Opman wrote:

Hello

Has anybody had problems retuning their Freeview TV's or boxes since 4th November when BBC2 analogue was switched off.

I gather that some of the multiplex's have been temporarliy moved to new frequencies. I have a customer who is in the Winter Hill area with a good aerial and no previous problems picking up Freeview, can now only get BBC1 & BBC2 Wales. We are unable to tune into the north west BBC channels from Winter Hill.

Any suggestions greatly appreciated.

Opman

Hi Nick,

Just had exactly the same problem on my daughter's Philips TV with built-in Freeview. We eventually found the old BBC NW and BBC2 somewhere around channel 800+ and had to reorder the programmes to bring them up to the top of the list. This was fairly straight forward with this particular tuner. Have found with the Panasonic boxes (model recommended for Avant) that there is another complication because there is an overdue over-air software update which can cause channels to appear in a completely random order after retuning.

Graham

Dunno how relevant this is over there since our DVB semantics differ slightly, but often there will be problems with automatic tuning if the box first locks on a transmitter from a wrong area while receiving the network information; then it will search for the rest of the channels at incorrect frequencies for the area. If you know the frequencies of the multiplexes you are supposed to be able to receive, it might be worth a try to tune into them manually.

tournedos wrote:

Dunno how relevant this is over there since our DVB semantics differ slightly, but often there will be problems with automatic tuning if the box first locks on a transmitter from a wrong area while receiving the network information; then it will search for the rest of the channels at incorrect frequencies for the area. If you know the frequencies of the multiplexes you are supposed to be able to receive, it might be worth a try to tune into them manually.

Good point Mika. Strange thing here is that the BBC Wales transmitter is in the opposite direction to the correct Winter Hill transmitter for this area, and in our particular case the Wales transmitter also has a hill between us and it..... we also have a new digital/ high sensitivity/ highly directional  aerial which should not be picking-up signals from behind (and coming through a hill!). It actually looks as if the Winter Hill transmitter is broadcasting the BBCWales signals, maybe at the same previous frequency of the  English NW-BBC. All very odd!

Graham

EDIT A lot of forums are suggesting that the Welsh Moel y Parc transmitter is putting out a new powerful signal that is making TVs lock onto this in retuning.... moving the BBC NW Winter Hill channels down to frequency 800+. But why this should happen with aerials pointing away from Moel y Parc is a bit of a mystery! (Maybe these new digital aerials are not quite as directional as the manufacturers claim!)

Some forum contributors are suggesting that putting a temporary attenuator onto the incoming signal might enable the STB to lock onto the correct transmitter, with the attenuation being removed after a successful retune.

vikinger wrote:

EDIT A lot of forums are suggesting that the Welsh Moel y Parc transmitter is putting out a new powerful signal that is making TVs lock onto this in retuning.... moving the BBC NW Winter Hill channels down to frequency 800+. But why this should happen with aerials pointing away from Moel y Parc is a bit of a mystery! (Maybe these new digital aerials are not quite as directional as the manufacturers claim!)

Most directional antenna types have a relatively strong backwards beam, usually the attenuation is largest to the side (90° off main direction). Try a manual tune, it's usually easier than climbing on the roof 🙂

Hi Opman,

Also on Winter hill and I had problems with my Beocentre 6-26, it just lost BBC1,2, 3 etc. all other channels seemed to be there. After trying everything I could think of I rang my dealer and he said that I would need to change a transponder frequency in the tuning list so it would then be able to find the missing stations.

To do this press menu, DTV, setup, options, then press RED then GO and this brings up the transponder list options. Go down to the 802MHz one then punch in 801133 then press go. this changed the 802 to the new frequency. Then you do a manual retune on the 801 that will now be in the frequency list and it will then find all the missing channels.

The shop also said that other frequencies may need to be modified in Dec when the final changes are made to the transmitters.

PS. Does anyone out there have any noticeable hiss on the sound (that only stops is the sound is muted) when using DTV on a Beocentre 6, or is mine faulty?

Hope this helps

Steve

I have DTV on BC6-26 and there is a low hiss on audio - it's only really noticeable late at night if using the TV at very low volumes, but its there. I've not used the TV on analog terrestial tuner so no idea if also get the hiss then (btw, no it's not the internal fan).

Hi Hollis

I initially tried reassigning in the transponder list as you suggested with no luck. It still kept tuning into BBC1 & 2 in Welsh.

I  eventually solved it by going back into the transponder list and deleting 666 & 770. These are the frequencies for Mux1 & Mux2 from Moel y Parc, the main transmitter in North wales. Having deleted these frequencies and then searching, I was able to get BBC1 & 2 from Winter Hill.

Now I know what to do on December 3rd after the remaining analogue channels are switched off.

Thanks for your suggestion.

The customer has noticed a slight drop in picture quality but I suggested reserving judgement until December.

Regards

Opman

Hollis hit on the method...so many many thanks for the lead and direction.

I wish I knew how this stuff works but eventually B&O of Manchester (Russ Chew) came up with a workable solution for my parents BV7-40:-

1. Within the DVBT menu go into setup and options and perform a "Reinstall All" in options but before any channels have tuned press exit.
2. Go back into setup and highlight options, then press red + go.
3. Select transponder list
4. Move down to transponder 802 terrestrial 8 and select
5. Change the frequency from 802 to 801833 and press go to store
6. Move down to transponder 746 and select
7. Change the frequency from 746 to 745833 and press go to store
8. It is then necessary to retune, using the search, not the re-install all menu, although please note - if you perform another reinstall all then this resets the transponder settings.

Thanks again to Hollis and Russ.

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