TV Reception in Dundalk - Advice please!

sudzs

Just moved to Dundalk and have an arial up on the roof whick brought the 4 Irish stations perfectly. BBCs, UTV and Channel 4 were really bad though. fuzzy snow!

So got in a "telly man" who went off to get us a "mast head amplifer", plugged it in and charged us 80 quid! :eek:

Now Ch4 is pretty good UTV and BBC2 are o.k. but BBC1 is still poor. Just wondering if that's just how it is in Dundalk or did he just not bother to go up on the roof to twiddle the arial???

And is there anything else I can do to improve the reception??

Is your TV tuned to the correct frequencies? I know that in Drogheda its possible to pick up 2 or even 3 different transmitters.

sudzs

Yes, it's tuned correctly!

Actually used to live in Drogheda where I had perfect reception off the ariel for all channels on exact same TV.

Mayo Exile

Just wondering what aerial you have on your roof? Is it a directional one (roughly an arrow shape). If it is, is it vertically polarised (rods up and down) or horizontally polarised (rods across).

If you take a quick look around rooftops around the town, most have two, a horizontally polarised aerial to get UK channels from Divis in Belfast (Grp A, chs 31, 27, 24, 21). Might also get Channel Five on ch. 37. You would need a mast head amplifier and power supply for these. Also most people would have a vertically polarised aerial for local RTE/TV3 signals (Grp C/D, chs 52, 56, 66, 68).

Exception to this setup is that some parts of town use a single vertically polarised aerial to get their UK channels from Camlough (grp C/D, chs 58, 64, 61,54) as well as RTE/TV3 signals. Mainly around Red Barns Road, Riverside Drive area. What area of the town are you in?

watty

You really need separate aerials to do this properly.

sudzs

Mayo Exile, I'm up around St. Alphonsus Rd.

Do you think the "telly man" who charged 80 quid to run down to the shops to buy the amplifier should have got up on the roof to check out the arial????
(It is similar to the others in the area but leaning a bit)

I really hate being taken for a ride... should I ring him back and see if he'll come back to sort out the ariel? Should I pay more for this???

Mayo Exile

I really hate being taken for a ride... should I ring him back and see if he'll come back to sort out the ariel? Should I pay more for this???

Seems you have definitely got unsatisfactory service from the guy. However if he goes up on the roof to check out your aerial, or to install a new one he'll definitely charge you more. Other threads on this subject seem to mention a price of €250 to €300 for installation of rooftop aerials. Did you look at other aerial setups in the area? Judging by your location, Watty is correct above, saying that you will need a two aerial setup to get UK and Irish channels.

Also suspicious that he managed to install a mast head amplifier without actually going up on the roof in the first place! Maybe he gave you a distribution amplifier (signal booster) instead? It would have an aerial input and one or more outputs to connect to TV(S) if it is one.

Deflector

Hi sudzs - yes if you could clarify your position regarding what/how many aerials you have on your mast, and the nature of the amp installed, it would help a lot.

I live about two miles south from you, and we, like everyone else in our area, have the horizontal Divis (big) and vertical Clermont Carn (small) aerials. However I will tell you that BBC One has always been poor in the Dundalk area - there's only so much you can do. Even with a masthead amp and a house distribution amp, BBC One is still very grainy indeed for most of us, with colour disappearing the very odd time. It's to be expected I'm afraid. It is more than watchable most of the time though, and I don't know how bad your case is, so we can't rule out a botched job.

Hope that's of some help.

sudzs

GrahamH wrote:

Hi sudzs - yes if you could clarify your position regarding what/how many aerials you have on your mast, and the nature of the amp installed, it would help a lot.

I live about two miles south from you, and we, like everyone else in our area, have the horizontal Divis (big) and vertical Clermont Carn (small) aerials. However I will tell you that BBC One has always been poor in the Dundalk area - there's only so much you can do. Even with a masthead amp and a house distribution amp, BBC One is still very grainy indeed for most of us, with colour disappearing the very odd time. It's to be expected I'm afraid. It is more than watchable most of the time though, and I don't know how bad your case is, so we can't rule out a botched job.

Hope that's of some help.

Great! Thanks a mill GrahamH! Just glad I now know that BBC1 will never be great, no matter how many men I sent up on the roof!!!

Yes, BBC1 is as you describe... and my ariel is the one you describe also (I think anyway!)

Thanks all, for the replies!

Mayo Exile

However I will tell you that BBC One has always been poor in the Dundalk area

Not sure if this is true everywhere in Dundalk. Am living in St. Mary's Rd/Wellington Place area and reception on all 4 UK channels, including BBC1 is good. Also get weak Channel Five on channel 37.

tvman

BBC1 always seems to be the weak one even when Divis was rebuilt some years ago engineers had problems getting coverage back to what it was previously. Not sure if they succeded, but in my own case 6 miles south of Dundalk and on a very elevated location, BBC1 signal strength is still slightly below the other three. Most noticeable if I place an indoor aerial on a windowsill facing north without any amplification, the other three are very watchable (including teletext).

Also anyone living within the area say from St Alphonsus road eastwards should try the Camlough transmitter, it gives much better all round reception - no high pressure problems in the summer for example, also it is one of the few relays due to carry Freeview when the big analogue switch off occurs around 2012, Only one aerial (group C/D) is needed for all UK and Irish channels, but be careful with distribution and masthead amps - Irish channels can overload them.

I have a question I hope someone can answer. To enhance my freeview reception, which would be the best aerial to buy a Televes Dat75 wideband or a standard Maxview group K (the only one that I can find group K)

http://cpcireland.farnell.com/jsp/endecaSearch/partDetail.jsp?sku=AP00727

http://cpcireland.farnell.com/jsp/endecaSearch/partDetail.jsp?sku=AP01183

(Click on the catalogue page on these pages)

I am using a Fringe super model wb amp at the moment (22db gain)
Aerials tried are an old group A and a wb grid type.
The group A gives BBC and five mux very strong with ITV dropping out sometimes but not a hint of Sky.
The grid gives all mux inc Sky at a lower signal level but not a hint of ITV.

Thanks for any advice, before I go out and buy.

watty

A Group A and a Group B feeding helical filters for each mux.

Wideband aerials and amps pickup too much noise.