RTÉ DTT Tests: Mullaghanish

The Cush

Sam Russell wrote: »

Are these lights the navigation ones intended for aircraft?

This from the planning application (Kerry Co Council 07/1965)

A lightning protection system and an aircraft warning light, to IAA specifications, will be installed at the top of the new mast, as outlined below:

The Irish Avistion Authority specifies that warning lights on masts shall be in accordance with the International Civil Aviation Organization regulation (ICAO). The specific ICAO document is Chapter 6, Volume 1, Annex 14. A copy of the relevant section is enclosed. This specifies that:

• High-intensity lights, type A, shall be used, as the height of the mast is >150m. (refer Section 6.3.8 of ICAO)
• The lights shall be located ⅓ height, ⅔ height and top of mast (refer Fig 6.6 of ICAO)
• The lights shall be fashing white, in accordance with Table 6.3 of ICAO

kenny555

Got a reply from RTENL - the operators of the Transmitter.
apparently they were commissioning new lighting system this week
and left the daytime lights on overnight......
this was the cause of the intense illumination of the Cork/Kerry sky!!

Stinicker

kenny555 wrote: »

Got a reply from RTENL - the operators of the Transmitter.
apparently they were commissioning new lighting system this week
and left the daytime lights on overnight......
this was the cause of the intense illumination of the Cork/Kerry sky!!

You gotta be kidding me!! Are you this isn't caused by arrows and indians per chance or any other made up nonsense.

12 element

Stinicker wrote: »

You gotta be kidding me!! Are you this isn't caused by arrows and indians per chance or any other made up nonsense.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aircraft_warning_lights

I'm not sure if this is the case in Ireland or if they even have different lights for day time.

The Cush

12 element wrote: »

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aircraft_warning_lights

I'm not sure if this is the case in Ireland or if they even have different lights for day time.

ICAO regulations apply worldwide.

12 element

The Cush wrote: »

ICAO regulations apply worldwide.

This is all I was commenting on:

Wikipedia wrote:

Such devices make the structure much more visible to passing aircraft and are usually used at night, although in some countries they are used in the daytime also.

The Cush

Mullaghanish analogue and DTT went off air tonight, analogue TV3 & TG4 disappeared about 12:10 am followed by analogue RTÉ, assume DTT went around the same time.

My fallback - Woodcock Hill DTT all OK.

EDIT: Radio also down.

Stinicker

Still down at 3am!

mossym

Working fine at 7.55am

jimmyjim11

More Music wrote: »

It is live, although DTT is still on reduced power for the moment.

All services are now live on the new mast. The old one is being stripped down and dismantled.

Any one know when power is going to be increased

The Cush

jimmyjim11 wrote: »

Any one know when power is going to be increased

The latest information in the public domain is following ASO in Q4 2012 due to Irish analogue restrictions.

Voyager II

Anybody else down at the moment. No sig from mulla at the moment.:(

The Cush

Voyager II wrote: »

Anybody else down at the moment. No sig from mulla at the moment.:(

Yes it's down.

Announcement on RTÉ Radio 1's Drivetime this evening (after AA Roadwatch report at 5.30) that Mullaghanish will have outages all week due to essential work - weather permitting between 9.00 AM and 5.00 PM

http://www.rte.ie/radio1/player_av.html?0,null,200,http://dynamic.rte.ie/quickaxs/209-r1-drivetime-Monday.smil (1.05.00)

ralphie

Gone here too from Mullaghanish.

ralphie

Back again

More Music

Dismantling the old mast.

jimmyjim11

Wasn't able to pick up DTT the last few days/weeks
Tried again last night and got it

vince

was up there today top part of old mast down and most antenna removed. light was flashing on new mast looked like 4 lights at the top. the flashing light is bright at night from 20 miles away were i live.

Apogee

Irish Examiner wrote:

RTÉ shines unwanted spotlight on night sky

By Paddy Clancy and Eoin English

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

RESIDENTS living in the shadows of RTÉ TV masts have been thrust into an unwanted spotlight since faults in aviation warning lights caused them to default to a blinding 220,000 lumen setting 24 hours a day.

The RTÉ company which manages its transmission network has identified faults in warning lights on two new masts which are lighting up night skies.

The faults have caused the white aviation warning lights on masts in Sligo and Cork to default to a blinding 220,000 lumen setting 24 hours a day.

Brendan Gavin, from Rathmore, who lives close to RTÉ Transmission Network Ltd’s new 220-metre mast on Mullaganish on the Cork and Kerry border, said it can be seen at nighttime up to six miles away.

"The white light from this thing at night-time is very intense and it is a danger to traffic on the N22," he said.

He also claimed some people living closer to the mast haven’t been able to sleep at night, such is its brightness.

The same type of fault also caused a mystery across five counties in the north-west at the weekend.

People were puzzled by the mountain-top lights that they hadn’t seen before and which flashed across parts of counties Sligo, Leitrim, Donegal, Fermanagh and Mayo.

Internet bloggers soon realised the lights were flashing from Truskmore, north Co Sligo. One blogger said they were so bright he couldn’t sleep. Another asked: "Seriously? Don’t you have curtains?"

But RTÉ solved the mystery yesterday.

