Interference from Telecom Antenna

My name is URL

Sorry if this is the wrong forum for this.

Last week, the Garda Station across from my house had a new antenna installed.

It's about 70 feet in height.

Ever since it was installed, all the tv's in my house have had interference in the form of faint horizontal lines through the picture.

What can I do about this, if anything?

watty

It's possibly Tetra. It's not actually being used. Just tests.

An Anti-Tetra / TV high pass filter near aerial.

If you have a pre-amp, a higher quality one.

My name is URL

Cool, thanks

I never knew such a thing existed.

If it doesn't work should I try to get the Company that installed the antenna to rectify it? It was KTL

The Cush

TETRA-related overload of television masthead amplifiers information from ComReg.

watty

well Tetra is an eircom contract. I suppose they could be subcontracting actual builds. I dunno.

(They do mention Meteor contracts on their site, which is eircom)

The Cush

From an article in the Sunday Business Post, Apr 2007.
Note the reference to Rivada Networks, a firm owned by Galway entrepreneur Declan Ganley pre Lisbon Treaty.

Eircom is the majority shareholder in Tetra Ireland, with a stake of 56 per cent. Sigma has a 25 per cent stake and Motorola owns the remaining 19 per cent, according to documents filed at the Companies Registration Office in Dublin.

They show that a company called Tetra Ireland Communications was incorporated in August 2005, with its registered address at Eircom headquarters on St Stephen’s Green in Dublin. Its directors include Cathal Magee and Pat Kelly of Eircom and Tony Boyle and Michael McGinley of Sigma.

Ronan Kneafsey, Anthony Maguire and Ian McCullagh are also directors.

The Tetra consortium was named preferred bidder ahead of competition from Irish and international consortiums. British Telecom was bidding with Siemens and EADS, while Australian firm Arqiva submitted a bid with Lockheed Martin and Selex Communications.

O2 was bidding with its Airwave subsidiary but pulled out of the race last year, citing the high level of risk associated with the contract. It is understood to have been put off by the requirement for the preferred bidder to build the first phase at its own cost.

Rivada Networks, a firm owned by Galway entrepreneur Declan Ganley, was also in the running for the contract. Rivada’s technology was used in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in the US, leading to Ganley being awarded the Distinguished Civilian Service Medal.

Ganley, who has been involved in telecoms and other ventures in Ireland and abroad, has described the Tetra system as ‘‘15-year-old technology’’.

However, the government is understood to have favoured the well-established technology to other less-proven alternatives.

My name is URL

What I find laughable is that this is presumably a government (tax payer) funded project, and even though we pay a tv licence fee, the public are still expected to pay for equipment to counter the interference.

I might contact the tv licence department and let them know I'll only be paying 50% of the fee from now on because my signal is 50% worse than it was before.

Sponge Bob

No. The intereference is from the structure not from transmissions from the structure. The latter is quite complex .

You get a QUOTE from the aerial installer to fix your aerial install and you send that to the Company Secretary of Tetra Ireland Limited and tell them you await their cheque.

TETRA IRELAND COMMUNICATIONS LIMITED

Address
1 HEUSTON SOUTH QUARTER,
ST.JOHN'S ROAD,
DUBLIN 8

( eircom HQ)
Registered
08/08/2005

Status
Normal
Last AR Date
08/02/2009


Next AR Date
08/02/2010

The 'Next AR Date' refers to the statutory Annual Return Date (ARD). This is a date after 1 March 2002 to which an annual return should be made up. If a company has annual returns outstanding for previous years the obligation to file these returns is a continuing one.

Last Accounts To Date
30/06/2008

watty

I'm baffed.

The intereference is from the structure not from transmissions from the structure.

Are we talking about Garda Masts or Windfarms?

lawhec

Going by UK law, as long as the TETRA transmissions are compliant with their licence, e.g. only transmitting in the frequency bands they are being allocated and out-of-band transmissions like harmonics are suppressed to acceptable levels, then the operators are in the clear, and they cannot be held responsible for domestic reception problems like your TV tuner being densed by out-of-band transmissions.

Someone who perhaps knows more on Irish law can confirm wherever it's the same in the Republic or wherever such operators can be held liable for disruption in certain circumstances.

