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All posts by Chris.SE

Below are all of Chris.SE's postings, with the most recent are at the bottom of the page.


jimmy:

The "usual" retune is a BIG mistake! You were no doubt correctly tuned to start with.
You cannot tune to a signal that is not there or cannot be decoded. The usual result is it clears your correct tuning or possibly tune you to weak signals from another transmitter that disappear as the weather changes.

It doesn't matter whether No signal, badly pixellated pictures, or broken sound is due to Engineering, a fault on your own aerial system or weather conditions, if you were correctly tuned do NOT retune. Having done so you'd need to repeat retune when signals are normal and you may have to try several times as you can't be certain when that might be.

However, the BBC have reported an issue for Milburn Muir
From 1:59am to 2:33am on 12th Jan 2024 BBC B HD and
From 2:13pm to 3:48pm on 12th Jan 2024 BBC B HD
and there's a general reception warning as well
High pressure impacting TV & Radio services across large parts of the UK - 11 January 2024 | Help receiving TV and radio


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Brian Baker:

Is your TV a very recent Freeview Play TV?
If so, you may well find the BBC HD channels on 1,2, 9 etc. (as well as they should be on 101, 102 etc).
The SD channels being moved to 611 etc

This is due to a new feature called Channel List Management (CLM). It relies on the set being connected to the Internet as well.
However, (not all set have CLM) some sets with CLM have some bugs with things ending up in a bit of a mess.

Have a look in your TV's Settings or Help sections, some have an option to turn off CLM.
Also look for any "feature" that allows automatic retuning and IF you have one, turn it OFF. Not only does that cause issues if you have no/poor signal due to engineering/faults/weather as you can end up incorrectly tuned, couple with CLM bugs it's an even bugger mess!

This is where the channels should be if it works ok
BBC One HD 1 and 101 SD on 611
BBC Two HD 2 and 102 SD on 612
BBC Three HD 23 and 107 SD on 613
BBC Four HD 9 and 106 or 24 and 108 (Scotland) SD on 614
CBeebies HD 201 SD on 205
CBBC HD 202 SD on 204
but there are some sets that don't leave HD channels at 101,102 etc.

If your lists are a bit of a real mess, check in Settings that the set has the latest Firmware/Software.
Then unplug the aerial and do a full retune which should clear all the current tuning as no channels are found.
Plug the aerial back in and retune again. CLM doesn't always make the changes immediately. If in a couple of days it ends up with a real mess again and things aren't move correctly AND you can't turn off CLM, hassle the set manufacturer for a firmware update to give the option to turn it off as well as resolve the bugs should you choose to use it.

There was a BBC article about CLM, the page I expected it to be on is not available at present.

If this wasn't your issue, post back with some more detail such as exact set model number, what retuning you've done etc.

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C
All free TV channels in the UK
Friday 12 January 2024 5:55PM

Norman:

Not sure what exactly you want to do, can you please be more explicit about what equipment changes (if any) that you want to make, what you've got and can keep because it's yours and not needed to be returned to Sky.

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StevensOnln1:

Yes spotted that, you beat me to it ;)

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all:

DAB services were planned to return to the new Bilsdale mast on the 16th January but the work has now been postponed (possibly due to current weather predictions).
Changes to BBC Radio in Teesside and North Yorkshire - postponed | Help receiving TV and radio

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Lynne:

As you haven't given us a full postcode, we can't look at your predicted reception to see if you may have a choice of better reception from other transmitters.

If you have just started having reception problems then it could be the current weather conditions -
High pressure impacting TV & Radio services across large parts of the UK - 11 January 2024 | Help receiving TV and radio
High pressure could affect reception across parts of the UK this week | Freeview
Do NOT retune as it'll probably just clear your correct tuning.

If you have retuned and lost all your correct tuning and need further help, post back with your full postcode and which direction (rough compass bearing) your aerial points in, and whether its rods (or squashed Xs) are vertical or horizontal.

Other than that, in answer to your question, the answer is No. If there are any engineering works.at other times, then then your reception may not be as good as normal.




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nick horrex:

The Filter will NOT block the channel you want. It is designed to block all frequencies above C48.

You have failed to understand that a strong unwanted signal that is not DTT DVB can cause undesirable, sometimes unpredictable problems. I will try and explain again (for the last time).

1) When such signals are present, possibly causing some overload of a receiver as well, there can be what might loosely be called intermodulation products that can result in interference to a variety of frequencies, and may only have an immediately noticeable effect on some, in your case it appears that the most noticeable seems to be C37
2) Such strong signals can also cause desensitisation of a receiver/amp resulting in the reduction in strength of the wanted signals so decreasing the signal to noise ratio and that eventually stops wanted signals from being decoded, initially resulting in pixellation and then complete loss as the decoder sees nothing but what it thinks is noise. This is precisely what the reduction in your Quality figures is telling you.
3) We've discussed CCI now on several occasions and in the presence of the above results are going to be almost unpredictable.

A short while ago I did a casual search and considering your location and the direction of your aerial for Sudbury, it seems Oxford is pretty much on the same line-of-sight, it also uses C37. I haven't done an in depth analysis of the terrain between you and Oxford as it's a complex procure over such a distance apart from which without your precise location (which I doubt you'd want to give on an open forum rather than a general postcode), there may be pockets where there could be gaps in ridges of any hills on the line-of sight perhaps allowing a stronger signal than one might expect and some aerial positions may see that, and conversely some positions may block it, which could be what you have with your "precise" aerial alignment. A further example might be you see a problem and a neighbour may not, apart from which the effect on signals travelling close to such terrain get even more unpredictable

I've seen too many cases now where the effects of strong mobile signals have produced interference on much lower channels rather than just the expected C48. People have got the Free Filter and it's resolved the problems.

The Filter is FREE. You can insert it and in the same way you can remove it. There is no compulsion to leave it in place if it doesn't have the desired effect or conversely has any undesirable effects.
There is nothing stopping you from trying a free filter apart from your b.mindedness when it may be such a simple solution rather than all this continued pontification about so many unknowns and unpredictables.

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W Goode .:

The Freeview information doesn't seem to be up-to-date.
I hope you haven't retuned at all, that advise is very bad.

IF you were correctly tuning to start with, then retuning when you have NO Signal or badly pixellated pictures/broken sound usually just clears your correct tuning (or may tune you to incorrect weak signals from another transmitter which disappear as weather changes).

The BBC have reported a fault at the transmitter -
From 10:09am on 14th Jan 2024 BBC A/BBCB HD Off the air due to a fault
If you are receiving from Cow Hill, it's fault is no doubt due to it being a relay of Torosay which is also off-air with the same fault.

IF you haven't retuned, then Do NOT, as signals will return when the fault is fixed.
If you have retuned and you get your signals from Cow Hill, you could try a manual tune of its UHF channels which are C46, C43, C40 in the multiplex order BBCA, D3&4, BBCB HD.
You may have to try several times until the signals return.
If you actually get your signals from Torosay, post back if you still have a problem

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Bernard Aldymon:

If you've entered your postcode into the settings here (icon top RHS) it has an error as it currently shows some obscure location in Cheshire! You may wish to update it.

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