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[jeffbb]

Hi
@Kitz : are both regions using the same polarity ?
Regards Jeff

[kitz]

Im not quite sure jeff.

I should be in the Granada area served by Winter Hill

but everything always tunes into Moel-Y-Parc.   

iirc these were 2 of the very first areas to go live and at the time I spent a looooong time trying to find a solution only to find a heck of a lot of other people in Lancs were also reporting the same problem....  and the only thing I could do was a manual programme in for each and every channel...  which if you can imagine takes some time

[kitz]

Ive just been doing a bit of googling and came across this..  which is exactly where I live.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8417495.stm

[tickmike]

We have only one problem. Every evening at 1942 hours, and without fail, the signal breaks up for some 5 seconds across all channels. There must be a source of interference being switched on/off at that time every day...    ........and it's not internal or exclusive to me, the whole village experiences the same problem.

It's probably a SEWAGE PUMPING STATION (or similar)  passing data over to there main data collection point by radio signal, as you know I worked for the Research department on the railways and we got a call form BR at London saying they where getting lots of complaints near one of there stations on the electric lines and ask use to investigate this interference, we set up a hut with some monitoring equipment in and left it to run 24/7 and yes this interference would come on at 19hrs each day.
We knew it was not railway generated but unless we found the source the public would not be convinced, so I had a walk around the area near the station and found this small building with an aerial on it.
With a bit of detective work back in my office I found out it was a pump for moving the local sewage to the main sewage farm some miles away and at 19hrs each day it transmitted it's daily report to the head office about flow rates etc.
We got on to the London sewage chaps and told them, the next day they repaired the transmitter.

So TD you have got to have a walk around your area and look out for any building with a smaller type aerial on it (sewage, water, gas, electric supplies etc.)as it may be the problem.

[renluop]

With a bit of detective work back in my office I found out it was a pump for moving the local sewage to the main sewage farm some miles away and at 19hrs each day it transmitted it's daily report to the head office about flow rates etc.

Sure gives another slant on being regular.

[tuftedduck]

@ tickmike...........have been thinking along the same lines.....and have been doing a bit of sniffing around.

Drawing a straight line from TD Towers  to the transmitter we have a distance of some twenty three miles....running in a south westerly direction. Under that line there are three other communities at ( measured from TD Towers) 6 miles, 11 miles and 18 miles.
These villages closer than I to the transmitter also experience the breakup at the same time.......but other communities east/north/due west/due south do not.

The interference then is within the first five miles from the transmitter and affecting only a narrow corridor.

I have no idea at the moment what if any installations are within that defined area.....but I do know that it represents part of the main flight path into Prestwick Airport, and that is where the new Air Traffic Control hub is sited.
Perhaps there is a clue there ........but I would have thought that any interference from their radar/radio etc. would not affect such a localised area.

Will continue investigations.

[sevenlayermuddle]

We have only one problem. Every evening at 1942 hours, and without fail, the signal breaks up for some 5 seconds across all channels. There must be a source of interference being switched on/off at that time every day...    ........and it's not internal or exclusive to me, the whole village experiences the same problem.

It's probably a SEWAGE PUMPING STATION (or similar)  passing data over to there main data collection point by radio signal, as you know I worked for the Research department on the railways and we got a call form BR at London saying they where getting lots of complaints near one of there stations on the electric lines and ask use to investigate this interference, we set up a hut with some monitoring equipment in and left it to run 24/7 and yes this interference would come on at 19hrs each day.
We knew it was not railway generated but unless we found the source the public would not be convinced, so I had a walk around the area near the station and found this small building with an aerial on it.
With a bit of detective work back in my office I found out it was a pump for moving the local sewage to the main sewage farm some miles away and at 19hrs each day it transmitted it's daily report to the head office about flow rates etc.
We got on to the London sewage chaps and told them, the next day they repaired the transmitter.

So TD you have got to have a walk around your area and look out for any building with a smaller type aerial on it (sewage, water, gas, electric supplies etc.)as it may be the problem.

I hope nobody thinks this is too off topic, but I think any discussion of stray UHF interference would be of interest so..

@tickmike (or anybody),  is any above related to the 'back-to-back' aerials pairs, that I've noticed recently, pointing up & down the side of the railway track?  I'm not a frequent rail user so I daresay they could've been there for decades, but I've noticed them recently and wondered what they were.  From the dimensions, I'd guess they are carrying frequencies of the same order as UHF TV signals.

[oldfogy]

... but I suppose that 5 seconds isn't long enough to be any more than a minor irritation.

It can be if watching a movie and a gun is being pointed at someone, then the next thing you see is that person dead on the floor, then much later into the movie you then discover it was not the person you saw pointing the gun that did the shooting but someone else in the room.

1742 (5:42pm)
I suppose on a plus side it could be worse if it was later in the evening.