A good article on the problems of TETRA to TV reception and how to deal with it are detailed in the link below...

http://www.wrightsaerials.tv/articles/tetra.html

My name is URL

Well I contacted KTL and informed them of my issue. I got a reply saying that they were contracted by a telecoms company to erect the mast and that they'd forward my e-mail directly to the contractor.

I doubt they'll do anything to sort it out though..

I could buy and install a filter myself but I'm a little reluctant to get up on the roof tbh, it's not exactly the safest

Mike 1972

Someone who perhaps knows more on Irish law can confirm wherever it's the same in the Republic or wherever such operators can be held liable for disruption in certain circumstances.

AFIK its the same although in the case of existing installations the TETRA operators may be prepared to pay for fixing the interference as a goodwell gesture.......

I could buy and install a filter myself but I'm a little reluctant to get up on the roof tbh, it's not exactly the safest

....or because they dont want the hasstle of defending a claim arising from something like this.

Antenna

My name is URL wrote: »

I could buy and install a filter myself but I'm a little reluctant to get up on the roof tbh, it's not exactly the safest

If you do not have a masthead amplifier there is no need for a TETRA filter to go on the roof (you do not say if you have or haven't a masthead amplifier) . Just instal it on the antenna downlead indoors prior to connecting to any equipment.

Sponge Bob

I do not think it is switched on yet , the interference is possibly from the presence of the mast itself not a signal off it .

It is easy to claim against interference from a structure and more complex to claim against interference from a signal emanating from a structure and yet more complex if it is a combination of interference from a structure together with interference from a signal emanating from said structure .

watty

I think some sites may have houskeeping signalling running even though no-one is using it.

Rippy

watty wrote: »

I think some sites may have houskeeping signalling running even though no-one is using it.

This is indeed the case.
Had massive problems when TETRA was installed in Kinsale a couple of months ago.
I was flying round the place removing or changing masthead amps and fitting hi-pass filters.
I had reported this at the Garda station.
The divisional communications manager for AGS phoned me back and told me he was switching it off because of all the complaints, even though he had been told to leave it on.
As far as I understand the situation, mastwork is being done all round the country and TX going live , but there is no money for actual mobiles:eek:

My name is URL

I've not heard anything back from ComReg after reporting and requesting info on what to do. The company that installed it are passing the buck to them so I guess the only option is to try a filter and see if it helps.

Can anyone recommend a good one that's available online? As per Rippy's post, it'll probably be a waste of time.

It's bloody ridiculous that no contingency is in place for people affected by this roll-out, especially since the tax payer is footing the bill.

Thats life I guess, you just need to bend over and hold on to something sturdy. pfft

Antenna

Rippy wrote: »

This is indeed the case.
Had massive problems when TETRA was installed in Kinsale a couple of months ago.
I was flying round the place removing or changing masthead amps and fitting hi-pass filters.

It would have made a lot of sense if, at least during the initial weeks of testing, the TETRA transmissions were turned off perhaps after 6PM every day (during peak TV viewing hours) rather than left run 24/7.

At least it would have given some breathing space to try resolve the problems!

Worst affected is likely to be anything on UHF Ch 60 (TV3 analogue from Spur Hill and Truskmore), and to a lesser extent Ch59 as the second harmonics of TETRA base transmissions (390 - 395MHz) falls in that area of UHF TV spectrum.
Harmonic generation can occur in masthead and distribution amplifiers of course,

Ch 60 can have very severe problems from TETRA - TV3 wouldn't be too happy that they are most likely to be affected of the Irish terrestials by this issue as no transmitters anywhere for the others (RTE1,2 or TG4) use Ch 60

Sponge Bob

Antenna wrote: »

TV3 wouldn't be too happy that they are most likely to be affected of the Irish terrestials by this issue as no transmitters anywhere for the others (RTE1,2 or TG4) use Ch 60

So what , I can get ITV1 ITV2 ITV3 and ITV4 on my freesat rig .

Serves them right for having so few transmitters that they are a Virtual SFN with no frequency diversity like the others . You make your bed and you lie in it.

Their CEO punted for the Tetra contract while he was with eircom , it is all his fault so