behind a small front panel flap but no auto tune button except as stated above.
(6) Not all skart leads are fully wired (have all terminals connected) To verify wire ring status see termination details as per page 51 of TV guide some skart leads can be carefully opened by unscrewing ferrule that secures and holds connector to cable outer sheathing together but beware the signal wires are very small and fragile so rough handling may result in cable detaching from non solderable crimped termination. Other moulded connector types require checking with a simple ohm metre (DVM) shops that sell this equipment should be able to show you which of their skart leads are or are not fully wired if assistant knows less than you go to better shop.
(7) Quality skart leads are not cheap but will use decent grade thick conductors / terminal pins/spade connector's and cables with a good layer of inner and outer insulation also the screen between each cable will be better so you'll get less cross talk between wires thus recordings and playback will be better The cable will properly be fatter than mains cable fitted to high power electric fires
Hope this helps
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The AM maps you have compiled are useful but there's more to AM than LW & MW. Is there any chance of including the English language short wave stations and the bands as well as their BC frequencies and not just the 31 or 45 metre bands but from top band through beyond 41 metre's getting hold of a current copy of the Short Wave Users Hand Book is a costly business and problematical at my local library I have tried online with patchy success and yes I am aware of the 11 year sunspot cycle and what that means in respect of reception on SW
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Re the cuts to news output which always includes a weather forecast I see no point in having a forecast in the main news that is a good as duplicated minutes later in the local news - just more wasted money mostly that's our money! when a big event is covered by one broadcaster that should be enough (either BBC or ITV)we do not need simulcast of the event on all competing channels another example is if something occurs overseas does it need channel to channel and wall to wall coverage I mean if one of our politicians helps a member of the UK public in some way would that get reported on just about every American news channel or news report? maybe or not.
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Re Daniel Tristan's question,
It might be worth checking that you are using an antenna of the correct group i.e. wide band and of the right sensitivity. heavy birds perching on it could move it some what but I feel it unlikely. The grouping is colour coded with a plastic peg in the end of the square section which the antennae's elements are attached it can be mistaken for a bung in each end of beam and for Sandy Heath TX you need to select an antenna with a black end bung. If you goggle the data you should be able to find out about this aspect/data.
From your comparison with your mothers reception its should be you getting the most channels but the way you seem to be missing all the BBC channels could be that your antenna is tuned to not cover the frequency range on which the BBC is broadcasting where as maybe your mothers is of the correct group and so out performs yours. It is worth considering the condition of the cabling from antenna to TV set. the best set up is one with no joins except at the ends where you have the connector for the TV and the roof end where you terminate cabling to antenna and use the highest quality cabling made this is worth checking on line to avoid falling foul of any poorly trained sales assistant whose tech knowledge could be better some high street sellers sell kits of all the items you might need I.E bracket antenna screws wall plugs and the cable the bracket often lets pole move out of line away from vertical the antenna will be a cheap flimsy item and the cabling is just better than wet string and the wall plugs and screws .......? you get what you pay for in this world. should your existing antenna prove to be of the right grouping then carefully check existing cable to roof it should not have any sharp bends any where on its route to TV set have foil and a tightly woven braid with decent internal insulation hard for you to know that something that's learn by experience over the years with no stable pins puncturing through it as these could act as a " Tuned stub" shorting certain frequencies to earth something radio armatures often use to eliminate RF interference and its not impossible for you to be unlucky and have a pin in just the right place through cabling for it to work against you.
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Dear braintest;
Re are you ready to cut the cordCosts may change after goverment action re removal of TVL exemptions for watching video from broadcasters via tablets & other similar devices. so will this change be reflected in an update to artical?
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Saturday 14 July 2012 11:15AM
Dear Lisa
Re :- Saturday 2 June 2012 5:28PM.
I do not feel that I can offer any better advice you than you seem to be getting re TV reception. But the following may help re PC crashes.
Yes re installing the PC operating system is both time consuming and tiresome.
All the following need to be prepaid befor any disater hits.
(It took me almost a week to rebuild and install a replacement XP system recently)
as so often you have to plod through various set up options it would be nice if those people that made the OS (M/S windows versions ?-all) could gather all the answers at the beginning then go of and apply the answers given by the user. But it does not stop there, email accounts need setting up with details only the user should know. But there are ways to make it simple the more simple the higher is the price. For email only and is quite cheap will cost price of floppy or space on memory stick / card or CDR / CDRW it should be possible to save / export the details of your email account to either or all of the above storage devices whilst the system is working as required. Then next time it lets you down once Windows is working again you import from the file you have the email account and your back sending emails real fast without messing with account details In Windows XP and Vistor find tools tab in the respective email application next look down new list for accounts open tab select account type then import saved data from file by using import function - it works rather like Save / open as found in file / menu of many word processors. A second option places a image of the hard drive onto CD's or DVD's the product is called "Nortons ghost" you have to stay with PC as image is made so that disc can be loadded into writing drive as required and same is true when using disc set to reload hard drive when system reinstall is felt only way to resolve problem. A copy of ghost may need to be purchased from the Symantic / Nortons web site. If you would like it easyer considder cloneing the hard drive whilst all is well with the system do not wait till theres a problem its to late by then. You might find free soft ware on line else can purchase from web also required is a formatted hard drive as big as the one you have in PC that can be housed / slid into a device* that is connected via a lead to PC whilst in use. Also you will need a blank disc to make into a start up disc that gets whole reload process going and of coures if you download the cloning software it is a good idea to keep a copy on a CD or DVD. Note this is differrent to backing up the hard drive or using system restore but unlike those data back up / repair tools the whole drive as at time of cloneing ends up being reloaded while you enjoy those more interesting things. Cloning will take some hours but once actvated runs without you sitting there. You end up with a working PC with minamal fuss but its not cheap.
*After drive is cloned store drive holding drive rebiuld data somwhere it will not be mistaken as a blank drive. However device can be used to attach diffrent hard drive giving you extra data storage space rather like swapping disc. So its not got to be used exclusiverly for drive cloning.
These devices let you attach a Sata drive via a USB lead even if there is no Sata connection on your PC the data transfer is just a bit slower via USB. Some permit attachment of 2.5" and 3.5" hard drives so are more usfull.
Hope thats helpfull.
Sorry to those who say this is a TV RX help site not a PC help site but as techs converg is it not up to those of us than understand one type of tech to help others that may like to know all the possible options to make life easyer.