211 replies to this topic

[Moasaica]

mgaleano, on 01 May 2013 - 08:15 AM, said:

At minto, Can you get with rabbit ears?

I tried & couldn't get any signal at inside the house. I did try it by connecting the antenna with my handheld portable TV in my front yard & managed to get some signal of it (through the meter on certain frequencies), but it wasn't strong enough to get a lock on.

What it does prove is that with the right antenna pointing in the right direction, I can get the Sydney channels from Razorback pretty well. Maybe I might get the Wollongong channels from either Knights Hill or Mt Gibraltar with the same UHF antenna.

Edited by Moasaica, 01 May 2013 - 11:09 AM.

[Moasaica]

MySwitch has this information for viewers in the Camden area:

Quote

The broadcasters have reported some interference to viewers in the Camden area who are currently obtaining TV services from the Knights Hill transmission site in the Illawarra area. This is occurring because a new transmitter at Razorback, which is broadcasting Sydney television services, is overpowering masthead amplifiers that are attached to antennas pointing to Knights Hill.

Viewers are advised to access Sydney television services that are now available from the new transmission site at Razorback. Viewers experiencing reception difficulties are advised to engage the services of an endorsed antenna installer to review their antenna set-up

Elsewhere, MySwitch is saying that the switch-on date of the Picton translator has been pushed back to mid-June.

Edited by Moasaica, 01 May 2013 - 06:20 PM.

[mgaleano]

interesting, My theory is the services from razorback  do not boom into north part of campbelltow maybe 10km or so.. Notice older cars with aerials not fully extended aerial start to get degraded reception on c913 because of topography. Whilst you can get an adequate signal with a good tuner Sydney commercials are a lot better.

[thom12]

mgaleano, on 01 May 2013 - 06:25 PM, said:

interesting, My theory is the services from razorback  do not boom into north part of campbelltow maybe 10km or so.. Notice older cars with aerials not fully extended aerial start to get degraded reception on c913 because of topography. Whilst you can get an adequate signal with a good tuner Sydney commercials are a lot better.

Most of Minto should get reception to the SW transmitter according to:
http://myswitch.digitalready.gov.au/

[Storm AV]

Razorback is not on yet-direct from a win tech today.

Biggest concern is the gov't endorsed installers advised a customer today a complete re-wire and antenna replacement was required. What BS-his amp had died due to corrosion and the cables from antenna's to amp had been chewed by galah's and cockies and needed replacing. Needless to say he is happy and kept many $$$$ in his skyrocket by not paying for substandard unrequired work!

Got to love the insulation-sorry antenna endorsement handed out by the gov't.

[turtle_au]

Storm AV, on 01 May 2013 - 10:34 PM, said:

Razorback is not on yet-direct from a win tech today.

Biggest concern is the gov't endorsed installers advised a customer today a complete re-wire and antenna replacement was required. What BS-his amp had died due to corrosion and the cables from antenna's to amp had been chewed by galah's and cockies and needed replacing. Needless to say he is happy and kept many $$$$ in his skyrocket by not paying for substandard unrequired work!

Got to love the insulation-sorry antenna endorsement handed out by the gov't.

I live in Camden and I can assure you that Razorback was switched on around 11am Tuesday 30th April.
Now for my tale of woe:
    - knew nothing about  the new translator until my son called me at work to say we had lost the wollongong channels so he rescanned his tv, with no luck, but the Sydney channels were ok.
    - as the whole antenna system is less than 2 years old and we still had the sydney channels, I thought that maybe the problem was with the transmitter at Knights Hill.
    - When I got home I found that the MythTV PVR system couldn't lock on to any channels and a search on the net had found no transmitter problems.
    - OK the problem is my end.
    - checked the power supply for the masthead amp, all OK. I have seperate UHF VHF antennas, maybe the problem is in the UHF section only.
   - No choice, on to the roof I must go. Two storey, two stage climb, corrugated colorbond, 30 degree pitch, just getting dark and slightly damp surface. With wife saying " be careful, I can't watch, the house isn't paid off yet and will I be able to watch The Voice".
    - no sign of cocky damage to the cabling, ok I will change the amp as I had a brand new spare amp.
    - no change ( wife did get to see The Voice but as the PVR was out of action she had to watch it live - ads and all)
    - Tell the wife we need to get an installer in with a spectrum analyser to sort this out.
    - Next morning search the net for installers in the area.
    - Found the answer on Sight and Sound Connection website - a new translator at Razorback
    - Quick call to Sight and Sound Connection to organise a call out to re-adjust the antennas and amp
    - They were extremly helpful and after a short conversation I was now headed in the right direction without the need of a service call.
    - Back on the roof again, son at TV on mobile phone. Disconnected VHF antenna as no longer needed, turned the amp gain to minimum, reception still good on sydney channels.
    - rescan TV's and PVR - getting Sydney channels perfectly and Wollongong channels are OK
    - readjust recording schedules to use Sydney channels

Only issue at the moment is I think I may have to kiss TVS goodbye due to the reduced amp gain.

