Free to Air Satelite TV

irish_dew

Hi there.
I am living in North Inishowen (between Malin and Malin Head) and receive a horrible terrestial signal. Not even sure where I am receiving my British channels from, so I have decided I need a free to air satellite sysytem, just to receive a decent picture on BBC and ITV channels.

First of all, can anyone confirm that free to air sat is the best way out?

Secondly, does anyone know where I can find a decent shop in the Derry/Donegal area where I can buy such a system?

Thanks for the help,
John

dandanthe

John,
my folks live in gcastle in inishowen n use a free to air box with a hard drive recorder. the have a special ariel in the attic but not an outside one. u should have no problem getting a signal provided u are on the coast with no hills in the way between you and the signal. i think its transmitted from limavady.

Dun na nGal

watch out in lidl or aldi for sat systems . bbc free to view digi boxes available in asda - strabane but these take the signal the same way as ord tv aerial so if ur reception is bad they prob won't work . sat systems are more expensive but are only other means i know of .

irish_dew

Sold out again, and went for Sky..................................


Edited by Muffler: i dont think we need to know about your sex life or the want of same

esskay

I got a local fella out to install the sky box and dish for 30 euro. I did not have a telephone extension beside the tv and told him i would install it myself. I didn't, and so the box was never registered with sky and now I have all the free channels and a dish and box for 30 bucks. WooHoo!

irish_dew

Great deal you got there esskay,

whereabouts are you, or who was the installer?


Apologies to muffler by the way.

rikerdonegal

A mate of mine in Letterkenny bought one of those Free To Air sets at the Car Boot Sales in town last Saturday. Haven't had a chance to check it out yet, but it sounds good.

muffler

irish_dew wrote:

Great deal you got there esskay,

whereabouts are you, or who was the installer?


Apologies to muffler by the way.

No problems irish. I suppose you could say it was just a mod flexing his muscles
Nah, we try to keep things neat and tidy here.

Welcome aboard

esskay

irish_dew wrote:

Great deal you got there esskay,

whereabouts are you, or who was the installer?


Apologies to muffler by the way.

It was an add in the Sligo Champion but i presume the same thing would work with any private installer

rikerdonegal

Further to my post above, I had a look at that Free View set this evening.

Working fine, crystal clear picture to my eyes. It says 89 channels, but as I flicked around some of them came up blank (TCM and abc1).

It's a "AudioLine FTA 3000" for anyone that's interested.

I have Sky myself, but I was half-thinking of buying one as a gift tomorrow morning, for someone who lives outside LetterK.

(That's if I get up anytime before 3pm...)

Edit: Bought it, tried it, no joy. Signal not coming from right place, or maybe I had the wrong socks on, or something...

byte

For FreeView (DTT-Digital Terrestrial Television) to work, the aerial needs to be aimed at one of the three NI transmitters that transmit DTT signals. These are Brougher Mountain, Limavady and Divis. Also, the incoming signals would need to be quite good. If the BBC/ITV analogue pictures are perfect, or close to it, then you may be in luck. If your pictures are poor, then DTT most likely won't work. An aerial upgrade may be required, if applicable.

Some places around Letterkenny would get their NI channels from Strabane Tx (and perhaps Derry), which doesn't carry DTT.

rikerdonegal

byte wrote:

For FreeView (DTT-Digital Terrestrial Television) to work, <snip>

Thanks for the info. We'd figured on the Limavady/Strabane thing alright, so I passed the set on to a mate who's living within the right catchment area.

It would work fine in my house, but apart from Channel Five there's nothing on it I actually want. SkyDigital does fine for me.

byte

No probs.

I'm getting my signals from Strabane too, so no FV for me. I had thought it'd be handy for the bedroom. But now I've Sky wired up to it, and I have five on Sky anyway

muffler

byte wrote:

No probs.

I'm getting my signals from Strabane too, so no FV for me. I had thought it'd be handy for the bedroom. But now I've Sky wired up to it, and I have five on Sky anyway

How do you get channel 5 on Sky?

Paddy20

muffler wrote:

How do you get channel 5 on Sky?

Good question, plus as an ex-Sky subscriber who is still using the digibox & dish receiving plenty of TV and Digital radio via FTA, all free .

I am interested in knowing if these 'Free to View' terrestrial box receivers would work in Ballybofey, and would I receive 'any more channels' than I am already receiving from my old non-subscription digibox ?...

