channels down

Jamesollier18Jamesollier18 Posts: 1,831
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Have freeview in Salford get from winter hill hd channels gone plus a few others from different mux Has any one else got problems at the moment
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  • Jamesollier18Jamesollier18 Posts: 1,831
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    Some have come back must be working on something weather its the 4G thing cannot be the heat
  • Jamesollier18Jamesollier18 Posts: 1,831
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    Most back up now hopefully that will be that

    spoke to soon gone again
  • jj20xjj20x Posts: 2,079
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    It does sound like work at the transmitter site.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 4
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    Waltham is a nightmare tonight as well, no signal for anything currently. No transmitter work reported.
  • Geoff_WGeoff_W Posts: 421
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    No service at all this morning on Nottingham Tx which I think gets its feed from Waltham. Can't find any officially reported problems on this Tx either.
  • N.DeanN.Dean Posts: 1,680
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    The weather ( high pressure ) is causing VHF and UHF signals to reach beyond their normal service areas and cuase intereference to local signals.
  • Geoff_WGeoff_W Posts: 421
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    All services are back now. Haven't been able to find out what the problem was, though.
  • albertdalbertd Posts: 14,341
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    N.Dean wrote: »
    The weather ( high pressure ) is causing VHF and UHF signals to reach beyond their normal service areas and cuase intereference to local signals.
    Seems like a very probable explanation. The latter few posts of this thread show that people down the East Coast were getting TV from Germany yesterday.
  • xtazxtaz Posts: 269
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    Yeah. I have no problems with my TV reception, but I am having major problems listening to the radio on the way into work in the mornings. The reception has gone terrible and the local stations keep getting wiped out completely by other stations. Definitely the weather allowing transmissions to go much farther than usual.
  • Nigel GoodwinNigel Goodwin Posts: 58,330
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    Geoff_W wrote: »
    No service at all this morning on Nottingham Tx which I think gets its feed from Waltham. Can't find any officially reported problems on this Tx either.

    There's no worthwhile source of information any more, not since the BBC changed their sensible information site to this ludicrous 'enter your postcode' rubbish.

    However, as usual for this time of year, it's down to the weather - can't people remember all the previous summers where you commonly get weather related reception problems?.
  • aciddadaciddad Posts: 106
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    Three muxes were down this morning; SDN, Arq A and BBC B.
    SDN was back about 8:12 and the other two at about 9:45.
    Does that look like weather related problems? I don't think so.

    Edit. As I posted BBC B went off again.
  • xtazxtaz Posts: 269
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    aciddad wrote: »
    Does that look like weather related problems? I don't think so.

    Sounds exactly the same as what I'm experiencing with the radio to be honest. Reception comes in loud and clear one minute, a couple of minutes later it fades out to static, a couple of minutes later it comes back loud and clear again, a couple of minutes later another station comes over the top of it. And so on. It's the kind of pattern you get when radio waves are bouncing off the charged layers in the atmosphere. As the layers move around signals are bounced around in different areas causing reception to vary every minute. This kind of thing: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sporadic_E_propagation
  • Nigel GoodwinNigel Goodwin Posts: 58,330
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    aciddad wrote: »
    Three muxes were down this morning; SDN, Arq A and BBC B.
    SDN was back about 8:12 and the other two at about 9:45.
    Does that look like weather related problems? I don't think so.

    It looks EXACTLY like weather related problems :D
  • BizmanBizman Posts: 749
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    There's no worthwhile source of information any more.....
    Not so, choose your transmitter from http://www.ukfree.tv/closedown.php and there is a wealth of info.
  • technologisttechnologist Posts: 13,334
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    The Glorious weather means that antenna and feed work ( and painting the structure) can go on .... and so Arqiva are making good use of what may be a limited opportunity...
    But the BBC tool http://www.bbc.co.uk/reception/transmitters/today.shtml
    is good .. particularly if you do not know which transmitter serves your area.
  • albertdalbertd Posts: 14,341
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    It looks EXACTLY like weather related problems :D
    Yes, I quite agree. What aciddad is describing fits exactly with what we used to experience here sometimes during lifts after Belmont's DSO, but before Crystal Palace's.
  • N.DeanN.Dean Posts: 1,680
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    aciddad wrote: »
    Three muxes were down this morning; SDN, Arq A and BBC B.
    SDN was back about 8:12 and the other two at about 9:45.
    Does that look like weather related problems? I don't think so.

