TV

[L]

Hello All

We have recently noticed a big deterioration in the quality of one TV channel, this has happened to all 3 TV's in the house...is this likely to be a TV arial problem?

TIA

Stan

[Colin Wilson]

Possibly - been windy ?

We`ve also had a fair amount of rain, and I believe damp coax can result in similar picture degradation, but not always to all channels :-}

[The Natural Philosopher]

yes. Or cable.

Or transmitter.

Or fed thereto.

[John Rumm]

If you are in the south, then there is also a problem with "channelling" at the moment. This tends to occur during long spells of high pressure weather. The effect is increase co-channel interference, especially from French transmitters.

[troubleinstore]

It also happens on the east coast around Scarborough and Filey

-- troubleinstore

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[L]

id=yorkie_8&sort=2&rows=25&since=-1&rd=1

Am in Warwickshire in the Midlands....it's really driving us nuts, but am loathe to call out expensive TV arial company unless I'm sure that is what it is.

Thanks for advice guys!

[Tony Williams]

I'm in Herefordshire, not that far south of you and we are getting the same signal variations, presumably due to atmospherics. Anyway, the tv progs are so naff these days that you are not really missing anything.

[troubleinstore]

"channelling"

> id=yorkie_8&sort=2&rows=25&since=-1&rd=1

Where I live, in County Durham, the TV signals are so strong that I can pick them up just by sticking a small jewellers screwdriver or a short piece of wire into the center pin of the aeril socket. Give it a go and see if you can still pickup the channels you are having trouble with.

-- troubleinstore

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[rockdoctor]

Has one of your neighbours got building work going on? Scaffolding can mess up TV reception.

[tony sayer]

In article , Tony Williams writes

There is quite an atmospheric lift on the go at the moment which is leading to enhanced proprogation between the near continent and the UK which may affect your reception.

It may be that the transmitter you use is a relay station and is receiving its signal by RBR (Re-Broadcast Relay) which means its receiving from another transmitter and is being thus affected. You would be well advised to check with your neighbours presuming they receive the same transmitter, and if they have the same problem then you can assume its not the fault of your aerial and receiver.

You could phone around a few local TV shops to see if they have had many complaints and if they have then its not U but external conditions which nowt can be done about unless you can control the weather:!....

[John Rumm]

The quick solution to this is to stick in a freeview box - not affected by these problems.

(did just that at my mums last night - said co-channel was making C4 and

5 unwatchable at times).

[tony sayer]

Freeview isn't totally immune to CO-channel as is neither DAB radio. Of course you'll have to check if your local TX supports D_TV:)

[Dave Liquorice]

Only if you are in a DTTV coverage area. Vast areas of the country are not covered.

Don't get fooled by the percentages quoted, they are percent of the population. Cover London, Birmingham and Manchester and your probably over 50% on that scale but maybe only 10% of the land area.

No DTTV here, only 4 channels of analogue, no other signals receivable.

[John Rumm]

True, although assuming you can get a signal from your Tx then it should perform much better than analogue with both co-channel and multi path interference. Having said that it has problems of its own that you won't get with analogue... you pays you money and... ;-)

[mike ring]

John Rumm wrote in news:413cfa31$0$38665$ [e-mail]:

That's true, and my updated aerails don't help a bit.

However freeview is coming in perfectly, I'm not sure about the long term, as I rarely use it, if my analogue signal is geed, as it usually is.

Now nearly all channels are unwatchable from bothe transmitters, but freeview's fine.

However, when I've used it for better quality recording, I've never recorded anything without some problem cropping up, so I'd only suggest it if your analogue is poor

mike

[tony sayer]

Put up with pictures that aren't as good as analogue ones sometimes especially when the analogue signals are coming from a main transmitter:)

>

[tony sayer]

In article , mike ring writes

I expect you must be near the south coast somewhere?. This lift has been on the go for sometime now, the pressure has been around 1034 mb for quite some time.

Bl**dy weather;))

[Andy Wade]

It's only unaffected up to the point at which it falls over completely (digital cliff effect)! DTT can cope with co-channel analogue TV up to about the same signal level as the wanted DTT signal (0 dB protection ratio). It doesn't fare so well with co-channel digital interference from another TX - which it sees as noise. The failure point there will depend on the received C/N ratio without the CCI present and will typically be 20 - 30 dB below the wanted signal.

The transmission spectrum planners aim to protect DTT against such failure due to 'abnormal' propagation for at least 99% of the time (averaged over a year or more) as opposed to the 95% of the time figure used for analogue TV.

Of course with analogue you can see what's going on. CCI is easy to recognise - but with digital you're unaware of the 'lift' until the screen goes blank for no apparent reason...

[mike ring]

tony sayer wrote in news:v+ [e-mail]:

Not South Coast, mid-Essex. Pressure 1033.

Every year at this time it's the same; it's about time "they" did something about it.

Even freeview's breaking up now, Sky is fine of course. Only very heavy rain stops that.

And I've only got a free to air card, I wouldn't pay the money, mumble, mutter...

mike

[Dave Liquorice]

You don't need a card for "free to air" (BBC and others) you need a card for "free to view" (ITV1, Ch4 and five).