P.:cool:

byte

Paddy20 wrote:

Good question, plus as an ex-Sky subscriber who is still using the digibox & dish receiving plenty of TV and Digital radio via FTA, all free .

I am interested in knowing if these 'Free to View' terrestrial box receivers would work in Ballybofey, and would I receive 'any more channels' than I am already receiving from my old non-subscription digibox ?...

P.:cool:

I get C5 because I have a UK subscription Instead of RTE etc on 101-104, I have BBC, ITV, etc on 101-105. So no RTE, TV3, etc on Sky for me But I have these via aerial anyway.

Of course, if you've a friend/relative in UK/NI, then it's possible to get an FTV (Free To View, not to be confused with FreeView) card, which is available to anyone in UK/NI who has a TV license. These cost £20stg IIRC. These get you BBC, ITV, C4 and five.

Check out ICDG for more details on obtaining one
Note: If you have an Irish subscription already, you'd need to swap cards to view C4/five .

For Ballybofey, you will not get FreeView (DTT) either, as most of Ballybofey also use Strabane Tx for NI channels.

donegalman1

I was of the impression freeview isn't in the Republic yet. Infact areas of Derry do not have it fully yet. Perhaps inishowen has patches (another advantage of the penninsula besides great scenery)

I was gonna get freeview if available though tried a box to no avail. Though got the offer from sky only to find out can't get the extra BBc's and ITV 1?

muffler

donegalman1 wrote:

Though got the offer from sky only to find out can't get the extra BBc's and ITV 1?

This might help http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=318569

Paddy20

Byte,

Thanks for the info, "No Freeview in Ballybofey" Damn Ballygobackwards/B] thats what this place is, If I had not been born here, I would not be living here :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

P.:cool:

smashey

Paddy20 wrote:

Byte,

Thanks for the info, "No Freeview in Ballybofey" Damn Ballygobackwards/B] thats what this place is, If I had not been born here, I would not be living here :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

P.:cool:

Paddy

You can't blame your hometown for the lack of freeview. Remember it is a UK thing and the only reason some people in this country get it is our proximity to the border, and in Wexford/Wicklow the fact that there is nothing between them and Wales but the Irish Sea.

Paddy20

smashey wrote:

Paddy

You can't blame your hometown for the lack of freeview. Remember it is a UK thing and the only reason some people in this country get it is our proximity to the border, and in Wexford/Wicklow the fact that there is nothing between them and Wales but the Irish Sea.

Smashey,

While I understand and appreciate your comments, in Ballybofey we are so close too 'the non-existant' border' ! that I could probably spit
into the North.

I blame our government and our local 'Numbskull politicos' for the fact that we do not Already have 'Freeview' reception available all throughout the ROI ?...

Just my 2cs worth.

P.:cool:

byte

Yes, true.

RTÉ themselves are to begin trials of DTT later this year. They've already started DAB (Digital Audio Broadcasting) trials. Sadly, most of these trials are Dublin and surrounding areas. Be a while before the whole country is covered

Paddy20

byte wrote:

Yes, true.

RTÉ themselves are to begin trials of DTT later this year. They've already started DAB (Digital Audio Broadcasting) trials. Sadly, most of these trials are Dublin and surrounding areas. Be a while before the whole country is covered

Hmmm, maybe we need a IrelandDTTOffline/B] forum like the brilliant 'IrelandOffline' telecoms one, or maybe A NWDTTOffline/B] one, or would that be construed as too localised & 'selfish' ?.. .

As for 'RTE' I am not impressed, we had a local man involved with them at a high level, but unfortunately AFAIK he has left for 'greener pastures' ?..

P. :cool:

smashey

Paddy20 wrote:

Smashey,

While I understand and appreciate your comments, in Ballybofey we are so close too 'the non-existant' border' ! that I could probably spit
into the North.

I blame our government and our local 'Numbskull politicos' for the fact that we do not Already have 'Freeview' reception available all throughout the ROI ?...

Just my 2cs worth.

P.:cool:

Paddy

I am in Lifford. You can't get closer to the border than that. Even Strabane doesn't have freeview. Apparently the reason for this is there are too many 'cute hoors' in Donegal who would be taking advantage of this service if it was available. Why the people of Strabane and their representatives haven't taken this up is a mystery to me.

byte

I think the lack of DTT from some Transmitters is more to do with co-channel interference from other transmitters, both north and south of the border.

