Bad news for NI viewers of Scottish TV

Mike 1972

In parts of NI (and even the Innishowen peninsula) a lot of people have aerials pointed at Scotland which enables them to recieve STV and/or Border TV. Along parts of the Antrim and Down coast Border TV reception is far better than UTV !

However OFCOM have announced Border will be the first region to cease Analouge transmissions and this could be as early as 2007

SCOTTISH BORDERS PREPARE FOR ANALOGUE SWITCH-OFF
Hundreds of thousands of residents of the Scottish
borders are to lose their normal TV service after
media watchdog Ofcom earmarked the region as the first
in Britain to have its analogue signal switched off
completely. It means that the regular over-the-air
analogue services will be phased out and only those
who are connected to digital services on satellite,
cable or the terrestrial digital service, Freeview
will be able to watch TV. The area - which covers the
western area of the British Isles from the north of
the Lake District in England to southern Scotland and
also includes the Isle of Man - has a population of
just 450,000 and includes just one major city,
Carlisle. Several areas had previously been mooted as
potential test beds for the switchover, including the
Channel Islands and south London. The border region
has almost certainly been chosen as the first to be
pencilled in for switchover because of its small
population and the fact that it is covered by distinct
transmitters that don't "bleed" into other regions. A
pilot project in Wales will see the residents of two
Carmarthenshire villages, Ferryside and Llansteffan,
become the first in Britain to have analogue
terrestrial transmissions switched off and replaced by
digital signals in Spring next year. The trial numbers
only several hundred houses and all those not
converted to digital sets will receive a Freeview
set-top box free of charge.

DMC

Hmmm, most of North Down and Armagh would be pointing towards Scottish TV transmitters, I really havent heard too much of folk further down the Ards peninsula and the Down coast getting Border... Anyone?

lawhec

DMC wrote:

I really havent heard too much of folk further down the Ards peninsula and the Down coast getting Border... Anyone?

I think around Bangor it's usually successful, as I've heard stories of a few years ago of Glasgow Rangers supporters based in Belfast travelling to pubs in the town to view the teams exploits in the Champions League.

marksi

Northern Correspondent wrote:

I think around Bangor it's usually successful, as I've heard stories of a few years ago of Glasgow Rangers supporters based in Belfast travelling to pubs in the town to view the teams exploits in the Champions League.

North Down/County Down coast are much more likely to receive Border (from Cambret Hill) than Scottish.

This is a redundant argument though as we can happily receive it perfectly on satellite if need be. As to there being places with better reception of Border than UTV, as far as I am aware hasn't been the case for quite a number of years now.

Mike 1972

In Parts of Whiteabbey Cambert Hill (Border TV) and Claremont Carn (RTE) are still stronger than UTV

While most of Whiteabbey can get a signal from the Carnmoney Hill relay theres a few places along the seafront where even that is dodgy

lawhec

North Down/County Down coast are much more likely to receive Border (from Cambret Hill) than Scottish.

Aye, but IIRC Border carried the games involving the Scottish teams.

In Parts of Whiteabbey Cambert Hill (Border TV) and Claremont Carn (RTE) are still stronger than UTV

In my time in Whiteabbey I could never get Cambert Hill, though Clermont did blast in quite well.

SRB

Cambret is well received along most of the Ards peninsula quite a lot of Group B's went up for the Footie when BBC1 Scotland went FTA on Sat and couldn't show it. If the existing relays started to carry DTT at high power then the chances are the signals would still be watchable on the East Coast.