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Winter Hill Freeview problem

Only some TVs affected by 'bad signal' (February 2021)

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AL
alantait
Hi, I'm getting occasional stuttering on some channels from Winter Hill, but only on some TVs. One room shares a RF aerial lead. One TV is fine, the other is stuttering. The weather is typical Manchester windy/rainy weather right now, but it's been a bit iffy for a while. A short while back, it was only on COM5 channels like Pick TV, but now it's spread to someone PSB1 channels like BBC News SD (231). However, weaker channels like COM7's RT HD (113) are perfect, so I don't understand the difference. Thanks.
MA
Markymark
alantait posted:
Hi, I'm getting occasional stuttering on some channels from Winter Hill, but only on some TVs. One room shares a RF aerial lead. One TV is fine, the other is stuttering. The weather is typical Manchester windy/rainy weather right now, but it's been a bit iffy for a while. A short while back, it was only on COM5 channels like Pick TV, but now it's spread to someone PSB1 channels like BBC News SD (231). However, weaker channels like COM7's RT HD (113) are perfect, so I don't understand the difference. Thanks.


How old is the aerial ? Last year Winter Hill shifted all of its muxes to lower frequencies. A legacy aerial could well be unsuitable for reception of these lower frequencies. There's evidence to support that, because COM 7 (on UHF frequency 55) reception is fine. That's quite possibly because if you do have a legacy aerial, it'll be what's called Group C/D, and will only properly work on UHF frequencies 48-68. Apart from COM 7, everything else is on frequencies below UHF 37
AL
alantait
Markymark posted:
alantait posted:
Hi, I'm getting occasional stuttering on some channels from Winter Hill, but only on some TVs. One room shares a RF aerial lead. One TV is fine, the other is stuttering. The weather is typical Manchester windy/rainy weather right now, but it's been a bit iffy for a while. A short while back, it was only on COM5 channels like Pick TV, but now it's spread to someone PSB1 channels like BBC News SD (231). However, weaker channels like COM7's RT HD (113) are perfect, so I don't understand the difference. Thanks.


How old is the aerial ? Last year Winter Hill shifted all of its muxes to lower frequencies. A legacy aerial could well be unsuitable for reception of these lower frequencies. There's evidence to support that, because COM 7 (on UHF frequency 55) reception is fine. That's quite possibly because if you do have a legacy aerial, it'll be what's called Group C/D, and will only properly work on UHF frequencies 48-68. Apart from COM 7, everything else is on frequencies below UHF 37


It probably goes back to 2001 from what I remember - which is old, but as I mentioned, it's fine on one TV in the same room, but not on the other, and they share a RF aerial, split between them. Surely if one was bad, both would be?
RI
Richard
alantait posted:
Markymark posted:
alantait posted:
Hi, I'm getting occasional stuttering on some channels from Winter Hill, but only on some TVs. One room shares a RF aerial lead. One TV is fine, the other is stuttering. The weather is typical Manchester windy/rainy weather right now, but it's been a bit iffy for a while. A short while back, it was only on COM5 channels like Pick TV, but now it's spread to someone PSB1 channels like BBC News SD (231). However, weaker channels like COM7's RT HD (113) are perfect, so I don't understand the difference. Thanks.


How old is the aerial ? Last year Winter Hill shifted all of its muxes to lower frequencies. A legacy aerial could well be unsuitable for reception of these lower frequencies. There's evidence to support that, because COM 7 (on UHF frequency 55) reception is fine. That's quite possibly because if you do have a legacy aerial, it'll be what's called Group C/D, and will only properly work on UHF frequencies 48-68. Apart from COM 7, everything else is on frequencies below UHF 37


It probably goes back to 2001 from what I remember - which is old, but as I mentioned, it's fine on one TV in the same room, but not on the other, and they share a RF aerial, split between them. Surely if one was bad, both would be?

It also depends on the quality of each section of cable after it splits (one might be worse than the other) and one tv might be better than the other in terms of coping with a weak signal.
MA
Markymark
Richard posted:
alantait posted:
Markymark posted:

How old is the aerial ? Last year Winter Hill shifted all of its muxes to lower frequencies. A legacy aerial could well be unsuitable for reception of these lower frequencies. There's evidence to support that, because COM 7 (on UHF frequency 55) reception is fine. That's quite possibly because if you do have a legacy aerial, it'll be what's called Group C/D, and will only properly work on UHF frequencies 48-68. Apart from COM 7, everything else is on frequencies below UHF 37


It probably goes back to 2001 from what I remember - which is old, but as I mentioned, it's fine on one TV in the same room, but not on the other, and they share a RF aerial, split between them. Surely if one was bad, both would be?

It also depends on the quality of each section of cable after it splits (one might be worse than the other) and one tv might be better than the other in terms of coping with a weak signal.


Yes, and also how is the feed being split ? A passive (non powered) device, powered booster with two or more outputs, or the wires just twisted together ? (The latter would cause no end of problems, and should NEVER be done)
AL
alantait
Richard posted:
alantait posted:
Markymark posted:

How old is the aerial ? Last year Winter Hill shifted all of its muxes to lower frequencies. A legacy aerial could well be unsuitable for reception of these lower frequencies. There's evidence to support that, because COM 7 (on UHF frequency 55) reception is fine. That's quite possibly because if you do have a legacy aerial, it'll be what's called Group C/D, and will only properly work on UHF frequencies 48-68. Apart from COM 7, everything else is on frequencies below UHF 37


It probably goes back to 2001 from what I remember - which is old, but as I mentioned, it's fine on one TV in the same room, but not on the other, and they share a RF aerial, split between them. Surely if one was bad, both would be?

It also depends on the quality of each section of cable after it splits (one might be worse than the other) and one tv might be better than the other in terms of coping with a weak signal.


Thanks. The one looking better is a newer TV. The older one is a 50" 2012 model. I know it's time for a new one, but it just galls me that I can't get a new 3D TV, as I do love films shown that way.
AL
alantait
Markymark posted:
Richard posted:
alantait posted:

It probably goes back to 2001 from what I remember - which is old, but as I mentioned, it's fine on one TV in the same room, but not on the other, and they share a RF aerial, split between them. Surely if one was bad, both would be?

It also depends on the quality of each section of cable after it splits (one might be worse than the other) and one tv might be better than the other in terms of coping with a weak signal.


Yes, and also how is the feed being split ? A passive (non powered) device, powered booster with two or more outputs, or the wires just twisted together ? (The latter would cause no end of problems, and should NEVER be done)


Hi, it's a powered booster. I can set fire to milk, so I wouldn't want to try it with anything electrical Smile
MA
Markymark
alantait posted:
Markymark posted:
Richard posted:
It also depends on the quality of each section of cable after it splits (one might be worse than the other) and one tv might be better than the other in terms of coping with a weak signal.


Yes, and also how is the feed being split ? A passive (non powered) device, powered booster with two or more outputs, or the wires just twisted together ? (The latter would cause no end of problems, and should NEVER be done)


Hi, it's a powered booster. I can set fire to milk, so I wouldn't want to try it with anything electrical Smile


It would need proper test equipment to identify the problem, but my guess based on the evidence supplied is the aerial is probably a Group C/D, and needs to be replaced.

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