A big thank you / recommendation to "Sight and Sound Connection" for their assistance, even doing themselves out of a service call.

[newtaste]

At Bella Vista I'm getting the channels from Razorback, and the channels from Kurrajong. A scan now finds over 100 channels!

[ant5476]

Hi newtaste,
What setup do you have to get both Razorback and Kurrajong?
At my house in Parklea I have a Matchmaster 13 element analogue / digital combination antenna green coloured one pointing towards Artarmon and cannot pickup Kurrajong or Razorback. We do get intermittent breakup on channels 6 (7), 8 (9),11 (10), 12 ABC.

[tredog2]

Sight and Sound have been very helpful to me including providing advice that they could well have just kept to themselves.

Sadly though for some reason I don't get SBS even though it scans in fine.

This new house we are in is a tale of whoa!

I can even see the tower directly, line of sight when standing on the roof! Something has to be amiss!

[GlennP]

tredog2, on 03 May 2013 - 02:02 PM, said:

Sight and Sound have been very helpful to me including providing advice that they could well have just kept to themselves.

Sadly though for some reason I don't get SBS even though it scans in fine.

This new house we are in is a tale of whoa!

I can even see the tower directly, line of sight when standing on the roof! Something has to be amiss!

What sort of antenna are you using?
It needs to be a UHF band 5. Band 5 antennas are pretty new to the Sydney metro area, if you've purchased it from a local retailer (non antenna installer or antenna wholesaler), it's likely to be a Band 4 antenna as this is what would've mostly been used around Sydney, & that's generally what retailers stocked.

A band 4 antenna will still pickup the 40's channels, but will fall off sharply after that. Is your TCN on channel 50 lower signal/quality than the others?
SBS is on channel 64, well into Band 5, a Band 4 antenna may pick it up (especially close to the transmitter like you are), but it won't be good & if you were further out, it probably wouldn't even lock on & tune in.

Till we know what antenna you have, I can't help on SBS any more than that.
Band 4 goes to channel 38, some antennas (Hills) are Band 4+ that go from channel 28 - 50, you may have one of these?
A Band 4+ antenna will be suitable after re-stack, but you'll have problems with SBS on channel 64 prior to re-stack.

You'll preferably need/have a Band 5 only (still suitable after re-stack), or a wide-band (band 4 & 5) antenna.

[tredog2]

This

GlennP, on 03 May 2013 - 04:21 PM, said:

What sort of antenna are you using?
It needs to be a UHF band 5. Band 5 antennas are pretty new to the Sydney metro area, if you've purchased it from a local retailer (non antenna installer or antenna wholesaler), it's likely to be a Band 4 antenna as this is what would've mostly been used around Sydney, & that's generally what retailers stocked.

A band 4 antenna will still pickup the 40's channels, but will fall off sharply after that. Is your TCN on channel 50 lower signal/quality than the others?
SBS is on channel 64, well into Band 5, a Band 4 antenna may pick it up (especially close to the transmitter like you are), but it won't be good & if you were further out, it probably wouldn't even lock on & tune in.

Till we know what antenna you have, I can't help on SBS any more than that.
Band 4 goes to channel 38, some antennas (Hills) are Band 4+ that go from channel 28 - 50, you may have one of these?
A Band 4+ antenna will be suitable after re-stack, but you'll have problems with SBS on channel 64 prior to re-stack.

You'll preferably need/have a Band 5 only (still suitable after re-stack), or a wide-band (band 4 & 5) antenna.

This may be the issue! We moved into our place 12 months ago and I suspect that the antenna is circa 1996 and would therefore assume it would be a band 4 UHF (I only connected the UHF antenna to the inside point). The TV picks up ABC, SBS, 7, 9 and 10 and pulls down the guide information fine however SBS always shows no signal without any picture ever showing. We have intermittent reception drops too. Perfect picture whilst recording two channels at once. Then struggling to just pick up one channel consistently.

[Storm AV]

My apolagies guys, wandered out the front ofmy house with the little test antenna and yes Razorback is on, this is going to make a huge difference to people in our area-many first home buyers and low to mid income families will benefit from not requiring spending extra $$$$ to get signal from sydney or wollongong.
I called my friend from win and he apolagised for the confusion-he has been working on the picton transmitter facing south. He confirmed Razorback is on as stated by others here. Either way it doesnt excuse the outragous quotes provided to a pensioner to fix his issue!

Turtle-I would suggest climbing on a 2 story roof like yours isnt a recommended thing to do-especially when you mention dampness on a tin roof- without the appropriate safety precautions and insurances in place-if you fell the impact on your family and those around you would be devestating. I believe your comments on your roof activity are best left to the professionals who are insured and experienced to take on this job. I have heard of many people seriously injuring themselves attempting diy antenna and roof work on single story let alone 2 story.

Have a good day Sight and sound-seems you are amongst the few honest companies around and youve got too admire your and or your employees enthusiasm.

Edited by Storm AV, 07 May 2013 - 08:34 AM.