266 replies to this topic

[ValT]

Hi spacetracker,

I live in Mooloolaba, have excellent reception of both local and Brisbane digital.   I do have a professionally installed antenna etc., and can highly recommend Clint from Room AV in Warana.   They do the Pioneer installations on the Coast.

ValT.

[spacetracker]

ValT, on Mar 4 2008, 01:50 PM, said:

Hi spacetracker,

I live in Mooloolaba, have excellent reception of both local and Brisbane digital.   I do have a professionally installed antenna etc., and can highly recommend Clint from Room AV in Warana.   They do the Pioneer installations on the Coast.

ValT.

Many thanks ValT. Thought it would be ok but just wanted to check for no obvious problems.

[johno67]

alanh, on Mar 3 2008, 12:09 PM, said:

John.
Do you get good digital reception on
SBS36 - SBS
TNQ47 - Southern Cross
ABQ62 - ABC
STQ65 - 7 Queensland
RTQ68 - WIN?

All of the above are transmitted from Dulong.

What programming differences are there between WIN and QTQ 9 Brisbane?

AlanH

Hi Alan

Great news, I have fixed the problem.

I cleaned all the salt encrusted on the antenna 'arms', re-attached one arm properly with a S/S bolt (it fell off whilst cleaning), cleaned all the connections to the cables and masthead amp terminals, replaced all the bolts to the balun with S/S bolts and cleaned the terminals and re-butted the cables.  All the terminals were suffering from corrosion and the copper conductors were green.

I will have to replace the cable from the balun on the VHF antenna as the shielding just breaks when I try to expose fresh conductors and the tape is powdery.

Thanks to this site, I have fixed my problem.  Signal strength on Bris channel 9 is now 65% with 98% stable quality.

Cheers
John

[slylake]

Hi Alanh,

Sorry to address you directly, it just seems you're the resident expert for our region here.

I'm posting on behalf of my girlfriend, who recently came home sporting a rather sexy SHARP AQUOS LCD television with inbuilt digital tuner.   Every channel was perfect initially but in the past two to four weeks (she has been overseas which has thrown out our time estimate here) Channel 7 (Digital, D1, D2, D3 and HD) has become unwatchable.   It has a signal strength of 100% but a "quality" of 30% (in the manual adjust tuning section).  There doesn't seem to be any way to tweak it above this.
Essentially the picture is broken and jagged and skips with broken audio.  Like a badly scratched DVD in a cheap DVD player.

We are located on top of the Buderim hill and all other channels are great.

I was considering running out and grabbing some form of Booster device, but the thing that throws me is the "signal strength 100%" but quality 30%.

I'm about as new to this technology as it comes and would love any advice you, or any other member of the community, could provide...  

Cheers,
Dan

[alanh]

Dan,
I have these guides for every area of Australia.
I do not know exactly where the Buderim Hill is. A major road would help!
I need to know two things to answer your question
1. Which transmitter you are tuned to. If your antenna is pointed to the South West to Bald Knob you should receive repeaters of all the Brisbane stations (on different channels) as well as 7 Qld, WIN and Southern Cross. If you are pointed to the North West you are probably receiving Dulong which is near Nambour. This site only has Southern Cross, 7 Qld and WIN along with the ABC & SBS.

2. What type of antenna are you using and roughly how old it is?

Do not buy a booster as this will make your problems worse. It may be that your signal is too strong.

AlanH

[slylake]

Thanks Alan, I appreciate that.

The major nearby roads are "old crosby hill road" and "william st".

I will look into the antenna type and direction (although I suspect it is brisbane repeaters it is picking up as it doesn't have local sunshine coast channels like my flatmate's at my house)  - - i'm sorry, very new to this and so not providing the useful information required    Will report back

[brisdigitaldan]

slylake, on May 24 2008, 06:19 PM, said:

Thanks Alan, I appreciate that.

The major nearby roads are "old crosby hill road" and "william st".

I will look into the antenna type and direction (although I suspect it is brisbane repeaters it is picking up as it doesn't have local sunshine coast channels like my flatmate's at my house)  - - i'm sorry, very new to this and so not providing the useful information required    Will report back

By the sounds of it, you may have a VHF antenna only pointing directly to Brisbane as the Bald Knob transmitter covers not only the Brisbane stations, but the local Sunshine Coast stations as well on UHF. The Nambour UHF transmitter covers only the local Sunny Coast stations. Could you possibly post a photo of your antenna on here and tell us where it is facing please?