[sevenlayermuddle]

... but I suppose that 5 seconds isn't long enough to be any more than a minor irritation.

It can be if watching a movie and a gun is being pointed at someone, then the next thing you see is that person dead on the floor, then much later into the movie you then discover it was not the person you saw pointing the gun that did the shooting but someone else in the room.

I tend to agree that (the wrong) 5 seconds is enough to cause annoyance, well put. 

[sevenlayermuddle]

We have only one problem. Every evening at 1942 hours, and without fail, the signal breaks up for some 5 seconds across all channels. There must be a source of interference being switched on/off at that time every day...    ........and it's not internal or exclusive to me, the whole village experiences the same problem.

It's probably a SEWAGE PUMPING STATION (or similar)  passing data over to there main data collection point by radio signal, as you know I worked for the Research department on the railways and we got a call form BR at London saying they where getting lots of complaints near one of there stations on the electric lines and ask use to investigate this interference, we set up a hut with some monitoring equipment in and left it to run 24/7 and yes this interference would come on at 19hrs each day.
We knew it was not railway generated but unless we found the source the public would not be convinced, so I had a walk around the area near the station and found this small building with an aerial on it.
With a bit of detective work back in my office I found out it was a pump for moving the local sewage to the main sewage farm some miles away and at 19hrs each day it transmitted it's daily report to the head office about flow rates etc.
We got on to the London sewage chaps and told them, the next day they repaired the transmitter.

So TD you have got to have a walk around your area and look out for any building with a smaller type aerial on it (sewage, water, gas, electric supplies etc.)as it may be the problem.

I hope nobody thinks this is too off topic, but I think any discussion of stray UHF interference would be of interest so..

@tickmike (or anybody),  is any above related to the 'back-to-back' aerials pairs, that I've noticed recently, pointing up & down the side of the railway track?  I'm not a frequent rail user so I daresay they could've been there for decades, but I've noticed them recently and wondered what they were.  From the dimensions, I'd guess they are carrying frequencies of the same order as UHF TV signals.

PS, on reflection... I didn't mean to suggest that the railway antennas were actually a likely cause of any problems, I was just curious what purpose they served, and whether other (less well-regulated than Railway) applications of similar technology might cause problems.

Just thought I'd clarify!   

[tuftedduck]

@ oldfogey

It's 1942 hours, not 1742. 

[tickmike]

@tickmike (or anybody),  is any above related to the 'back-to-back' aerials pairs, that I've noticed recently, pointing up & down the side of the railway track?  I'm not a frequent rail user so I daresay they could've been there for decades, but I've noticed them recently and wondered what they were.  From the dimensions, I'd guess they are carrying frequencies of the same order as UHF TV signals.

I'm a bit out of touch myself,  but I think they are for train driver/guards to base communications and on-board internet ?.

Edit.. I think in tunnels they use a special leaky type of RF cable to do the same job.

[tickmike]

Back to Freeview.
For us it started it started in march and had to re-tune, that went wrong we had to do it about three times, we had another re-tune 17 and 31st Aug then one in Oct. .
Use this trade checker   http://www.digitaluk.co.uk/postcodechecker/main/trade
We still are having problems even with a boosted signal  , some of the Mux's are ok and others are not.

[HPsauce]

I'm really so glad I put in Freesat for us and the in-laws......

When I get bored I retune and check out the "new" channel allocations of Freeview; they change with alarming frequency (ha-ha) and are of course very different between tuners.

[sevenlayermuddle]

Well this is the big day for me... second phase of switchover, which means HD channels now available.

My main TV system is somewhat exotic to say the least, being based on the open source 'mythtv' project ( www.mythtv.org ).  The tuners (three SD and one HD) all reside in a central Linux 'backend' server, then the two HD TVs (lounge & bedroom) get the signals over LAN, delivered by compact diskless 'frontend' boxes.    If I ever found an excuse to install more HD TVs, the system can be extended to include them too.

Recorded programmes reside on the central server (the 'backend'), so they can be programmed in on either TV, and are available for watching on either TV.  Similarly,  other media (photos, music, videos) are instantly available in any room that has a myth frontend with TV.

With mythtv, each tuner can concurrently process up to 5 channels, providing they are all on the same multiplex.   That means I can now, in theory, watch or record up to 5 HD channels and up to 15 SD channels concurrently.   Disk access speed would probably present a practical limit to the number of channels being recorded, I've not yet explored where that limit would set in.  But right now I'm recording 2 HD channels, while tuned to a third in the lounge and another upstairs, and all seems happy.  There's only four available for now, anyway.

Feeling quite chuffed right now, the whole project has taken months to put together, it's nice to see it all working in full HD! 

PS:  @HP... if the need arose, I could add a satellite tuner or two to the backend as well, then satellite becomes available on all TVs.   8)