RTÉ DTT Tests: Mullaghanish

Ninjakettle

John mac wrote: »

yes to Mullaghanish,

Thanks John.

Out of interest, why do people think SCTV is going to fold soon? Freesat pushing it out of business?

vince

i have only seen 3 sctv digital dishes in the clonakilty area. not many in a sctv stronghold. they have their work cut out.

Rippy

Ninjakettle wrote: »

Do you think it would it be possible to put up another aerial and combine the signals into 1 down cable? This would have the advantage of keeping the SCTV service.

No, the signal from SCTV at Camden and from Mullaganish would be received by both aerials. This would cause severe ghosting and distortion if combined down one cable. If aerials are for different groups they can be combined using a diplexer,as is used in Crosser for RTE form Goats Cross (group C/D) and South coast (A). So it is either TV3 OR SCTV .

Rippy

Ninjakettle wrote: »

Thanks John.

Out of interest, why do people think SCTV is going to fold soon? Freesat pushing it out of business?

Disregarding the financial viability of SCTV digital, the analogue service is no longer licenced.
After many years of legality,they have hoisted the Skull and Crossbones once again.:D
Enforcement by Comreg will close them down when they get around to it.

The Cush

Rippy wrote: »

Disregarding the financial viability of SCTV digital, the analogue service is no longer licenced.
After many years of legality,they have hoisted the Skull and Crossbones once again.:D
Enforcement by Comreg will close them down when they get around to it.

Deflectors were granted a 3 year licence extension to the of 2012 on the 16th Nov.

Rippy

The Cush wrote: »

Deflectors were granted a 3 year licence extension to the of 2012 on the 16th Nov.

Quite right I missed this

South Coast will surely continue their analogue broadcasts up to this deadline, as long as they remain in business.

MikeC2048

Until a couple of days ago, I was getting a good DVB-T signal on Channel 62 - It is now off the air, and I assume that is due to the feed from Mullaghanish also being off the air for Digital. So I'd keep a eye on Camden at 62/UHF for a while to see if the signal returns. I can still also see a carrier on that frequency at 60DB uV (amplified), but there's no content there.

dowtchaboy

MikeC2048 wrote: »

Until a couple of days ago, I was getting a good DVB-T signal on Channel 62 - It is now off the air, and I assume that is due to the feed from Mullaghanish also being off the air for Digital. So I'd keep a eye on Camden at 62/UHF for a while to see if the signal returns. I can still also see a carrier on that frequency at 60DB uV (amplified), but there's no content there.

Mike - are you sure it's from Crosshaven? And I presume you mean Goat's Cross (RTE's) rather than Camden (South Coast's) - or are SC playing about with DTT?
PS - what freq in MHz is that? My USB dongle needs VLC to run and it needs freq not channel #
ta. db.

MikeC2048

Sorry, you're right Goat's Cross, rather than Camden. I'm cant remember if what I got (and remember it's only a carrier at the moment - power, but no structure) was on Ch. 62 or 63 UHF - my meter doesnt show that. Best of luck with it, but remember I havent received a structured signal for a week. You might be better trying your luck with Mullaghanish (Ch 25, I think), if it's back on air.

The frequencies should be (from the UHF Wiki):

UHF bandChannelVideo carrier (MHz)Audio carrier (MHz)21471.25477.2522479.25485.2523487.25493.2524495.25501.2525503.25509.2526511.25517.2527519.25525.2528527.25533.2529535.25541.2530543.25549.2531551.25557.2532559.25565.2533567.25573.2534575.25581.2535583.25589.2536591.25597.2537599.25605.2538607.25613.2539615.25621.2540623.25629.2541631.25637.2542639.25645.2543647.25653.2544655.25661.2545663.25669.2546671.25677.2547679.25685.2548687.25693.2549695.25701.2550703.25709.2551711.25717.2552719.25725.2553727.25733.2554735.25741.2555743.25749.2556751.25757.2557759.25765.2558767.25773.2559775.25781.2560783.25789.2561791.25797.2562799.25805.2563807.25813.2564815.25821.2565823.25829.2566831.25837.2567839.25845.2568847.25853.2569855.25861.25

vince

just home from mullaghanish whit new photos of the mast. can i send them to any onehere to post them up. if your interested. still ice falling down from the mast today. a bit of snow on the ground still.

TheDriver

and still no digital signal!

More Music

Not long to wait now.

John mac

More Music wrote: »

Not long to wait now.

go on tell us when it will be back

galtee boy

More Music wrote: »

Not long to wait now.

