256 replies to this topic

[cdn]

SSHatch, on Aug 4 2008, 05:39 PM, said:

I just climbed up and rotated my antenna 90deg and hit re-tune on my HD Tuner.
All channels (WIN, Southern Cross, TDT, SBS & ABC) coming in strong.

The missus is concerned cause she has to remember new channels on the remote now but its a small price to pay.  

You lucky bees but we are starting to get there. We are down the Hoonvalley.

Edited by cdn, 04 August 2008 - 11:06 PM.

[HillsTas]

SSHatch, on Aug 4 2008, 05:39 PM, said:

I just climbed up and rotated my antenna 90deg and hit re-tune on my HD Tuner.
All channels (WIN, Southern Cross, TDT, SBS & ABC) coming in strong.

The missus is concerned cause she has to remember new channels on the remote now but its a small price to pay.  

You got WIN????

That isn't supposed to be broadcasting form Round hill yet, can someone with a meter confirm that Round Hill is/is not broadcasting WIN? If not I am up on Wednesday.

Cheers

Dave

[SSHatch]

Cant remember the Digital Channel but it shows up as 350 & something else on the Channel list on the Set Top Box.
Its definately different to before as that was 8 & 80 for HD.

[Electronicman]

HillsTas, on Aug 5 2008, 08:43 AM, said:

You got WIN????

That isn't supposed to be broadcasting form Round hill yet, can someone with a meter confirm that Round Hill is/is not broadcasting WIN? If not I am up on Wednesday.

Cheers

Dave

Yes Dave - It is "On Air" It was always supposed to start slightly later, which was the word from those in the know and this happened at all previous sites eg Kelsy Tier, Ulverstone and Penguin

I was up there this morning with lizclinton and we confirmed all digital channels were broadcasting from Round Hill  

Near fried my meter there was SO MUCH RF pumping out up there!     Just had a fly lead plugged in (no antenna) and full power on the three commercial channels and no BER on UHF 48 (Win), UHF 65 (SX) and 68 (TDT) - which would stand to reason.   ABC 67 and SBS 66 were slightly lower in power but that was because I was North of that tower (Telstra) and in the null antenna lobe.     I was standing west of the council tower that the commercial channels are on - which would explain these differences!

Now, we wait for Wynyard and beyond!  As lizclinton said - both Round Hill and Table Cape towers were erected at the same time and both are relatively close to the sea, but there is NO rust on the Round Hill tower, so he couldn't see why Table Cape would be rusted out!  Waratah Wynyard council passed approval six months ago for all this  

It may now call for a road up Table Cape for a look see

And dave.b - tried to get Round Hill from Somerset today (Bells Pde half way between railway line and the beach) and very little signal from Round Hill and even less from Mt Barrow!      Your in for the long haul buddy, I've only had luck from Mt Barrow up the top of the hill in Pelissier St!

[Electronicman]

SSHatch, on Aug 5 2008, 11:26 AM, said:

Cant remember the Digital Channel but it shows up as 350 & something else on the Channel list on the Set Top Box.
Its definately different to before as that was 8 & 80 for HD.

SSHatch  - it will show up as this due to you already having WIN scanned into your STB.

Fix - reset STB to its factory defaults and rescan. Alternatively - do the factory reset then do a manual rescan of channels 48, 65, 66, 67, and 68 if you can, then you wont pick up any other addition channels from Mt Barrow!  

[dave.b]

Electronicman, on Aug 5 2008, 04:21 PM, said:

And dave.b - tried to get Round Hill from Somerset today (Bells Pde half way between railway line and the beach) and very little signal from Round Hill and even less from Mt Barrow!      Your in for the long haul buddy, I've only had luck from Mt Barrow up the top of the hill in Pelissier St!

@!#!$% and !$@#^,

Bugga

Only been waiting a few years now , whats a bit more. *sighs*

[Thudd]

I was just talking to my father (he's in Montello) and he's now picking up the digital channels with some indoor antenna he's got, so heaven knows which transmitter he's found, I'm assuming Round Hill.

[manmantis]

Hi all,

After watching this forum for the last 2-ish years, it's great to finally have something to say...

