Freeview from a deflector?

loftus

I receive my UK TV from a deflector here in Mayo. Thay get there signal from Brougher. DTT is transmitted from Brougher so what would happen if I got a Freeview box and put my UHF aerial, that receives the deflector signals, in to it. Would I get Freeview?

lawhec

99.99999999999% certain that the answer would be no.

watty

Deflectors arn't Deflectors...


It is an Irish euphemism for a TV tuner like in a VHS that feeds a cobbled together analog TV Transmitter.

There is NO WAY any pathetically engineered "Deflector" can retransmit the Digital signals that make up "freeview".

A professional Duplex Filtered Wideband frequency shifter with windband very linear Transmitter could receive a "Freeview" multiplex and rebroadcast it. Such a transmitter would handle alternatively an analog channel. Mostly that is not how "Deflectors" are done. On a satellite this is called a Transponder set (1/2 receives and 1/2 transmits). RTE terrestrailly calls them Relays or Translators. Strictly speaking a "Complete" Relay station is a Professional version of a Deflector.

In either case a complete set of equipment is needed for each channel or multiplex. Then a combiner for the Transmitter aerials.


The only "freeview" signals likely are from the official UK transmitters (Multiplexes) in Wales and N.I. depending on location.


Operators originally coined the term Deflector to hide the fact they where simply rebroadcasting a received picture with an illegal TV Transmitter.

Of course such is Irish politics that some have licences. This was supposed to be temporary till Irish DTT (Terrestrail Digital like Freeview, except with pay channels like Chorus) started.
But the plans for Irish DTT colapsed since no-one can afford to either install it or run it.

Only one company bid for the licence and it was obvious they were SERIOUSLY underfinanced and misunderstood what the Irish version of DTT could do. The UK system before it became Freeview had a phoine line like Sky for ordering and stuff, The proposed Irish system uses a kind of slow Wireless Lan using the TV aerial to send back to the seller instead of phone.

This would not remotely be as good as 56K phone for speed. But saves cost of phone for Interactive. The sole bidders told the Investors they would sell Internet Broadband with it (Which would have been impossible). ODTR told them the TV licence did NOT include a licence to Sell internet serivces anyway....

Mike 1972

At the moment none of the deflectors are relaying the freeview signals even those deflectors that rebroadcast "on Channel" are (or should be) using channelised filters which would block out the freeview signals.

Some deflector groups have proposed to start a digital freeview like service on UHF while others advocate using microwave (10-12 GHz) frequencies for digital services but none of these are up and running as yet

watty

Only SWCT has resource to do anything Digital. And even that is dubious.

I think SWCT's 10GHz Digital (MMDS really by another name) is particularly ill advised. I hope Comreg comes down firmly against it.


I looked at gear to transmit Digital Terrestrial. The cheapest solution, is half baked using a bench test set for DTT receivers to generate the signal. That excludes, site, install, some how having 4 channels to put on it, aerials, masts & etc. Just CODFM encoders, combiners and Transmitter.

A "mux" with 4 channels would not leave much change out of $15,000. The mind boggles how much a complete MUX as implemented by Crown Castle or NTL or who ever does it in UK.


Maybe for $3500 I could get ONE channel up and running using my existing PC as MPEG2 source and my existing (licensed) 1295MHz 1W Amatuer TV transmitter! But I'm unsure that the "bench test" set can directly connect to the PC without a third possibly expensive piece of gear.

Then a DTT PC card with 1295MHz to UHF downconvertor (a bit like an LNB) could receive.

I didn't find a box yet that could do the UK standard (I don't think it is the best anyway).


There is the receiver cost. £99 for the poor UK standard. Or a bit more for some of the better DTT systems.

Mike 1972

I guess then SCCTV are hoping the gear will drop in price or they have figured out some other way of doing it.

They may have been talking through their hat but I think I hears someone saying that some of those 2.45GHz videosender thingies use digital ransmission (as opposed to analouge FM) maybe if you upconverted the output to 10GHz

Is there any reason why DTT transmission should be so expensive anyway. I mean isint the COFDM technology basically the same as that used in Wireless LAN's, Mobile Phones even NICAM ? or is it a case of the necessary chipsets not having achieved economic production volumes yet ?