DTT Tests @ Kippure

gtg60

Yep, looks like Kippure has come alive, was just up in my folks where I previously could not get any DTT and now it's there (at 12.30 today) from an aerial pointing at Kippure. As predicted it's on 738 MHz and may explain the Three Rock 738MHz problems of late.

slegs

Yup confirmed here too. Realigned my aerial to point directly at Kippure and remove the masthead amp as I was overloading. 65% S and 95% Q on my MVision.

MPEG2

Switched aerial from 3 rock to Kippure. All channels coming in. Test card on TG4. It's nice to see the EPG back. Hopefully the service will stay on 'til the official launch date.

Peddyr

Does anyone know if Kippure DTT signal is directional as is CC (north shielded)? I was getting good DTT from 3 Rock and now nothing as it's likely it's been shut down temporarily for Kippure tests. I get very good analogue (UHF) from Kippure and would have expected same from DTT but getting nothing, which makes me wonder if it is also being beamed south like CC .

SRB

Peddyr, in Portaferry, there are very strong signals on 61 and 64 - nothing from 54 which was Three Rock, though it appeared for a while this morning, and was much lower signal than usual. I'm assuming the higher power signals are from Kippure and the recent break up on 54 was perhaps caused by Kippure going live. Am getting nothing at all on 54 now. These (61 and 64) appear to be blank carriers though, so your box may be ignoring them. If Kippure is coming in here, I'd be very surprised if you can't get the DTT tests from it.

Emerson

S. Dublin: About 6-8miles from 3 Rock, 15miles from Kippure with top of a more easterly hill barely obstructing LOS.

Stable picture from Channel 52 of 4 channels.
Former stronger signal on Channel 54 gone (now 0 signal).

Unsure of where signal originates. Traditionally analogue is significantly weaker here from Kippure than 3 Rock so that may explain drop in strength.

It's even possible this is from Greystones!

fat-tony

Emerson wrote: »

S. Dublin: About 6-8miles from 3 Rock, 15miles from Kippure with top of a more easterly hill barely obstructing LOS.

Stable picture from Channel 52 of 4 channels.
Former stronger signal on Channel 54 gone (now 0 signal).

Unsure of where signal originates. Traditionally analogue is significantly weaker here from Kippure than 3 Rock so that may explain drop in strength.

It's even possible this is from Greystones!

CH 52 is Greystones - welcome to our overspill:D
CH54 is Three Rock or Kippure.
Distance (unless we're talking 50-60k) is not an issue really except for very low power transmitters - it's more what's shielding you.

Emerson

Yea.. Looks like it's Greystones.. I can pick up all the FM signals here (89.5,91.7,101.3 etc) -ropey. They're gone about 1 mile up the road (Killiney/Mullins Hill gets in the way)

Strong signal on 61 with no channels found.

A nice solid 82% on all the UK channels from present 5 up on my MVision (from Satellite though - cheating!). 1-4 will remain vacant until clarity on DTT in this country arrives..

slegs

Is kippure off air at the moment? Not getting anything on 738Mhz.

Ganymede

Yes, Kippure's DTT transmissions have terminated. The interference to Three Rock on the same channel is now gone and reception has been restored.

SRB

There's a strong carrier on ch61 still, I assume that's coming off Kippure.

Peddyr

SRB wrote: »

Peddyr, in Portaferry, there are very strong signals on 61 and 64 - nothing from 54 which was Three Rock, though it appeared for a while this morning, and was much lower signal than usual. I'm assuming the higher power signals are from Kippure and the recent break up on 54 was perhaps caused by Kippure going live. Am getting nothing at all on 54 now. These (61 and 64) appear to be blank carriers though, so your box may be ignoring them. If Kippure is coming in here, I'd be very surprised if you can't get the DTT tests from it.

Hi SRB,

Yes, I was getting the same on 61 & 64. There's no way on my STB (Humanx 2000HDCI) of telling which transmitter the signal is coming from as Kippure & 3 Rock use the same frequencies. Some boxes will indentify the transmitter ID but not mine. 54 back on again at S 81% / Q 100%. 3 Rock or Kippure?

