Octagon box issues with channel 26 (514MHz)

mp3ireland2

Hi,

I'm in Gorey using Mt Leinster. No issues with any TV in the house. The octagon box keeps having issues with tunings on Ch 27. I'll eventually get them to work my lots of manual tunes plugging out cables and plugging them in again, I do so much that I don't know what actually worked, I turn the box on the next day and screen is blank for these channels again, a scan won't pick them up, it only finds channels on 23 - never an issue with this gave a saorview stations. Satellite stations no issues either. Anybody any experience? Starting to think of could be an issue with the box.

The Cush

Possible weak signal.

Can you check saorview signal strength/quality using the built-in meter?

Where does the signal feed for that box come from, distribution amp or split from another feed?

mp3ireland2

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118838972#Comment_118838972

I came back an hour later and it was working.

I originally had it going through an amplifier and then a splitter, I removed the splitter during the week and got reception. I turned on today and it didn't pick up the stations....I removed the amplifier and then plugged straight into wall. Came back an hour later and it was working. I'll try the signal measure, good idea.

mp3ireland2

Update: on 514 MHz sunglasses is 63% (27dB) and AGC of 30%.

About the same on 490MHz for the stations which are no issues I'll check this out when they're are no stations on 514mhz.

mp3ireland2

I looked again today and the recpetion wasn't working on 514 Mhz and was down to 41% on the channel 490 Mhz channels.

So it looks like that it's simply a reception issue. Odd but maybe a blessing that there's no issues with the TV's in the house. I bought the place recently and had a TV man to come out and install a new lnb and the new TV aerial and run all the cables. He did say it was a bit of a reception dead spot! I'll ask him if there's anything that can be done to strengthn it but I'd guess not. Just for convience of not having to switch between TV and sat, annoying as the box was working quite slickly otherwise!

Thanks for pointing me in the direction of checking the recpetion level though I hadn't realised that was there and it saved me a lot of messing about.

The Cush

What does the saorview coverage checker indicate for your location?

https://www.saorview.ie/en/get/coverage

The Cush

We have seen this before on here where one mux is better than the other.

This can be down to aerial requiring a tweak to get optimum reception from both muxes or other times could be down to a bad connection or connections somewhere in the circuit.

What aerial type have you installed, a standard €15 contract aerial or similar? If it's a weaker signal area a higher gain aerial could improve reception.

mp3ireland2

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118843986#Comment_118843986

Reception looks green on the map. I'll have to ask him what he installed. I'm fairness when he put it up I wasn't around and reception was working fine on the TV, I hadn't the box set up at that point so maybe theres something else he could do if let him know the issue. I'll keep an eye on it over the next week, let him know how good/bad it gets and try to find what signal strength is on the TVs at this time. Would it be typical that the octagon needs a stronger signal than a TV?

The Cush

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118844109#Comment_118844109

Tuners can vary as to how they handle a weaker signal.

What are the signal quality/strength readings for the TVs around the house.

mp3ireland2

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118844314#Comment_118844314

I checked the TV next to the box, it was getting a quality of 47%, level of 34% on channel 23

Quality of 100% level of 46% on channel 26.

This TV is hte one connected to the octagon and had been conected to same wall outlet using a splitter (with an amp before splitter).

I used this cable with the octagon and now am getting all channels on the box. Maybe just coincidence in timing as it does come and go normally at random times.I'll monitor this over a few days, maybe a better cable!

dxhound2005

There is a low power transmitter in Gorey channels 41 and 44. Any signal on those?

https://www.2rn.ie/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/2RN-DTT-Television-Transmission-Network-Sept-2019-Rev.1.2.pdf

There is a bit of a discussion about it on this thread post # 13 onwards. That was from the time when higher channels than 48 were on the air.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2057469017/saorview-signals-from-4-different-transmitters

mp3ireland2

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118844727#Comment_118844727

Thanks it was interesting but didn't help.

It wasn't the cable issue as today is not working.

I will contact the guy who set it up after seeing how it goes this week. In fairness when he left it was working on every TV in the house so he did the job he was supposed to!

The Cush

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118848614#Comment_118848614

Is this similar to the aerial you have installed now - Group A UHF Aerial for Receiving Analogue & Saorview Digital TV (freetv.ie), standard contract aerial?

If so you might benefit from a hi-gain aerial like this - UHF TV Aerial For Saorview / Freeview For Sale Online in Ireland (freetv.ie) for weaker signal areas, I have this one.

mp3ireland2

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118848919#Comment_118848919

Thanks I think it looks more like the first one and he charged €25 for it so I'd imagine so. I'll check in with him about upgrading, not keen to go up on roof myself. It was only a few weeks ago so he might take old one back to use elsewhere

zg3409

Can you swap the boxes or tvs around to see if the issue follows the box? Simplist fix may be to buy a box of a brand that works. Signal is probably a bit weak and some boxes don't like weak signals. I find the built in meters are often terrible and worse than useless.

mp3ireland2

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118849177#Comment_118849177

To be honest it's not that critical as the box is connected to a TV that gets the reception. I've tried swapping these cables and thought it worked but then didn't today. I just wanted an all in one box so I wouldn't have to switch between the box for sat stations and the TV for saorview. It's more a luxury than a necessity! The TV can still show saorview directly