Which sites are RTE enabling for DTT?

Sponge Bob

RTE need to find a fairly whopping €68m in savings in 2009 and are a long way off finding all of them . They are unsurprisingly looking at their DTT rollout .

I heard over the weekend that this DTT rollout is under serious review.

Boxer still have not signed up to their BCI contract which makes projected income assumptions off this network rather tenous ...to say the least

Basically the plan is still to do the 11 Main DTT transmitters in 2009 , not necessarily by end Q2 either , and then push the rest ( including infills) back to late 2010 and 2011 where equipment orders can be rescheduled .


I am unsure as to whether this can be done , contractually . I am sure that the Q3 2009 work and 2010 work is being looked at seriously .

Schedule here .

https://us.v-cdn.net/6034073/uploads/attachments/10144/74321.pdf

Here is the Q2 2009 Target live ones bolded . This is pretty safe right now but not entirely safe. 4 of them have not been done yet .

Transmitters & Combiners

TransName - DTT or Analogue Aerial - Power in kw - Pop Coverage in %

Cairn Hill TDTT Antenna 80.00 5.6
Clermont Carn TDTT Antenna UK/NI Restrictions 50.00 4.4
Holywell Hill ATT Antenna NI Restrictions 2.00 1.0
Kippure ATT Antenna UK Restrictions 20.00 5.9
Maghera ATT Antenna 42.00 7.6
Mt. Leinster TDTT Antenna UK Restrictions 94.00 8.1
Mullaghanish ATT Antenna IR Restrictions 20.00 3.3
Spur Hill TDTT Antenna 21.00 4.6
Three Rock TDTT Antenna UK/NI Restrictions 20.00 28.5
Truskmore ATT Antenna NI Restrictions 52.00 3.6

Woodcock Hill ATT Antenna 10.00 3.9
Dungarvan 6300/10000 1.0
Greystones 500 0.8

Q2 2009 Coverage = 76.4% Population

In Q3 2009 the plan was to improve some coverage and launch new live sites , this is under review.

Q3 Planned Upgrades

Woodcock Hill DTT Antenna 10.00 3.3
Three Rock DTT Antenna UK/NI Restrictions 20.00 28.4
Maghera DTT Antenna 160.00 8.4
Holywell Hill DTT Antenna NI Restrictions 3.20 1.1
Spur Hill DTT Antenna 50.00 4.9
Truskmore DTT Antenna NI Restrictions 63.00 3.6 (new mast)
Mullaghanish DTT Antenna IR Restrictions 40.00 3.7 (new mast)

Q3 New Sites

Arklow 250 0.3
Gorey 10 0.2
Suir Valley 700/2000 0.5
Wexford 250 0.3
Waterford 250 0.9
Kilduff 25000 3.2
Drogheda 130 0.7
Galway 250 0.5
Collins Barracks 80 0.6
Glanmire 110 0.2
Passage West (Marino Point) 70 0.2
Crosshaven 500 0.7
Clonmel 500 0.6
Fermoy 50 0.2
Kinsale 30 0.1

( All of the Q3 upgrades and the new sites are to Cover another 7% of the population )

These new sites may now be under threat . 20 further new sites are due in 2010 and the final tranche of 5 in early 2011 .

The new sites from q3 2009 are all to be pushed back to q3 2010 earliest is what I hear and only antenna work required for UK Co-Ordination purposes and then only on main transmitters will be countenanced in the interim .

Sponge Bob

Same guy told me this story tells me that an announcement is due late this week now that Boxer have buggered off ...unless the Onevision consortium clarifies by then that they are back in the game .

This also seems to indicate that the EasyTV DTT syndicate will not resubmit .

Here is the Q2 2009 Target live ones bolded . 1 of them has not been done yet .

Transmitters & Combiners

TransName - DTT or Analogue Aerial - Power in kw - Pop Coverage in %

Cairn Hill TDTT Antenna 80.00 5.6
Clermont Carn TDTT Antenna UK/NI Restrictions 50.00 4.4
Holywell Hill ATT Antenna NI Restrictions 2.00 1.0
Kippure ATT Antenna UK Restrictions 20.00 5.9
Maghera ATT Antenna 42.00 7.6
Mt. Leinster TDTT Antenna UK Restrictions 94.00 8.1
Mullaghanish ATT Antenna IR Restrictions 20.00 3.3
Spur Hill TDTT Antenna 21.00 4.6
Three Rock TDTT Antenna UK/NI Restrictions 20.00 28.5
Truskmore ATT Antenna NI Restrictions 52.00 3.6
Woodcock Hill ATT Antenna 10.00 3.9
Dungarvan 6300/10000 1.0
Greystones 500 0.8

Q2 2009 Coverage = 76.4% Population

the_syco

Well, since Boxer is gone, I'd say it's gone from slow, to, well, um... non-existant?

bk

Collins Barracks 80 0.6

Is this the one that covers Cork city?