SRB

Where I am, it's easy enough to tell as Three Rock has always hovered around the 60% Quality mark, (though this tends to rise during good atmospheric conditions) since Kippure went live it's been at 100% Quality constantly. 54 is coming in at 50-60% Quality this morning, while 61 is still sitting at 100%.

slegs

Kippure definitely off air at moment. Gone back to Mt Leinster at 666Mhz. 82% strength and 95% quality - much higher than before here in Kildare Town.

mearaman

Just wondering is kippure back or still off? What freq is it on does anyone know?

CrowdedHouse

Nothing here - it's 738 Mhz

Irish Bazza

I have a built-in DTT tuner on my Samsung LCD TV, and I tried scanning for test channels on Kippure with no channels being received. I am based in Kilcullen, Co. Kildare. Am sure my signal is coming from Kippure. I may require a CAM to convert from MPEG2 to MPEG4

Any help is welcome.

mearaman

Just to follow up with bazza Is anyone recieving DTT in the Kill area?

Would it be possible do you tink to recieve it from Mount Lenister or is it just to far away?

Any tips would be great.

SRB

I take it's Kippure on channel 61,(794MHZ), here in Portaferry, loud and clear, all 4 channels plus radio - Three Rock also on ch 54 - box has both TX's channels listed side by side. Wonder what happened the SFN plan ?

Sponge Bob

SFN requires funky clock synchronisation between Kippure and 3Rock which may not be implemented yet . As far as I know only these two are to be in an SFN with each other .

SRB

Well yes, but you'd think they might have had that up and running before they ran the tests last week....(then again, "switch on and see what happens" does seem to be the way these tests are going, lol)

The Cush

SRB wrote: »

I take it's Kippure on channel 61,(794MHZ), here in Portaferry, loud and clear, all 4 channels plus radio - Three Rock also on ch 54 - box has both TX's channels listed side by side. Wonder what happened the SFN plan ?

Ch. 61 is assigned to both Three Rock and Kippure so probably just testing independently at the moment on different channels.

Three Rock & Kippure assigned channels - 54, 58, 61, 64.

SRB

There was an active MUX on 54 from Kippure - wiped out Three Rock's 54, for me anyway, - 61 and 64 were also active from Kippure, though with blank carriers. Then 54 went off and the active MUX moved to 61. I did think it odd a new MUX would go live on a bank holiday weekend, but then again, there won't be anyone working across the water in the UK to investigate any reception problems this weekend..... ; )

mrdtv

SRB: Presumably if you are receiving Kippure in Portaferry then it will also work perfectly in Strangford as there is no Mournes in the way. Is there any evidence of sea path fading in DVB-T on this path? Do you know the received C/N and what type of antenna/masthead you are using? Could be very useful live service to replace tired old VHF in Strangford and cancel Sky.

SRB

MRDTV, since the MUX on 61 from Kippure come on the only drop in signal has been caused by the ferry - as it's crossing the lough there is a drop, though it's really only causing a slight picture break up - it's not that annoying. (The analogue VHF and UHF signals also suffer from this.)
The mpeg2 trail service from 3 Rock was fine here in Portaferry, when the "trial" ended and RTNL's tests began, the MPEG 4 service was very much subject to "sea path conditions". Analogue Kippure is watchable, so I wasn't too surprised to find the DTT service coming in. Average C/N over the last few days has been 21 db. I installed a Triax High Gain C/D and Triax masthead for the in-laws here about 6 years ago, for Analogue Kippure, they are watching the DTT service on a BT Visionbox, lol. Have been down over Easter and plugged in my own PVR, anything I've test recorded off the EPG has been fine, though the Digital Aertel service could do with an update on a few pages.

L1011

Sponge Bob wrote: »

SFN requires funky clock synchronisation between Kippure and 3Rock which may not be implemented yet . As far as I know only these two are to be in an SFN with each other .