...and now things are finally happening in Burnie I sit here slightly confused.

I have two mates who have successfully scanned & obtained the commercial DTV signals here in Burnie. One is on Richardson Crescent (down towards the tennis club) and one on West Mooreville rd near Tafe. Both have aerials pointing towards Table Cape, although neither have line-of-sight to the TC transmitter (or Round Hill for that matter). The guy on West Mooreville road commented that his signal strength was only around 60-70%, so he spun his aerial around to point at RH & re-scanned his box...all the same channels with a stronger signal.

I sit here up near the hospital, with clear line-of-sight to TC, and all I can get is a TDT/TDTHD signal which at breaks up anytime except the evening.  

Am I correct in assuming that what they are/were getting is a reflected RH signal? Or is there some other reason why I can happily pick up ABC/SBS DTV from TC, but not get the commercial channels scanned in?

Is TC actually transmitting any commercial channels yet?

Cheers, from confused in Burnie!

[Electronicman]

manmantis, on Aug 6 2008, 09:10 PM, said:

I sit here up near the hospital, with clear line-of-sight to TC, and all I can get is a TDT/TDTHD signal which at breaks up anytime except the evening.  

Am I correct in assuming that what they are/were getting is a reflected RH signal? Or is there some other reason why I can happily pick up ABC/SBS DTV from TC, but not get the commercial channels scanned in?

Is TC actually transmitting any commercial channels yet?

Cheers, from confused in Burnie!

In a nutshell manmantis...............

All channels from Round Hill are transmitting digital

ABC and SBS ONLY from Table Cape............. as it has been for the last 18 months and previously discussed on this thread!  

Your mates were receiving the Round Hill signal thru the back of their antenna which antennae tend to do albeit not as good in some directions as to others!

And yes you are correct...  you get some some Round Hill Signal from TDT!

Just FYI, here in Wynyard with an antenna directed to Table Cape so that Round Hill is at 90 degrees to it,  I can pick up Southern X and TDT digital off Round Hill, albeit blocky and breaking up, but cannot pick up ANY WIN, ABC or SBS from Round Hill whatsoever. The STB shows a 50% quality on these two channels and 0% quality on the other three, figure that!  (And we know ABC and SBS are from a different tower to the other three!)

[manmantis]

Electronicman, on Aug 7 2008, 01:50 AM, said:

In a nutshell manmantis...............

All channels from Round Hill are transmitting digital

ABC and SBS ONLY from Table Cape............. as it has been for the last 18 months and previously discussed on this thread!  

Yes, sorry, wasn't totally clear in my post. I knew all that to be true...I've been watching DTV ABC/SBS from TC for as long as it's been up & running. It was just irritating me that I had perfect vantage for TC & yet my mates were getting digital commercial TV reception that I can't.

Still not clear why I can't get a signal "thru the back of their antenna" like they can. But hey, I could always jump on the roof tomorrow & spin the aerial around, just not been bothered to do so until I had an inkling of when TC was going to catch up!

[Electronicman]

manmantis, on Aug 7 2008, 07:44 AM, said:

Still not clear why I can't get a signal "thru the back of their antenna" like they can. But hey, I could always jump on the roof tomorrow & spin the aerial around, just not been bothered to do so until I had an inkling of when TC was going to catch up!

Strange thing digital.......  It wouldn't hurt spinning your antenna towards Round Hill, what have you got to lose?  At worst you wont get a good signal so you'll have to move it back then wait for TC to fire up (SOMETIME in the next decade   ) or the signal will come in ok and you'll have the five channels  

I am assuming you are up on Brickport Rd above the hospital???  A lot of these houses are set up for digital from Mt Barrow, even the last one on the western end on the low side of the road is to Mt Barrow.  Bear in mind that moving the antenna for digital will lose analogue TV on other outlets and VCR's. I'd expect analogue reception in that area from Round Hill to be bad  

For other members information - Round Hill is coming in strong at Turners Beach. I checked the levels there today!

[HillsTas]

Electronicman, yes I was in Burnie today and also nearly fried my meter siting on round hill, but I only had a piece of copper sticking out of the F socket as I have encountered high signals sitting under towers before.

