Milton Keynes cable question (and other advice please)

Hi,

Visited a chap in Broughton, MK today to see what he needed doing to
get the tellys to work in his daughters bedrooms. The main lounge
telly has Sky, the main bedroom telly is connected to the MK cable
system. This system seems a bit ropey, with some stations ok quality
and others crap. My meter reading revealed that not all channels on
the cable system are in the regular UHF band, but also the cable band
too. Anyone know if the MK cable system needs a box? Also, any idea
what frequencies are used (in channel format)?

Anyway, I mentioned to him the idea of connecting the Sky box around
the house using the TV Link system, which he thought was a good idea,
but he also needs an aerial for the bedroom tellys for Freeview.
According to the deeds, an outdoor aerial is not allowed (quite
typical for MK, I believe) so I crudely tested the signal in the loft.
Things is, I didn't have an aerial with me to connect to the meter, so
I used a telescopic aerial which I whipped off the back of a portable,
plugged it into the meter and went into the loft. This crude method
got me 39dBuV average on analogue and 34dBuV average on DTT. Is that
any guide to whether a reasonably high gain aerial will work in the
loft? Anyway, I'm off back there next Saturday to do the job. £50
plus parts.

Marky P.

"Marky P" wrote in message
...
Hi,

Visited a chap in Broughton, MK today to see what he needed doing to
get the tellys to work in his daughters bedrooms. The main lounge
telly has Sky, the main bedroom telly is connected to the MK cable
system. This system seems a bit ropey, with some stations ok quality
and others crap. My meter reading revealed that not all channels on
the cable system are in the regular UHF band, but also the cable band
too. Anyone know if the MK cable system needs a box? Also, any idea
what frequencies are used (in channel format)?

Anyway, I mentioned to him the idea of connecting the Sky box around
the house using the TV Link system, which he thought was a good idea,
but he also needs an aerial for the bedroom tellys for Freeview.
According to the deeds, an outdoor aerial is not allowed (quite
typical for MK, I believe) so I crudely tested the signal in the loft.
Things is, I didn't have an aerial with me to connect to the meter, so
I used a telescopic aerial which I whipped off the back of a portable,
plugged it into the meter and went into the loft. This crude method
got me 39dBuV average on analogue and 34dBuV average on DTT. Is that
any guide to whether a reasonably high gain aerial will work in the
loft? Anyway, I'm off back there next Saturday to do the job. £50
plus parts.

Marky P.


MK Cable - is now run by Virgin Media. The basic service does not need a box
to recieve general terrestrial channels on a standard UHF telly. You can
however subscribe to premium channels which involves the need for a Jerrold
type analogue cable decoder which allows many other channels which are
transmitted outside the normal UHF band to be viewed unscrambled. Service
is quite limited and not one which I think many people use any more.

Many houses in MK have external aerials now - don't think the outdoor aerial
rule is in force any longer...most people have given up waiting for Virgin
Media / NTL to provide a digital cable, and gone down the Freeview / Sky
route.

Hope this helps.

On Sun, 25 Nov 2007 22:25:51 -0000, "\(\(\(° °}}}"
wrote:


"Marky P" wrote in message
.. .
Hi,

Visited a chap in Broughton, MK today to see what he needed doing to
get the tellys to work in his daughters bedrooms. The main lounge
telly has Sky, the main bedroom telly is connected to the MK cable
system. This system seems a bit ropey, with some stations ok quality
and others crap. My meter reading revealed that not all channels on
the cable system are in the regular UHF band, but also the cable band
too. Anyone know if the MK cable system needs a box? Also, any idea
what frequencies are used (in channel format)?

Anyway, I mentioned to him the idea of connecting the Sky box around
the house using the TV Link system, which he thought was a good idea,
but he also needs an aerial for the bedroom tellys for Freeview.
According to the deeds, an outdoor aerial is not allowed (quite
typical for MK, I believe) so I crudely tested the signal in the loft.
Things is, I didn't have an aerial with me to connect to the meter, so
I used a telescopic aerial which I whipped off the back of a portable,
plugged it into the meter and went into the loft. This crude method
got me 39dBuV average on analogue and 34dBuV average on DTT. Is that
any guide to whether a reasonably high gain aerial will work in the
loft? Anyway, I'm off back there next Saturday to do the job. £50
plus parts.

Marky P.


MK Cable - is now run by Virgin Media. The basic service does not need a box
to recieve general terrestrial channels on a standard UHF telly. You can
however subscribe to premium channels which involves the need for a Jerrold
type analogue cable decoder which allows many other channels which are
transmitted outside the normal UHF band to be viewed unscrambled. Service
is quite limited and not one which I think many people use any more.

