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All posts by MichaelW

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


For a while now I have been able to get perfectly good reception in Worcester of several channels numbered in the 90s including ForcesTV, PBS America and Freesports. Last night I noticed that all these channels still appeared in the programme guide but when I switched to them I got a blank screen. Since they have not reappeared and there are no faults reported with the Malvern transmitter, I decided to retune. After doing this, all of these channels have disappeared completely from the list of channels and the channel guide.

I can still receive channels from every MUX that the Malvern transmitter transmits and I have a decoder that can receive Freeview HD. It is also connected to broadband to enable viewing of some channels delivered via the Internet, although it is not a Freeview Play receiver. Has anyone else noticed this problem and does anyone have any explanation about why these channels should have diappeared?

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Malvern (Worcestershire, England) Full Freeview transmitter
Thursday 1 February 2018 12:01AM
Worcester

StevensOnln1: When I search my postcode and house number I am just about in range of both Ridge Hill and Mendip. Both have Com8. However, I doubt I am picking up Mendip as I cannot get South West news (although I have picked it up in the past before the digital switch). I am most likely receiving ForcesTV etc. from Ridge Hill (Ledbury) as my Digibox finds both a West Midlands and Gloucestershire variant (both receive Midlands news). I have a second aerial that was installed to receive Channel 5 before the digital switch and I think the aerial installer told me he was picking up the broadcast from Ledbury. Not sure what I can do to get the Com8 channels back. Scanned again tonight and nothing but at the start of the week it was fine.

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Curious to know if you have any update on what's happening with Malvern's SDN MUX transmission? Obviously there was a retune required last night (7th March) to receive the five MUX's that were not updated already on 1s March (i.e. Freq. 37 - 5Spike etc.). This seemed to go to plan albeit a little late returning to service. Four of the changed channels are now fine although, using the signal guide on my digibox as an indicator (which I know is aerial and box dependent), there is marginally lower and more variable signal strength than before on some channels. Signal is still good to very good though most of the time. However, new Freq. 29, which is meant to be broadcasing SDN (ITV3, Drama, Quest etc.) is completely dead. Not even a hint of a signal. Is there any reason why this one channel should not be received (e.g. different aerial required etc.)? I note on another page there are complaints that exactly the same MUX is missing from the unrelated Lark Stoke so is it a more widespead MUX problem? Alternatively I also note that Ridge Hill, in a similar directly, is also currently transmitting on Frequ. 29 until 31st March, so could that be producing interference? PS: Will you be updating the frequencies on this page to show the new/latest values?

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Malvern (Worcestershire, England) Full Freeview transmitter
Thursday 8 March 2018 10:40AM
Worcester

StevensOnln1: Thanks foy your reply. My main aerial is pointed at Malvern and is supposed to be a wideband aerial. The reception is good on all other MUX apart from Freq. 29. However, I have a secondary aerial pointing at Ridge Hill which is combined at the aerial mast and was put there to receive an analogue signal for Channel 5 many years ago. I also have an aerial mast amplifier which, if switched off, loses all Channels. Can the receiver sort out the combined signals on the same frequency or would this reult in total signal loss? With regards to my postcode, the prediction is that I can get a full suite of channels from Mendip but then I would only get South West editions of regional programmes and I would want to continue to receive the BBC/ITV Channels from Central, which I can still receive clearly from Malvern. Would I be able to have a dual aerial arrangement so that I can get BBC/ITV from Malvern but the missing channels from Mendip?

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Thomas: Until they get around to doing this, here are the frequencies:

29 - SDN (ITV3, Drama, 5USA, 5Star, Quest)
31 - ArqA (Pick, Dave, Sony, Food, Challenge)
37 - ArqB (Yesterday, Home, Spike, True Movies)
41 - BBCA (BBC SD Channels)
44 - D3+4 (ITV Channels, Ch4, Ch5)
47 - BBCB (HD Channels BBC1/2, ITV, Ch,4 Ch5)

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