All posts by John
Below are all of John's postings, with the most recent are at the bottom of the page.
I think I've realised what the answer might be to my problem above..the Sandy Heath Transmitter has just completed the digital switchover and, therefore, become my strongest signal until September 2011 when the Oxford transmitter does the changeover. When re-tuning my freeview box after doing my arial job it automatically locked onto the the stronger signal.
Thought I would post this as many other people may notice the same thing if they do a re-tune.
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KMJ. Thanks for that. You are right and I've now found my Oxford channels in the 800's of the guide. I have a Humax PVR so I deleted all channels then manually re-tuned for just the Oxford channels and all is normal again.
Doing it that way kept the EPG to a manageable length and less confusing.
Thanks again
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Michael O'Pray. Your symptons sound very similar to the problems I was having.. sometimes channels were fine and other times they were unwatchable.
My answer turned out to be the channels playing up were coming from another transmitter which is further away and any bad weather etc between us affected the picture at times.
My freeview box (Humax) tells me what region I am picking up on the signal strength menu so all I had to do was manually re-tune those channels to my local transmitter and all channels work fine now. I don't know if your freeview box will show this data but if it does it's worth checking as it could be a free fix.
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My arial has a 10 foot aluminium pole which I brought at Wickes recently. I've noticed that it moves in the wind a lot more than my neighbours and occasionally the picture will freeze and jump when very windy. Will a steel pole make any difference or maybe a better grade aluminium one? Or any other suggestions? Thanks
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Mike Dimmick. Thanks a lot for the quick reply. I think I've solved the problem by lowering the pole in it's brackets by 18inches. It's now about 6 foot above the roof and I'm getting a solid 80% signal strength even in the wind.
My aerial looks like a SLX 27985K and is feeding 3 TV's.
I'll remember your advice when our switchover date comes to see if I need an attenuator but hopefully not. Thanks again
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KMJ. Thanks for the tip. I think it was too much movement on my aerial causing the problem. It is mounted on T & K brackets on a side wall and I had it at it's full height which was not really needed. Since lowering it the problem has gone. The aerial still moves a little bit more than all my neighbours but that maybe due to mine being a different design aerial to theirs which catches the wind more. If the problem comes back I'll buy new one. Thanks again
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Unlucky or what! My loss of signal started happening again so I rushed out to the local aerial specialist shop and brought a new one. After installing the new one (lower again, so hardly any movement) there was no change - it was then I noticed a builder nearby operating a rotavator that obviously wan't supressed. Every time he switched off the picture returned to normal.
KMJ - I should have listened before rushing at it!
Anyone want a nearly new SLX 27985K !!
Thanks to you all anyway.
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I'm in Aylesbury and receive from the Oxford transmitter. I have a new aerial and new good quality cable and all has worked well for the past couple of months. I am now getting a small amount of picture freezing on some channels, usually, ITV, ITV3, Channel 4, Challenge and maybe a couple of others. The BBC channels are always fine. When I check my signal and quality strength on the freezing channels they usually show 76% strength and 100% Quality. Am I right in assuming the problem is not my end? All my neighbours are on cable so I've nobody local to ask. Thanks for any advice.
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Saturday 16 April 2011 5:06PM
Aylesbury
I live in an HP21 (Aylesbury) postcode area and usually get my signal from the Oxford transmitter. Today, however, I changed my main arial cable (arial on the roof) to the better quality coax with the copper armour and when I put the arial back up I can only get a signal from the Sandy Heath transmitter which is almost in the opposite direction to Oxford.
I re-installed the arial facing the same way as it has always done so I can't think what has happened?
I made one small change when it was down and that was I noticed the arial was not tight in the clamps that hold it to the U shape support the attachs to the pole so I drilled a small hole through one clamp, through the arial centre arm to add a bolt to keep the clamp tight. I don't know whether that would make any difference though.
Anyone got any ideas? Thanks a lot. John