Many houses in MK have external aerials now - don't think the outdoor aerial
rule is in force any longer...most people have given up waiting for Virgin
Media / NTL to provide a digital cable, and gone down the Freeview / Sky
route.

Hope this helps.

Thanks for that! It's a brand new house, and the builders told him
that the cable was digital, but it's obvious that it aint! They also
quoted him £600 to install an aerial in his loft.

Marky P.

Marky P wrote:
On Sun, 25 Nov 2007 22:25:51 -0000, "\(\(\(° °}}}"
wrote:


"Marky P" wrote in message
. ..

Hi,

Visited a chap in Broughton, MK today to see what he needed doing to
get the tellys to work in his daughters bedrooms. The main lounge
telly has Sky, the main bedroom telly is connected to the MK cable
system. This system seems a bit ropey, with some stations ok quality
and others crap. My meter reading revealed that not all channels on
the cable system are in the regular UHF band, but also the cable band
too. Anyone know if the MK cable system needs a box? Also, any idea
what frequencies are used (in channel format)?

Anyway, I mentioned to him the idea of connecting the Sky box around
the house using the TV Link system, which he thought was a good idea,
but he also needs an aerial for the bedroom tellys for Freeview.
According to the deeds, an outdoor aerial is not allowed (quite
typical for MK, I believe) so I crudely tested the signal in the loft.
Things is, I didn't have an aerial with me to connect to the meter, so
I used a telescopic aerial which I whipped off the back of a portable,
plugged it into the meter and went into the loft. This crude method
got me 39dBuV average on analogue and 34dBuV average on DTT. Is that
any guide to whether a reasonably high gain aerial will work in the
loft? Anyway, I'm off back there next Saturday to do the job. £50
plus parts.

Marky P.


MK Cable - is now run by Virgin Media. The basic service does not need a box
to recieve general terrestrial channels on a standard UHF telly. You can
however subscribe to premium channels which involves the need for a Jerrold
type analogue cable decoder which allows many other channels which are
transmitted outside the normal UHF band to be viewed unscrambled. Service
is quite limited and not one which I think many people use any more.

Many houses in MK have external aerials now - don't think the outdoor aerial
rule is in force any longer...most people have given up waiting for Virgin
Media / NTL to provide a digital cable, and gone down the Freeview / Sky
route.

Hope this helps.


Thanks for that! It's a brand new house, and the builders told him
that the cable was digital, but it's obvious that it aint! They also
quoted him £600 to install an aerial in his loft.

Marky P.

Marky

I live on the other side of MK to your friend. I have a DAT45 in the
loft, and with the MRD fitted I get 100% on my Panny freeview PVR. Like
Mr Fish said many people now have outside aerials. As far as I know, the
council stopped enforcing the restrictions on external aerials (my bet
is they never started).

Note that the basic relay service gives you both the basic TV channels
and FM. In my experience though the signal quality of what they provide
for the £4 a month subscription is dire. You can do much better I'm sure.

Cheers - Kev

In message [email protected], Kevin
writes
Marky P wrote:
On Sun, 25 Nov 2007 22:25:51 -0000, "\(\(\(° °}}}"
wrote:

"Marky P" wrote in message
...

Hi,

Visited a chap in Broughton, MK today to see what he needed doing to
get the tellys to work in his daughters bedrooms. The main lounge
telly has Sky, the main bedroom telly is connected to the MK cable
system. This system seems a bit ropey, with some stations ok quality
and others crap. My meter reading revealed that not all channels on
the cable system are in the regular UHF band, but also the cable band
too. Anyone know if the MK cable system needs a box? Also, any idea
what frequencies are used (in channel format)?

Anyway, I mentioned to him the idea of connecting the Sky box around
the house using the TV Link system, which he thought was a good idea,
but he also needs an aerial for the bedroom tellys for Freeview.
According to the deeds, an outdoor aerial is not allowed (quite
typical for MK, I believe) so I crudely tested the signal in the loft.
Things is, I didn't have an aerial with me to connect to the meter, so
I used a telescopic aerial which I whipped off the back of a portable,
plugged it into the meter and went into the loft. This crude method
got me 39dBuV average on analogue and 34dBuV average on DTT. Is that
any guide to whether a reasonably high gain aerial will work in the
loft? Anyway, I'm off back there next Saturday to do the job. £50
plus parts.

Marky P.


MK Cable - is now run by Virgin Media. The basic service does not
need a box to recieve general terrestrial channels on a standard UHF
telly. You can however subscribe to premium channels which involves
the need for a Jerrold type analogue cable decoder which allows many
other channels which are transmitted outside the normal UHF band to
be viewed unscrambled. Service is quite limited and not one which I
think many people use any more.

