Missing HD Channels after move

[Luke]

EDIT: I have just found the Digital UK Coverage checker website and it looks like I am lucky to be getting what I have as it seems I shouldn't even be getting Freeview???

That site can give you far better information than that if you keep the 'detailed view' option ticked.
Revisit it it and compare the first row for the 'Rowridge' section with the 'Rowridge VP' section.
http://www.digitaluk.co.uk/coveragechecker/main/index/dummy/NA/yes

If 'Rowridge VP' predicted reception for a roof aerial is a lot better than 'Rowridge' then that would explain why you appear to have a vertical aerial. (But have you checked in the loft yet?)
If 'Rowridge' and 'Rowridge VP' are both about the same then the installer might have given you a grouped aerial to give the more traditional multiplexes a boost but this would have been at the trade-off of definitely losing the other HD channels.

 

[Steppy]

Thanks Luke
This is what I see when I enter my post code and house number, am I not clicking in the right place.

 

[Luke]

This is what I see when I enter my post code and house number, am I not clicking in the right place.

You appear to be clicking too much!

Go to where you entered your post code

and then click on Go. Do not click on anything else after that.

The page it displays may be a bit long and so you will need to scroll down to via the Rowridge sections. No further clicking is involved - just scrolling.

They will look something like this and will show the prediction at you address if you had a roof aerial:

Each column is transmitted on a single frequency and if received you'll be able to watch a number of channels for each frequency. In this example an ordinary roof aerial would pick up the frequencies used for the first three columns. The last two columns would be very difficult or impossible.

 

[Steppy]

This is all I get with my new post code


But with my old post code I get the same info as you


So its either because they don't think I should even get Freeview where I am now which seems odd or more likely as its a new post code, maybe their database hasn't been updated yet.

I have just managed to take a snap of my aerial in the loft which looks as though it is set up for vertical?

Thanks

 

[Luke]

It looks like it is vertical to me as well. What are the equireadings that the predictor site says for 'Rowridge VP'? You'll need to scroll further down the predictor page.

 

[Black Hole]

Presuming that's the ridge of the roof we can see at the top, it's definitely vertical.

Years ago, I reconfigured a friend's aerials to receive from Mendip (H) and Mynydd Machen (V) instead of Mendip and Wenvoe (H). Another of that friend's friends then spotted my Mynydd Machen aerial was the "wrong way up" and kindly turned it around for her!

By the way: I don't understand how a transmitter mast (a long vertical pole) radiating omnidirectionally can have horizontal polarisation!

 

[Steppy]

Yes that is the ridge of the roof and the aerial does appear to my non tech eyes to be vertical

'Rowridge VP' below, for my old post code as nothing shows for my new post code


It seems to me that I had a perfect position before I moved....

 

[Black Hole]

nothing shows for my new post code

What do you get in Google Maps for your new postcode? I suspect it is too new to have made it into the on-line geographic databases (somehow, somewhere, there is something which takes a postcode and converts it to a lat & long).

 

[Trev]

As your aerial is VP and Rowridge VP doesn't appear to transmit Com7/8 on VP, that likely explains why you are not receiving them.

 

[Steppy]

I dont get any lat & long info, but it is on Royal Mail database etc.

I know when I have done some registering of appliances etc. they have had to make a manual entry as it want on their system, maybe it takes time to filter through to some companies systems.

 

[Steppy]

As your aerial is VP and Rowridge VP doesn't appear to transmit Com7/8 on VP, that likely explains why you are not receiving them.

Ah, so VP = vertical and as new aerial is vertical and Rowridge does not do vertical on the ones I need so I wont get them, that explains it. I know my old aerial was horizontal and on the roof so was in the best position, unlike now.

Now I understand it better I can rest easy.

Thanks so much for you help.

 

[Black Hole]

VP = Vertical Polarisation

The primary transmitters are horizontally polarised, and if otherwise unspecified it is reasonable to assume HP. VP is used for infill transmitters (to segregate their signals).

I know when I have done some registering of appliances etc. they have had to make a manual entry as it want on their system, maybe it takes time to filter through to some companies systems.

Some friends of mine moved into a new-build recently, and it was at least a year before I could find them on a map (in fact, I'm not sure I can even now). Edit: this is the first time I have; they moved in in December 2016, and I was complaining (to them) that I couldn't find them on the on-line maps at the end of September 2017.

 

[Steppy]

Thank you

 

[MikeSh]

new aerial is vertical and Rowridge does not do vertical on the ones I need

Exactly.

Also that is a pokey little aerial, about 8 elements. Space doesn't look like a problem so a much larger horizontal wideband might get you com 7 & 8, but there are no guarantees. Otherwise a second, group E, aerial as I have, will be needed.

It's a little frustrating that post year 2020 is not clear. The talk is that the channel 55 & 56 com 7 & 8 will be discontinued about then, but the coverage checker suggests they are part of the final solution. It's an important point as it very much affects decisions on whether to invest in a better aerial system, as I have, or put up with restricted viewing for a few years, as you are thinking.

 

[Steppy]

I think the aerial is a about the same size as we had before, but of course being on the roof it received a much stronger signal.

For the time being I will settle for the restrictive viewing, but I may look again when all the chaos of moving house has calmed down. At the moment its not a deal breaker, I am just glad that what I was told by the installer tallies up with advice I have recieved on here and I have a better understanding of things.

Thank you.

 

[Trev]

The problem is that Com7/8, apart from being only on the horizontal transmissions (HP) from Rowridge, is the fact that they are at a higher frequency than the rest of the main 6 channels. This means that you really need a wideband aerial to satisfactorily receive them.

The aerial in your loft is probably a Group A (covers the lower part of the TV band) which is OK for the main 6 from Rowridge (either VP or HP), but not for the higher frequencies Com7/8 (unless you are in a pretty strong area).
The highest frequency used by the 'main 6' is CH28 but Com7/8 are 55/56 which is quite a bit out of band for a Group A aerial which is good for up to about CH 40.

So, what's the diagnosis. Like MikeSh said above, you need a horizontally polarised wideband aerial, or an additional HP group E diplexed into the downlead. But depending on your signal strength at your location, that may not work.

Do you not have the postcode of (say) a nearby shop or similar that you can use in the predictor? How far from your original location have you moved and are there any 'new' obstructions between you and IoW?

 

[Steppy]

This is just up the road



Thanks

 

[Trev]

So good reception prediction on Com7/8 on the HP set of transmissions.
Wide band aerial, horizontally polarised when you have settled in?
Or get the aerial installer back to try one for you?

 

[Steppy]

Is that for an additional horizontal aerial for the missing channels when I am up to it or a bigger one to give me everything?

Thanks

 

[Trev]

Not an additional one, just a WB horizontally polarised to get them all.
Can't remember why MikeSh didn't do that, but I expect he will pop along and tell us.