The best bet from your location is a UHF antenna pointing toward Bald Knob so you can get both Brissy and Sunny Coast stations. You'll fins most of your neighbours would have this set up already.

[SunBoy]

Hi All,

Im also in Buderim (major cross street being Mill Rd). Am having troble with Channel 9.

There are two aerials on my roof one being the large style with various arms (faces south) and the smaller more compact one with arms the same size (facing west). Neighbours only have the smaller ones with one facing south and the other south west.

Can you please provide any tips.

Thanks

SunBoy

[alanh]

Sunboy,
Please read the first post in this strand including the Qld link and antenna basics. There is a link to drawings to identify your antenna types.
Then you can repost with your types and directions.

AlanH

[Phil04169]

Hi all, my first post,

I am experiencing difficulty with reception of SBS on our digital set top box.
I live at Landsborough approx 7 KM from Bald Knob .

I have a completely clear view to the transponders and pick up all other channels with extreme clarity.

My HD Set Top Box indicates channel, 7,9,10 all with 80-85% signal strength and 90-100% quality,
ABC-1 and ABC-2 approx 70-75% signal strength and 75-80% quality

But SBS only manages 45-50% signal strength and 40-55% quality. Unfortunately at this low reading all SBS transmissions are unavailable to watch or get the message “Lost Signal”. I have tried three different types of antenna from flat uni-directional to dual combo antenna and a “Poor signal” specific antenna.

SBS on other TV’s in my house with old style analog tuners are crystal clear. But I realy want to be able to watch SBS in the lounge room and not in the kids room on a 34cm!

I have tried running the coax direct from antenna to STB no splitter just direct. Also tried through a mast head amp, and now tried a powered distributer for $100.00 Nothing works and I am very frustrated. Should I try another type of antenna or am I missing something basic?

Any help will be much appreciated.

Cheers,

[alanh]

Phil,
Since SBS is the lowest channel number, I suspect its a connection problem, which is usually at the antenna. Also read the first post in this strand and the antenna basics.

Alanh

[STIMULATE]

Hi guys,

Just wondering if anyone can help me.

I have just relocated to the Sunshine Coast from Western Australia. Over in W.A the signal / reception on my Sony LCD was perfect - no problems at all.

Since moving to the Sunshine Coast, I have just got my LCD back from the removalists. For some reason I cannot get any digital signal and no digital channel lists. When trying to browse to digital channels it says "No Channel Available. Please Install". I have tried resetting the TV and have tried doing "Auto Scans" for the digital channels and it just won't find anything!

The funny thing is, my parents have a cheap $100 set top box and when I plug this into my LCD TV as an external device, it finds the digital channels ok.

They also have a "signal booster" on the antenna port on the wall which may or may not be causing issues. I have tried with and without this though and it doesn't seem to make any difference.

Is my built in TV tuner stuffed or am I doing something wrong? My LCD TV can get the analogue channels ok (albeit pretty bad reception) but it just refuses to find digital channels.

Any advice greatly appreciated.

Ps. We are located in Peachester.

Cheers!

[alanh]

Stimulate,
You need to go to the installation menu and select Queensland and then do a channel scan.
This will probably fix your problem unless there is a signal strength issue.

AlanH

[astro66]

hi guys ....
need some help with a new 50" samsung plasma....has built in HD tuner...
Whats happening is it picks up all channels fine around the 80/85% .....but when you switch it to channel 9 (wintv) it just has  nothing ...but if you unplug the antanna lead and plug it back in it comes straight up and has 85% signal and will stay on till you change channel  
I have run 3 different settop boxs over the last few years and no problems with channel 9 doing this ...
Had a guy out yesterday and he cant find anything wrong with the cables/antenna  

any ideas before i take a 5 days old tv back ??

[alanh]

astro66,
If you are using a band 4+ antenna which is what is required for analog in your area it is unsuitable for digital. You need a band 5 antenna. If you look at the transmitter link in the first post you will find that if your antenna is pointed at Bald Knob, WIN is by far the highest channel number. A band 4+ is not designed to be sensitive above channel 50.

It should be remembered, that with digital there is a cliff. The signal is perfect, breaks up into squares & sound breaks up or you get nothing. This is what happens when the antenna signal becomes weaker. In analog the picture gradually gets worse.

Read the first post in this strand.

I suggest you get an antenna installer to measure the digital signal levels and error rates.

AlanH

[alanh]

astro66,
If you are using a band 4+ antenna which is what is required for analog in your area it is unsuitable for digital. You need a band 5 antenna. If you look at the transmitter link in the first post you will find that if your antenna is pointed at Bald Knob, WIN is by far the highest channel number. A band 4+ is not designed to be sensitive above channel 50.

