Tacolneston?

Err.....
....aerial instalation going quite well.

Antiference TCX18W on one of the scaffold poles (temporary mount for
testing).

(1) Aerial alone got more muxes and a reasonable signal on some, but had
major problems with channel 39.

(2) Added in the masthead amp. and everything looks groovy, apart from where
some of the channels are.

I haven't (apparently) found anything above Channel 59.

What I expected was (from previopus post):

"The full coverage from Sudbury (Digital and Analogue) is as follows:

UHF Channel [DigitalGroup]TV Channel

35 Ch5
39 [b] BBC
41 ITC1
44 BBC2
47 C4
48 [A]SDN
49 [1]BBC1
50 [C]NG Transco
51 BBC1
54 [D]NG Transco
56 [2]Digital 3&4 {Sudbury B ERP 1K1}
68 [2]Digital 3&4 ERP 8K1"

So I wouldn't expect anything on 59, and I would expect to see 68.

When my BT DTV adapter is auto tuning, it displays the channel (e.g.59) and
the word Tacolneston on the status line.

http://www.stedmundsbury.gov.uk/sebc...uhfsummary.cfm

gives details of Sudbury and Tacolneston.

The Channels I am seeing are 39, 48, 49, 50, 54, 56 which tie in with the
Sudbury muxes..

Woolbane shows Tacolneston as 'Extreme outer fringe' at bearing 343 (as
opposed to 274 for Sudbury).

It looks as though I am getting Sudbury, but managed to get hold of
Tacolneston channel 59 analogue (ITV1 Anglia) which caused me no end of
confusion when I noticed it.

Now I am wondering why I am getting Mux 2 (56) at 1.1Kw and not Mux 2 (68)
at 8.1Kw from Sudbury.

If the system sees two muxes with the same channels, will it just use the
first one?

Strangely, I am getting a high BER (6-9) on channel 50 but not on the
others, and this looks to be in the middle of the channel range.
Could this be too much signal? (I assume BER is something to do with Error
Rate).
The signal strength doesn't seem to get much above 50%, however, so I
wouldn't have thought it was too much signal.
Duff aerial design for the middle of the range?
This is a wideband (Band W) nominally optimised for Band E.

Cheers

Dave R

P.S. off up into the loft (where my test setup is) to play with manual
tuning and see if I can find anything on 68. C56 seems O.K. though - I can
get ITV1&2 etc.
--

In message , David W.E. Roberts
wrote

Now I am wondering why I am getting Mux 2 (56) at 1.1Kw and not Mux 2 (68)
at 8.1Kw from Sudbury.

If the system sees two muxes with the same channels, will it just use the
first one?

While tuning try putting an in-line attenuator in the down-lead. I find
that in my location (S.E. Essex) my Setpal box can find signals from 3
transmitters. To get a reliable set of channels I place a 15dB
attenuator in between the down lead and the input to the box. The box
then only finds relatively strong signals from one transmitter. After
tuning remove the attenuator.

--
Alan

"David W.E. Roberts" wrote in message
...
Err.....
...aerial instalation going quite well.

Antiference TCX18W on one of the scaffold poles (temporary mount for
testing).
snip

The manual tuning claims that the muxes are at Tacolneston.

I don't believe this as the aerial is pointing at Sudbury and getting the
expected muxes.

So why is it telling lies?

Having signal problems now:

(1) The signal seems worse after dark.

(2)
Channels 39 and 50 are bad, 56 is poor.
Channels 48, 49 and 54 seem fine.
Can't get anything on 68 - same as the other muxes which aren't used by
Sudbury..
I can't see any major difference in signal apart from a high BER on the bad
muxes.
The bad muxes are mixed in with the good, so unless the aerial design is
really wierd then something else strange is going on.

Does anyone else have experience with this Antiference TCX18EW?

Is there perhaps another aerial I should try in case this particular aerial
design isn't suited for my location?

I am seeing 75 different programmes (including a lot of radio) so the aerial
is wideband.

Last recourse is to raise the aerial to its final height (top of 20'
scaffold pole) in cae there is a tree/dockcrane/hill just about in the way.

Cheers

Dave R

David W.E. Roberts wrote:

The manual tuning claims that the muxes are at Tacolneston.

I don't believe this as the aerial is pointing at Sudbury and getting the
expected muxes.

So why is it telling lies?

It's sometime that the Beeb, Crown Castle and NTL need to have their
wrists slapped over.

The transmitter ID that you see refers to the *primary* site in a
particular region, or in your case sub-region.

Sudbury and Tacolneston transmit the same regional programmes, therefore
the Tx ID for both mentions the main transmitter only, in your case Tac.

IMHO it would be far better if the ID gave the regional ID like 'Anglia
East'.

In my part of the world Midhurst carries the Rowridge ID, and even more
confusingly all Welsh transmitters carry the ID; Wenvoe.

"David W.E. Roberts" wrote in message
...