I knew WIN would follow "soon after" but was not expecting less than 48hrs, more like a week or two.

Manmantis, make sure your mates adjust theire antenna to be in the vertical position for Round Hill and TC, their antennas may have been horizontal if they used to get their content from Barrow (which is Horizontal).

Cheers

Dave

[Electronicman]

HillsTas, on Aug 7 2008, 09:28 PM, said:

Manmantis, make sure your mates adjust theire antenna to be in the vertical position for Round Hill and TC, their antennas may have been horizontal if they used to get their content from Barrow (which is Horizontal).

Cheers

Dave

They would have had to be already vertical Dave - manmantis stated this as they were pointing to Table Cape!

Also these areas of Burnie would be real difficult to pick up from Mt Barrow. Richardson Cres - northern end maybe but not near the tennis club; West Moorville Rd - very very unlikely to get Barrow from here.  

[bundy23]

I'm in Bay Street, Parklands, and I just jumped up on the roof and swung the aerial around from pointing at TC to RH. Picking up WIN fine. SCN is in and out, pretty much unwatchable. Can't pick up TEN at all.

[Electronicman]

bundy23, on Aug 8 2008, 03:13 PM, said:

I'm in Bay Street, Parklands, and I just jumped up on the roof and swung the aerial around from pointing at TC to RH. Picking up WIN fine. SCN is in and out, pretty much unwatchable. Can't pick up TEN at all.

Chances are bundy23 is that your antenna is only band 4 (just surmising). WIN is on 48 (low end of band 5 and closer to band 4) and the others - SC on 65 and TDT on 68 (high end of band 5).
You don't mention ABC or SBS (66 & 67) do they break up?

Your position in Bay St could be tough for receiving Round Hill but I have had success in Bay at the end of Mollison St in receiving Mt Barrow  

[bundy23]

Electronicman, on Aug 8 2008, 03:43 PM, said:

You don't mention ABC or SBS (66 & 67) do they break up?

I assume i'm still getting ABC & SBS from TC (SBS=29, ABC=45). 66 & 67 don't seem to have anything on them. Just flicked my TV back on and TEN was picked up. Completely unwatchable though :-)

i'm between mollison and noel street but i'm only renting so can't really justify the expense of getting someone in to play around.

Where would i pick up a band 5 antenna? is it as simple as wandering into dick smith tomorrow morning? might be a fun project for the weekend.

would this be any good: http://tinyurl.com/5up5jz

somehow i doubt it but it'd make life easier.

[edit reason - wanted to ask some questions  :rolleyes: ]

Edited by bundy23, 08 August 2008 - 04:24 PM.

[HillsTas]

bundy23, on Aug 8 2008, 03:51 PM, said:

Where would i pick up a band 5 antenna? is it as simple as wandering into dick smith tomorrow morning? might be a fun project for the weekend.

Dick Smith would have cheapies but would work. Go for the L3079 or L3087, not the one you linked to.

You can pick up a Hills one from Auslec, tell them Dave from Hill sent you in (dunno if they are open on W/E)

Harvey Norman are also selling the LP569F (Hills version of LP345) if you NEED it this weekend, but the Band 3 elements will not be used if coming from RH.

Robert Fergusson, AWM & Rexel also sells Hills and other brand Band 5 antennas.

Electronicman, yeah I noticed he had it pointed at TC after I posted, that ol' hindsightthing kicks in again.

Cheers

Dave

Edited by HillsTas, 08 August 2008 - 06:15 PM.

[Electronicman]

bundy23 (and dave)

I wouldn't waste my money. You are not in an optimum spot to use any antenna like that but it is yours to waste.................. If it was from Table Cape - no worries but not Round Hill!  

The only way you would get reception where you are is with a phased array directed to Launceston.   Round Hill would totally be out of the question!

Yes you would be getting ABC & SBS from Table Cape - a stronger signal into your antenna. The only way to delete these would be to reset to factory defaults and manually scan in the Burnie channels (if you could get them all...).