It should be remembered, that with digital there is a cliff. The signal is perfect, breaks up into squares & sound breaks up or you get nothing. This is what happens when the antenna signal becomes weaker. In analog the picture gradually gets worse.

Read the first post in this strand.

I suggest you get an antenna installer to measure the digital signal levels and error rates.

AlanH

[astro66]

but i have had this antenna for 2 odd years now (was changed to a digital antenna) and digital for 3 or 4 years and never had this problem....
what the guy explained to me was the tv was losing 9 out of its memory then just going black screen ...but soon as you unpluged the antenna it came back

ill try updating the firmware and go from there ....

[nugget6]

so whats the verdict

[astro66]

flashed the tv with the latest flash ...its little better ...some times 9 comes straight up ....then other times you have to unplug the antenna and plug it back in and it comes straight up ...
very weird     ...
surely if there was a problem with the antenna unpluging it and pluging it back in wouldnt fix it    plus its never done it before  

[custom]

Phil04169, on Aug 10 2008, 09:00 PM, said:

Hi all, my first post,

I am experiencing difficulty with reception of SBS on our digital set top box.
I live at Landsborough approx 7 KM from Bald Knob .

I have a completely clear view to the transponders and pick up all other channels with extreme clarity.

My HD Set Top Box indicates channel, 7,9,10 all with 80-85% signal strength and 90-100% quality,
ABC-1 and ABC-2 approx 70-75% signal strength and 75-80% quality

But SBS only manages 45-50% signal strength and 40-55% quality. Unfortunately at this low reading all SBS transmissions are unavailable to watch or get the message “Lost Signal”. I have tried three different types of antenna from flat uni-directional to dual combo antenna and a “Poor signal” specific antenna.

SBS on other TV’s in my house with old style analog tuners are crystal clear. But I realy want to be able to watch SBS in the lounge room and not in the kids room on a 34cm!

I have tried running the coax direct from antenna to STB no splitter just direct. Also tried through a mast head amp, and now tried a powered distributer for $100.00 Nothing works and I am very frustrated. Should I try another type of antenna or am I missing something basic?

Any help will be much appreciated.

Cheers,

I would check which SBS you are watching.I would guess the SBS that is breaking up is the one transmitted from Bris, coming in the back of the Antenna.  You may need to rescan ot manual scan for the local SBS

[northernblue]

Hi all, A couple of dumb questions for you  
I live at Kiel Mountain and recieve brizzy vhf at about 5/10 for seven up to 8/10 for ten & abc through my set top box, however my uhf reception from Bald Knob ranges between 1/10 -5/10 for sunshine coast seven to a firm 6/10 for abc.
This is pretty much unchanged after upgrading from a 6m mast to a 9m mast. [yes, I'm in an east facing valley]
Is the signal transmitted from the Dulong site at Nambour on the same frequency as the Caloundra transmission? I have turned the antenna in the Dulong direction before but was only getting a weak signal, should I have rescanned my stb?

thanks

[AnonymouslyBad]

northernblue, on Sep 28 2008, 06:53 PM, said:

Is the signal transmitted from the Dulong site at Nambour on the same frequency as the Caloundra transmission? I have turned the antenna in the Dulong direction before but was only getting a weak signal, should I have rescanned my stb?

The regional channels are on the same frequency at both sites, however Bald Knob (and only Bald Knob) also retransmits the Brisbane channels on UHF so watch out for that.

Can't hurt to do a rescan so you may as well.

[northernblue]

Thanks for the reply. I thought they would be the same frequency, but wasn't sure.
I'll give it a tweak and see how I go

[JaGuR]

Hi Guys,

Hope you can help, I am at wurtulla and can get all the Brisbane channels with perect reception through bald knob, but win 9 and local seven are of very poor quality,

Have I got the incorrect antenna, and if what is the best antenna to replace it with, and the best place to get it from, we have a Haymans in Claoundra where I get most of this sort of stuff from.

Cheers

Glenn

Edited by JaGuR, 17 October 2008 - 11:06 AM.

[alanh]

JaGuR,
If you look at the transmitter list spreadsheet for Bald Knob you will find the channels you are having trouble with are the highest numbers. You do not need the channels below channel 36 for digital reception. So you need a high gain band 5 Yagi. See the links in the first post. High gain has lots of db. If you have an antenna which looks like a barbeque grate, then I would instead add a band 5 masthead amplifier. (Kingray MHU44b5...)See links on masthead amplifiers.

AlanH