Lost BBC 1 and BBC 2

S

smartman

Today both BBC 1 & 2 have gone very pixellated and occasionally no signal is displayed. All other channels are working OK. I have checked with my neighbours, who are still receiving these channels so the problem looks like its mine not the transmitter. I have completely disconnected the box from both aerial and power and then reconnected and performed an automatic search. This did not improve the situation. When I use the signal detection function it shows BBC 1 & 2 much lower than that for other channels. Does this mean the end for my 4 year old Hummy box? Any suggestions would be appreciated.
 
It is more likely you have an aerial problem. Poor weather does tend to block the signal a bit, I would change the aerial wire first.
 
Thanks very much for a very quick response. It is interesting that you say it could be the aerial. My own thought would be that if there was an aerial problem this would be apparent on all channels. BBC1 & 2 show a signal strength and quality figure which is 50% less than other channels that I can view without any problems. Can a faulty aerial or lead affect some frequencies and not others?
 
Yes it can and poor signal strength is not as important as signal quality.

If you use a signal amplifier it will probably not help, as they amplify noise as well as the signal.
 
It's always helpful to state the transmitter used, or the frquency channel numbers for all muxes received, and your (rough) location {village/town name} to help in diagnosis.

Signals on different frequencies should be received equally if all things are equal, but they seldom are. Aerials do age and its often the top and bottom frequencies they are designed for that go weaker first. Reception through trees (or off water in tidal areas) can result in cancellation on some specific frequencies. Trees coming into full leaf will often attenuate signals, perhaps making the weakest unreceivable due to the digital cliff effect.

Stray whiskers of outer close to - but not quite shorting to the inner - can also have an unpredictable frequency-related effect... as can crushed and damaged cables; so the cables are always the first place to check.

It's also possible the Humax on auto-tune has simply found another weaker BBC multiplex and the stronger version from the correct tranmsitter has been stored in the 800s? A manual tune should fix that one!
 
Hello Rodders53 and thanks for your input. I live in Andover and receive transmitions from Hannington. We can almost see the aerial mast at Hannington so have no problems with receiving signal from it. My original problem has cured itself, almost. We had the problem with BBC1 & 2 (other channels were OK) and can now watch both of these. Although the signal strength is lower than that of ITV, etc. I would guess that our aerial is probably more than 10 years old and may be deteriorating. My parents, who live close by, have the same Humax box. Their aerial is newer and they get signal readings of 65% compared to mine of 47%. Although I am now wondering if the problem may also lay within the cable. The problem manifested itself after the recent rain and now after a few dry days perhaps damp within the cable has dried out. I think I may monitor the situation and wait for the next rain storm to see if the problem comes back. I have no stations showing in the 800's so I assume I have auto searched the correct ones.
 
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