Existing Tuned Channels change Channels

[Wabby]

OK, this might sound nuts...

I have a USB TV tuner on the PC and a Sony TV, both operate 80-100% signal, no real issues.

Except... 

Randomly Channel 1 (One) re tunes to Nine HD and 11 (Eleven) re tunes to Go (Nine) on both TV's.

It only happens every 2-3 weeks, a re tune fixes it.

I know the USB TV tuner does not auto scan on startup, unsure of the TV.

My location is in North Melbourne, close to the city up high, so I see basically 360 degrees, City and Dandy mountains.

Any idea's? 

[alanh]

Sounds like your tuner is confused between the channel 11 signal from Mt Danenong and channel 45 from 600 Bourke St City.Both transmitters carry identical programs including the Logical channel numbers of 1, 10, 11 and 15.

Your best answer is to replace the antenna with a UHF phased array. Disconnect the antenna and scan for all channels. This is to remove memory of any previous settings.

Start scanning for channels and when it gets past channel 35 plug in the antenna. This is to only allow the receiver to receive one good strong signal, the one from Bourke St.

All broadcasters transmit from Bourke St except Channel "31".

Alanh

 

[Wabby]

Thanks,

At least I'm not going crazy, I can live with it.

So Nine is using 10's frequency at different sites locally to Melbourne?

Edit: When I first moved in I had an RF cable out the window with a jewelers set screw driver in the end and it worked fine, until the wife complained about the setup.

Edited February 12, 2017 by Wabby

[hrh]

2 hours ago, Wabby said:

So Nine is using 10's frequency at different sites locally to Melbourne?

No, the actual channels used for the Bourke St site are 40, 41, 43, 44 and 45. The Dandenong main site uses 6, 7, 8, 11 and 12. these are for the ABC, SBS and three commercial broadcasters only. And their representation on a TV or tuner will be the logical channels of 2, 21, 22 etc, 3, 32, 30 etc, 7, 70, 71 etc 9, 90, 92 etc, 1, 10, 11 etc,

[alanh]

Wabby,

Network        Mt Dandenong    Bourke St City

Seven           6                           41

SBS              7                           40

Nine             8                            44

DAB+          9A, 9B, 9C             9A, 9B, 9C

TEN             11                          45

ABC             12                         43

DAB+ is digital radio which requires a digital radio receiver. Repeaters are on 101 Collins St and 213 Boundary St Port Melbourne

Other than Mt Dandenong the metal rod connected to the receiver must be vertical, where as for Mt Dandenong the rod has to be horizontal.

You could buy an indoor antenna for about $12, in Woolworths. Make do not extend the rods at all. The loop is the part used for Bourke St.

Alanh

[Wabby]

So this doesn't explain why Randomly Channel 1 (One) re tunes to Nine HD and 11 (Eleven) re tunes to Go (Nine) on both TV's.

6 hours ago, alanh said:

Network        Mt Dandenong    Bourke St City

I see them both fine, I also see Como - https://ozdigitaltv.com/transmitters/VIC/321-South-Yarra

Pain to remove what ever site I want, but any of them come in clear and strong.

Doesn't explain why 1 & 11 change to 9

[ron12]

There is another possibility.

There may be a regional station containing 9 programming on the same frequency as the Melbourne ATV station you're tuned to.  Normally this wouldn't be a problem, but if the weather conditions are right, the regional station might get through.

When this happens:

1) What are the channel numbers for 9HD and Go when they replace One and 11?  Are they 1 and 11 or 90 and 93 or 99 or are they 50 and 55?

2) Does the channel name include Melbourne (e.g. 9HD Melbourne) or somewhere else?

3) Does Gem become Ten?

[alanh]

Ron,

I know if you are high in a building you can receive Ballarat from Spencer St.

ABC 2# RF ch 35,

SBS 3# RF ch 34

Prime7 6# RF channel 36

WIN 8# RF channel 37

Southern Cross Austereo's 9 5# RF channel 38.

 Wabby is not quoting any of those names so it is not a regional station.

Since he says he can see the Como Centre in South Yarra, there is a change of 7 MHz between RF channels 45 and 44 which is TEN and Nine respectively. Sounds like a power supply problem feeding the tuner in the receiver or a flakey Eprom remembering the tuner voltage. The tuning is controlled by a voltage on a varicap diode. If this voltage drops the tuned channel number goes down.

When the fault occurs, do both your receivers switch?

If you get a good signal from Mt Dandenong, the easiest way to fix this problem is to do a complete scan with no antenna, then connect an antenna aimed at Mt Danenong, once it has tuned channel 32 pull out the antenna for the rest of the scan. Then the receiver doesn't know about the other transmitters. However this may only be a temporary fix, because if the power supply is faulty it may eventually fail altogether.

As far as the USB receiver goes, if there is no automatic scan I would check for signals on all of the RF channels above. Note which ones, then disconnect the antenna and scan for the channels you have written down except for the 5 or 6 you intend to use.

Alanh

 

[Wabby]

4 hours ago, Ron12 said:

1) What are the channel numbers for 9HD and Go when they replace One and 11?  Are they 1 and 11 or 90 and 93 or 99 or are they 50 and 55?

They remain as 1 & 11, just the content is Nine rather than 10.

4 hours ago, Ron12 said:

2) Does the channel name include Melbourne (e.g. 9HD Melbourne) or somewhere else?

The name remains the same as 10's, but after watching for a few seconds, you know it has flipped to nine. EPG still shows 10 though. Although I think this is set on the first scan, not real time.

Except for 1, sometimes it changes to 9HD, like tonight 1 is now labeled 9HD, showing 9HD, 11 is still 11 showing 11 content.

4 hours ago, Ron12 said:

3) Does Gem become Ten?

Since I don't watch GEM, I'll need to see if this happens on the next flip.

2 hours ago, alanh said:

When the fault occurs, do both your receivers switch?

Same day, so I would say yes, the wife uses the main TV more than me, I have 3 34" monitors in my office, so I normally watch TV while doing other stuff and catch it in the arvo's on 11 looking for Becker/news etc. Then it's re scan time on both.

Don't really care about having so many channels on the USB tuner to clean up, I don't some weeks, but the main TV is a PIA to delete via remote.

At one stage I actually looked up each of the sites (from the database) and manually added them. 2 weeks later same thing, checked it and they should be 10 not Nine.

Don't receive the 35-38 channels.

So if it's a power supply on the feed, should I just get someone out to look at it?

[alanh]

Wabby,

Your best option is to buy a set top box for $40 and an HDMI cable from an electrical store. Check, but newer monitors will take HDMI inputs and the TV should.

Before you switch on your STB, decide which transmitter site you are going to use and only allow the receiver see those channels.

That is the cheapest way of getting around a tuner which is drifting in frequency.By  the way, if a tuner receives more than one additional identical channel, the first or sometimes the best will be given the transmitted logical channel numbers and the duplicates logical channel numbers which you select on the remote control will be between 350 - 399.

 

Alanh

[Wabby]

On 2/13/2017 at 5:54 PM, alanh said:

Your best option is to buy a set top box for $40 and an HDMI cable from an electrical store. Check, but newer monitors will take HDMI inputs and the TV should

Trying to get away from having STB.

I was replying to this thread when my reply vanished, so the short of it.

Have a guy coming out today to change the power supply, 1 is back to 9HD, 11 is still 11, yesterday it went to Go. He will also do a Signal Reading. Apparently he has seen this before, so that is a good sign he knows what is happening.

Seems 1 is more prone to flipping, GEM doesn't flip, not that I watch it, but checked.

Edited February 14, 2017 by Wabby