ok sair, you are quite right that would be the oxford transmitter, had a quick look at the frequencies it transmits on and i'd guess you already have a wideband aerial anyway (black coloured dot on the end of the aerial) obviously i don't know how good your aerial is (so if it's poo, then it could be an aerial problem) but looking at this it sounds to me nore like an alignment problem or cable/connection problem.
Oxford transmitter, transmits analogue on :
BBC1 - uhf 57
BBC2 - uhf 63
ITV - uhf 60
Ch 4 - uhf 53
digital on uhf's:
mux 1 - 34
mux 2 - 68
mux A - 51
mux B - 52
mux C - 48
mux D - 29
The following list shows what uhf channels each aerial group covers and it's colour code:
Channel 21-37 35-53 48-68 35-68 21-48 21-68
Group A B C/D E K Wide band
Colour Red Yellow Green Brown Grey Black
So going on the assumption that you can get all your analogue fine and it's only mux 2 you have the problems with you have to have a wideband aerial to be picking up your analogue uhf's and your low Mux D down on uhf 29.
best thing to do really, is to firstly check your aerial connections and make sure they are all good firm connections, also if you can unscrew the ends of your aerial leads (rather than the pre-made kind) do so and try tidying that up a little, making sure the copper shielding isn't touching the centre core as it'll loose you signal, then put it back together making sure it's nice and secure on the end of the lead before plugging it back in. if it has this same connection at the wall too rather than coming straight from the aerial, try the same there too. You'd be surprised how many people i have save getting an aerial engineer out just by doing this.
other than that and if you fancy having ago as you now know the uhf frequencies to test your signal strength for (i assume you can still test the uhf signal strength in the new boxes, i don't know, still use my old itv one) then another option is to just ajdust your aerial and see if the signal improves, but a word of warning, the signal strength meters in set top boxes aren't accurate and are just guidelines, if it says the signal is a good strength, doesn't always mean it's strong enough. Also be aware that adjusting the aerial could also weaken your signal for other muxes so check them all to find a happy medium.
If all else fails and you want to get an engineer in to sort your aerial for you, then make sure they are C.A.I www.cai.org.uk/ approved, that way you will that way you will know you are getting someone qualified and with the right equipment for the job and not a monkey (no itv digital pun intended) be aware though that if you do get them in and your aerial isn't already outside, that's where they will want to put it, so if you don't want them to, let them know in advance.
if i can think of anymore tips i'll post them when i remember, and all that said and done, i run my digi box off a £9.99 set top aerial (looks like a shark fin) that i bought from argos on a whim (as they have a 16 money back guarantee) as my home aerial in the attic couldn't pick up dig from the transmitter it was pointed at, so i set this up on the window pointing straight at a different transmitter and after a little adjusting works fine.
p.s. if anyone else is having problems like sair, all of the transmitter info and uhf channel numbers can be found on the BBC website
go to : http://www.bbc.co.uk/reception/tv_tr...tv_digit.shtml for all the uhf numbers for the 6 digital muxes
and go to : http://www.bbc.co.uk/reception/tv_tr...smitters.shtml for a transmitter map and click on the dot of the transmitter you are coming off to get the uhf channel numbers for your analogue stations. it shows all of the major transmitters but not the relay ones, for example it shows caradon hill (where i can get analogue from) but not plympton (where i can my dig and analogue from) using google should be able to find a more detailed map though. i'm just too lazy to find one right now.
hope this helps someone, but unfortunately, try as hard as you want, it wont bring back eurosport to freeview. good night
I put Freeview in my Nan's flat yesterday for her birthday (She's 77) I was quite shocked at how many channels are a part of 'Top up TV' and we're not available as standard i.e. Discovery, UK gold & Bloomberg.
To be honest they should not be available a s part of the freeview channel line-up as space seems to be very limited and you cannot tune into them even if you paid as you need a top up TV reciever which the £40 Bush reciever i bought does not have.
But they were very happy with it and the picture quality and the extra channels on top of the basic 5 channels they have had for years they were quite chuffed
BBC 3 & 4 and ITV2, FTN and all those kids channels to keep the grand (& Great Grand) children happy.
And they get a very strong signal, they live in Stifford clays in essex.
Last edited by Ravens Nest; 12-08-2004 at 09:12 AM.
Bearing in mind most of that means nowt to me, does it mean we can choose a DIFFERENT mux number on the box? Or does it use ALL of the Mux numbers? I am fairly certain that Sair's aerial coax is clean, I hjave checked all the connectors as you said, and their is no cross over from core to braid . I have also tried moving the aerial...we can get two diff receptions....I dont know what the other one was but as the set top box reception monitor said the signal was lower, we moved it back to the original.Originally Posted by subucni
Its a loft mounted aerial, reasonably size (2 fot long) multiple metal prongs along its length and a small single back plate. So maybe a newer aerial is a good idea. The loft has a big booster box in it, powered, and there are 6 outputs from it, we have been using 2, and have tried taking all out bar the main tv one in an attempt to increase signal.
While the aerial was professionaly mounter, it WAS done a long time ago...estimate at 6 years. The booster is a Wickes own brand. The aerial...dunno about a coloured spot.
Have boosters got better in recent years? Are they now more powerfull/cleaner or are they standard design?
Cheers for all your help......muchos appreciated....Reputation points added
Ditto, thanks everso much subucni... we'll keep you posted!!
