Non-motoring > Picking up out of area TV signals	Miscellaneous
Thread Author: Rudedog	Replies: 20

New Tue 4 Feb 14 21:48   Picking up out of area TV signals - Rudedog

My HDD recorder has started playing up, I put into record several BBC1 programmes but when the time comes it just hangs constantly saying 'Timer Ready' but no recording takes place. Tonight by change I noticed that the channel it was trying to record was BBC1 Oxford even though I leave on top of the North Downs and am tuned into the Crystal Palace transmitter and my local channel is BBC1 London. Why is it doing this and how can I stop it? I've now missed so many shows during the daytime many which aren't repeated, just means I have to watch them on the laptop instead of full screen on the TV. Reply to this message | Report message

New Tue 4 Feb 14 22:07   Picking up out of area TV signals - Manatee

Sony? Mine does this. RDR-HXD970 When I tune it, it finds BBC1 on the Oxford transmitter that it is pointed at, and it allocates that to channel 1. At some time in the next 24 hours, it will discover BBC1 East, and allocate that to 802. One off timer recordings seem to work OK. Series record is where it goes wrong. Having been set to record ch1, it will find a subsequent episode on ch802 which will fail to record as there is probably no signal at that point. I can remove the ghost channel, but it just comes back. Reply to this message | Report message

New Tue 4 Feb 14 22:11   Picking up out of area TV signals - Zero

>> I can remove the ghost channel, but it just comes back. you can fit an attenuator if you get good signal on the channels you do get, that will knock down the ones you don't want Reply to this message | Report message

New Wed 5 Feb 14 11:23   Picking up out of area TV signals - Bromptonaut

>> you can fit an attenuator if you get good signal on the channels you do >> get, that will knock down the ones you don't want A notch filter tuned to cut the unwanted signals would be more effective. That or a highly directional aerial. Reply to this message | Report message

New Wed 5 Feb 14 12:01   Picking up out of area TV signals - Fenlander

>>>or a highly directional aerial Agreed... wonder what type of aerial you have Rudedog? Reply to this message | Report message

New Wed 5 Feb 14 12:08   Picking up out of area TV signals - Rudedog

Not sure what kind it is but I was replaced about 3 months ago. I still think it's got something to do with the fact that the BBC1 ID has now added the area to it. I used to just see BBC1, now the ID shows as BBC1 Lon or as in my OP it showed up as BBC1 Oxf. Reply to this message | Report message

New Wed 5 Feb 14 12:22   Picking up out of area TV signals - Fenlander

It's just in a recent thread I mentioned the aerial of choice for digital is now a "log" type. They are excellent at rejecting unwanted signals compared to one with a reflector. You often have to ask for them or the standard fit might be one of the various grades of contract aerial. Logs look like this... www.wtw.co/Upload/Product/e2e680da-5a99-450e-8eb7-0610fa2c6eae.jpg Very distinctive without the rear reflector. If you haven't got one similar I'd swap this first to remove the unwanted signals being fed to the tuner in the first place. If you have one already then do the things advised further up the thread. Reply to this message | Report message

New Wed 5 Feb 14 12:42   Picking up out of area TV signals - Bromptonaut

A directional aerial will of course help if the two transmitters are on reasonably separated bearings from castle Rudedog. If one is behind the other or they're only a few degrees apart then you're back to the attenuate/notch solution or those using the receiver's settings to block specific channels. Reply to this message | Report message

New Wed 5 Feb 14 18:46   Picking up out of area TV signals - Zero

>> A directional aerial will of course help if the two transmitters are on reasonably separated >> bearings from castle Rudedog. If one is behind the other or they're only a few >> degrees apart then you're back to the attenuate/notch solution or those using the receiver's settings >> to block specific channels. If he is on the North Downs, aimed at Crystal Palace he should not be pointing at Oxford, so is probably getting signal from a side lobe. Up there you could lay out wet string and get all that the CP megawatts radiates! Reply to this message | Report message

New Wed 5 Feb 14 12:55   Picking up out of area TV signals - Manatee

>> It's just in a recent thread I mentioned the aerial of choice for digital is >> now a "log" type. Interesting. Ours is a few years old. They asked for £40 extra (on top of £200) for a "digital aerial which was a bit more than I expected. It does however have a reflector, so maybe it could be improved on. I suppose the aerial cost less than £20 anyway. That's what you get if you don't want to clamber about the roof:( The signal from Oxford isn't always good - the weaker channels sometimes disappear. I think the aerial might also have swivelled round a bit in the wind. Time to get a dish maybe. Reply to this message | Report message

New Wed 5 Feb 14 13:13   Picking up out of area TV signals - Slidingpillar

Log periodics are generally used where a wide range of frequency response is needed, and the slightly lower gain does not matter. If you are struggling for gain, a log periodic will generally just make the matter worse. The term 'digital aerial' annoys me as all aerials pick up both digital and analogue signals. An appropriate CAI benchmarked aerial is what one should fit. The industry does itself no favours by quoting a high price for the aerial as an all in one figure, wheras the labour and installation cost is pretty well the same whether the aerial is a £2.99 contract aerial, or a £50 X element type. Reply to this message | Report message