RTENL also have an uncanny ability to let their current SFN (the DAB system) go out of sync, meaning that Kildare/Meath get garbled signal as 3R and CC arrive entirely out of step... expect the SFN here to be an extremely lengthy part of RTE's testing.

mrdtv

SRB wrote: »

MRDTV, since the MUX on 61 from Kippure come on the only drop in signal has been caused by the ferry - as it's crossing the lough there is a drop, though it's really only causing a slight picture break up - it's not that annoying. (The analogue VHF and UHF signals also suffer from this.)
The mpeg2 trail service from 3 Rock was fine here in Portaferry, when the "trial" ended and RTNL's tests began, the MPEG 4 service was very much subject to "sea path conditions". Analogue Kippure is watchable, so I wasn't too surprised to find the DTT service coming in. Average C/N over the last few days has been 21 db. I installed a Triax High Gain C/D and Triax masthead for the in-laws here about 6 years ago, for Analogue Kippure, they are watching the DTT service on a BT Visionbox, lol. Have been down over Easter and plugged in my own PVR, anything I've test recorded off the EPG has been fine, though the Digital Aertel service could do with an update on a few pages.

Thanks. It will be very interesting to see the stability of that coverage over time especially in the runup to any future commercial service. Of course the BT Vision Box is MPEG4 for the ADSL TV service and gives DVB-T MPEG4 as an extra. The C/N is just above the threshold but it could be a far better alternative to VHF which is particularly ropey on Net2 at Strangford.

Irish Bazza

I have scanned in DTT from Kippure and the four radio stations are coming through loud and clear. Can anyone confirm that RTE1,2, TV3 & TG4 being tested?

SRB

Yup, they are there, TG4 is just showing an RTENL DTT Test card though. Just did a rescan on a Freeview box - only the radio channels on it now, it's lost the TV from Three Rock and Kippure. That's interesting.

SRB

For the first time since it went live the signal from Kippure is unwatchable with me - just wondering if anyone else "on the fringe" has noticed a drop, analogue signal is the same as usual so I don't think it's the "weather".

givecredit

In the last four weeks i've notices my signal strength drop from 72% to 67%. Im assuming the leaves that are appearing on the trees between me and Cairn Hill are having a slight effect on my Signal. Im about 40 miles from Cairn Hill.

MPEG2

I've had no signal from Kippure for the past couple of days. Analogue is as good as ever.

SRB

Couldn't get anything to lock on to Kippure today, was too weak a signal. Sat at 90-100% quality for weeks, but last week dropped down to 56%, then last night was around 38%, analogue, much the same as usual with me too.

CrowdedHouse

Is Kippure 794 Mhz ?

I have it here fine at 80% strength near Roscrea

SRB

yes that's it, it's back. Sitting at 85% quality with me too. Still getting that strange still picture for a few seconds when I switch to TG4, then it's fine.

Irish Bazza

I can only receive the four radio stations on my Samsung 40inch LCD after scanning. Are the four TV Channels testing on kippure at the moment?

CrowdedHouse

Kippure seems to be OK with me

SRB

mrdtv wrote: »

SRB: Presumably if you are receiving Kippure in Portaferry then it will also work perfectly in Strangford as there is no Mournes in the way. Is there any evidence of sea path fading in DVB-T on this path? Do you know the received C/N and what type of antenna/masthead you are using? Could be very useful live service to replace tired old VHF in Strangford and cancel Sky.

Just an update for mrdtv, Kippure is either running on lower power or (more likely) is being nulled towards the NE as well as the East. Since Easter Sunday, I have tested the signal at weekends around Portaferry (borrowed a Promox DTT Meter), it was consistant (never lower than 72% quality) but when I checked last (17th) weekend it had dropped to around 42% even on the higher ground. Over Sat and Sunday past, with the slight lift condiditions, it was only peaking at 68%, though Three Rock was 100% for most of the weekend. Now, RTE NL may have dropped the TX power all round, could just be part of the tests, but given the signal has been so much weaker for almost two weeks now, I'm afraid it looks like the ancient VHF "monsters" will be around a bit longer !

mrdtv

SRB wrote: »

Just an update for mrdtv, Kippure is either running on lower power or (more likely) is being nulled towards the NE as well as the East. Since Easter Sunday, I have tested the signal at weekends around Portaferry (borrowed a Promox DTT Meter), it was consistant (never lower than 72% quality) but when I checked last (17th) weekend it had dropped to around 42% even on the higher ground. Over Sat and Sunday past, with the slight lift condiditions, it was only peaking at 68%, though Three Rock was 100% for most of the weekend. Now, RTE NL may have dropped the TX power all round, could just be part of the tests, but given the signal has been so much weaker for almost two weeks now, I'm afraid it looks like the ancient VHF "monsters" will be around a bit longer !

