All posts by Chris S
Below are all of Chris S's postings, with the most recent are at the bottom of the page.
Mardler the great Yarmouth area can have poor reception from Tacolneston . That's why there is a relay transmitter there . You might find a stronger version of BBC4 hD from this transmitter using a vertically polarised aerial. However the snag is that relays do not transmit all the commercial channels .
I suspect that the root of the problem is that Tacolneston cannot transmit at a higher power on certain channels as that would conflict with Dutch transmitters . The situation may improve after the main retune this year.
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Mike . I thought too that a wideband aerial would be the best but when I compared a log aerial to a typical standard 18 element group B I find that the B has slightly more gain at the low end of the Tacolneston frequencies and 4 to 5 dbs more gain at the new com7 , com 8 frequencies (uhf channels 55 56) 2018/20
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I suspect that many of the people posting with problems on this site are using a group C/D aerial. . travelling around Norfolk I see many of these still on house roofs . Group C/D aerials do not work well on UHF channels 31 and 37 . Up until recently 31 and 37 carried com 7 and 8. Com 8 reception with these aerials should now be much better because they have high sensitivity on UHF channel 56. COM7 will improve too when it moves to 55 in june.
However all technical experts recommend that the majority of housholds should now be using a wideband aerial to accommodate all possible future frequency changes . Help with aerial change is available in difficult reception areas.
Could I appeal again that it helps greatly with replying to problems to know the area you live and if possible the group , size and position of your aerial . (or at least the approximate age of the aerial)
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Its optimistic to try to get UHF channel 56 from Aldeburgh . Its in a shadow relative to the Tacelston signal. And needs a good horizontally polarised aerial. Probably a group CD group K or high gain wideband. Wheras you should have a strong signal from the local Alderburgh relay transmitter which requires a vertically polarised group A aerial. (of course the relay does not carry com7 or com8 so I can see why you might try for Tacolneston)
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Bilsdale recently changed channels around .I do not have a channel list but it is likely that com 7 has moved to uhf channel 55 in keeping with the national plan to move com7 and com 8 on all uk transmitters (that carry com7 and 8 ) to 55 and 56. This means that a wideband aerial is needed . In most areas a log type is best or in moderately weak areas a group K .
note Pre digital aerials are group A which are very insensitive to channels above 30 or so.
note also I am reffering to UHF frequency channels NOT freeview channel numbers.
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the above post was a bit theoretical . there is no change to 55 currently listed . But it will happen sometime this year 2018 and a broadband aerial WILL then be needed.
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Chris I get channel 56 on a humax youview box fine with a log aerial plus amplifier at 20 miles from Tacolneston. A DAt45 aerial has a higher gain at 56 so should be ok at your location with an amplifier (30 miles?) Its true that some tvs/boxes are more sensitive than others.
by "amplifier" I mean a proper one mounted next to the aerial not a cheap indoor one.
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UHF channel 37 carried COM8 channels . Com 8 was moved to channel 56 at the end of February . A retune should find it . The future plan is to put com7 on 55 and com8 on 56 on (I think) all transmitters that currently transmit com7 and 8 .
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StevensOnln1: some modern aerials have lower sensitivity at ch56 in anticipation of a future further reduction of frequencies . They might be ok at the moment for 55 because the power transmitted is much higher than that for com8 on 56. When com 7 moves to channel 55 it also will be on low power.
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Wednesday 17 January 2018 3:31PM
here is an interesting website where you can check the quality and reliability of tv signal that you are likely to receive at any given post code . You can see from Tacolneston that there is a retune required in February 2018 and one in april. The changes are due to frequencies above 700mhz being given over to mobile phone use. Digital UK | Clearance events in 2018
The channels marked orange are not guaranteed to always give 100% perfect reception . But as Mike remarked it has always been difficult to provide perfect reception in ALL parts of Norfolk ALL the time for genuine technical reasons .
I also note that in most areas a wideband aerial is the best future proof choice but in difficult areas after april I think I would recommend a group B aerial