Maybe somebody should email the beeb, to find out what their reasoning is.

muffler

Paddy20 wrote:

I blame our government and our local 'Numbskull politicos' for

Thanks for the edit Paddy. Saved me the trouble

Paddy20

muffler wrote:

Thanks for the edit Paddy. Saved me the trouble

Thats ok, part of my New Years resolution was Do not give muffler any reason to edit your post, otherwise it could vanish completely, and in full :eek: /B], and even before anyone else has had a chance to 'read it' . A fixation that mods can easily become addicted too ! :rolleyes: Must be the stress ?.. Heh, heh,
P.. :cool:

muffler

Paddy20 wrote:

Thats ok, part of my New Years resolution was Do not give muffler any reason to edit your post, otherwise it could vanish completely, and in full :eek: /B], and even before anyone else has had a chance to 'read it' . A fixation that mods can easily become addicted too ! :rolleyes: Must be the stress ?.. Heh, heh,
P.. :cool:

Ah now be honest Paddy. You're in practice to take over when one of us retire so you decided to make a start on your own posts first just to get the hang of it

Steve_TcK

Hi all,

Sorry if this question has allready been asked-
I have just moved to ireland in Carndonagh / Malin and was wondering if i will be able to use my free to air box over here ?

I have just bought a realy high gain antenna as the antenna that was on the house was produceing a very poor picture.

As yet i have not been able to receive a digital picture

Any advise ??

Steve

GrumPy

Was gonna buy a free to air box, and mini dish in a few weeks.

Can anyone point me in the right direction to were I can find out howto set it up, and hoto get the best picture and best selection of channels?

And can you use it to pick up all the noraml rte1/rte2/tv3/etc.... if you dont have an aerial on you house already?

The dish and box will be setting me back €150.

Steve_TcK

Hi there,

I have a Sky setup from the uk but it will only pick up the bbc channels and only 3 at best
I cant seem to get RTE on the sky box - for this i think you need a sky subscription..

Steve

icom

Paddy20 wrote:

Byte,

Thanks for the info, "No Freeview in Ballybofey" Damn Ballygobackwards/B] thats what this place is, If I had not been born here, I would not be living here :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

P.:cool:

Hello Paddy, I'm in the Ballybofey area, and I receive all the Freeview channels from the Limavady transmitter. I'm about 3 miles on the Donegal town side of Ballybofey. Maybe I'm just lucky as I seem to have a good clear view towards the Derry/Limavady direction.:)
I also have SKY, but it's great to have a crystal clear Channel 5, as the analogue signal from Divis is a bit dodgy in bad weather...

icom

Steve_TcK wrote:

Hi there,

I have a Sky setup from the uk but it will only pick up the bbc channels and only 3 at best
I cant seem to get RTE on the sky box - for this i think you need a sky subscription..

Steve

Hi Steve,

Yes, you need to take out a SKY subscription to receive RTE's, TG4 and TV3 on the SKY digital platform, unfortunately.:(

It's like paying twice for the same thing ! We pay our tv licence for RTE etc., and pay SKY to receive the same channels ?? !!

The Irish channels should be Free To Air on the SKY digital platform ?

Steve_TcK

Hi there Icom,

Yes its the same in the UK - You pay your tv licence for BBC channels and then again to sky lol

Do you think i have much chance of The Digital through the tv antenna here in Carndonagh (Near Malin) ??

Steve





New Forums - http://chatbox.no-ip.com

icom

Steve_TcK wrote:

Hi there Icom,

Yes its the same in the UK - You pay your tv licence for BBC channels and then again to sky lol

Do you think i have much chance of The Digital through the tv antenna here in Carndonagh (Near Malin) ??

Steve

It really depends on your takeoff towards Limavady. Ideally, it should be line of sight.
If there are a few hills between you and the transmitter your chances of getting a decent signal is reduced, as the digital mulitplexes from Limavady are running low power at the moment in order not to interfere with existing analogue tramsmissions for example, with Moville or even Truskmore in Sligo. (Truskmore analogue uses some of the same channels as the Limavady DTT Freeview. Great planning !)

Not sure where you are receiving your existing analogue signals from, but the Limavady signals are horizontally polarised. You might need to purchase an additional antenna and point it towards the Limavady transmitter. Get it up as high as possible, as this will improve your chances of "seeing" the transmitter.

