Arfon or Preseli for digital terestrial-Decision needed soon-Advice please.

mrdtv

marclt wrote: »

Yeah, I didn't pick up on it the first time... only noticed it when posting. I've seen similar inaccuracies in Ofcom's stuff...

Still, we'll be switched over here soon enough!

Its why they all need to be sacked as they are an administrative overhead. BTW the new Cambret Hill DTT transmissions are being received easily in North Down replicating the old analogue coverage which augurs well and also as Huntshaw Cross post DSO is doing very well in Milford Haven and Swansea. I gather you are on the Pembrokeshire side: do you receive Mount Leinster and Kippure: which services?

marclt

mrdtv wrote: »

I gather you are on the Pembrokeshire side: do you receive Mount Leinster and Kippure: which services?

Yes, pick up UHF TV from Mt. Leinster and VHF TV from Kippure. UHF suffers quite a bit from co-channel with Kilvey Hill in Swansea. I'm 5 or so miles south south west of Preseli.

Caradon Hill has always been better for me from the south west.

mrdtv

marclt wrote: »

Yes, pick up UHF TV from Mt. Leinster and VHF TV from Kippure. UHF suffers quite a bit from co-channel with Kilvey Hill in Swansea. I'm 5 or so miles south south west of Preseli.

Caradon Hill has always been better for me from the south west.

That will be very interesting since as you know Caradon is switching over commencing 12th August and Redruth finishes switchover on the 5th. I will be down there next week to see how conditions have changed, and will report back. Was in North of France coast last weekend near Le Touquet and friends had perfect Freeview from Dover and TNT from Boulogne on high-gain aerial, same direction. No French HD as was UK MPEG2 box however. I somehow think Freesat would have been cheaper as UHF antenna had 96 elements!

Galway

Any chance of any photos of the Preseli twins, mast etc?

The Cush

Galway wrote: »

Any chance of any photos of the Preseli twins, mast etc?

Pictures here & here, enjoy.
Local analogue coverage map here.

Digifriendly

mrdtv wrote: »

BTW the new Cambret Hill DTT transmissions are being received easily in North Down replicating the old analogue coverage which augurs well

Do you have any links to this? Have posted on Digital Spy concerning Caldbeck/Cambret Hill DTT being received in NI but have got no replies.

mrdtv

Digifriendly wrote: »

Do you have any links to this? Have posted on Digital Spy concerning Caldbeck/Cambret Hill DTT being received in NI but have got no replies.

Google: 'Cambret Hill transmitter' and go to ukfree.tv where there's a long exchange on the new Cambret DTT coverage in Bangor, Co Down. On digitalspy there was a thread 'which transmitter am I on': he was on Port St Mary IOM DTT from East Down. The delay in postings is probably because many of them go on holiday there from the 12th July to end of July irrespective of political views!
This coverage is unsurprising given the performance of Huntshaw Cross post DSO in West Wales...

mrdtv

mrdtv wrote: »

Google: 'Cambret Hill transmitter' and go to ukfree.tv where there's a long exchange on the new Cambret DTT coverage in Bangor, Co Down. On digitalspy there was a thread 'which transmitter am I on': he was on Port St Mary IOM DTT from East Down. The delay in postings is probably because many of them go on holiday there from the 12th July to end of July irrespective of political views!
This coverage is unsurprising given the performance of Huntshaw Cross post DSO in West Wales...

For your convenience from ukfree.tv: Cambret Hill. BTW Paul is quite right about the polarisation if you check with the Ofcom web site!


I live just south of Bangor in Northern Ireland. Because my house is in the shadow of a hill in about 1983 I installed a horizontal group B aerial and since then I have have been getting extra Scottish TV stations from the Cambret Hill relay.

From the beginning of July I have been getting excellent digital TV from Cambret Hill with this same horizontally mounted aerial.

Your Cambret Hill digital TV transmitter | ukfree.tv - independent digital television and switchover advice, since 2002 page for the Cambret Hill relay states that the aerial must be mounted for vertical polarization to receive its signal.

I have checked with Digital UK and they have confirmed that this is not correct!

An aerial must be mounted for horizontal polarisation to receive the digital signal from the Cambret Hill relay.


Regards


Paul McIlfatrick
Posted by Paul McIlfatrick (1 post) 2 days ago. GB
Please report anything you find offensive. Report this message

mrdtv

The Cush wrote: »

Pictures here & here, enjoy.
Local analogue coverage map here.

Naughty! That's not Black Briar's installation and the pics show Preseli pre-DSO.

Digifriendly

mrdtv wrote: »

Google: 'Cambret Hill transmitter' and go to ukfree.tv where there's a long exchange on the new Cambret DTT coverage in Bangor, Co Down. On digitalspy there was a thread 'which transmitter am I on': he was on Port St Mary IOM DTT from East Down. The delay in postings is probably because many of them go on holiday there from the 12th July to end of July irrespective of political views!
This coverage is unsurprising given the performance of Huntshaw Cross post DSO in West Wales...

Many thanks for that. Just waiting for replies at foot of page to request for reports on Caldbeck DTT in Co. Down/Belfast. Will be fascinating to read!

