freeview frequency/aerial changes/maintenance (Sandy Heath)

jpaul · 28 Jun 2018 at 00:01

Has anyone found reliable web-site for determining freeview infromation. ?

The below screen captures are from 3 sites, also showing urls -
1. Different dates for next re-tune 30June 2018 vs 17 July 2018
nonetheless, they seem to be recommending a change to a K aerial on next re-tune which attenuates the 700Mhz frequencies which will later be re-allocated to 4G
2. One site says currently 'no faults' other says 'possibly weak signal'
stations have currently dropped out on some BBCA muxes, so I was trying to find out if a re-tune had happened, or, there was a reception(tropospheric)/transmitter problem

..it is all an inconsistant mess ?

jpaul · 28 Jun 2018 at 07:37

... so (from other links) looks like ukfree.tv has wrong date and sandy heath retune is 17july, moreover

retune is the This is known as the ‘700 MHz Clearance Programme’.

A very small minority of viewers – estimated to be less than 1% of households – may need to replace their rooftop aerial to continue receiving services. Support for viewers affected will be available (see information below).
....
There is no charge for this service. Should you arrange independently for an aerial installer to carry out work, we are not obliged to refund any costs you incur.

however the 700mhz channels only start in 2020 , so you may not know your aerial will have problems - lol
outside the 3 month free help date ???

jpaul · 28 Jun 2018 at 11:29

Thanks,

Yes, aerial at the moment has all the elements of the same length, so I think that means it is not log periodic.
I will have to look and see if the tv/stb reports different signal qualities for diffrerent bands.

No troposheric issues according to this http://www.dxinfocentre.com/tropo_eur.html

This offcom doc http://www.digitaluk.co.uk/__data/a...700_Coexistence_Consultation_18_July_2017.pdf
suggested inteference from 700mhz should not be worse than 800mhz, and getting a combined filter may become appropriate,
and, also getting a K aerial if i had to replace it, rather than an old stock W, a contractor might be trying to sell me.

jpaul · 29 Jun 2018 at 07:44

picnic said:
Looking at ukfree.tv it is the PSB1 Mux I can't see on either telly. I used to get them OK but not now.
I see that's C49 - when I watch a re-tune I can see a pause on C48 where I get COM4 and another pause on C49. However on C49 no new channels are added.

yes when you look unde a mendip postcode
https://ukfree.tv/prediction/g/grpW/s/rf/P/BA45BT
has the tv ignored bbca/psb1 c49mendip because it thinks c26+ stockland hill is better ... so manually check and tune muxes tv is using.

that said I don't yet understand why I have some weak muxes arqa ... so I will ring these folks today.
the web site comment 'possibly weak signal' is delinquent ..
it's not any kind of engineer i know, who would use such an unqualified comment

jpaul · 29 Jun 2018 at 08:32

well http://www.digitaluk.co.uk/operations/planned_engineering_works 03456 505050

complete bloody waste of time ... 3 attempts later, just full of pre-recorded messages with no way to speak to a human through any menu options I tried.

jpaul · 13 Jan 2019 at 23:29

further freeview retune events on 10 january ... none of the usual sites tell you which mux changed
https://ukfree.tv/transmitters/tv/Sandy_Heath#
http://www.digitaluk.co.uk/coveragechecker/main/trade/cb17dy/NA/0/NA

- i usually re-tune just the muxes needed, otherwise end up with wrong transmitters.
So found a new site, which finally tells me what happended - LOL

https://www.a516digital.com/p/freeview-updates.html

10th January 2019
2 changes

Channel 45 Film4+1 Moved from PSB3/BBCB to PSB2/D3&4 and becoming receivable on older Freeview devices again.

Channel 86 More4+1 Moved from COM8 to PSB3/BBCB ; increasing coverage.