All posts by Chris S
Below are all of Chris S's postings, with the most recent are at the bottom of the page.
Harry the coverage checker shows a strong signal at your location . A modest broadband aerial should be fine . Ch 55 and 56 are on a lower power than other channels but should still easily be receivable in your area . ch57 is not currently in use at Tacolneston.
Its sounds as though there maybe a fault in your aerial connections , plugs or cable loosing some signal.
| link to this comment |
H
Tacolneston (Norfolk, England) Full Freeview transmitterFriday 8 March 2019 10:53AM
Bury St. Edmunds
Harry . there are some problem areas near Bury .The coverage report was based on IP32 6NT Its just possible you are in one of these . Also check that your TV is tuned to Tacolneston . The local relay transmitter only has limited channels .
| link to this comment |
Harry . A group B probably would work well because it has a max response near uhf channels 55 and 56. However probably better to have a wideband .possibly a log type , as the future plan is that only channels below 50 will be used. A loft aerial may be ok in such a strong signal area but position may be important . Since there are reflections indoors you loose some directivity . A group B would be more upset by indoor use than a log too.
| link to this comment |
ignore my last post . mixed up who I was replying to.
Jos . I think an 18 element standard group B would only give a temporary improvement as it has a peak around UHF 55 . however in future there will be a change at the transmitters so that only channels below 50 will be used .Therefore a wideband high gain is probably the best you can do in such a difficult area . It might be possible to get a restricted but reliable range of channels from West Runton relay but the aerial would need to be vertically polarised.
with such a poor signal I would switch to Freesat .
| link to this comment |
Jos I am very near to you at Mundesley . I use a log aerial with an on mast amplifier for Tacolneston and accept that occasionally in high pressure weather I WILL get some continental interference . Perhaps the best you can do is use a "grid" aerial with an amplifier as these have vey low pick up in the reverse direction . But cost around twice as much as a standard aerial.
| link to this comment |
At present it is possible to use a combiner to add a West Runton and Tacolneston aerial on one cable .
Which splits at UHF channel 38 . But not sure if the West Runton signal is good enough to make it worth while . I can receive it at Mundesley without an amplifier wheras an amplifier is essential for Tacolneston..
Distributing freesat is more expensive . I suppose for a very small site one dish could have a head (LNB) with eight outputs and eight freesat receivers . There are professional systems like hotels use but not cheap!
| link to this comment |
perhaps if two caravans had octo dishes then upto 16 caravans could be connected. As Mike says its the cost of quality cable and sat/fresat receivers that has to be considered.
| link to this comment |
Brian. If you have a loft aerial it can be quite sensitive to where it is positioned in the loft as it is affected by water tanks wiring and thickness of walls and roofs . The theoretical best direction can be disturbed too . Its quite possible that some channels are affected more than others . To add to your problem TV cards in PCs can be affected by interference from the PC . Again only certain channels may be affected.
| link to this comment |
Jos. Sounds good . It could be worth trying the aerial on its side .vertical polarisation. pointed at west runton without a mast amp to test if west runton is a viable backup.
| link to this comment |
Friday 1 March 2019 2:26PM
john the coverage checker shows you are in a difficult area . partly because of distance , geography and the strength of Tacolneston signal in your direction . They cant increase the power to the south east as that would interfere with Dutch tv reception in high pressure weather conditions . Similarly you are so near the coast that you cannot avoid ocassionally receiving interference from Dutch transmitters. The power on BBC channels is lower than other channels again to avoid causing interference . Different TVs and boxes have different levels of sensitivity . The older Humax box is likely to be quite sensitive . Though the more recent Humax recorder boxes are a little insensitive. I think you would need two combined aerials for optimum reception but even then it would not be perfect and not cheap. In a similar situation I am putting up with a bit of interference on a freeview recorder and use Freesat for normal interference free tv watching