Dave - he is really in no position to get Round Hill - has 2 hills in between him and the relative low power of the Round Hill transmitter. No, Auslec AWM and Rexel etc are not open on the weekend.  The only success I have had in that area is a phased array pointed to Launceston!

It is not something you can just stab at over the weekend and hope you get it!  And renting would make it doubly difficult.. you may have to wait it out bundy23 as dave.b has to.......

[manmantis]

OK, now I'm irritated!  

Having spun around my antenna to point at Round Hill (or my best guess, since I can't quite see it over Marist), I can now get good reception on WIN & TDT...but nothing else! My box will pick up a signal for all the other channels (20 in total, including digital radio), but I can't get a viewable picture on any of them (except WIN & TDT).

I'm guessing that my antenna isn't up to the task?

So, I either wait until Table Cape is fully operational...or I get up on the roof when I want to watch SBS & ABC!

I'm on the top of Kalina Crescent BTW

[Electronicman]

That's very odd manmantis.................

By getting WIN and TDT, you're getting the lowest and highest channels transmitted from Round Hill, all the rest are in between.  

The only other suggestion I can offer is that you factory reset your set top box (you'll find it in the installation/set-up menu) and do a manual scan on channels 48, 65, 66, 67 and 68!

Failing that you could PM me (you'll need 5 posts before the forum will allow this - see New member info) and I can come there and do a site survey to see what you are receiving and at what strength!  

[Shanks]

G'day there Electronicman

It's been a while since we spoke. You came to my place in Griffith Street about a year ago and set up my antenna to receive digital from Mt Barrow. Generally worked well - apart from the odd day when rain or fog was about.
Now that Round Hill has gone digital is it as simple as me changing the horizontal to vertical on the antenna and re-tuning the PVR? I presume the direction it's pointing in remains the same?

Cheers

Shanks

[Electronicman]

Shanks, on Aug 12 2008, 11:48 AM, said:

G'day there Electronicman

It's been a while since we spoke. You came to my place in Griffith Street about a year ago and set up my antenna to receive digital from Mt Barrow. Generally worked well - apart from the odd day when rain or fog was about.
Now that Round Hill has gone digital is it as simple as me changing the horizontal to vertical on the antenna and re-tuning the PVR? I presume the direction it's pointing in remains the same?

Cheers

Shanks

Hi Ya Shanks

Yes you can do that.  You should be able to see the Round Hill towers from your place, so just point to them. If you can't, just point slightly north of where it is pointing now.  

As to your PVR, in the install menu - reset it to the factory defaults and manual scan channels 48, 65, 66, 67 and 68. If you do an automatic scan, chances are you may also pick up some transmission from Mt Barrow and double up your channels.  

Any problems, contact me if you want - still on the same contact numbers.

Cheers

[manmantis]

I have reset & rescanned several times. Oh, and I have a PVR set-up (TV/PC media center thingamajob), not a set-top box.

I can successfully pick up that there is a signal on those other channels...but I can't get a viewable picture/audio. At best it stutters, but mostly I just get a message saying that the signal is too weak. And that's for SC. ABC & SBS don't get as far as stuttering, I just get the weak signal message.

One more post to go then!

[Shanks]

Thanks Electronicman

I've got the cheap set top box going on the second tv. Just hooked it up and tuned off second (Round Hill directed/polarized) antenna with crystal clear reception so shouldn't have any dramas with the PVR and telly in the lounge room.
Plasma/LCD widescreen argument starts becoming more relevant now!

Thanks again

[Electronicman]

Shanks, on Aug 12 2008, 02:24 PM, said:

Plasma/LCD widescreen argument starts becoming more relevant now!

Thanks again

That it does Shanks but one must get around "the director of finances" and SWMBO  

I hope it all works out well for you to enjoy!  

manmantis......

Go to the link in my earlier post and just post randomly to get your number of posts up! Then you'll become a full member and be able to do all these things on the forum.  It is a security feature to stop the forum being bombarded with cranks and posting crap on the boards!  No one is likely to read thru this, it just helps you out!

Now you should be quite ok up where you are (theoretically), but it also depends on the quality of your wiring/antenna/number of outlets etc.  Not all installations can just be "swung around and all will be good"..........