New Wed 5 Feb 14 13:26   Picking up out of area TV signals - Bromptonaut

>> The term 'digital aerial' annoys me as all aerials pick up both digital and analogue >> signals. An appropriate CAI benchmarked aerial is what one should fit. From a scientific point of view it annoys me too. OTOH, in most areas off the country you won't get all the digital MUX on a grouped aerial. Here, the old Sandy Heath group aerial feeds the offspring's rooms and gives them basic BBC/ITV/C4/C5 etc but not others. Wideband aerial feeding the PVR and household TV in lounge picks up the full Monty. Looked at that way, ie you need one of these for full digital service then a trade term 'digital aerial' seems reasonable shorthand. Using it as smoke and mirrors to overcharge is a different question. Reply to this message | Report message

New Wed 5 Feb 14 18:41   Picking up out of area TV signals - Zero

>> Wideband aerial feeding the PVR and household TV in lounge picks up the full Monty. >> >> Looked at that way, ie you need one of these for full digital service then >> a trade term 'digital aerial' seems reasonable shorthand. Using it as smoke and mirrors to >> overcharge is a different question. Depends where you live, a grouped aerial pointed at Crystal Palace will get you all thats transmitted. Reply to this message | Report message

New Wed 5 Feb 14 13:05   Picking up out of area TV signals - Bromptonaut

>> It's just in a recent thread I mentioned the aerial of choice for digital is >> now a "log" type. They are excellent at rejecting unwanted signals compared to one with >> a reflector. You often have to ask for them or the standard fit might be >> one of the various grades of contract aerial. I'd say the first log periodic round here appeared around five years ago. Since then they've become near universal among those who waited until switchover to adapt to digital. I can see three out of the back window without craning my neck. Reply to this message | Report message

New Tue 4 Feb 14 22:43   Picking up out of area TV signals - Rudedog

Spot on Manatee so it's not just me! Funny that it's only just started doing it or rather the channels IDs have only recently started to be displayed before it just showed BBC1 without the area code, something has changed in that new info is being transmitted which is screwing up the timer recordings. Reply to this message | Report message

New Tue 4 Feb 14 23:26   Picking up out of area TV signals - Manatee

>> Spot on Manatee so it's not just me! Suggested solution here. I have a feeling I might already have tried this. goo.gl/ZI7Pmx Might have another try tomorrow - boss using it to catch up on her gardening programme now. My pal has a HXD 995 that has the same issue. I have updated both firmwares. I don't think there will be any further updates or support for these, they are old hat now. I've had about 6 years out of it, not too bad, it has the DVD recorder as well and they don't seem to make that combo now. Reply to this message | Report message

New Tue 4 Feb 14 22:08   Picking up out of area TV signals - Zero

you need to make your PVR do a retune, and then delete the channel groups you don't want if they reappear. Reply to this message | Report message

New Wed 5 Feb 14 00:00   Picking up out of area TV signals - Ted

I watched a couple of recorded progs on the Virgin Plusbox last night after the footy on the radio ( sob ). Noticed that both recordings ended a few minutes before the prog did. SWM said it happened to one of hers as well. I can't record sound to the DVD either......friend on a 6 week cruise wants me to do the Selfridge series for him....Should have used the VHS setup ! Zionists again ? HO Reply to this message | Report message

New Wed 5 Feb 14 10:16   Picking up out of area TV signals - Slidingpillar

My Humax left to its own devices can do this. Best solution I found requires knowledge of channel numbers and protocol. See www.digitaluk.co.uk/coveragechecker/ and select detailed view. All of the standard definition channels are DVB-1 and the high definition ones are DVB-2. Then select auto retune - and immediately cancel. Doing this wipes the memory and you then do a manual retune broadcast channel by channel. Reply to this message | Report message

New Wed 5 Feb 14 10:27   Picking up out of area TV signals - Falkirk Bairn

A lot to be said for SKY - 20 years and no issues other than a builder knocking the dish and causing havoc. Several box upgrades but none have failed and only a transponder change for Sky+ and the builder's damage. Mind you I must have spent a fortune - £8/10 per mth has become £68! Reply to this message | Report message

New Wed 5 Feb 14 10:29   Picking up out of area TV signals - VxFan

My mum's Humax PVR150T often forgets to record things on ITV, but 99.9% of the time it behaves faultlessly if I tell it to record from ITV+1 instead. Not sure whether it's a fault of the box or ITV for not sending the start record signal. It also doesn't like to record more than two programmes that follow one another on the same channel either. It tends to forget to record the last programme. Take last night for example. Emmerdale, then Corrie, followed by Who Wants To Be a Millionaire. It wouldn't bother to record WWTBAM, mind you I can't blame it for that. I had to put one of them on +1 channel. Stupid box. Reply to this message | Report message