Getting an aerial for Woodcock Hill

zilog_jones

I currently have chorus analogue cable but the reception is pretty dire, especially when split out to 3 TVs - on one of the TVs upstairs RTÉ One and Two are barely watchable, and they can get pretty bad on the others too (it seems to get worse when it's dry ).

I've gave up trying to improve the cable reception, so I want to just get an aerial for the local channels - and I'm hoping they'll start DTT trials here eventually, so I want to be prepared for that too. I'm about 6km from Woodcock Hill (well, to the big white dome yoke on top of it), and I'm in direct line-of-sight.

I can get a half decent colour picture from the bedroom facing the hill with rabbit ears, so would I be right in believing I could get a good signal from a decent aerial in the attic? I don't have any means of going up on the roof, and wouldn't be comfortable going up there myself.

And what kind of aerial should I get? http://www.geocities.com/Broadway/7225/tvch.html used to have decent info on all the relays, but it seems to have gone. I take it's horizontal polarity, but beyond that...?

Luckily I saved that page before it went down.

The details you need are:

RTÉ 1: 39
RTÉ 2: 42
TV3: 45
TG4: 49

Horizontally polarised group B aerial

watty

Transmitter power is 100W!!!
Not 2kW, oh I wish!!

watty

Electrical factors on Tipperary road, Crosssagalla ind est.

Oddly I get less interference with a yellow cap Group C.
Group B is red cap.

Group C improves TG4 slightly at expense of RTE1.

Antenna

Group B is in fact Yellow (i.e. for Woodcock Hill)

The lowest group, Group A is Red - for Mullaghanish UHF

Group C/D is green - and for Maghera UHF

The 2kW power is the ERP, not the transmitter power. The max gain of the aerial system is going to be considerable at UHF and would easily bring 100W out of the transmitter up to 2kW ERP (even allowing for all losses)

watty

Duh , I meant Yellow and Green?
I need more coffeee!!

zilog_jones

So would I get a good signal from the attic then?

Are the aerials sold in Maplin any good or would I be a lot better off with a proper group B one (they only seem to have wideband ones). And how many elements should I go for?

watty

Depends on the direction of your attic, end walls, other houses. Often the loss is 6dB to 18dB and there can be huge reflections causing ghosts.

Try it and if unlucky, then get it mounted outside. Mine works about 2ft above back door and is useless in attic and very poor on Chimney. I have big trees nearby.

I have no idea if the Maplin aerials are good. Try a approx 10 element out of Electrical factors (Check Maplin and B&Q and Homebase prices first).

zilog_jones

Thanks for the advice!
I live in Caherdavin btw. It's a semi-detached house made out of shyte '60s concrete blocks, kinda north-west facing. There's only bungalows at the other side of the street (which is towards Woodcock Hill) - after that there's more houses (on a small hill) about 200-300m away, then nothing that height until Woodcock Hill. At the end of the street I can clearly see the transmitter - can't really see it from the top floor of the house, but at attic level I probably could.