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All posts by Mick

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

M
Bluebell Hill (Medway, England) Full Freeview transmitter
Thursday 7 April 2016 10:09AM
Chatham

About 3 weeks ago, middle of March 2016, the BBC channels started to disappear on FREEVIEW, sometimes pixelated, sometimes completed gone with the message "no service". The problem is worse in the evening, the stations often returning in the morning.
We borrowed a second TV which suffered the same problem.

The digital aerial and cable are about 10 years old, newly installed when the digital service changed over.

About 3 months ago we moved the aerial into the loft, to reduce risk of wind damage and repeated need to go on top of the roof. It had worked perfectly since then.

We are several miles from Bluebell Hill (ME5 8PX). The aerial is large, 11 elements on the front, and 6 reflectors behind.

We are at a loss to say what has changed. Some posts mention weather problems, but hard to believe it is due to atmospheric problems lasting 3 weeks.

It is confusing that is worked well for so long.
Presumably there is no change to transmitter (power?)?
Cable or aerial deterioration is possible but not so easy to believe and prefer not to change the items unnecessarily.

Thanks for any advice.

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Update from 2 posts ago.
Bit the bullet, changed the cable and aerial, no difference.

Tried moving direction of aerial slightly, can get either BBC or 'other' channels, not both sets at same time.
Freeview 10 and 20 are least cooperative of non-BBC channels, they pixel then disappear first.

Flummoxed.....

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Hello Again, this is the "other person" Mick still having trouble with my parents TV installation.

To recap, after changing the aerial and cable the problem still exists where BBC channels will occasionally pixel and disappear.
A separate Freeview TV also suffers the same problem, as does a Sony DVR recorder.

We've had two days where the channels were working well, but last night the pixelation and missing channels recurred.

When the channel is good, the signal strength is about 95% (almost a full bar) and the signal quality is "very good".
When the channel is pixelated, the signal strength is still 95% but the signal quality says "none".

The picture often gets worse around 8-9pm, sometimes reappearing a couple of hours later, or by the morning.

I have tried turning the aerial 180, also aiming toward Crystal Palace and removing some collectors to reduce signal strength (if i am too close to Bluebell). All options make the problem worse.
Signal boosters or attenuators tested on separate occasions make no difference.

Would be pleased to hear your thoughts, directly about this problem if you could.

Alternatively, where else can i address this problem, or seek advice?


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A further update, channel 20 disappeared at around 5pm.

I plugged in an alternative Freeview box, known to work well, and the channel was still missing.

For this decoder the signal strength and quality are reporting different to the Freeview in the TV.

The signal strength is uniformly about 40%, but quality is 80% for a good channel, and zero or near zero for a bad channel.

Unfortunately i only have a few more days here before departing, would be great if could fix the problem for my parents before leaving.

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