Ch 49 Oxford is C5 which is not anywhere near as powerful as the other 4. Ch 60 is ITV.

My problem is why it will only auto-tune the HD mux on ch 21 and not find the other five muxes. 24,27,40,43 and 67
It obviously scans all the channels as the analogue ones show.

Manual tuning the six channels finds them all at good SS and SQ even the low power ones..

I'm sorry, I have no idea why.

Chris.

I did some tests today and apart from the expected strong digital signals from Waltham and a variable one from Belmont I also noted that I could pick up variable signals on Channels 24 and 27 which are Sandy Heath's Mux 2 & 1 respectively. This is frustrating as this would be my preferred transmitter. To my simple brain if an aeral that is not even pointed at Sandy Heath can pick up something would not one that is pointed at Sandy Heath do better?

Why does Digital UK state that these will get weaker post DSO in 2013? Looking at the various changes as a result of Reception Changes the signal from Sandy Heath is going to get progressively worse. What are these reception changes for? I can understand channel changes but I don't get reception changes. Anyone care to explain?

Reception change doesn't necessarily mean they will get worse, it may mean they get better (which is what I assumed). I thought they'd get better as high power analogue transmissions on the same UHF channels from other sites stopped later in switchover. They might get worse as new digital switchover sites start using the same UHF channels for their muxes.

You would HOPE that it would get better with an aerial facing the correct way. However, you need to note that as you are "out of area" for Sandy Heath the COM muxes may not be good enough even when they are on full power - essentially giving you "Freeview Lite" unless of course things are strong enough from Waltham for you to receive the muxes with an aerial facing the wrong way. But essentially you won't know any of this until switchover is complete - and the Sandy Heath COM muxes are full power.

Reception changes may be due to transmitters in neighbourhing areas using the same channels as Sandy Heath - thus degrading the signal you once had. For example, Rowridge on the Isle of Wight will be using some of the same channels as Sandy Heath (co-channel) - and although it is a long way from where you are, with an aerial facing due south, you may pick up a distant bit of signal from Rowridge and as I have learned in the thread about single frequency networks - this will cause your receiver to think they are seperate signals due to the time delay in the distance travelled and reduce the signal you had - does that all make sense?

Andy

They are seperate signals; Sandy & Rowridge have different muxes on their co - channels, nothing to do with time delays.

Sorry yes you are right - anyway my point was 2 signals being received on say ch24 at your receiver will mean that the overall quality of the one you wanted has reduced - and this could well be the reception change is


Andy

Exactly - SFN signals must be the the very same signal transmitted at the very same time (or delayed in a very controlled manner) from two or more transmitters.
With DVB-T2 you can operate in MISO mode (not used yet in the UK) where two TX signals are not identical but very exact mathematical transformations of each other.

Any same UHF channel signal from far away - another signal or a SFN signal - will add to the background noise level.
DVB-T/T2 in the UK requires a useful signal to noise ratio of, say, 20-26 dB i.e. the useful signal must be 100 - 400 times more powerful than the sum of all the noise in the air and the noise from within your amps/tuners.

The planned RTE/TG4 DVB-T2 mux and the Channel M mux from Winter Hill uses a much more robust modulation/error coding, but with a very much lower bitrate . The higher robustness is used to allow a lower transmission power (ERP) and still get some coverage.

Lars

PS! Big_A/Andy - your point is OK - it is just the naming of the noise - CCI og ISI.

At the Sandy Heath Transmitter we are losing the Sky Text Service on Freeview Channel Number 108 until the 23 November 2011, please see the Link below
http://help.digitaluk.co.uk/display/....aspx?aid=7928

23 nov - the anniversary date of dr who in 1963. just thought I'd chuck that in...

I think I understand with the additional explanations about Noise. What I can't understand is why a reception change should make that noise worse unless there is a benefit elsewhere (i.e. Sandy Heath is expected to cause problems to signals from another transmitter that are more within the range of that transmitter).

Its difficult to try to explain my query without the ability of incorporating the table that the digital uk website produces utlilising the trade view other than to say that the green bars turn orange for Mux 1 & 2 & Mux HD as a result of some of the reception changes planned for 2012 & 2013 when the full digital signal will be in place whilst the "Served" numbers on Mux 1,2 & Mux HD deteriate from the current 91 or 89 down to below 70. Mux A, C & D are shown as being generally worse but as these are dedicated to National broadcasters I am not bothered about them as I can get these from Waltham.

Just out of interest I tried the postcode for an addresses in a village a few miles north of Peterborough and another adfress in the north Peterborough suburbs (within the Unitary authority area) and that shows a similar deteriation in service following the 2013 reception change with the signal going from green to orange. Whilst I can accept that Spalding is on the very margin of Sandy Heath & always has been I doubt that the villages north of Peterborough would be happy about losing their local news content which is what an orange indicator probably means. The Belmont signal incidently is predicted to get progessively stronger for these areas.

The digital uk predictions indicate that Sandy Heath is capable of producing an acceptable signal but the reception change is going to affect that. I would like to know what the reasons for that signal change in 2013are. I have identified potential losers - where are the potential winners? Is there any way of finding out so that one can arrive at an assessment of whether the overall effect of that signal change is reasonable. Is there any organisation that I can take this up with before going to Ofcom.

What I want to acheive is either an acceptance that the reception change will affect the ability of people to tune into the regional news service that covers that area, or alternately an acceptance by BBC East Midlands that there current regional coverage utilising the Waltham transmitter does not match the full current and intended range of that transmitter. I have taken this issue up with the editorial team in the past about the decision to stop covering Peterborough and their response was that it was the Peterborough area comes under BBC East. However after the reception changes that will not be entirely the case.