A spokesman said the aircraft warning lights on its masts at Truskmore and Mullaganish developed a switching fault.

All large masts have flashing aircraft warning lights installed to the standards required by the Irish Aviation Authority.

"The vast majority of lights have day-time and night-time settings. The day-time setting is often around 100 times brighter than the night-time settings for the obvious reason that it’s harder to see during daylight," the spokesman said.

"Occasionally, the switching equipment fails and for safety reasons the fail-safe position is the brighter setting.

"When the brighter, day-time setting is operating in the dark it can light up the whole surrounding area and would be very obvious for some distance in all directions."

The spokesman said the company has been in contact with the lights’ manufacturers and they hope to resolve the issue quickly.

The new, 175-metre mast at Truskmore, which can accommodate digital signals, has just been completed replacing the 135-metre one erected in 1960 in preparation for the introduction of RTÉ Television in 1961.

The mast at Mullaganish replaces a 170-metre mast, which remains on site.

The mast is designed to facilitate better coverage and deliver an improved service to viewers and listeners.

The masts are used to broadcast RTÉ1, RTÉ2, TV3 and TG4 television stations, RTÉ Radio 1, 2FM, Raidio na Gaeltachta, Lyric FM, and Today FM, as well as services for local and regional radio stations.

http://www.examiner.ie/ireland/rte-shines-unwanted-spotlight-on-night-sky-130789.html

The Cush

Similar piece in Wed's Irish Times relating to Truskmore

RTÉ solves mystery of night lights

The mystery of flashing night-time lights across five counties in the northwest was resolved yesterday when RTÉ said an aircraft warning light had developed a switching fault on a mast at Truskmore.


The lights flashed across parts of Sligo, Leitrim, Donegal, Fermanagh and Mayo. RTÉ said all large masts had flashing warning lights.

“Occasionally the switching equipment fails and for safety reasons, the fail-safe position is the brighter setting.”

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2010/0915/1224278897082.html

Gerry Wicklow

I wouldn't be in any hurry to buy lights from that supplier if two systems failed within days of installing:(
Scary

galtee boy

All four mux's ( 21,24,25 & 28 ) were running this morning. However, right now, it's only 21 ( public service mux ) and 24. However, both are transmitting the usual channels as per test mode of recent months. Wonder why they are bothering with 24,25 & 28 as there is no commercial dtt on the horizon ?

watty

Despite what some claim that RTE NL was deliberately blocking PayDTT, the reverse is true. They had spent or committed about €40M before talks broke down and both Boxer then One Vision pulled out. So the main sites may all have 4 x Mux and the gear needs to be tested. Can't be discovering it's broken in 4 years time when the Warranty runs out and a "top up TV" launches.

Voyager II

Same here all four mux's have a signal. Duplicate channels on 21 & 24.
25 & 28 With signal but no channels. Dont know why 24 is up and running maybe we are going to get more than we expected( highly unlikley but you never know)

watty

They will be rolling out the 2nd mux ASAP on all DTT sites. It could be that 2nd Mux will be running on all sites that are active by Public Launch date.

Originally with payTV the PSB wasn't getting 2nd mux till early 2013, i.e. after ASO. But they given approval to do 2nd Mux now, hence HD plans and 2nd mux nearly 2 years earlier.

The Cush

watty wrote: »

They will be rolling out the 2nd mux ASAP on all DTT sites. It could be that 2nd Mux will be running on all sites that are active by Public Launch date.

Originally with payTV the PSB wasn't getting 2nd mux till early 2013, i.e. after ASO. But they given approval to do 2nd Mux now, hence HD plans and 2nd mux nearly 2 years earlier.

I agree with watty, could be the second mux testing, after all the equipment is installed so why not use it.

ISAA posted recently that a second mux has been fired up at Truskmore.

I assume the same will apply to the other 11 transmitters that were first rolled out before the commercial DTT process ended, all 13 sites probably had the equipment for all 4 muxes installed.

Could any of the installed and unused mux equipment be easily moved to some of the other relay sites?

watty

Aerials and feeds/combiners and Transmitters/powers are likely site specific.

The DVB-T / COFDM modulator for each mux is likely same on all sites. Some transmitters can maybe be reused, but they are not going to use a 10KW jobbie on a 1Kw site etc..

Machinehead

Mulla quality way above that from my regular mast Maghera. Showing all four muxes live, no programming on no.s 25 & 28.

mossym

Machinehead wrote: »

Mulla quality way above that from my regular mast Maghera. Showing all four muxes live, no programming on no.s 25 & 28.

interesting, you're down in kerry right? i wonder have they upped the power from mulla, would be nice to be able to pick it up with a DVB-T pc card aerial, without having to connect to the aerial in the attic

given where i am though that is too much to hope for...

must do a rescan tonight though and check

The Cush

mossym wrote: »

interesting, you're down in kerry right? i wonder have they upped the power from mulla, would be nice to be able to pick it up with a DVB-T pc card aerial, without having to connect to the aerial in the attic

Since the extra muxes were powered up on Mon I have lost side-on aerial reception from Woodcock Hill, it returns when Mullaghanish is switched off for maintenance. So I guess there has been an increase in power.