All posts by Andrew
Below are all of Andrew's postings, with the most recent are at the bottom of the page.
I have had around 30 phone calls over the weekend about signal problems. I live and work in between the Ridge Hill and Mendip transmitters (the latter is having engineering works carried out!)
If so many people are having the same problem it can be only one of 2 things.
1. The transmitter is faulty (engineering works etc) this isn't showing on this site or any other but it's still a possibility
2. Atmospherics. High pressure is usually the one to blame. Loft aerials and aerials that feed amplifiers seem to be the most susceptible as the use-able input signal from the aerial is usually lower than the noise that is generated by the high pressure. Any amplifier will then amplify the noise and make it even worse!
The Ridge Hill transmitter will come up as the Gloucestershire transmitter as that is what it is the regional news is Central which covers most of the Gloucestershire area as well as others.
Andy
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C Dukes: I understand your thinking but this is not the first time this has happened. In the Forest of Dean we had several days over the summer where people had intermittent freeview signal. Last summer was even worse!
Google the Inversion effect (you will probably come back here as Brian has done a whole page dedicated to it!)
Back in the analogue days you had days where the picture would be a bit fuzzier than normal, or you would get ghosting of another channel under your normal picture. It is the same thing only now I am afraid that you can not just watch through the haze, the picture is obliterated due to the noise being "louder" than the signal that you wish to receive.
As I said before, do not rule out that there could be a fault with the transmitter but most of the people I have spoken to in the last 2 days have reported that all faults have disappeared. I checked the pressure charts and they are all back to normal.
If you still have problems then possibly get someone to come and have a look at your aerial system as it could be that even a small change in weather is pushing your signal over the digital cliff edge!
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Gareth: have you tried connecting the aerial lead directly to one of the tv's (with an f to f coupler) and seeing what the strength and quality are like then? i'm not a fan of any labgear product really but have you ruled out the aerial?
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I have a lot of customers who are experiencing problems receiving freeview from this transmitter over the last week. It even made the local paper! Are there any faults on this transmitter that aren't noted here?
Thanks in advance
Andy
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Dave: RG59 should only be used for CCTV (not even that these days with Cat6 around!) but I would never use it for TV, I won't even use RG6!
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The cost of any installation will always depend on the area that it is being installed in and type of materials being used.
So for an aerial installation with 1 feed to 1 room could be anywhere between £80 and £200. Any less and I don't believe that the materials being used are the best (painted brackets and cheap cable for example) Any more and that is just profiteering!
Of course there will be people who disagree either way that it is too cheap or too expensive. This is only my opinion on what I believe to be fair.
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Oh and of course if competition between aerial installers in an area is high that also drives price down. However this also leads to poorer quality components being installed as the installer has smaller and smaller profit margins trying to compete with the cowboys!
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Don't get me wrong I once charged £450 for an aerial install to 1 room!! It was 86 feet off of the ground and needed 8 guy wires and special brackets and aerial!
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Thursday 26 September 2013 10:18AM
Cinderford
the only thing I won't use is rg6, in my area it wouldn't make sense. I could offer a 10 year guarantee I am that confident in my work, however even using the best quality amps etc I still see some fail after 3 or 4 years. we're all here because we're good at and enjoy what we do, cowboys get found out, we get called to fix it. Without cowboys we wouldnt get so much work!
Here's a question for you.
What other avenues of revenue are you guys persuing?
Also I need to get my employee on the relevant NVQ for council work (needs a blue cscs card) Is there a fast track way of getting this? I had to spend 2 years and £1500 to get mine!