ditching sky in kerry and want rte & radio : what aerial

davgtrek

hi all. probably asked several times but i cannot find it in searches.

I want to get rid of sky after 2 years. I know i'll still get enough bbc channels on the sky gear but i want terrestrial TV & radio. I am based near Killorglin in Kerry and will point UHF aerial at Knockmoyle transmitter. I am partially blocked by a hill for Mullaghnish. Currently indoor radio signals are poor in general.

My priorities are RTE 1/2
Newstalk, Radio 1 & Today FM.

Local Aerial installer is looking at €170 for TV and another €150 for radio aerial. €300 + seems excessive when you can buy aerials online for €50.

Is the liklehood of RTE digital from Mullaghnish this year a factor in the aerial i should choose.

Basically i dont want to spend 300 in current climate. Any advice on someone who can install in that area for less or what type & where i could buy the aerials and then get someone to fit would be appreciated.

P

TheDriver

DTT in Mullaghanish is nearly ready to roll, few weeks time. Aerials can be bought for 5 euro each in Cork.
Radio can be gotten from your sky box after sub, most irish channels are free for radio. TV of course must have an aerial.

davgtrek

That sounds good.
Am i right in thinking that if the old UHF signal from Mullaghanish is only fair for my house location due to topography that a far more powerful DTT signal would be fine !!!

Problem with radio from sky is in sitting room with TV etc.
I want the radio in kitchen/dining where it would be listened to whilst others watched tv etc.

I got a decent DVD/Tuner recently that has a co-ax in so thought that an external aerial ran straight in would give a great signal.
I was thinking that if i ended up getting an installer guy out to do the TV aerial then him lashing up the radio aerial would be easy.

I just don't like how much these guys are charging for their aerials... wayyy over the odds. I dont mind throwing him cash for the installation but feel that they rip you off with their quotes of €150 just for an aerial !!

P

lawhec

If you're wanting to get at least what you prioritise, €300 might seem excessive but the installers you contacted will probably give such a quote (especially on a site visit) to relate to what work might need to be done. You can be the better judge wherever you think they are ripping you off. If they are charging €150-170 for an aerial, yes it is a rip-off but if it includes full installation, it should be worth it.

In your case, this is what's probably needed...

TV

Group C/D aerial for RTÉ1, RTÉ2 and TG4 from Knockmoyle
Group A aerial for TV3 & DTT from Mullaghanish
Masthead aerial combiner to combine the two aerials (not a straight splitter working in reverse)
Possibly need a masthead amplifier and power supply if you signals from Mullaghanish are weak (not necessarily poor)

FM

If multipath is not a problem, a single element vertical FM dipole should be OK if the outdoor signal strength is good enough, otherwise a multi-element FM aerial would be required.
RTÉ Radio 1, Today FM and Newstalk all broadcast from the Knockmoyle site. Check for 88.4, 100.2 and 107.2 as these are the transmitting frequencies from the site.

You will need to note wherever you want all these in just one room or several rooms. A mention of wanting good FM reception in the kitchen/dining room would require an aerial outlet there (you would also need to ensure that any radio to be used there had an external aerial socket).

An aerial rigger should ensure that at a minumum they will put up the three aerials mentioned on to a mast at an appropriate spot (chimney, side wall etc.), fit any masthead amplifiers and combiners where necessary, lay new cable down in particular if the current cable is more than a handful of years old and especially if there is any visible signs of wear and tear etc. It's hard to say what needs to be done unless a reasonably detailed plan (e.g. distribution) is mentioned.

bugfreebob

davgtrek wrote: »

Problem with radio from sky is in sitting room with TV etc.
I want the radio in kitchen/dining where it would be listened to whilst others watched tv etc.

P

You can get these Internet Radios for around 40 Sterling + postage. They work off your Broadband router, so you don't need to worry about any external aerials. All the main Irish radio stations are available plus thousands from around the world.

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/134634

Alternatively you could probably pick up a couple of cheap 2nd hand Sky boxes (or other satellite receivers eg LIDL) on eBay, and use them as radios, if you have something to feed them into - eg Stereo deck etc. You might need to check how easy it is to use the Remote control to change channels without a TV screen to view the EPG. I know this is easy on my Clarke-Tech box, or LIDL boxes, but I haven't tried it on a Sky box. You will need to take extra feeds from your Satellite dish for each receiver, if they are not already cabled out. If your Sky dish doesn't have enough outputs, you don't need to replace the dish - just the LNB - get a quad output LNB they are standard nowadays, and don't cost much.

Best of luck - you are absolutely right to ditch Sky. The selection of Free-to-air channels is fantastic - no reason to pay Sky or NTL/Chorus/UPC with all this stuff free to air.

davgtrek

Thanks for that feedback.
On the installer front I agree that regardless of the cost of the aerial 150 notes for an installed aerial with whats involved is decent value. Where I see the rip off coming is talks of another 150 for the fm aerial that will be pointing at the same place , knockmoyle and can prob share the same mast etc. So I need to suss out exactly whats needed there and if the installer cannot supply it I'll get it separately and have him install it.

Am I wasting money pointing a UHF aerial at knockmoyle for rte 1/2 tg4 when DTT is coming online shortly from Mullaghnish or is it a case that when that happens I can just rotate the UHF aerial around to point at Mullaghnish and away I go with DTT ??

