Constantiaberg tower dead.....

[PaulB_]

Hi all

I was watching a movie off free to air, it was one of those rare days, in which I turned my TV on, and suddenly my picture went dead..

No picture on any TV in the house, phoned a friend of mine, they confirmed their TV was also dead, when I reported the issue to Sentech, they confirmed to me, that there was a failure on the transmitter, and their generators failed to kick in, everything's down, digital TV (I thought Tygerberg would also be broadcasting digital), it seems not, as if it was, I would be able to at least still have digital, analog is down, as is all the radio stations that broadcast off Constantia...

so if anyone is wondering why their picture went dead, this is why.

Thanks

 

[Chingha]

Wonder how many people will even notice

 

[Gordon_R]

Aha, I wondered why my radio wasn't working! E-tv is broadcast from Tygerberg, so I would never have noticed.

We had a huge wind-storm on Fri 11th, and the SAWS radar on Constantiaberg stopped working. Likely there was other infrastructure damage.

 

[PaulB_]

Aha, I wondered why my radio wasn't working! E-tv is broadcast from Tygerberg, so I would never have noticed.

We had a huge wind-storm on Fri 11th, and the SAWS radar on Constantiaberg stopped working. Likely there was other infrastructure damage.

Transmitter has since been "repaired" but SABC1, and 2, both on VHF still look horrendous, so I take it, more repairs still need to be done, and parts may possibly need to be shipped out from Johannesburg, and as a result they only did what they could last night, digital TV is once again 100%, and Constantiaberg also broadcasts e-tv, unfortunately my antenna is pointed at Constantia..

I just wonder if there was a total power failure up there, and the generators actually did kick in, and the fuel finally ran out...

 

[Gordon_R]

SABC 1 & 2 look fine to me, and radio is working. Maybe your antenna was affected by the wind, or the transmitter is misaligned?

The generator fuel story seems plausible. There were a number of power outages in our suburb alone, and technicians were very busy.

 

[PaulB_]

SABC 1 & 2 look fine to me, and radio is working. Maybe your antenna was affected by the wind, or the transmitter is misaligned?

The generator fuel story seems plausible. There were a number of power outages in our suburb alone, and technicians were very busy.

turns out my reason for a funny picture on VHF, was a loose connection behind the TV... Strange, as UHF and digital were working perfectly on the same TV...

What I also find strange, is that when the transmitter was off, I could not get digital TV...
I'm sure, even though my antenna is pointed at Constantiaberg, I think I should have been able to pick up the digital transponders from Tygerberg, despite the polarity of the antenna being different, and the antenna pointed towards Constantia, as opposed to pointing antenna towards the Northern Suburbs.. I can pick up digital TV on the TV in the lounge without the roof antenna even connected, obviously when the transmitter has electricity...