I'm surprised that it only covers 0.6% of the population.

watty

Spur Hill is main Cork City TX.

Sponge Bob

Any chance a Mod could edit the word "Rumour" out of the thread title ??

Can anyone confirm whether the Truskmore and Mullaghanish masts are being upgraded as planned or whether those two jobbies have been canned ????

The Cush

Sponge Bob wrote: »

Can anyone confirm whether the Truskmore and Mullaghanish masts are being upgraded as planned or whether those two jobbies have been canned ????

Work well underway, the following is from http://www.rtenl.ie/news.asp (previously posted mid April). Others have posted pictures of the ongoing work in other threads.

Mast News

New Masts at Mullaganish & Truskmore

RTÉNL is building new masts at its sites at Mullaganish on the Cork-Kerry border, and at Truskmore, Co. Sligo to replace the existing ones, beginning immediately and concluding in late Autumn 2009.

The present masts were built in 1960 in preparation for the introduction of RTÉ Television in 1961 and are approaching the end of their useful lives. Now is the ideal time to build the new masts in readiness for digital.

Mullaganish

The existing mast has a height of 170m whereas the new one will be 220m tall. This increased height will facilitate better coverage from this site, delivering an improved service to viewers and listeners.

Truskmore

The existing mast has a height of 135m whereas the new one will be 175m tall. Again, the increased height will facilitate better coverage from this site, delivering an improved service to viewers and listeners.


The preparatory work on both sites was completed in 2008 and construction of the two masts is now under way. The new masts will be erected alongside the existing ones which will stay in place until the new ones are completed and commissioned. It is envisaged that, weather permitting, the work on both sites will be completed in late autumn this year. For a period of time there will be two masts on each site while antennas are transferred from the old one to the new one. The old masts will then be taken down.

While work is going on, there may be some disruption to television and radio signals from Mullaganish and Truskmore. This will be minimised as far as possible and we ask that you bear with us while the masts are being built. Ultimately, the results will be worthwhile for viewers and listeners in Cork & Kerry; and Sligo, Leitrim, North Mayo, Northwest Cavan, and South Donegal

Sponge Bob

Final question , has anybody spotted any signs of any work being done on the Q3 2009 Tranche of sites yet??

Here they be

Name Power % and of population covered

Arklow 250 0.3
Gorey 10 0.2
Suir Valley 700/2000 0.5
Wexford 250 0.3
Waterford 250 0.9
Kilduff 25000 3.2
Drogheda 130 0.7
Galway 250 0.5
Collins Barracks 80 0.6
Glanmire 110 0.2
Passage West (Marino Point) 70 0.2
Crosshaven 500 0.7
Clonmel 500 0.6
Fermoy 50 0.2
Kinsale 30 0.1

Sponge Bob

RTE confess

http://debates.oireachtas.ie/DDebate.aspx?F=MAJ20090611.XML&Ex=All&Page=1

Conor Hayes, RTE Financial Director

Our original intention was that between the commencement of the project and June 2010, we would have spent a total of €70 million. Up to the first quarter of this year we have already spent €25 million of this. Due to the fact that it is not possible to just go out and purchase transmitters, antennas and similar equipment because much of it is of bespoke design, we renegotiated with our suppliers in respect of the long-term contracts into which we are tied and we have elongated the project. We sought to create as much space as possible without damaging the project. We will keep the project going and will spend €15 million between now and June 2010. This will be enough to ensure that we meet our obligations.

So the planned expenditure of €70m by June 2010 will likely be €40m by June 2010 .

I reckon the following have been pushed back to June 2010

( planned Q3 2009 Tranche)

Arklow 250 0.3
Gorey 10 0.2
Suir Valley 700/2000 0.5
Wexford 250 0.3
Waterford 250 0.9
Kilduff 25000 3.2
Drogheda 130 0.7
Galway 250 0.5
Collins Barracks 80 0.6
Glanmire 110 0.2
Passage West (Marino Point) 70 0.2
Crosshaven 500 0.7
Clonmel 500 0.6
Fermoy 50 0.2
Kinsale 30 0.1

and that everything behind that is also pushed back 9 months . The planned coverage after the Main Transmitters and the Q3 2009 Tranche was 85% of the population . Over to Conor Hayes

Mr. Conor Hayes: If a successful commercial contract was negotiated, we believe we would be able to provide a service to 85% of the country from the summer of next year.

Some very small transmitters were to be done in Q1 2010 ( not even 1% of the population) These are:

Bandon
Clonakilty
Mitchelstown
Tipperary

Cahir

But will they even launch DTT in 2009 is the big question ???

dowtchaboy

Sponge Bob wrote: »

Final question , has anybody spotted any signs of any work being done on the Q3 2009 Tranche of sites yet??

well in my post on another thread I showed a photo of a new mast in Crosshaven:
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=60531704&postcount=258

no equipment on it yet (as of yesterday)

Sponge Bob

Looks like it will have a lot of business from the mobile operators too .