Ulitmate BBC aerial?

watty

10m dish home made project:

http://www.ok1dfc.com/EME/10m%20projekt/10m%20project.htm

It took 3 years.

During first test I had own echo very good. With 1W out I have audiable own echo back, with 10W I have on FT1000 s-meter signal S3 and with 80W out I have signal S7. Eddy ON7UN was calling me with outstanding signal after my CQ. He was 579 and peeking up to 589. Eddy is my new #97 initial on 1296MHz. Second station witch I worked was Hans OZ6OL, Hans produced also very good signal and was 569 all the time. First shoot looks promising and I am really looking forward to first regular SW on 1296 MHz. Before test I have measured also Sun noise, what was 21,2dB over noise compare with the cold sky.

lawhec

I think they used to have a similar dish on a hill along the Dutch coast to pick up the Talconeston transmitter to relay on their cable networks but have now decommissioned it in favour of a direct satellite relay from 28 east.

Incidently I believe that (via satellite) the BBC output on Astra 2D has been picked up solidly in Jordan on an 8 metre dish.

Ulsterman 1690

I read somewhere (cant remember where) that the "dish" used to pick up BBC for Dutch cable systems is actually located in FRANCE and links into the Dutch/Belgian cable via microwave

Some of the Irish deflector and cable systems use some pretty impressive parobolic antennae to recieve UK telly as well.

Ive even seen some parabolic UHF dishes (a lot smaller mind -maybe a metre or so) on ROOFTOPS in North Dublin pointing northwards.

How the things survive storms etc I dont know

Incidently I believe that (via satellite) the BBC output on Astra 2D has been picked up solidly in Jordan on an 8 metre dish.

Someone in Jordan must really like their BBC

lawhec

Ulsterman 1690 wrote:

I read somewhere (cant remember where) that the "dish" used to pick up BBC for Dutch cable systems is actually located in FRANCE and links into the Dutch/Belgian cable via microwave

Yeah, that was a recent system developed where the signal was received in Calias and then microwave fed.

Some of the Irish deflector and cable systems use some pretty impressive parobolic antennae to recieve UK telly as well.

The Castlebar deflector uses a parabolic reflector to concentrate signals from Divis on to a yagi. I've also seen photos of a deflector in the south-east using a wall of chicken wire to reflect signals from Preseli on to a grid aerial.

Ive even seen some parabolic UHF dishes (a lot smaller mind -maybe a metre or so) on ROOFTOPS in North Dublin pointing northwards.

How the things survive storms etc I dont know

I've seen them myself (one of them's on top of a pub) - I suppose the gap between the mesh (which can be made reasonably big for UHF frequencies compared to Ku band frequencies) helps reduce windload.

Someone in Jordan must really like their BBC

I think it was for a communal system being fed to the living quarters of a foreign workers compound. Presumably there are quite a number of British workers there to justify it.

Macy

Northern Correspondent wrote:

I've seen them myself (one of them's on top of a pub) - I suppose the gap between the mesh (which can be made reasonably big for UHF frequencies compared to Ku band frequencies) helps reduce windload.

Seen them around North Wicklow too pointing towards Wales. Think Watty once posted instructions on making one, but my site is so exposed I wouldn't even consider it...

Zaphod

http://www.castlebar.ie/photos/mike/TV-deflector/glry/index/castlebardeflector3.html

http://www.geocities.com/Broadway/7225/txgal5.html

watty

Now if had a spare hill top, buying chicken wire in bulk might be attractive.

Antenna

Attached is another interesting picture.
A mile or two southeast of a village called Golden (near Cashel) Co. Tipperary whilst passing through a few weeks ago I happened to spot this old UHF TV receiving dish in a field behind a house. I stopped and took this picture from the roadside. I later inadvertently got talking to a local when stopped a short distance away and mentioned I was looking at the dish. He recalled it was constructed in 1984 to receive TV from Wales and that the dish was said to be 40 ft in diameter. According to him it was designed by a man from Limerick for the people concerned. As can be seen it is now in disrepair with mesh missing. Apologies that the picture isn’t clearer (late in the day, light failing). I assume the dish just supplied the nearby house.
Incidentally the mast for Tipperary Midwest Radio (104.8MHz) was also to be seen on a hill not too far away (maybe about 1km) and was to the left of the picture

bkehoe

This dish is on the road to New Inn from Golden, for anyone wanting to find it. Impossible to miss . I'd be interested to know how well it worked, if at all, as I've never even managed to get UK radio from the top of the nearby hill.

L1011

Castlebar deflector gets its signals off-air? I know someone who lives near castlebar and his 'deflector' regularly crashes to sky channel 998....

lawhec

MYOB wrote:

Castlebar deflector gets its signals off-air? I know someone who lives near castlebar and his 'deflector' regularly crashes to sky channel 998....

Maybe its sourced from Digiboxes nowadays...
I just wonder how reliable DTT reception would be - the RTÉ relay would probably kill any chance of receiving muxs on channels 23, 26 and 33 though the rest could be worth a shot.