"David W.E. Roberts" wrote in message
...
Err.....
...aerial instalation going quite well.
snip
Having signal problems now:

(1) The signal seems worse after dark.

(2)
Channels 39 and 50 are bad, 56 is poor.
Channels 48, 49 and 54 seem fine.
Can't get anything on 68 - same as the other muxes which aren't used by
Sudbury..
I can't see any major difference in signal apart from a high BER on the
bad
muxes.
The bad muxes are mixed in with the good, so unless the aerial design is
really wierd then something else strange is going on.
snip
Last recourse is to raise the aerial to its final height (top of 20'
scaffold pole) in cae there is a tree/dockcrane/hill just about in the
way.


Now up on the top of the 20' scaffold pole and swaying gently in the breeze.
[The aerial, not me, you pillock]

Height certainly seems to make a difference - now getting quality up near
the 80% mark.

Conditions are, however, ideal.
Best quality analogue pictures on the old aerial so reception is pretty
good.
We shall see what happens when it starts to rain :-(

So far it is all theory - unless we all want to crowd into the loft to watch
TV.

Now to plumb the new aerial into the old distribution system and see if it
gives enough signal.

If not, I am in for days of running new co-ax.

Enjoy tomorrow evening :-)

Dave R

P.S. still no sign of C68 - anyone in Suffolk getting C68 from Sudbury?

Your results are similar to what I get.

I'm 20km from Sudbury and 85km from Dover. My box
prefers to get Muxes 2 B and D from Dover. Although
Muxes 2 and B from Sudbury are the strongest signals
on the box, they have poor SNR and are unusable.

I don't get any signal at all from Sudbury mux D on channel 50. This
was verified by an aerial installer using his field strength meter. He
was unable to explain a mechanism for a broadband aerial to suck out
channel 50 adjacent to a strong signal on channel 49


The postcode predictor predicts muxes 1 A C from Sudbury and
2 B from Dover. I'm just outside the Sudbury service
area - 2 km nearer and the prediction is all muxes from
Sudbury.

Getting mux D from Dover 99.9% of the time
is obviously a bonus. Its SNR goes as low as 15dB
at times but it is still perfectly usable.


One explanation for the poor SNR on muxes 2 and B
from Sudbury is that these channels are reused
by the Dover and Bluebell Hill transmitters and I'm
too near them for the box to discriminate. The postcode
predictor is obviously aware of co-channel interference
effects.


My box signal status:

TX: Sudbury
ch: 39 48 49 54 56 68
str: 79 68 71 71 80 79
snr: 15 26 26 25 18 18
mux: B A 1 C 2 2

TX: Dover
ch: 55 57 58 60 61
str: 62 65 64 57 68
SNR: 22 24 24 18 25
mux: A C B D 2

TX: Bluebell Hill
ch: 24 27 59
str: 56 54 55
SNR: 22 19 16
MUX: 2 A 1

ch = channel, str = strength in box units, SNR signal to noise
ratio in dB

"Dave Evans" wrote in message
...
Your results are similar to what I get.

I'm 20km from Sudbury and 85km from Dover. My box
prefers to get Muxes 2 B and D from Dover. Although
Muxes 2 and B from Sudbury are the strongest signals
on the box, they have poor SNR and are unusable.
snip
TX: Sudbury
ch: 39 48 49 54 56 68
str: 79 68 71 71 80 79
snr: 15 26 26 25 18 18
mux: B A 1 C 2 2
snip

I see that you see C68 from Sudbury (at roughly the same strength as C56).

Where are you in relation to Sudbury - N, S, E or W?

My nominal bearing to Sudbury (taken from Woolfbane) is 274 (although aerial
twiddling gave best signal at about 268 for some reason) so I guess I am
roughly due east of the transmitter.

I cannot see a squeak of a signal on C68 which means that either the aerial
is naff at the top end or that Sudbury doesn't beam that channel to the
east.

Cheers

Dave R

David W.E. Roberts wrote:


I cannot see a squeak of a signal on C68 which means that either the aerial
is naff at the top end or that Sudbury doesn't beam that channel to the
east.

Probably not. I can't remember the details but Sudbury uses the two
different allocations for Mux 2 because different parts of the service
area have to be covered separately (owing to co-channel interference
concerns).

I wouldn't expect both to be receivable in many places (and why would
you want both versions anyway ?)

In article
"David W.E. Roberts" writes:

I see that you see C68 from Sudbury (at roughly the same strength as C56).

Where are you in relation to Sudbury - N, S, E or W?


South, bearing from here to Sudbury is 353

My nominal bearing to Sudbury (taken from Woolfbane) is 274 (although aerial
twiddling gave best signal at about 268 for some reason) so I guess I am
roughly due east of the transmitter.

I cannot see a squeak of a signal on C68 which means that either the aerial
is naff at the top end or that Sudbury doesn't beam that channel to the
east.



Channels 56 and 68 come and go for no particular reason I know.
Even when the box finds them, ITV1 2 3 etc are unwatchable
due to severe breakup.