Receiving UK channels

Johar

Hi,
I'm looking for advice on receiving UK channels(UTV,C4,Etc). I'm in the blessington area and reckon I wouldn't have much of a chance receiving anything due to being surrounded by hills.
Any advice would be grateful before I splash out on an aerial.

loftus

you're best bet is to get a sky digibox and dish and then get a free to view card. Perfect reception will be received.

Johar

Thanks Loftus,
I'm currently a sky subscriber so I have a dish and decoder. Where would I get a free to view card, and would I have to remove my sky viewing card and use the free to view card when I want to access the UK channels?

loftus

If you know any one in the uk or north of Ireland thay can get you one, yes you would have to switch cards depending what channels you want to watch. A cancled uk sky subscription card also workes for UK tv. Or if you have a look on ebay you can get a digibox with a free to viewcard or cancled sky card from the uk. These can be got for as little as stg£60. I got one off ebay with a card last year had no problems. I have my Irish and Uk box so no need to switch cards. Hope thats of some help.

Johar

Nice one Loftus. Thanks for the info.

Marconi

Johar,
There used to be a deflector on a hill off the road to Naas and opposite Glending Wood.
I don't know whether it's still in operation today but you could check it out locally.

watty

From 10th July (approx) you won't need a card for BBC.
It seems likely that FTV cards aren't available any more.

If anyone else in your area has a big mast with UK terrestrial reception, then it is possible you can.

If noone within 10 miles has mast for BBC/ITV/C4 etc, then it is likely you can't.

Lennoxschips

How far can UK TV signals travel over open sea? Would they make the Dutch coast? ( I doubt, but is it worth a shot?? )

I was thinking about this one:

http://tx.mb21.co.uk/gallery/tacolneston-maps.asp

Richard

Originally posted by Lennoxschips
How far can UK TV signals travel over open sea? Would they make the Dutch coast? ( I doubt, but is it worth a shot?? )

I think they do make the Dutch coast - I once watched BBC ONE in Amsterdam and it looked like it had been received off-air:

click here

If you get an error, just click in the Address bar and hit return

watty

Yes you can (with very expensive stuff) get UK TV on Dutch coast in places. But you probabily saw Dutch equivalent of NTL/Chorus. Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg all have BBC on cable for years.

Bits of French coast also get BBC. Mostly for the tourists. The French, Germans and Italians seem less obsessed with getting BBC than Benelux and Scandinavia.

Depending on Irish location the UK sites to receive are:
Strabane / Brougher Mountain
Divis/Belfast
Presley/Wales
Cornwall
Someplace more north than Presley.

In theory IOM, but in practice if located for that Divis etc is better.

A 75ft mast or convenient 2,500ft mountain helps if you well outside "normal scary pole on house with big aerial range"!

Like you *CAN* receive Mullganish in Cornwall.

You *CAN* get BBC TV on top of Keepers Hill outside Limerick.


Also with a Digital Satellite Receiver with CI or embedded viaccess CAM (not Digibox) there is always BBC Prime for about £80 a year. Popular in Scandinavia on Thor1W. Also on Hotbird 13E for more southerly Europe. ROI residents *MAY* subscribe, UK residents *CAN'T*! It is the real BBC card. An Alleged "best of BBC" entirely obsolete in ROI after 10th July, and somewhat obsolete here since BBC1 and BBC2 in ROI family pack.

BBC World TV is free on Hotbird (A bit like News24 with bits of BBC2).


Lots of Terrestrial TX don't do Five, though they have C4. So if Five goes pay TV only could be a problem.

Richard

Originally posted by watty

Lots of Terrestrial TX don't do Five, though they have C4. So if Five goes pay TV only could be a problem.

To be honest, I'm suprised five went the way it did especially given the BBC is going FTA and five was available FTA* on analogue sat for many years.

(*actually Ch5 was 'Softcrypted', meaning you had to have a decoder, but not a card to watch it)

watty

Yes because the Europeans didn't use Sky's videocrypt. MTV Germany was "softcrypted" with NO encryption. Which meant with no decoder it was fine, but a videocrypt decoder actually scrambled it!

Some older boxes you could on a per channel basis switch off videocrypt. On others you could select "External Decoder" and loop the signal in/out on the Ext Decoder SCART. Others needed a hardware track cut and switch added (so it could be turned on for C5!)

