My Humax Forum » Freeview HD » FVP 4000T, 5000T

Problem with Channel 1 - BBC local

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    Andy_K

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    We have decided to stop paying for cable TV and after much reading of reviews settled on Freeview and a Humax FVP4000T box and one week in we are very pleased with it. However I do have one question.

    We live at the western edge of the East Midlands area and 90% of the aerials in our area are positioned to the west midlands transmitter, including ours which is about 15 years old. After watching East Midlands local programmes on cable I was pleasantly surprised to see an east midlands option when I first tuned the box which I selected.On the first day, much to my surprise and delight, we received perfect bbc local news on channel 1.

    Since then however we can only tune in to that channel at about 10% of the times we select it, the other 90% of the time we get the message 'The receiver is not receiving a signal or the signal is too weak'

    I tried an aerial booster and re-tuned but with that in place we get the weak signal message 100% of the time. The strange thing is we get local ITV on channel 3 all the time with no problem and all the other channels including HD are perfect.

    I am reluctant to get a new aerial as I'm not sure it will improve the situation, has anyone got any suggestions as to what the problem may be please?

    | Fri 8 Sep 2017 8:53:02 #1 |
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    Martin Liddle

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    Andy_K - 1 hour ago  » 
    We live at the western edge of the East Midlands area and 90% of the aerials in our area are positioned to the west midlands transmitter, including ours which is about 15 years old. After watching East Midlands local programmes on cable I was pleasantly surprised to see an east midlands option when I first tuned the box which I selected.On the first day, much to my surprise and delight, we received perfect bbc local news on channel 1.
    Since then however we can only tune in to that channel at about 10% of the times we select it, the other 90% of the time we get the message 'The receiver is not receiving a signal or the signal is too weak'

    At the risk of stating the obvious, if the aerial is pointing at the West Midlands transmitter, it is hardly surprising that reception from the East Midlands transmitter is marginal. To determine what ought to be possible with a properly aligned aerial I suggest using the DigitalUK Coverage Checker at http://www.digitaluk.co.uk/coveragechecker/main/index/dummy/NA/yes

    Come back and ask questions if you need help in interpreting the data. If it looks as though reasonable reception is possible from the East Midlands transmitter then realigning the aerial yourself or paying someone to do it would be my advice.

    | Fri 8 Sep 2017 10:16:43 #2 |
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    Andy_K

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    Hi Martin, Thank you for your reply and the link. Having entered my details it shows that the transmitter we are aligned with (Sutton Coldfield) at good reception in every category whilst east of here (Waltham) has variable reception for BBC B HD, ARQ A and COM7 HD and good in the other categories.

    Interestingly there is a transmitter in Derby, where we live, and the website says 'The Derby transmitter supplies additional regional services to viewers of Sutton Coldfield). I presume that this is why we can receive intermittent East Midlands BBC, although BBC A, D3&4, and BBC B HD are all rated as variable.

    Does this suggest that a re-alignment to Waltham would lead to too many compromises?

    | Fri 8 Sep 2017 10:50:56 #3 |
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    Martin Liddle

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    Andy_K - 26 minutes ago  » 
    Having entered my details it shows that the transmitter we are aligned with (Sutton Coldfield) at good reception in every category whilst east of here (Waltham) has variable reception for BBC B HD, ARQ A and COM7 HD and good in the other categories.
    Interestingly there is a transmitter in Derby, where we live, and the website says 'The Derby transmitter supplies additional regional services to viewers of Sutton Coldfield). I presume that this is why we can receive intermittent East Midlands BBC, although BBC A, D3&4, and BBC B HD are all rated as variable.

    Normally being tuned to more than one transmitter is a bad idea but maybe in this case it would work. Is there anybody else on the Forum who uses (or has tried) the combination of Sutton Coldfield and Derby?.

    Does this suggest that a re-alignment to Waltham would lead to too many compromises?

    I think it suggests that trying the combination of Sutton Coldfield and Derby is the most likely option but Waltham doesn't look impossible to me (using a random Derby post code).