As for internet radios. I am aware of them and some mates are having mixed feelings about them. I also got a decent stereo for kitchen recently and have speakers & sub wired up in kitchen ( which herself approved of reluctantly after much convincing ) so I want to utilise it. It has a co-ax in for FM aerial so that should work well.

Thanks again for feedback

davgtrek

davgtrek wrote: »

Am I wasting money pointing a UHF aerial at knockmoyle for rte 1/2 tg4 when DTT is coming online shortly from Mullaghnish or is it a case that when that happens I can just rotate the UHF aerial around to point at Mullaghnish and away I go with DTT ??

Knockmoyle is group C/D while Mullaghanish is group A. You'd need different aerials unless you got a wideband aerial but I wouldn't recommend one.

davgtrek

OK. If the grouping of bands A & CD etc are different what would be wrong with a wide band aerial that would take in all ranges. whats the downside of one. Is it not as directional as a more specific type A, B , C/D etc.
Would it be still as effective if the wide band was pointed at knockmoyle for now but could be twisted later on for mullaghnish.

So does the new DTT still broadcast on the same UHF band.

So IS NOW THE WRONG TIME to buy an aerial for knockmoyle that will be redundant in a few months when mullaghnish comes on stream ??

thanks

p

A wideband aerial has less gain than a grouped one. Especially if you think your Mullaghanish reception is suspect you're far better off with a group A aerial than a wideband. Widebands are especially bad at the start or end of the UHF band and the Mullaghanish allocations are right at the start.

davgtrek

thanks karsini for advice.

i have a clear across the bay view of knockmoyle from the side of a hill. perfect! Mullaghanish is behind the hill i am on and so will be worse.

Any advice on what kind of FM aerial i should get to take in the knockmoyle stations.

i will prob get the installer to put up uhf aerial but not hand him crazy money for a cheap fm aerial that he can clip to same mast as uhf one.

Thanks

p

No problem. I don't know a whole lot about FM outdoor aerials but avoid these like the plague:



They're intended for horizontally polarised FM transmitters and any of the transmitters outside of Dublin are vertical only.

davgtrek

OK thanks.
its prob one of those whipp type aerials so.

if only there was a combined UHF / fm aerial out there.

thanks

p

davgtrek

Actually from reading around etc. would the simple thing be to wait for DTT in mullaganish as ( assuming I can get it ) this will have all the channels I want and the radio stations that interest me rte1,newstalk & today fm.

So one aerial will do and I will need a set top box.

Question is how long realistically ( taking recession on board ) until DTT is on stream from Mullaghanish???

TheDriver

3 weeks til tests start and after that it could start fairly quickly though officially its not stable and live for a while yet

Antenna

Karsini wrote: »

No problem. I don't know a whole lot about FM outdoor aerials but avoid these like the plague:



They're intended for horizontally polarised FM transmitters and any of the transmitters outside of Dublin are vertical only.

many install them vertically positioned i.e. like the letter 'C' and turn for best reception if necessary. An attic installation would likely be fine for FM. the OP could try this himself. (to pole mount remove the boom and reverse its position '-C' ).
Even if DTT was available, only RTE R1, 2fm, RnaG, Lyric would be available on the STB if it was used for radio - for the time being.

TheDriver wrote: »

DTT in Mullaghanish is nearly ready to roll, few weeks time. Aerials can be bought for 5 euro each in Cork.

Those 'contract' aerials would be hopeless in the OP's situation for Mullaghanish.
And the reflector on them is actually too small for the lowest UHF channels (Ch 21, which will be used for DTT, see link below!). It would be a struggle to get reception with a much better quality aerial depending on the effect of the hill.

http://www.wrightsaerials.tv/articles/whatsat-short-reflector-syndrome.pdf

More Music

davgtrek wrote: »

......i have a clear across the bay view of knockmoyle from the side of a hill. perfect! Mullaghanish is behind the hill i am on and so will be worse.

Any advice on what kind of FM aerial i should get to take in the knockmoyle stations. .....
p

How can your FM radio reception be so poor when you can see Knockmoyle directly?

Knockmoyle covers a huge area for UHF TV, let alone VHF radio.

If you can't get a decent radio signal, your TV reception isn't going to be that good either.

More Music

More Music wrote: »

Knockmoyle covers a huge area for UHF TV, let alone VHF radio.

That's true, I've seen Knockmoyle UHF aerials in Ballybunion.

davgtrek

not sure why fm reception is poor with internal rabbit ears but maybe its a mix of the foil backed insulation in my house and some other aspect to the construction ???

can anyone spec a handy fm aerial for me.

thanks

p

More Music

Just put a diplexer on your old VHF TV aerial. It'll do fine for radio.

All all radio stations signals poor? What about Newstalk or Kerry?

Are you living in a Faraday cage?

davgtrek

indeed i must as the previous owners told me that when lightening hits the house as long as i dont touch the walls i am fine.

all radio signals are poor enough. radio 1 was ok today but the rest dodgy.

p

More Music

Are you sure you're tuned into the right frequencies?

All the RTE stations would be transmitting the same power. There should be no difference between Radio 1, 2FM RnaG or Lyric. You could probably add Newstalk, Spin SW and Today FM to that also as they all broadcast through the same aerials.

R1 88.4
2fm 90.6
Today FM 100.2
Newstalk 107.2

Not sure of the others off the top of my head.

barnicles

RnaG 92.8
Lyric FM 98.0
Kerry 97.2

davgtrek

thanks lads for frequencies

P