Lennoxschips

Richard, the BBC One cable feed in Holland was taken off the air in France and relayed up through Belgium and Holland by landline (or was it microwave). It was BBC region South-East. It was fairly shoddy reception and when the signal went out (quite often!) here in Holland we used to get a test card that read "Calais" and played French radio. However, the Dutch cable operators finally woke up last year and started getting their BBC feeds off digital satellite. We now get BBC London.

The reason I asked about getting UK TV on the Dutch coast is because I was once scanning with the car radio during the evening when I was at the beach, and I could pick up BBC Radio 1 fairly strongly. However, I think this had more to do with freak atmospheric conditions, and as watty said, it looks like I'd need fairly expensive equipment to pick up decent TV signals on a regular basis.

It looks like the only way to get ITV, Channel 4 & 5 when my FTV card dies is to subscribe to Sky UK...

Richard

Originally posted by Lennoxschips
I was once scanning with the car radio during the evening when I was at the beach, and I could pick up BBC Radio 1 fairly strongly

Occasionally in Co Longford when I've been listening to BBC Radio 1, it has been replaced by French, German and sometimes Spanish stations! Odd.

Johar

Now that the BBC are going Live on the 10th with their free to air service will it be possible to receive all their other BBC channels on a sky decoder other than BBC1 and 2.

watty

yes. And even on any Digital Satellite receiver including Satellite PVR and PC DVBs cards with hard Disk recording.

John R

Does anyone know what c5 reception is like in south Dublin?
I assume pressly in south Wales is the only option.
I currently have an aerial pointed to NI still in good condition but not used anymore. I remember recieving a watchable picture from pressly on a freak weather day when c5 were testing before they opened up. I am wondering if it is worth risking my neck going up on the roof to realign the aerial or not.

watty

There are now strong indications that Analog Terrestrial (and possibly DTT) of Channel Five will cease when Sky completes the takeover (They already part own it).

"Five" looks set to be a Satellite Pay channel only.

Originally posted by watty
Someplace more north than Presley.

Yes Arfon, for a 10k erp vertically polarised relay station it serves more of county wicklow than north Wales

Blaenplwyf , my spelling is letting me down is also used by some on the East Coast.

Regarding Cornwall-Caradon hill is receivable with the correct group A equipment anywhere from Arklow southwards, through wexford and waterford but gets very snowy on rainy days.
Red ruth also comes in quite clear , but mostly on fine summer days only.
As it is on the same channels as Arfon, it's not very well liked around here, we would prefer if it stayed at home as it causes bad co channel.
mm

Originally posted by John R
Does anyone know what c5 reception is like in south Dublin?
I assume pressly in south Wales is the only option.
I currently have an aerial pointed to NI still in good condition but not used anymore. I remember recieving a watchable picture from pressly on a freak weather day when c5 were testing before they opened up. I am wondering if it is worth risking my neck going up on the roof to realign the aerial or not.

If your aerial is a group B or a wideband, yes, you should be in luck , assuming there are no obvious obstacles to your southwest, like Bray head or Killiney.
Five has the strongest and best beam on Presely and comes in here with the aerial ,pointed almost in the opposite direction!

If it's a group A, you are just a tad out from the group of channels , your aerial supports, but maybe worth a try.
mm

John R

Yes I have a group B aerial, not a flicker on ch37 atm pointing north but then it is currently vertical polarity so I wouldn't expect anything, I shall give it a spin and see.

John R

Originally posted by watty
There are now strong indications that Analog Terrestrial (and possibly DTT) of Channel Five will cease when Sky completes the takeover (They already part own it).

"Five" looks set to be a Satellite Pay channel only.

That statement is just 100% wrong.

SKY have not begun to take-over five (yes they have a small stake) and current majority owners RTL have stated that they do not intend to sell their stake at the moment. Yes the rules that restricted NewsCorp (as well as other media conglomerates) from owning five are being relaxed but that doesn't mean they are buying the channel.

Even if SKY did buy it why would they want to go satellite only and loose the majority of their potential viewers? They wouldn't.

In fact they signed a 10year deal for their analogue terestrial licence several months ago.

http://media.guardian.co.uk/channel5/story/0,12504,913680,00.html