Days or weeks ? Put us out of our misery please ? I have a brother who has been using DTT from Mullaghanish as his main signal source, as his analogue is dire and he doesn't have Sky, so he's waiting with baited breath !

TheDriver

same here, no RTE for a month and going to put some sagem picnic boxes in for mates who want rte and its the easiest way so please come back on!!

Rippy

From an unofficial source, should be back on today (Thurs ) or Friday :D

galtee boy

Rippy wrote: »

From an unofficial source, should be back on today (Thurs ) or Friday :D

Emailed RTE NL yesterday and just received a reply stating that engineering works on DTT from Mullaghanish have been ongoing and that test transmissions should resume in the coming week. Hopefully "the coming week" means anytime from today onwards !

UPDATE : Rippy, your source was correct ! Mullaghanish DTT firing on all cyclinders again as of 10.30am approx. RTE1,RTE2,TV3 on test card,TG4 and four radio stations.

cillo2000

I can confirm that DTT is working south Kerry again, but the sound in RTE is badly out of sync and TV3 Just has a test card.

dunleas

Did a scan today and to my surprise I picked up Mullaghanish at 100% signal and 100% quaility. The reason why I'm suprised is that I have my powered rabbits ears in the attic pointed towards Spur Hill since xmas. Has the new mast gone live?

CorkMaths.ie

Must give it a try with rabbit ears, would be great if signal got that strong

mossie

CorkMaths.ie wrote: »

Must give it a try with rabbit ears, would be great if signal got that strong

Got it too with rabbits ears but as I can see the mast from my window that's no big surprise. I find the picture a little "soft" but otherwise OK, certainly far better than my analogue picture.

CorkMaths.ie

got nothing with rabbit ears but signal was something compared with nothing before. I can get it with a proper uhf aerial with a booster though

mossie

mossie wrote: »

Got it too with rabbits ears but as I can see the mast from my window that's no big surprise. I find the picture a little "soft" but otherwise OK, certainly far better than my analogue picture.

The reason it looks "soft" is because the channels (except RTÉ 2) are being broadcast in half horizontal resolution (544x576). I hope it doesn't stay that way but it has been for months now.

dunleas

CorkMaths.ie wrote: »

got nothing with rabbit ears but signal was something compared with nothing before. I can get it with a proper uhf aerial with a booster though

Have been using the "one for all" rabbits ears since last year, after alot of trial and error discovered I could only get a signal if I reduced the power by 50% or lowered the antenna by half. If the antenna is fully raised or If at full power I get zero. I am located 8 miles from Cork city towards Watergrasshill.

Amplified set-top aerials are virtually useless, the signal-to-noise ratio remains the same as you're amplifying the noise floor as well. I'm using a non-amplified one here for Three Rock and it works fine but for the majority of people out there they will need outdoor aerials.

Antenna

dunleas wrote: »

Have been using the "one for all" rabbits ears since last year, after alot of trial and error discovered I could only get a signal if I reduced the power by 50% or lowered the antenna by half. If the antenna is fully raised or If at full power I get zero. I am located 8 miles from Cork city towards Watergrasshill.

THe telescopic rods on those are not for UHF at all, but are for VHF TV, DAB and FM radio.
Its the loop part that picks up UHF (both analogue UHF and DTT) and should face the transmitter
The fact that it does not work when the in-built amplifier's gain is up to full might suggest overload from a nearby TETRA transmitter for instance.

dunleas

Antenna wrote: »

THe telescopic rods on those are not for UHF at all, but are for VHF TV, DAB and FM radio.
Its the loop part that picks up UHF (both analogue UHF and DTT) and should face the transmitter
The fact that it does not work when the in-built amplifier's gain is up to full might suggest overload from a nearby TETRA transmitter for instance.

Thanks antenna for that detailed response. Initially on setup I tried an 48 Element High Gain UHF Aerial Kit in the attic and got nothing, I stuck a booster on that and still no signal. The "one for all" was stuck in a box so I tried this and after adjusting the position and power got a very good signal. Might try a standard rabbits ears sometime or even revert back to the High Gain which is gathering dust in the attic at present.

Robxxx7

plugged in some rabbit ears for my TV today just to see if i can pick anything up ...

Signals came in at 98%

On RTE 1 and RTE2 just get a message on screen saying 'loading Text' no picture on TV3 or TG4..

Got the EPG aswell

Radio, getting sound on all ok ...

This is on my LG 42LF6 DTV ready TV

sesswhat

You just picked a bad day:)

They are having a good mess around with the DTT feed this afternoon. It might be back to 'normal' this evening.

Robxxx7

Ah OK, will check again later .. thanks