Hi-fi has gone pear-shaped.

Firstly, can I apologise for not posting in the correct section. There's more than one issue.

Secondly, the amp and table are fine.

1) Okay, for the past couple of weeks my tuner has lost all the stations programmed in. I had 7 and now can only receive (manual tuning) 4 + a station I've not received before. I've tried unplugging the tuner last night but on Tuesday morning still can't programme any stations.

2) Similar sort of thing has happened to our Sky box: The past couple of months I've slowly lost all the radio stations and now all the TV signal. Initially it started off by ITV and other commercial stations pixilating, now lost all channels - the Freeview built-in tuner on the TV is absolutely fine. Like my FM tuner I've unplugged it. Still nothing. I've contacted Sky and they can only say "poor signal".

Given the Sky box is rigged to the amp, it means my main source (radio) is severely affected.

Not sure whether it is atmospheric conditions causing these problems or something more sinister.

Any advice/pointers would be appreciated.

Cheers, PP.
 

Tonestar1

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plastic penguin said:
Firstly, can I apologise for not posting in the correct section. There's more than one issue.

Secondly, the amp and table are fine.

1) Okay, for the past couple of weeks my tuner has lost all the stations programmed in. I had 7 and now can only receive (manual tuning) 4 + a station I've not received before. I've tried unplugging the tuner last night but on Tuesday morning still can't programme any stations.

2) Similar sort of thing has happened to our Sky box: The past couple of months I've slowly lost all the radio stations and now all the TV signal. Initially it started off by ITV and other commercial stations pixilating, now lost all channels - the Freeview built-in tuner on the TV is absolutely fine. Like my FM tuner I've unplugged it. Still nothing. I've contacted Sky and they can only say "poor signal".

Given the Sky box is rigged to the amp, it means my main source (radio) is severely affected.

Not sure whether it is atmospheric conditions causing these problems or something more sinister.

Any advice/pointers would be appreciated.

Cheers, PP.

Any hoigh winds or suchlike? Sounds like you need your aerial and sky dish realligned.
 
Cheers Tonestar. Possibly the Sky dish needs repositioning. However, even though we have a separate antenna for the TV, the FM tuner is connected to that. The in-built TV tuner is fine but the Denon tuner isn't. Puzzling.

As I type this we have a nasty thunderstorm crashing away and the TV is fine as is the limited stations on the FM.
 

chebby

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If you know your local transmitter(s) then you could look for any engineering work ...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/receptionsearch

However, I have checked your nearest Freeview and FM transmitters (Hannington, Hemel Hempstead, Crystal, Palace, Wrotham) and they are fine.

Give your aerial installer a call and get him to come and take a look. (And maybe get a dedicated FM aerial :) )
 

chebby

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Which way does your aerial 'point'? Due west (Hannington), or north east (Crystal palace)?

The Hannington transmitter is 'variable' to 'poor' on the relevant muxes for BBC Freeview Radio especially.

Crystal palace is 'good' on the same muxes for the same range of BBC TV and Freeview radio channels.

However FM and TV (digital terrestrial) are - effectively - 'line of sight', so it doesn't matter how good Crystal Palace is if your aerial can't 'see' it and your aerial provider would have to point it at the transmitter that is most 'visible' (no hills between it and your kit).

Our transmitter (digital terrestrial TV and all FM except Classic FM) is just visible from the top of our house (on a clear day with binoculars), with no tall buildings in the way, which counts for far more than proximity

clicky (just about see transmitter on horizon about 40 percent along from the left hand edge of photo)
 
Just come in and checked. From where we are the dish and antenna looks like they're pointing 'east'. My knowledge of geography it's pointing towards Wrotham, which is in Kent.

That said, it could be NE which means Crystal Palace. I don't have any device to show exactly which direction the aerials.dish is facing.

AFAIK, Wrotham and Palace look the obvious.
 

Benedict_Arnold

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Just don't do "Rod Hull" ( he of the emu) and fall off your roof trying to fix them.

Should be easy enough to get a compass and a map then figure out the general direction you TV/FM antennae should be pointing. Then you can use a signal meter (Amazon or Maplin) to fine tune it. Remember the signal may be vertically or horizontally polarized.

Your satellite dish is more tricky as you need to check both heading ( compass) and azimuth ( angle from the horizon). There are calculators on the net you can use if you know your latitude and longitude, but your best bet is a satellite TV guy.
 

Benedict_Arnold

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PS might be worth checking out any antenna mounted booster and or your LMB (the collector on the end of the arm on your dish) aren't fried. They're (relatively) easy DIY fixes.
 
chebby said:
Being surrounded by large trees in full leaf can affect reception (especially when they are wet).

Is this the case where you are?
Good call. We've exactly that problem with Freesat at our cottage. The weather makes a big difference. I'm thinking of getting a freview aerial and chucking the dish!
 
I have mentioned about the Common and the trees a couple of years ago. Before the digital switchover our TV always pixilated on certain channels. Our friends (yeah, I do have some strangely *biggrin*) the other side of our village they've had to have cable TV to get a reliable picture.

What's different this time is we've had the Sky Box about 4 years and it used 'play up' with strong winds, but used to clear within a couple of days or so. Now it has gone from some commercial stations and infected - slowly - all the other channels over a period of time.
 

Benedict_Arnold

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^ Sounds like a failing LMB or maybe you just need to get up a ladder and clean the gunk from the trees etc. off the LMB and the dish surface.

I would start there and check all the connections for tightness, water ingress and corrosion while you're at it.

As for antenna "mast top" boosters, yes, of course they need an antenna signal to boost. Apologies if I missed that you don't have an antenna (aeriel) but since you discussed local terrestrial broadcasting towers, I assumed you did.

And despite what Sky or other satellite broadcasters might say, yes, you can loose the signal in bad weather, due to sunspots, mother-in-law doing flypasts on her broomstick...

In a flat in Scotchland a few years back, my Sky (digital) even used to cut out when someone nearby was using a microwave...
 

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