I think my issues with receiving this just come down to its relatively low signal strength. Of my five receivers (and I haven't tried the PC tuner yet), two can receive it (although one breaks up a bit), one can see the signal but it's not strong enough to decode and two (the Technika HD boxes) see absolutely nothing. I was never expecting to be able to receive it this far south and Digital UK doesn't think I should, so it's not really a problem.
I wonder if Comux will put a test card out on the multiplex now that it's powered up from Sutton Coldfield rather than that boring b&w screen. They must have something at their new National control center in Birmingham they can give us?
Come on let's have a bit of colour..
As word gets out and the dealers tune in it would be nice if you tried. Or is there some weird Ofcom regulation stopping you?;)
Just the carrier on CP yesterday and today. Nothing on the transport stream.
"Just the carrier" would mean there is no modulation- so the transport stream wouldn't even exist. I'm guessing you were actually seeing a transport stream full of null packets - that seems to be a common test configuration - they can test things without risking having any effect on TV from other live muxes - and test before any data links are in place.
Yeah, I wasn't quite sure how to express it. There's a modulated signal with an MPEG2 Transport stream (according to my equipment) but no Programme Association Table on it.
So our options are:
No Carrier
Carrier only
Modulated without TS ?
TS with TS but null packets
Full TS but no audio/video
Working mux
Tacolneston seems to be much the same at the moment - a signal detected by my Humax PVR which used to show the analogue transmissions where it was quite clear there was something there due to strength but obviously it showed zero quality. The signal presently on UHF 57 is the same, and the TAC engineers have confirmed the transmissions on twitter. However my two Technika boxes don't show anything at present, and I assume this is because there is nothing for them to lock on to. I've been keeping an eye on it all week but don't have any equipment which I can leave monitoring the signal all the time! The mux is due to go into service at the end of January so as several others around the country with a similar service date are already up and running with proper tests, I'm still hopeful of a bit of action before Christmas.
From Sutton Coldfield, the black page with white writing stating "Test Transmission" has now been replaced with a colour bar test screen with the caption "Local TV Test" and a short white bar beneath that bounces from side-to-side.
It is the same on channels 791 and 792.
Also, I live near to the Brierley Hill TX and I can pick up the other multiplexes with reasonable strength and watchable quality (even though the aerial is pointing in the wrong direction at Sutton Coldifeld) and I can see that I am getting a medium strength reading (and the odd occasional flicker of the quality meter) from UHF 29 which is the frequency allocated for Brierley Hill. Anyone with an aerial pointing directly at the Brierley Hill TX care to have a look at UHF 29?
Am tuned to Brierley Hill TX, and have 90% signal strength and quality on all MUXs, but nothing yet on CH29. When i try and add channels it shows QPSK so i would assume my box should be able to receive the signal correctly.
Strangely i can get the Sutton signal on CH51 occasionally, but then it disappears.
From Sutton Coldfield, the black page with white writing stating "Test Transmission" has now been replaced with a colour bar test screen with the caption "Local TV Test" and a short white bar beneath that bounces from side-to-side.
It is the same on channels 791 and 792.
Also, I live near to the Brierley Hill TX and I can pick up the other multiplexes with reasonable strength and watchable quality (even though the aerial is pointing in the wrong direction at Sutton Coldifeld) and I can see that I am getting a medium strength reading (and the odd occasional flicker of the quality meter) from UHF 29 which is the frequency allocated for Brierley Hill. Anyone with an aerial pointing directly at the Brierley Hill TX care to have a look at UHF 29?
There was nothing on 29 last night from BH as I had to retune one box. Thnking of swapping to see what Sutton Coldfield signal I can pickup here now anyway, used to fiddle to get Wrekin/Sutton Coldfield/Lichfield on Analogue but no point since BH had the same muxes a mile away..
anyone know if the local tv transmission for nottingham from waltham is testing at all?
I've seen a carrier on that frequency (i.e. to my digibox it looks like an analogue channel - high strength but zero quality) but not actually detected any signal my TV cards can resolve. It has however appeared in the NIT which means performing a Network scan on my Humax now takes about ten times longer as it thinks there's something on E26 and searches in vain for it!
The Digital UK postcode checker shows http://www.digitaluk.co.uk/coveragechecker/main/trade/NG1+4BU/ that the local multiplex is due on air before the COM7 multiplex too (that postcode is NTU in the city centre - one of the participants in the licence and they don't even get a green signal! Our office in the city centre shows worse predictions than that too (the only transmitter with all greens being Sutton Coldfield).