    The first thing you need to do is understand which multiplexes your box is tuned to; I don't have an FVP-4000T but try looking under Signal Detection. I think the correct list would be 48, 51, 52 (from Derby) and 39, 42, 45 from Sutton Coldfield (plus possibly 33 and 35 which carry the COM7 and COM8 multiplexes but are transmitted at lower power than other multiplexes and hence may be more difficult to receive). You may need to manually tune to get this set of multiplexes.

    | Fri 8 Sep 2017 11:33:41 #4 |
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    Andy_K

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    Thanks again Martin. I think I need to take this one step at a time. I can see where you have taken the 48,51 and 52 for the Derby list for BBC A, D3&4 and BBCB HD respectively but the corresponding multiplexes for Sutton Coldfield using my post code are 43, 46 and 40+ and therefore different to the numbers you have quoted. Is this because you have used a different postcode?

    I can't find 'Signal Detection' but I can find 'Manual Channel Search' which requires the following 5 things to be set, 'Channel', 'Frequency', 'Transmission' (DVB-T or DVB-T2), 'Bandwidth' and 'Network Search' (Set on or off).

    Can I use the manual channel search to search the Derby channel's and what settings should I use?

    | Fri 8 Sep 2017 14:30:39 #5 |
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    Martin Liddle

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    Andy_K - 1 hour ago  » 
    I can see where you have taken the 48,51 and 52 for the Derby list for BBC A, D3&4 and BBCB HD respectively but the corresponding multiplexes for Sutton Coldfield using my post code are 43, 46 and 40+ and therefore different to the numbers you have quoted. Is this because you have used a different postcode?

    No those are the duplicate channels from Sutton Coldfield and you don't want duplicates or you will be in a world of pain.

    I can't find 'Signal Detection'

    It looks to me as though Signal Test may be the FVP-4000T equivalent of signal detection.

    but I can find 'Manual Channel Search' which requires the following 5 things to be set, 'Channel', 'Frequency', 'Transmission' (DVB-T or DVB-T2), 'Bandwidth' and 'Network Search' (Set on or off).
    Can I use the manual channel search to search the Derby channel's and what settings should I use?

    The general procedure is described in a rather ancient FAQ for the HDR-FOX T2 https://myhumax.org/forum/topic/transmitters#post-2336 but I am not sure how to delete all multiplexes before starting but that is certainly what you want to do before manual tuning. Maybe when you have done it you could write a FAQ for the FVP-4000T.

    | Fri 8 Sep 2017 15:53:55 #6 |
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    Andy_K

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    Before your last reply I went into 'Manual Search' and looked at channel 48's details as it appears to be already tuned to that. The details are Ch 48, Freq 690000, DVB T and 8MHz but the strange thing is that the strength and quality levels appear to 'pulse'? For a second or so they report Strength - 52%, Quality - 70%, then both go to 0, then Strength rises to 52%, Quality rises to 100% and both go back to 0 etc.

    Could this be why it's intermittently available?

    | Fri 8 Sep 2017 16:32:48 #7 |
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    Martin Liddle

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    Andy_K - 48 seconds ago  » 
    Before your last reply I went into 'Manual Search' and looked at channel 48's details as it appears to be already tuned to that. The details are Ch 48, Freq 690000, DVB T and 8MHz but the strange thing is that the strength and quality levels appear to 'pulse'? For a second or so they report Strength - 52%, Quality - 70%, then both go to 0, then Strength rises to 52%, Quality rises to 100% and both go back to 0 etc.
    Could this be why it's intermittently available?

    That isn't good. You won't get far with Signal quality that isn't consistently 100%. What is the bearing of the Sutton Coldfield and Derby Transmitters from your home? This is given on the Digital UK web page you have looked at previously for each transmitter.

    | Fri 8 Sep 2017 16:36:59 #8 |
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    Andy_K

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    Sutton Coldfield - 45km, bearing 216
    Derby- 6km, bearing 241

    | Fri 8 Sep 2017 16:45:39 #9 |
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    Martin Liddle

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    Andy_K - 10 minutes ago  » 
    Sutton Coldfield - 45km, bearing 216
    Derby- 6km, bearing 241

    OK I don't know enough about aerials (or your setup) to comment about whether 25 degree difference would be a problem. My advice is wait and see if somebody else here has some suggestions otherwise you will probably need to talk to an aerial installer and see what they advise.

    | Fri 8 Sep 2017 16:59:17 #10 |

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