All you can really do is to give it a try and hopefully you will get most of the channels. Good luck and let us know how you get on....

icom

smashey wrote:

Paddy

I am in Lifford. You can't get closer to the border than that. Even Strabane doesn't have freeview. Apparently the reason for this is there are too many 'cute hoors' in Donegal who would be taking advantage of this service if it was available. Why the people of Strabane and their representatives haven't taken this up is a mystery to me.

Smashey,

I attended a Ham Radio rally in Derry recently and someone (in the know) mentioned that plans are well advanced to start DTT transmissions from the Strabane transmitter in the near future. (the equipment has already been installed)

After all what will the people of Strabane do when analogue is switched off in a couple of years time.

This, of course, will be of advantage to the 'cute hoors' of the Finn Valley also, who may soon be enjoying Channel 5 etc. on Freeview in the comfort of their own homes.:)

Steve_TcK

ok tanks ICOM,

Yes the take off here is quite good - and we run a few ham radio things from here,

The antenna i have is a massive gold beam so ill have a play later

Steve - EI2GYB

icom

Thats great Steve.

I've seen a picture of your QTH on the web !!

No lack of antennas/rotators at that location, HI.

icom aka. ---- EI8GP 73's.

muffler

Steve_TcK and icom. If you want a private discussion take it up by PM.

If you have something to contribute or debate here with others then continue posting but things are going way off topic.

And for the life of me I cant see how one of two people who apparently don't know each other can post up a picture of the other's property.

I'm soft deleting these posts until I delve a little deeper.

byte

Irish GrumPy wrote:

Was gonna buy a free to air box, and mini dish in a few weeks.

Can anyone point me in the right direction to were I can find out howto set it up, and hoto get the best picture and best selection of channels?

And can you use it to pick up all the noraml rte1/rte2/tv3/etc.... if you dont have an aerial on you house already?

The dish and box will be setting me back €150.

This link will give you a list of channels availabe FTA from Astra 2/ Eurobird. This is the satellite you'll want to aim your dish at. Amongst many others, you'll get all the BBC and ITV channels (but no Channel 4 or five, these are Free-to-view, needing a Sky box and Freesat from Sky viewing card available only to UK addresses).

As has already been mentioned, you need a Sky subscription to avail of RTE/TV3/TG4 on satellite. This is due to a deal struck between Sky and RTE, where RTE get free carriage but must be subscription only.

The only other way of receiving RTE would be with an aerial. You'd probably be best going to your nearest electrical store who would be able to advise the best aerial for your location.

byte

icom wrote:

I attended a Ham Radio rally in Derry recently and someone (in the know) mentioned that plans are well advanced to start DTT transmissions from the Strabane transmitter in the near future. (the equipment has already been installed)

After all what will the people of Strabane do when analogue is switched off in a couple of years time.

Ooh, interesting. Hope it's sooner rather than later! I'm currently picking up my NI signals from Strabane.

As for the "cute hoors" in the Finn Valley, they'll not be the first to avail of Freeview in RoI, and I doubt very much if ROI was the reason behind them not introducing Freeview sooner. Some in ROI can get it from Limavady, Divis and of course Brougher Mtn, near Enniskillen.

icom

muffler wrote:

Steve_TcK and icom. If you want a private discussion take it up by PM.

If you have something to contribute or debate here with others then continue posting but things are going way off topic.

And for the life of me I cant see how one of two people who apparently don't know each other can post up a picture of the other's property.

I'm soft deleting these posts until I delve a little deeper.

Sorry for going off topic Muffler. (Head bowed in shame)

That was not my intention. I will pay attention in future and try to stay on track.

I'm sure I will meet up with Steve_TcK soon as we share a common interest.

Good to see that someone is watching over us, and keeping us on the straight and narrow.


icom...:)

Steve_TcK

I was contributing,

I was asking if i would be able receive Digital tv in malin
Sorry for going off Topic

Steve
ChatBox Forums http://chatbox.no-ip.com

jimmycrackcorm

I saw a planning application notice up at the mongorry transmitter site made by RTE a few months ago. I take it that this is part of the dtt trial....

byte

jimmycrackcorm wrote:

I saw a planning application notice up at the mongorry transmitter site made by RTE a few months ago. I take it that this is part of the dtt trial....

Dunno, the trials are only being transmitted from Clermont Cairn in Louth and Three Rock in Dublin.