Local TV
The local Tv network is run by COMEX from their control centre in Birmingham it was brought into use end of October early November just prior to the Grimsby launch. At the moment it seems they are gradually testing the feeds to the various Local TV Transmitters ready to turn on the multiplexes. Some time later (several months) the Local TV will start transmitting.
In Birmingham local Tv.will be transmitted from two masts and two seperate channels, ch51 from Sutton Coldfield and ch29 from Brierly Hill, so far only Sutton has test signals for the Birmingham multiplex
Yeah, I wasn't quite sure how to express it. There's a modulated signal with an MPEG2 Transport stream (according to my equipment) but no Programme Association Table on it.
So our options are:
No Carrier
Carrier only
Modulated without TS ?
TS with TS but null packets
Full TS but no audio/video
Working mux
Is that correct?
What you are seeing, and many people are reporting, is a PRBS test. In order to un-mute the transmitters for testing purposes they switch on a Pseudorandom Bit Sequence. This will form a nice 8Meg RF signal which contains no valid or decodable data.
Thanks for that. Also getting two channels with colour bars, Local TV Test caption and tone from CP. Good quality signal despite being on the edge of area for this MUX - doesn't show up on DigitalUK reception details.
Thanks for that. Also getting two channels with colour bars, Local TV Test caption and tone from CP. Good quality signal despite being on the edge of area for this MUX - doesn't show up on DigitalUK reception details.
Ditto, getting them out here in the sticks as well, also no reception predicted. The signal does seem to "drop off the cliff" intermittently and is showing up well the different sensitivity of my various tuners.
Comments
https://scontent-b-lhr.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn2/1468796_424554751005296_1522855959_n.jpg
(Scan CH51)
Colour bars up from this afternoon .:)
"Just the carrier" would mean there is no modulation- so the transport stream wouldn't even exist. I'm guessing you were actually seeing a transport stream full of null packets - that seems to be a common test configuration - they can test things without risking having any effect on TV from other live muxes - and test before any data links are in place.
So our options are:
No Carrier
Carrier only
Modulated without TS ?
TS with TS but null packets
Full TS but no audio/video
Working mux
Is that correct?
It is the same on channels 791 and 792.
Also, I live near to the Brierley Hill TX and I can pick up the other multiplexes with reasonable strength and watchable quality (even though the aerial is pointing in the wrong direction at Sutton Coldifeld) and I can see that I am getting a medium strength reading (and the odd occasional flicker of the quality meter) from UHF 29 which is the frequency allocated for Brierley Hill. Anyone with an aerial pointing directly at the Brierley Hill TX care to have a look at UHF 29?
Strangely i can get the Sutton signal on CH51 occasionally, but then it disappears.
There was nothing on 29 last night from BH as I had to retune one box. Thnking of swapping to see what Sutton Coldfield signal I can pickup here now anyway, used to fiddle to get Wrekin/Sutton Coldfield/Lichfield on Analogue but no point since BH had the same muxes a mile away..
I've seen a carrier on that frequency (i.e. to my digibox it looks like an analogue channel - high strength but zero quality) but not actually detected any signal my TV cards can resolve. It has however appeared in the NIT which means performing a Network scan on my Humax now takes about ten times longer as it thinks there's something on E26 and searches in vain for it!
The Digital UK postcode checker shows http://www.digitaluk.co.uk/coveragechecker/main/trade/NG1+4BU/ that the local multiplex is due on air before the COM7 multiplex too (that postcode is NTU in the city centre - one of the participants in the licence and they don't even get a green signal! Our office in the city centre shows worse predictions than that too (the only transmitter with all greens being Sutton Coldfield).
The local Tv network is run by COMEX from their control centre in Birmingham it was brought into use end of October early November just prior to the Grimsby launch. At the moment it seems they are gradually testing the feeds to the various Local TV Transmitters ready to turn on the multiplexes. Some time later (several months) the Local TV will start transmitting.
In Birmingham local Tv.will be transmitted from two masts and two seperate channels, ch51 from Sutton Coldfield and ch29 from Brierly Hill, so far only Sutton has test signals for the Birmingham multiplex
What you are seeing, and many people are reporting, is a PRBS test. In order to un-mute the transmitters for testing purposes they switch on a Pseudorandom Bit Sequence. This will form a nice 8Meg RF signal which contains no valid or decodable data.
Thanks for that. Also getting two channels with colour bars, Local TV Test caption and tone from CP. Good quality signal despite being on the edge of area for this MUX - doesn't show up on DigitalUK reception details.