Many houses in MK have external aerials now - don't think the outdoor
aerial rule is in force any longer...most people have given up
waiting for Virgin Media / NTL to provide a digital cable, and gone
down the Freeview / Sky route.

Hope this helps.
Thanks for that! It's a brand new house, and the builders told him
that the cable was digital, but it's obvious that it aint! They also
quoted him £600 to install an aerial in his loft.
Marky P.

Marky

I live on the other side of MK to your friend. I have a DAT45 in the
loft, and with the MRD fitted I get 100% on my Panny freeview PVR. Like
Mr Fish said many people now have outside aerials. As far as I know,
the council stopped enforcing the restrictions on external aerials (my
bet is they never started).

I've had an external aerial in MK, for around 2 years now (was going to
go for a loft one, but the installer didn't seem to think it'd work),
with no complaints from anyone.

Note that the basic relay service gives you both the basic TV channels
and FM. In my experience though the signal quality of what they provide
for the £4 a month subscription is dire. You can do much better I'm sure.

When I first moved in to our house, around 15 years ago, the cable was
run by BT, you used to get the basic channels and Sky One, via the cable
which used to cost about £1 or £1.50 pm which was quite reasonable, as
you were getting Sky One into the bargain. I've got Sky anyway, but as
soon as Virgin took over, and upped the prices (no way I was paying £4pm
for the 5 basic channels) I cancelled it.

18 months ago, I got a new TV with integrated Freeview so I had the
external aerial fitted.

--
Sean Black

On Mon, 26 Nov 2007 09:07:09 +0000, Kevin
wrote:

Marky P wrote:
On Sun, 25 Nov 2007 22:25:51 -0000, "\(\(\(° °}}}"
wrote:


"Marky P" wrote in message
...

Hi,

Visited a chap in Broughton, MK today to see what he needed doing to
get the tellys to work in his daughters bedrooms. The main lounge
telly has Sky, the main bedroom telly is connected to the MK cable
system. This system seems a bit ropey, with some stations ok quality
and others crap. My meter reading revealed that not all channels on
the cable system are in the regular UHF band, but also the cable band
too. Anyone know if the MK cable system needs a box? Also, any idea
what frequencies are used (in channel format)?

Anyway, I mentioned to him the idea of connecting the Sky box around
the house using the TV Link system, which he thought was a good idea,
but he also needs an aerial for the bedroom tellys for Freeview.
According to the deeds, an outdoor aerial is not allowed (quite
typical for MK, I believe) so I crudely tested the signal in the loft.
Things is, I didn't have an aerial with me to connect to the meter, so
I used a telescopic aerial which I whipped off the back of a portable,
plugged it into the meter and went into the loft. This crude method
got me 39dBuV average on analogue and 34dBuV average on DTT. Is that
any guide to whether a reasonably high gain aerial will work in the
loft? Anyway, I'm off back there next Saturday to do the job. £50
plus parts.

Marky P.


MK Cable - is now run by Virgin Media. The basic service does not need a box
to recieve general terrestrial channels on a standard UHF telly. You can
however subscribe to premium channels which involves the need for a Jerrold
type analogue cable decoder which allows many other channels which are
transmitted outside the normal UHF band to be viewed unscrambled. Service
is quite limited and not one which I think many people use any more.

Many houses in MK have external aerials now - don't think the outdoor aerial
rule is in force any longer...most people have given up waiting for Virgin
Media / NTL to provide a digital cable, and gone down the Freeview / Sky
route.

Hope this helps.


Thanks for that! It's a brand new house, and the builders told him
that the cable was digital, but it's obvious that it aint! They also
quoted him £600 to install an aerial in his loft.

Marky P.

Marky

I live on the other side of MK to your friend. I have a DAT45 in the
loft, and with the MRD fitted I get 100% on my Panny freeview PVR. Like
Mr Fish said many people now have outside aerials. As far as I know, the
council stopped enforcing the restrictions on external aerials (my bet
is they never started).

Note that the basic relay service gives you both the basic TV channels
and FM. In my experience though the signal quality of what they provide
for the £4 a month subscription is dire. You can do much better I'm sure.

Cheers - Kev

When I go back there next week, I'll check the signals in the loft
using a Televes X43 (same gain as the DAT45). It's a big loft, so
there's plenty of room. If no luck, it will go outside round the back
of the house. There are some very posh houses on this new estate,
perhaps that's why they don't want any outdoor aerials.

Marky P.