All posts by Frank
Below are all of Frank's postings, with the most recent are at the bottom of the page.
Thanks Russ,
I'm in Seaford, just east of Newhaven and so yes, the transmitter at Newhaven must be roughly in line with Brighton Whitehawk (but Rowridge can't be far out either). A recent shift of the loft aerial to a slightly more westerly direction produced a better signal (3 bars in still bright weather.) This makes me think it's Whitehawk rather than Rowridge. Is there a way to find out for sure? Depending on the weather, etc., I can get 40 to 88 DTV channels on retunes. Don't know if this helps but the channel groupings are 24, 27, 22, 48, 43 (ITV), 50 (BBC1). So, I get all the basic Freeview channels plus any extra a 'good day' allows.
On a good day I can get group 38 (which includes Quest).
How would I set up a diplexer for the channel groups you mention? And please could you recommend a diplexer for this situation? Many thanks for taking the trouble to reply,
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Thanks Russ. On each and every retune I get a choice of "south" or "south-east". I choose south and get good old Fred Dineage on Meridian. However, surely Whitehawk and Newhaven provide Meridian too?
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Russ and KMJ, Derby
Many thanks. I definitely sget Sally Taylor on BBC South and if Brighton doesn't transmit Fred Dineage : ) from Southampton I guess that only leaves Rowridge. From what you say it would be great if Rowridge proves to come to the rescue via the suggested diplexer. I'm not too confident as the ukfree.tv map for Rowridge says no coverage at all for my part of Seafor. However, for the relatively low outlay forf a diplexer and a better digital aerial, I will definitely give this a try when time and good weather allow me to get an aerial outside as this must give me the best fighting chance! Thanks again for all your help.
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Many thanks Dave Lindsay and MikeP
I suspect the old yagi aerial I'm currently using (similar to the ukfree.tv diagram top of this page) is from the analogue era - but is this likely to provide "high gain" and provide wideband digital reception? Given that it's currently loft-mounted and still getting good reception of the Newhaven relay channels, I assume it's not doing too badly. I'm still sceptical about my "weak" channels coming from Rowridge, especially as the aerial is pointing as per Dave Lindsay's suggestion i.e. between Newhaven and Whitehawk. The ukfree.tv coverage map for Whitehawk shows I'm just inside the zone for its coverage, trouble is, unless the aerial goes high outside its loft-mounted aim is just obstructed by a chimney stack, which I know can't be good. I will try out all the helpful suggestions and advice, I feel sure things will be better once I get the aerial outside. Thanks everyone for your help!
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Dave: Thanks very much for the detailed info.
Unfortunately, I think I'm partially sunk with manual tuning, I can do this on our TV we have but not, with our new "youview" box which only seems to have an auto facility for tuning. I'm hoping youview will add a software update for this in the near future. There's an active thread on this at:
Manual Tuning
* Would the ukfree.tv community like to help throw some weight at this? Thanks in advance if any of you do.
Dave, once I've got the aerial outside (I'm thinking a new log36 looks a good option from the guys at Sheffield as my old yagi looks too frail for the job) * I'd welcome your comments about the suitability for my circumstances before I commit.
I will use the info you've kindly supplied to at least manually retune the TV, which will at least give me the option of watching, if not recording for the time being and would provide some guidance as to what channels the youview box should be able to get if it ever allows a manual retune (if needed in my instance.) I don't know if this would require youview to alter the hardware - in which case lots of current youviewers are sunk - or just the software - which should be relatively straightforward.)
Thanks Dave.
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Re: my previous posts about reception from Whitehawk / Newhaven. Recently installed the suggested log36 on rooftop and carefully adjusted for best TV signal strength on various and was initially pleased with the results having stable reception of 123 channels on youview box and 236 (some may have been duplicates) on the TV. Then mist settled in over the region last night and we lost many channel groupings, 38, 48, 56, 53 to name just a few. So bang went Yesterday and Quest as well as channel 5 and a whole raft of other channels.. I suspect this is down to signal quality - as the strength was seen as good on all channels.
I resorted to a retune after plugging in a philex signal booster and manged to get some of the above back and stable (99 channels found on the youview box) but not grouping 38. With the prospect of many foggy nights to come I'm wondering if there's anything else I can do.
An amplifier was mentioned during my last visit here but which would be the best to go for?
Thanks all, Frank
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[ I suspect this is down to signal quality - as the strength was seen as good on all channels. ]
Should have mentioned: "initially" - when adjusting aerial for best overall signal strength. The youview box doesn't appear to offer a guide to signal strength or quality (!!!) but will try direct connection to TV tonight.
From the start, signal quality has fluctuated between poor and good on my 'weaker' channel groupings (as measured on the TV ) - almost certainly the one's that went missing last night
Cheers, Frank
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Thanks, Dave. I'm happy to take your advice. I'm up from 99 to 122 channels right now on the YView box and have "Yesterday" and "Quest" back so already things are getting back on track. Inversion Effect: stay away!!
All the best
Frank
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Just a note regarding Youview box and signal strength/quality: the facility is in fact available in the YouView software options after all! I hadn't been able to see it for looking.
It's fiddly and tedious to navigate as it only gives the option to check the currently viewed channel reception str/qual (although this possibly might be all that's needed.) To view another channel's reception you have to switch back to normal tv viewing, choose another tv channel then go through the "Y" menu options again.
At least it's there, I suppose. I still hope the powers that be at Youview, opt to get manual tuning facility sorted out soon. This would surely make life a lot easier.
Merry Christmas all....
Frank
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Page 1
Tuesday 12 November 2013 10:07AM
Best Aerial Setup for Dual Transmitter Reception?
Hi, I''m currently receiving some Freeview channels from a 3 mile distant ( only just obscured) light Freeview transmitter via an old yagi-type loft mounted aerial. When the weather is fine and other interference is minimal I can get undisturbed viewing of some other channels (like Quest, Yesterday and Movie Mix) which I suspect are being picked up from the 12 mile distant Brighton Whitehawk Full Freeview transimitter. When environmental conditions are anything but perfect we get breakup, freezing and no signal messages. I tried replacing the old yagi aerial with a high gain wideband digital aerial (again loft mounted) but it performed worse than the old yagi! So back to the yagi.... Ideally, I'd like to stick with a loft mounted aerial - we are hammered here with strong winds, salt spray and gulls. However, I understand reception should be improved if we go for a rooftop aerial. I'd like some advice as to whether there is an aerial setup that would maximise reception from both the higher signal Newhaven transmitter, but also the weak Brighton (guess i's just possible the weaker signals could be coming from Rowridge Isle of Wight). I should mention I've tried two different plug-in boosters but they both made the problem worse.
Any pointers on this very gratefully received. Sorry for the long-windedness!