    Edit. As I posted BBC B went off again.

    If your signal strength is higher than normal and its quality is lower than normal, you are probably suffering from interference.
    Some TVs can display this information.
  • aciddadaciddad Posts: 106
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    Exactly, and there was ZERO signal strength which I'm fairly certain means the muxes were down, not being interfered with.
    I know that before DSO channels carrying analogue would show good signal but, obviously, no quality. I'm sure that an interfering signal would do the same.
  • albertdalbertd Posts: 14,341
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    aciddad wrote: »
    Exactly, and there was ZERO signal strength which I'm fairly certain means the muxes were down, not being interfered with.
    I know that before DSO channels carrying analogue would show good signal but, obviously, no quality. I'm sure that an interfering signal would do the same.
    The problem with that theory is that once you get more than one transmitter being received on the same channel, all sorts of totally unpredictable phasing situations can occur and indicated signal levels can go all over the place.

    Prior to DSO at Crystal Palace, the then higher powered transmitter at Belmont (both digital of course) would be received here on the same channel at times and often the indicated signal did indeed drop away to an apparent zero.

    When there are reports of long distance signals being received, as there have been in the last few days, it is a fairly safe bet that most reception problems will be the result of it. Also, it is most important not to do any retuning under those circumstances as that will just remove all trace of the wanted transmitter from the TV/box and so it will not reappear when conditions return to normal (not that I am saying that you did that, but it is something to remember).
  • jj20xjj20x Posts: 2,079
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    albertd wrote: »
    When there are reports of long distance signals being received, as there have been in the last few days, it is a fairly safe bet that most reception problems will be the result of it.

    It's a possibility, just exercise a degree of caution. The fact that there are unusual reception conditions at the moment doesn't mean that work at the transmitter sites isn't also being done.
  • albertdalbertd Posts: 14,341
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    jj20x wrote: »
    It's a possibility, just exercise a degree of caution. The fact that there are unusual reception conditions at the moment doesn't mean that work at the transmitter sites isn't also being done.
    Perfectly true, but fairly unlikely. Long lasting transmitter work is not too common, especially now that all transmitters have had much of their equipment (transmitters and aerials) renewed during the changeover period to digital.

    Either way, there is nothing that users can do to change things, be it due to a lift or to work.
  • albertdalbertd Posts: 14,341
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    xtaz wrote: »
    It's the kind of pattern you get when radio waves are bouncing off the charged layers in the atmosphere. As the layers move around signals are bounced around in different areas causing reception to vary every minute. This kind of thing: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sporadic_E_propagation
    To clarify, ionospheric style activity in the upper atmosphere such as Sporadic-E does not affect UHF TV at all. Its effects rarely reach even as high as 100MHz, let alone 450MHz and above.

    When conditions affect TV and VHF radio, it is a completely different mechanism in the much lower levels of the atmosphere known as tropospheric propagation.
  • jj20xjj20x Posts: 2,079
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    albertd wrote: »
    Perfectly true, but fairly unlikely. Long lasting transmitter work is not too common, especially now that all transmitters have had much of their equipment (transmitters and aerials) renewed during the changeover period to digital.

    There's other work such as regular maintenance, possible transmitter work in preparation for local tv services etc. The timing of the OP's loss off service.

    Just assuming tropospheric lift is causing the problem is on par with blaming 4G just because it's been reported in the media. (I'm not suggesting that you are doing this, just a general point).
  • albertdalbertd Posts: 14,341
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    jj20x wrote: »
    Just assuming tropospheric lift is causing the problem is on par with blaming 4G just because it's been reported in the media. (I'm not suggesting that you are doing this, just a general point).
    I am finding difficulty trying to understand the parallel that you are trying to draw there.

    4G is a very new potential problem which is not yet understood very well, whereas co-channel tropospheric interference problems have been with us since the late 1950s and are very well understood indeed.

    I have been seeing the effects of this problem at regular intervals for all of that period, having had TV in my life since before the start of ITV which is where it first showed up.

    There is a great probability that problems at the present are from that source.
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