Retune devices 13th March?

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1081 posts

Uber Geek

#596359 17-Mar-2012 07:35

JoshRR:
We have http://www.trademe.co.nz/electronics-photography/tvs/cables-aerials/auction-456428007.htm this aerial.

bfginger:
You could try moving the aerial about and seeing if the signal strength improves. Is it installed to the correct polarity? I think for Wharite it is vertical. Wharite is 25.5km away from you.

Is your aerial a small one, like 20 elements?

So for vertical polarity you will need to rotate the antenna 90° to what is shown in the picture, with the V elements up/down rather than sideways.

Failing that, you may have to buy a high gain antenna, eg 91 element

mm1352000

1149 posts

Uber Geek
Inactive user

#596387 17-Mar-2012 10:08

As mentioned, I'm probably further away from Wharite with a Gizmo aerial and many splits. Something doesn't seem right...

hdinsider

552 posts

Ultimate Geek

#596456 17-Mar-2012 12:40

Old splitters cause a lot of problems. They just don't work well at all frequencies. The ones with f-type connectors all seem good.

don't mess with me.... i'm the hd insider....

mm1352000

1149 posts

Uber Geek
Inactive user

#596524 17-Mar-2012 18:29

Reading my post back, I think I was a little unclear - sorry. What I meant was that something seems wrong with Josh's setup. Mine is fine.

mthredgo

80 posts

Master Geek

#596567 17-Mar-2012 21:05

I suspect Levin has lost 1,2, U and 7 on Freeview HD since the frequency change. Can I have some reports from Levin and other Horowhenua people if there are any on Geekzone?

2 datapoints in Levin so far (our house, and the girlfriend's parents). 32 and 36 Channels still good. We've got very, very poor to the point of not working on the 34 block of channels. So no TV1 HD, TV2 HD, U or TVNZ7 anymore.

I take it a lot of people in Levin have gone the Freeview HD route and spent money (girlfriend's parents went 2 new inbuilt Freeview receiver TVs for instance, I don't give a damn really as I receive 5 different sats including Freeview Satellite and it's not like I ever watch 1 or 2 at all so don't care about HD), and will now only get 1 and 2 on analogue til the switch off. I take it we are not the only ones and there are going to be some very annoyed people in Levin.

Let's see if local member Nathan Guy will find out what the hell is going on, and what they are going to do about it. I'll send his office an email on Monday.

bfginger

1267 posts

Uber Geek

#596660 18-Mar-2012 00:58

Levin receives Freeview|HD from the same Wharite transmitter as Palmerston North, doesn't it?

It is strange that channels 32 and 36 would be working well but 34 in between doesn't.
Is it possible TVNZ reduced transmission power with the drop in frequency?

You're 62-65km away from Wharite so what kind of aerial do you have? Does it have the right polarity?

mthredgo

80 posts

Master Geek

#596667 18-Mar-2012 07:21

Yes, Levin receives Freeview|HD from the same Wharite transmitter as Palmerston North.

Yes, It is strange that channels 32 and 36 would be working well but 34 in between doesn't, since it means it doesn't mean the low or high frequencies are missing from the antenna's reception, but the middle ones??

Is it possible TVNZ reduced transmission power with the drop in frequency? dunno.

As for polarities of the aerial - dunno, but it was picking up all the channels before the frequency change. The antenna came with the house, so I'd say it probably predates digital TV.

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hdinsider

552 posts

Ultimate Geek

#596705 18-Mar-2012 10:55

It is relatively easy to lose a channel between two others. At uhf freuencies any bounced signals cancel out at particular frequencies. This can happen before the aerial off of water, other rooftops or even your own roof. If you move the aerial up or down by half a meter you can move the problem frequency away from the ones you want to receive. Worth a try.

don't mess with me.... i'm the hd insider....

B1GGLZ

1961 posts

Uber Geek

#596736 18-Mar-2012 13:01

mm1352000: Reading my post back, I think I was a little unclear - sorry. What I meant was that something seems wrong with Josh's setup. Mine is fine.

+1
Definitely seems to be something wrong.
I would be checking
A) The antenna is Vertically polarised. Horizontal polarisation would introduce a 22db loss of signal strength.
B) The antenn is UHF only.

jamesg

3 posts

Wannabe Geek

#596792 18-Mar-2012 16:31

mthredgo: I suspect Levin has lost 1,2, U and 7 on Freeview HD since the frequency change. Can I have some reports from Levin and other Horowhenua people if there are any on Geekzone?