I've had a lot of sobering thoughts in my time.... It was them that started me drinking.
I can check the signal strength of each different uhf on my set top box by using a drop down menu, which I didn't actually change before, so I'll try that later to see what the strength is on uhf 29... I'm sure I know the answer from what you have said, but still... it would prove a point!!
I've had a lot of sobering thoughts in my time.... It was them that started me drinking.
I'll look into boosters and aerials...think its time for new
Have you tried it without the booster? As I understood it, boosters + digital dont play well together. It might be possible that the booster is amplifying enough noise to fuzz up the multiplex enough for it to be unreadable.
Worth a try if you can wire round the booster without too much difficulty.
Rich :¬)
Yeah Rave...good thinking, but we kinda tried and it didn't get a good result.
Am looking into bigger badder meaner aerials
Hehe, I had a monster wideband from B&Q when I was a student, with 18 (or maybe even 24) elements IIRC, only cost me about a tenner. I didn't have an aerial feed in my room, so I when I invested in a big TV and SVHS vid I bought the aerial and hooked it up. I used to keep it on top of the wardrobe, and take it down and put in on my bed when I was watching TVYeah Rave...good thinking, but we kinda tried and it didn't get a good result.
Am looking into bigger badder meaner aerials
If you're going to do it yourself I reckon that if you go up in the loft and then point the aerial in pretty much the exact direction the old one was pointing (mark its position before removing it) then you should be able to see the effect of tweaking the position if someone downstairs shouts up what effect you're having on the analogue signal. Since all the signals are coming from the same direction, what's good for analogue should be good for digital too.
Stupid as it sounds, have you tried a coat hanger shoved into a coax extension cord? I honestly did get my dad's digital reception spot on just by doing that and dangling it over his balcony. The feed from his aerial plug was fine for analogue but again mux 2 was missing; since we were trying to watch England v. France at the time, that was the one multiplex we needed
BTW, looking at Subucni's posted list of channels, it does seem odd that you can get all the analogue channels fine but not mux 2:.
Rich :¬)
Rave if quite right about boosters and digital signals not going well together as when you boost the signal you are also boosting all the analogue signals, which if near a digital uhf can cause interference due to the fact that analogue is transmitted a lot stronger than digital and when amplified can cause it to overpower the digital, but that would be more likely to happen to mux B rather than mux 2 that you are having problems with as mux B is right next door to analogue ch4. also as rave says it boost any noise frequencies you may be picking up by your aerial.
Basically zak the way the digital box works is that it stores in the 6 uhf frequencies (the muxes) much like a tv stores the 4-5 depending if you get ch5 but on the 6 muxes because it's transmitted digitally and using Cofdem it can carry about 8-10 channels on each mux, which is why if you have a signal problem on one mux it effects all the channels on it. the muxes carry the same channels nationwide, mux 1 carries most of the BBC channels, mux 2 carries ITV channels and Channel 4, Mux A carries Channel 5, Mux B,C and D were for subscription channels so, i don't know which channels are transmitted on those, but should be too hard to find the info on google, i'll have a look and find out.
The dot on the aerial i was talking about is just a little cap that goes on the end of the main shaft of the aerial.
Again rave is right about trying it without the booster at all, thats kind of your call, there is no guarantee, it may help, it may hinder. depends on the reason why the booster was installed in the first place, the booster may have been installed as you were picking up a poor analogue signal, in which case removing it may only cause you problems and weaken your signals further, or the booster may have just been installed for the use of the splitter to split the signal around to different places of the house. in which case trying to take the aerial signal straight to the dig box may help, and then take the rf output from that into the booster to send it around the house (plus that way you will have freeview in every other room, admittedly you'd have to go to the freeview box to change channel though) to be honest though, to me it doesn't sound like a booster interference problem as like i said before, i would have expected you to have problems with mux B rather than 2.
Still sounds a little bit more like an alignment problem to me, very slight adjustments can make all the difference and giving it a try would always be my personal choice over paying out to get an aerial engineer in. the easiest way is to have 2 people, 1 in the attic and 1 by the tv. adjust the aerial slightly and have the person downstair with the signal meter showing the strength of the problem mux, in your case uhf 68, then when that seems better, leave the aerial and check the strength of all the other muxes, if they seem good, check the picture, if they aren't all good re adjust again until they all seem fine. Very crude but a lot cheaper.
Not quite the case, alignment needs to be more precise for digital signals, mainly due to the power at which analogue is transmitted, think of it in degrees, you may have 20-30degrees of scope when pointing at the transmitter to give perfect analogue but only 5-10degrees for digital
yeah, or try a coat hanger, haha, i've actually heard of a dig box working fine before with just a metal pen pushed into the rf input.
Just a quick note to those who don't think they can get freeview: Don't trust the online coverage checkers such as the one here: http://www.freeview.co.uk/
Ask a local aerial technician instead - My folks live in S.W. Wales, right on the coast and can pick up all channels perfectly with a good aerial, despite the negative result with the online checker...
♪～（￣ε￣；） （/゜ー゜）ノ ((((((●～*
if you want to know which channels are on which muxes go to:
http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/terrestrial/mux/
so if you are having problems with channels you'll know which mux they are on and be able to find the frequency they are transmitted on.
ok, i'm off to work, good luck.
cheers guys
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