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Brian Butterworth published on UK Free TV For the last six years, I have answered many thousands of personal emails that you have sent to UK Free TV.
Sadly, I am unable to offer this personal service at the moment.
Until I can restore this service, please can you leave any questions you have on an appropriate page, where they will be answered as soon as possible, or below, if you can't figure out where to ask.
I look forward to your questions!
Help with TV/radio stations?
In this section
Tuesday, 10 December 2013
Hi I live in Stanton Suffolk-ITV3 Freeview 10 has disappeared off screens all together I have doen as instructed-removed RF and unplugged etc are you aware iof any problems in the locality which wiuld cause this-signal weak on Freeview 11 as well happened in the last week
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David's: mapD's Freeview map terrainD's terrain plot wavesD's frequency data D's Freeview Detailed Coverage
David Messser: If you're using Tacolneston transmitter, which is slight anti-clockwise of north east, then there are engineering works ongoing.
If you have manual tuning then try to restore the channels using that, so as not to have to sit through the entire retune scan.
ITV3 is on UHF channel 42 and Pick is on C45. You will have to do this until they are good enough to store. Once tuned, don't retune as all you'll do is untune it!
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Dave Lindsay: tyhanks for this trying to sort out how to maual tune which is there but it asks for a channel which is 42 but do I type 45 for 11?
many thanks
David
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David's: mapD's Freeview map terrainD's terrain plot wavesD's frequency data D's Freeview Detailed Coverage
David Messser: How it's done depends on design of the TV. Indeed, some don't allow manual tuning.
Manual tuning, if available, is likely to be somewhere near to the automatic tuning. For manual tuning it will request a UHF channel number (21 to 69) and/or a frequency in MHz. You enter or select the channel number/frequency then it will probably give you an indication as to signal strength (give it several seconds to pick it up). Then there will be a button to add services (might be labelled "OK"). The services found will assume their designated logical channel numbers automatically.
So ITV3 will go on position number 11, you don't need to tell it that.
C42 in MHz is 642MHz and C45 is 666MHz.
C42 carries ITV3, QVC, Drama, bid, Dave ja Vu, ITV2+1 and others.
C45 carries Pick, Dave, Really, E4+1 and others.
We had a report two weeks ago from someone in IP27 who had had poor reception on one of the channels which suddenly improved. He went up to the transmitter site to find work being carried out to take the old mast down.
At Tacolneston for switchover a new taller mast was built. The old mast is a little clockwise of south to the new one, which is therefore on your side of it. So it could potentially be that your issue is as a result of work being carried out, e.g. a crane in the way.
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David Messser: Of course, I should have said ITV3 will go to position 10; 11 is Pick.
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D
Dave9:24 PM
Sittingbourne
Dave Lindsay:
Sorry for the delay in reply been manic in my house as usual won't bore you with details!!!
I have checked at various times when we have had good & poor reception & on all occasions the signal has been received from blue bell hill transmitter & no other !
We are still having issues mainly with the itv channel 4 & channel 5 stations
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Dave's: mapD's Freeview map terrainD's terrain plot wavesD's frequency data D's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Wednesday, 11 December 2013
Dave: The way in which the signal has gotten worse over the last five months, and which has been so bad that you've attempted to cure it by installing a booster, does rather sound like a building has gone up somewhere between you and the transmitter.
If it were a tree (or trees) in the way then we might expect the signal to get better when the leaves drop and get worse when they grow back. Or the picture might break up when the wind blows the tree about.
It might be worth asking neighbours, ensuring that they are using Freeview and not a satellite platform like Freesat or Sky. If their reception has deteriorated like yours then that rather points to something outwith your control such as a building going up and changed in some way.
It is quite clear that you aren't in an area where reception is easy and the issue you are experiencing isn't uncommon in such situations.
As I said previously, in the direction of the transmitter the ground slopes upwards for three miles until it reaches Keycol Hill. This is shown here:
Terrain between ( m a.g.l.) and (antenna m a.g.l.) - Optimising UK DTT Freeview and Radio aerial location
Imagine if the transmitter were torch light. The yellow line represents the light and because it is close to the ground objects on the ground are likely to be in the way and so the light (signal) is affected by objects on the ground. Objects within the zone between the yellow line-of-sight line and the pink one can also potentially affect the signal.
If the ground were relatively flat in the direction of the transmitter then you would have been able to "see" over the objects on the ground and so they wouldn't have been an issue. This is why transmitters are placed on high ground - so that the places they are receiving them have the best chance of "seeing" them.
The same issue could beset if you were to receive from Dover. It is 28 miles away but the ground slopes gradually upwards for 11 miles meaning that the "line" between you and the top of the mast is close to the ground for that distance which means that "clutter" on the ground could potentially degrade the signal:
Terrain between ( m a.g.l.) and (antenna m a.g.l.) - Optimising UK DTT Freeview and Radio aerial location
Most aerials on your road point to Bluebell Hill; one is on Dover (or at least it was in May 2009 when the Google Streetview car visited). One or two aerials are below the apex of the roof. Whilst height isn't always everything it might be worth trying to get it above the roof line if possible.
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Sean Barr11:45 AM
i have a triax DDu sending virgin cable and free view around the house.
however on the kitchen tv a logix channel 43 (BBC etc) loses it signal unless i disconnect the cable return feed.
Without the cable tv return connected which distributes cable to each tv the signal strength on BBc is good, when plugged back in it initially shows good then disapearers and the no signal comes on the screen.
Any ideas?
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Thursday, 12 December 2013
G
Gary k7:07 PM
Bishop's Stortford
Attn dave Lindsay
Excellent response, many thanks
Gary k
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Gary's: mapG's Freeview map terrainG's terrain plot wavesG's frequency data G's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Friday, 13 December 2013
S
Steve P7:49 PM
Sean Barr perhaps it is going round and round until it disappears up its own input socket?
Hope others may have a more technical response for you!
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