Very interesting. I wonder whether its tropospheric interference to those channels from other UK/NI/ROI transmitters which are cochannel.Its probably too early to make any conclusions about the HRP pattern as these are just tests. Although of course the submissions by Boxer et al did show HRP patterns, coverage and removal of NI restrictions. The VHF service is too ropey compared to satellite although it can be received as far away as St Helens in Lancashire albeit with PMR interference. The true coverage will only be apparent when and if the tests migrate to a full FTA DTT service and analogue TV is turned off in NI in 2012. Do keep us posted on any significant changes to RTE DTT reception in Strangford as this progresses. Many thanks!

SRB

mrdtv wrote: »

I wonder whether its tropospheric interference to those channels from other UK/NI/ROI transmitters which are cochannel.

Don't think so - DTT's CH 47 and 49 from Preseli appear quite often, but I've never noticed anything on 61 before. While MOEL-y-PARC Analogue UHF is common enough, I've never received any DTT from there. Hadn't really looked at TV3 Analogue from Kippure in weeks, but the Mrs wanted to watch something on TV3 last night and as the DTT is now unwatchable, had no choice. (I re-scanned Three Rock and lost the TV Channels a while back.....) I thought the analogue picture, although watchable was much worse than normal - so while it may be wishful thinking on my part, I was wondering if the TX site is on reduced power all round, maybe that's why the DTT signal has dropped.
Be interesting to see what happens when Analogue Switch off happens in Wales and the DTT Muxes there go full power.

SRB

Blank Carrier has re-appeared on CH 58 and Ch 64.

mrdtv

SRB wrote: »

Don't think so - DTT's CH 47 and 49 from Preseli appear quite often, but I've never noticed anything on 61 before. While MOEL-y-PARC Analogue UHF is common enough, I've never received any DTT from there. Hadn't really looked at TV3 Analogue from Kippure in weeks, but the Mrs wanted to watch something on TV3 last night and as the DTT is now unwatchable, had no choice. (I re-scanned Three Rock and lost the TV Channels a while back.....) I thought the analogue picture, although watchable was much worse than normal - so while it may be wishful thinking on my part, I was wondering if the TX site is on reduced power all round, maybe that's why the DTT signal has dropped.
Be interesting to see what happens when Analogue Switch off happens in Wales and the DTT Muxes there go full power.

That will be very interesting as they are expected to replicate the analogue coverage areas with similar HRP patterns. The new high-power Stockland Hill is now being received far away regularly. As to Kippure I suspect that the workd are continuing and powers have been reduced to reduce costs until its clear what happens to Irish DTT. Thanks!

SRB

Noticed something odd today - since Kippure DTT dropped in power towards my direction a few months back, the DTT signal has really only been watchable when the analogue signal was stronger than usual. Nothing odd in that, given I'm way outside the Kippure reception area and generally it's exactly the same with Three Rock DTT.
Today though, while the analogue from Kippure is so weak, the TV won't even lock on to it, the DTT signal is rock solid. Just wondering if anyone else in fringe Kippure reception is getting a weaker than usual analogue, but stronger than normal (well normal for these tests) signal on DTT ?

mrdtv

SRB wrote: »

Noticed something odd today - since Kippure DTT dropped in power towards my direction a few months back, the DTT signal has really only been watchable when the analogue signal was stronger than usual. Nothing odd in that, given I'm way outside the Kippure reception area and generally it's exactly the same with Three Rock DTT.
Today though, while the analogue from Kippure is so weak, the TV won't even lock on to it, the DTT signal is rock solid. Just wondering if anyone else in fringe Kippure reception is getting a weaker than usual analogue, but stronger than normal (well normal for these tests) signal on DTT ?

