May 1st restack - 4th transponder channel in Dunedin(Mount Cargill)
Hi folks. :)
I would just like to know why the TECHNICAL information(which I guess the MBIE have) is not shown anywhere on any of the freeview websites that I could find.
It took my spectrum analyser and a suitable decoder, to discover that a 4th transponder channel has been added to the system - all the help/FAQ's/help-lines etc, just go over and over retuning. While that may well work for the majority of people with roof aerials, technicians like myself need to know the technical details of what exactly happened when Freeview does a restack.
Specifically, I administer to a channel-shifted digital TV headend, and after the restack, Al Jazeera, TVSN Shopping, Yes Shop and the new channel APNA simply were not avaiable, and no amount of retuning helped. Calls to help-lines just tell you to retune, which is no help.
It was only once I involved the spectrum analyser, and clutching at straws, did I find a new transponder channel on channel 28 down here in Dunedin(530.0MHz), which has the "Moved" channels on it. As the headend uses channel-shifting cards, this means we need to add another card for the new transponder - that is fine now that I know that, but how come the TECHINCAL information is not somewhere easy to find on any of the freeview sites?
That would have saved me about a day trying to pinpoint WHY I could not get the restack past the headend.....
Also, would like to hear from anyone technical as to to why MBIE decided to use channel 28 down here - 28 has LONG been a troubled frequency unless you live within sight of the mast at Mt. Cargill. Even when Sky were using 28 for one of their analog stations years ago, it was just a pain in the backside as 530MHz does not seem to propagate around the Dunedin area too well for some reason.
While the 4th transponder on 28 IS working, it is pretty useless - signal level and quality WELL down on the other three transponders on 32, 34 and 36 down here, and pixelates like mad cos the signal is so bad.
I have also asked a few friends tune-in in the Mosgiel area, and their signal is practically useless - so much so, that some decoders don't even see 28 as a digital transponder channel at all....
Are there plans to get a technician to remedy this situation at the Dunedin Mt. Cargill site?
Personally, 28 is an odd choice to me, as it has never been a good one even back in analog days, down here in Dunedin anyway....
Thanks for any replies or comments.
:)
G.
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Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Alan Cobcroft on
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Hi,
It is an issue that has been an irritation for the industry, however things have slowly improved over the years.
This forum was set up to help get communication flowing, particularly for the Techs at the coal face dealing with customers.
There was nothing before, apart from a static Freeview site and Facebook which simply marketed programs.
I find the lack of concise technical information before things happen is common.
With a bit of pushing this page was made available for the May 1st Restack.
http://freeviewforum.co.nz/restack2014tech
However the is still an expectation for everyone to workout what has been done after the S.. hits the Fan.
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Heh, heh - yeah, I hear you. ;)
It is only an issue for the technicians I guess - MOST people who just retune, as the info says to do, will not have an issue, but I would dearly love a page for the technical info on the Freeview sites - those who don't care about the technical settings can ignore that page, but those who can really benefit from knowing the details - could save us tech's all so much time, when you are dealing with individual digital channel-shifting transponder cards. ;) Perhaps I am only one of a handful of people that these kinds of restack affects....
I don't normally need the spectrum analyser to find out why channels that SHOULD be there, are not! :D
Therefore, can we please, PLEASE have a little link on the main page, which will give the technical details with respect to any restack - that would be so much better. :)
Having said that, and now knowing what is going on down here in Dunedin anyway, I will keep my finger on the pulse of things for now, and see what happens.
Is it logical to assume that part of adding the 4th transponder would be so that any NEW channels added in the future from this point on, will most likely be plopped on that new 4th transponder channel?
G.
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The additional Mux (Transponder) it think has been funded by World TV and the Indian Channel APNA was first on board.
There is a move to interactive TV and they are possibly making room.
(WorldNet) have been Keen with this. Channel 600 on Freeview (currently in test) shows up as MHEG IC Test (Only recent TV's & PVR's can utilise it) - Also known as on Demand TV.
It is flagged as Freeview+
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RE: channel 28 expect they are re-using an existing antenna on the mast as you notice a long term issue with the use of channel 28?
Have you considered making test measurements and forwarding them to the broadcaster? Maybe this site needs its antennas tweaked.
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@ nzdtv.com - Yes, that is a very valid point with respect to channel 28. I am GUESSING(having never actually climbed the mast or anything), that the old ch.28 aerial will still be part of the antenna array.
I will follow this up a bit more.
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next mux will probably be ch 40 sometime also ch 38,42,44,46 in time any room for more channel cards?
nzdtv.com will often have more technical info
how do you know whether ch 28 is weak or the majority of aerials just dont like it? up here in the sky days a lot of aerials wernt fussed on ch 30 just starting to get into their stride above ch 34
the digital transmitters will feed into a new combiner to mt cargills weak tx aerial system i.e. south and a bit west only
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Hi there. :) The headend can cope with up to six cards, so we are currently using three, soon to be four, so that means the system is OK for a few more transponders at least.(Mux, using your terms!)
The fella that trained me up a few years ago, was looking with an analyser at 28 from Mt. Cargill back in the Sky days, both in Dunedin and in Mosgiel, when they could not get that Sky channel to work for a lot of people, and his comments were along the lines of: "What the hell is wrong with channel 28?! There's a big hole in it."
In those days, I was just learning all that stuff, so I don't know what if anything they did to fix it, but you could well be right that the receiving aerials don't like that frequency, and that the receiving aerials were or are creating that "Hole" if it is a dead-spot in their frequency range perhaps.....
I can't say for sure what levels are actually coming of Mt. Cargill, as I don't have access to the site, but that was back in the Sky Analog days - perhaps things have been altered/changed/upgraded since then with respect to channel 28, but it seems funny that the same level-related issues are there with the digital now, just as they were back in the Sky Analog days.
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perhaps because the same make/model aerial is still in widespread use
if you ever get ch 26 down there aerials may have negative gain
would suggest an a3 map outram-waikouaiti with as many all signal reading from various parts of the district marked then sent to world tv
transponders are satellite terms
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