2 datapoints in Levin so far (our house, and the girlfriend's parents). 32 and 36 Channels still good. We've got very, very poor to the point of not working on the 34 block of channels. So no TV1 HD, TV2 HD, U or TVNZ7 anymore.

I take it a lot of people in Levin have gone the Freeview HD route and spent money (girlfriend's parents went 2 new inbuilt Freeview receiver TVs for instance, I don't give a damn really as I receive 5 different sats including Freeview Satellite and it's not like I ever watch 1 or 2 at all so don't care about HD), and will now only get 1 and 2 on analogue til the switch off. I take it we are not the only ones and there are going to be some very annoyed people in Levin.

Let's see if local member Nathan Guy will find out what the hell is going on, and what they are going to do about it. I'll send his office an email on Monday.

I'm in Levin and have the exact same problem, I've had to go back to analogue.

JoshRR

8 posts

Wannabe Geek

#596796 18-Mar-2012 16:35

I've just come down from flipping the aerial round and aligning it slightly better with Wharite tower, perfect clear day, can see the tower, better work!

mthredgo

80 posts

Master Geek

#597128 19-Mar-2012 13:56

I contacted Freeview with a question about the reception in Levin. They didn't bother to answer my questions and I got a next to useless reply:
Hi Matthew, The broadcast frequencies for Freeview|HD® television channels are changing in seven regions in New Zealand. We are making these changes to make sure that we’re using our radio spectrum as efficiently as possible and to release spectrum for new uses. How to retune:
http://www.rsm.govt.nz/cms/policy-and-planning/projects/digital-terrestrial-television-frequency-restacking/retuning-freeview-hd-equipment Frequency change timetable:
http://www.rsm.govt.nz/cms/policy-and-planning/projects/digital-terrestrial-television-frequency-restacking/timing-and-channel-information Regards,The Freeview Team

I also contacted the Ministry of economic development and talked to the tollfree number on 0508 33 66 33 which you call if you have retuning problems. They are convinced that the problem lies in my setup, and my in-laws' setup, and James' above setup. Told me about RF modulators I had causing a problem, except of course I don't have any RF modulators on my system. They said if they had knocked out all of Levin's FreeviewHD reception then they'd know from all the complaints, which they say they haven't been getting. It's 6 days after the switchover and it took me a few days to work out I had a problem. I bet there are a few people scratching their heads in Levin. If you've got problems call 0508 33 66 33.

mm1352000

1149 posts

Uber Geek
Inactive user

#597139 19-Mar-2012 14:06

@mthredgo: what is the signal strength and quality like (% values or BER would be good) on the two muxes that you can receive?

mthredgo

80 posts

Master Geek

#597387 19-Mar-2012 21:15

Unfortunately my TV's inbuilt DVB-T tuner doesn't give signal strengths other than No Signal, Low, Good and High.

the 36 muxes are all high.
the 32 and 34 muxes jump around from no signal, to low to good.

And my in-law's are missing the 32 and 34 muxes altogether.

Legion

20 posts

Geek

#599079 23-Mar-2012 13:49

In PN itself I've only had a few customers that have needed aerial work done to get the new frequencies. One of those had only a VHF aerial, another couple had their aerial on the wrong polarity (as mentioned by someone earlier).

I had quite a few customers (mainly older) who had VCRs in their systems that were on the same frequency as the new Freeview signals - usually easy to pick as only one channel grouping was lost.

There were a number of people who couldn't get their TVs or decoders to retune, and couldn't be talked through it by the crew on the 0800 number - none of those that contacted me had any real problems.

Over the course of the week, I probably retuned close to 100 TVs, and if my problem ones were indicative, most people have had no problems with signal or frequency conflicts.

It was interesting to note the number of people that rang in because their TV wasn't working any more, and when asked if they had seen the message or received the flyer, hadn't heard anything about it.

For the person who was given an estimate of $500 to install a UHF aerial to one outlet - you should be able to get one installed for about half that unless you're in a very marginal area needing a high gain aerial and amplifier, and even then it shouldn't be that much unless the cabling is going to be a nightmare to run. Most of my installs in PN are around $220-$250.

If anyone is having problems still, post a photo of your aerial setup, as it may be possible to diagnose the problem from that if it's a polarity problem, incorrect aerial type, missing PSU for an amp etc.

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