Note that Llandona DTT is going to vacate 54, 58, 61 and 64 as part of the DSO switchover this autumn. Its reported on digitalspy they have been testing Llandona on high power. When I was in your neck of the woods we got Caldbeck, Cambret, MyP and Winter Hill as well as RTE VHF Kippure regularly. Once Llandona changes channels the CCI with Kippure on DTT will vanish which should see a big improvement. Also a full power Clermont after 2012 would be AOK in 2012/3 as DVB-T high power would not be bothered by the Mournes ( I assume PAL-I is badly multipathed: in Cornwall Caradon heavily multipathed PAL-I was replaced by spotless DVB-T high power!)
A whole new ball game, but depends on RTE having the b***s to roll out DTT: we'll see on that call!

SRB

I'm shielded from Cambret by Windmill Hill, I had hoped the DTT signal may have reached me, but not a whisper ! It's romping in elsewhere in Portaferry. DTT from Wales hasn't caused any issues with Kippure that I'm aware of - the signal was perfect until the power dropped around the first week of May and has remained more or less the same since then - well up until yesterday when it was noticeably higher, though the analogue was unwatchable. Even TG4 from Belfast, which is normally wiped out by CCI from Kippure, was coming in, which made me wonder was Kippure on lower power. DTT from Wales is watchable here at the moment on and off, so it'll be very interesting when the TX's go full power on their new frequencies. On another note, I wonder what happened the planned SFN for Kippure and Three Rock.

mrdtv

SRB wrote: »

I'm shielded from Cambret by Windmill Hill, I had hoped the DTT signal may have reached me, but not a whisper ! It's romping in elsewhere in Portaferry. DTT from Wales hasn't caused any issues with Kippure that I'm aware of - the signal was perfect until the power dropped around the first week of May and has remained more or less the same since then - well up until yesterday when it was noticeably higher, though the analogue was unwatchable. Even TG4 from Belfast, which is normally wiped out by CCI from Kippure, was coming in, which made me wonder was Kippure on lower power. DTT from Wales is watchable here at the moment on and off, so it'll be very interesting when the TX's go full power on their new frequencies. On another note, I wonder what happened the planned SFN for Kippure and Three Rock.

Very interesting. They'll have Cambret nicely all along the peninsula and I here Caldbeck is available too. I suppose with the Windmill Hill angle you won't get Winter Hill either, s that's being DSO'd in November. You should get Moel-y-Parc. The top of Windmill Hill must be a Dxers paradise since IIRC the only subtantial hill until Newtownards. Years ago at Cloughey you could get Caldbeck, Winter Hill, Moel-y-parc and Kippure Ch 7.

MPEG2

SRB wrote: »

I'm shielded from Cambret by Windmill Hill, I had hoped the DTT signal may have reached me, but not a whisper ! It's romping in elsewhere in Portaferry. DTT from Wales hasn't caused any issues with Kippure that I'm aware of - the signal was perfect until the power dropped around the first week of May and has remained more or less the same since then - well up until yesterday when it was noticeably higher, though the analogue was unwatchable. Even TG4 from Belfast, which is normally wiped out by CCI from Kippure, was coming in, which made me wonder was Kippure on lower power. DTT from Wales is watchable here at the moment on and off, so it'll be very interesting when the TX's go full power on their new frequencies. On another note, I wonder what happened the planned SFN for Kippure and Three Rock.

I'm getting digital reception from Kippure tonight for the first time in months also. Must be an atmospheric [font=&quot]phenomenon [/font]

MPEG2

Signal coming in loud and clear tonight. I had to retune the other day after the channel switched.

On Nationwide a few months ago an Engineer based at Mt. Leinster said DTT would be ready to go be the end of the year. Does anyone have any inside knowledge of when testing is likely to finish?

They are bound to run out of things to test eventually.

SRB

RTE's DAB radio channels are now being carried on the Kippure Mux too.

mjsmyth

Nice find, thanks for the update.

MPEG2

Is anyone else finding the signal strength is very variable recently?

The service comes and goes.