This is due to mux D being in post-switchover configuration but mux C still being pre-switchover mode - Sky Text moves from D to C at DSO.

We will also be missing whatever channel gets the new joint BBC/Arqiva capacity. That appears to be headed for QVC Beauty or Big Deal 2, so it probably isn't going to be much of a loss.

Surely the benefit elsewhere, if we use my previous example is that viewers of Rowridge will have a better signal! The reason you will have more "noise" is because someone else's transmitter is stronger. If you knew the postcodes and locations you might even be able to show that Sandy Heath interacts with other stations - we have lots of reports of SH being received at quite long distances away from its primary intended area - but Sandy Heath is the first transmitter of it's neighbours to make the switch: so as it was there first, it won't cause a "reception change" - the issue was already there.



I understand what you are saying - it is not just you that has this prediction - I have seen this myself where current "green bars" suddenly turn orange the signal will drop due to reception changes




I know this is immensely frustrating to you, but the deal is you get reception where you live, not that it provides you with what you or the broadcasters perceive as being the region you should get because of where you live. The only places where this seems to be the case is between England and Wales borders, or areas like Cheltenham and Gloucester and the North Norfolk coast. There are many other locations in the country where people do not get the local news they want via their aerial and this has been the case for many years - but via satellite television you can choose which region you have. I would guess that North Norfolk has Anglia/BBC East special provision because it is Norfolk - whereas Spalding is in Lincolnshire, which is not part of East Anglia. And you've hit the nail on the head - Belmont is predicted to get stronger because it is the transmitter that is supposed to provide the best signal for your area. (But clearly not the local news you wish to receive - but then neither is Waltham for the people in North Warwickshire, or Bilsdale for those in Harrogate)



There will be lots of winners - there must be lots of people in Northamptonshire (and other places) who couldn't get a decent signal before the switchover - but until every other station is switched over - and the "reception changes" are settled the final picture will not be firm. I am not aware of any organisation other than Ofcom - unless you want to set one up.



That's the phrase isn't it - Peterborough area - Peterborough itself IS within the Sandy Heath primary service area - Spalding in Lincolnshire isn't.

Andy

"There will be lots of winners - there must be lots of people in Northamptonshire (and other places) who couldn't get a decent signal before the switchover - but until every other station is switched over - and the "reception changes" are settled the final picture will not be firm. I am not aware of any organisation other than Ofcom - unless you want to set one up"

I would imaging after changeover is complete the Northampton area will have a very good choice, there is a good chance much of the area will be able to pick up Sandy Heath, Sutton Coldfield, Beckley and Waltham.

With all that choice I bet its still the case that none of the regional news is covering Daventry !!!

Andy

It still boggles me that there's money to be made transmitting this garbage.

Recent developments mean that you are likely to get QVC Beauty on Mux D /Arq B on the old Create and Craft slot (Subject to confirmation later today). However the lack of availability of the BBC / Arqiva slot at Sandy and other transmitters during this year is possibly making this slot unattractive at the moment and I expect a service like Big Deal to hold this capacity until UK wide coverage is available. Just my opinion though.

What makes this slot anything to do with the BBC? If it were a BBC slot, wouldn't it be used for something by the BBC themselves eg. BBC Alba without losing Freeview radio in Scotland? Or increased bit rate on existing BBC stations?

The BBC & Arqiva announced a third commercial service on Mux B & Arq A in 2010 which should appear soon & is the reason why 301 was moved to Mux 1 in pre DSO areas. I think it will be ESPN but there are other views.

Mux B ceases to exist by 2013 which is the reason why the BBC are getting temporary dosh for their capacity & why they aren't using it for themselves.

Alba will be restricted to Scotland only replacing BBC radios on the post DSO mux BBC A.

I know, and I think it's dreadful that large chunks of Scotland with no DAB coverage and dubious FM coverage are losing their only decent way of receiving free to air BBC radio (in the evenings).

Here we are in a world of 30% cuts to the BBC's budget. An ultra minority channel like BBC Alba should be scrapped.

On the other hand BBC Alba is good honest PSB broadcasting that deserves to be on Freeview. It's just that the BBC was made to give up too much of its previous DTT capacity.

The Scots themselves (in the body of the Scottish Parliament) voted for the replacement of the BBC radios with Alba. The football alone will get good ratings and far outweigh radio listeners/viewers.

The only real losses are the digital only stations like 5SX, R1X etc. Hopefully internet improvement with fibre can eventually guarantee a replacement in a few years.

Oh god not another football channel! We need another of those about as much as another shopping channel, or a hole in the head.

So are the Scots going to pay a higher licence fee so that they alone are funding BBC Alba? Or is the rest of the UK going to subsidise excessive Scottish spending as per usual?

If you look at the websites you will see that MG Alba is entirely self supporting.

To nudge the thread back to Anglian issues, as some may have seen over in the main Freeview forum, QVC Beauty is now confirmed in the old Create & Craft slot on Arqiva B, so Sandy Heath viewers will have this service on channel (LCN) 48.

Just to add to what I wrote earlier, it's quite possible that ESPN could acquire the pre-DSO BBC and post-DSO Arqiva slot - but to migrate over to it now would be commercial suicide in many areas due to the late conversion of Mux C following switchover affecting Sandy Heath and other transmitters this year. Subscribers would suddenly lose access to the service for a few months. The switchover plan has already been tweaked here and there to favour Mux D/Arqiva B's early transition and to give it better frequencies where possible, but to do it for Mux C/Arqiva A would be more difficult as it's basically too late to make changes at some sites.