Galway

Galway wrote: »

Any chance of any photos of the Preseli twins, mast etc?

I'll get round to it soon.
Subscribe to this thread and you'll get an email notice

By way of an update.

UK DTT is working very well,I'm glad I did this.
Even in last nights rain,there was some loss maybe for about 5 seconds on 3 or 4 occasions.
You'd hardly notice it.
At all other times-it's been perfect ie 99.9999% service

The Cush

Article from the Irish Independent website (from the Gorey Guardian) on Wed 5th relating to DSO in Wales and the loss of signal on the south east coast.

Don't be caught out by the switch over from analogue

THE United Kingdom has planned a regional approach to analogue switch-off which started in October 2007 and ends in 2012. The closure of the analogue broadcasts in the UK will impact on viewers in Ireland who currently receive their UK TV channels through overspill.

Many viewers in the South East of the country in particular receive their UK TV signals via transmitters in Wales and these are due to switch over from analogue to digital this month. From then on, any UK channels previously available are likely to be lost.

Digital Terrestrial Television will eventually replace analogue terrestrial television in Ireland also. However during the transition phase, the free to air analogue terrestrial TV transmissions will be broadcast along with the digital terrestrial services. The transition period will allow time for the broadcasters to build and develop their DTT networks completely and will also allow time for TV viewers to update their receiving equipment before the analogue network is switched off.

The European Commission has designated 2012 as the date by which analogue terrestrial TV transmissions will cease in Europe. Ireland has indicated that this date will be met.

Digital television is commonly available in Ireland over commercial re-broadcasting services - cable, MMDS or satellite - and the latest figures from ComReg indicate that 55% of TV households have digital TV on at least one TV set.

A new digital television platform –Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) – will be made available in Ireland on a phased basis from autum 2009. RTÉ will provide a Digital Terrestrial Television multiplex with capacity to replace the existing analogue terrestrial services currently provided by RTÉ, TV3 and TG4. This multiplex will provide for the continued availability of free to air public service broadcasting in Ireland.

No date has been announced for analogue switch off although it is expected that 2012 will see the switch off of the analogue terrestrial TV public service network used by RTÉ, TV3 and TG4.

Goreyguardian.ie

Digifriendly

Above article is of very little benefit to viewers on East coast who are about to lose Welsh analogue channels. No mention of what is now required to continue watching Welsh channels and need to invest in either UK MPEG compliant set top box or similar idtv and fact that Irish DTT will be use different transmission method from UK.

lucernarian

It will be interesting to see how many people actually lose their UK TV signals when they try receiving it on their iDTVs.

watty

Any Irish DTT receiver is backwards compatible to UK system.

Unless you have good freeview signal without a giant mast, a dish and satreceiver for FTA UK is better.

It's a poor article

mrdtv

The Cush wrote: »

Article from the Irish Independent website (from the Gorey Guardian) on Wed 5th relating to DSO in Wales and the loss of signal on the south east coast.

Was this written by the Sky marketing department?

Given that:

a) Many people were already receiving DTT from Preseli in the last ten years:

b) Arfon is being switched on for the first time, Blaen-Plwyf will radiate at 40Kw

c) Preseli is going from 1.6kW to 20kW with an omnidirectional HRP.

I would think reception conditions will be rather different than this article predicts.

The best solution is to try out existing antenna systems with cheap MPEG2 boxes or IDTVs if you have one and then decide how to play. No mention is made of Freesat in the article. The obvious longer-term solution is a combined DVB-T2/S2 box with a near-term DVB-T1 MPEG4/DVB-S2 box. No doubt this will be closely monitored by installers once BBC Mux A starts radiating from Preseli at 20kW on 19 August as well as Black Briar. Just standby...

Digifriendly

To_be_confirmed wrote: »

It will be interesting to see how many people actually lose their UK TV signals when they try receiving it on their iDTVs.

Quite a lot i would imagine unless they have a UK compliant iDTV. Out of interest are these in the shops in ROI?

mrdtv

Digifriendly wrote: »

Quite a lot i would imagine unless they have a UK compliant iDTV. Out of interest are these in the shops in ROI?

Yes, but the preferred option especially on this board is MPEG 4 Tvs or MPEG TVs with VHF/UHF. This is really going to be a very interesting test. BTW: I can confirm Caldbeck at Cloghy, Co Down. Just had a call. English PSB muxes only as expected. Clear as a bell!

Digifriendly

mrdtv wrote: »

Yes, but the preferred option especially on this board is MPEG 4 Tvs or MPEG TVs with VHF/UHF. This is really going to be a very interesting test. BTW: I can confirm Caldbeck at Cloghy, Co Down. Just had a call. English PSB muxes only as expected. Clear as a bell!

Many many thanks for reception update. Lived in Glastry (just up the road from Cloghey) for a few years and was able to not only get great RTE off an indoor aerial but also reasonable BBC Scotland.

mrdtv

mrdtv wrote: »

Was this written by the Sky marketing department?

Given that:

a) Many people were already receiving DTT from Preseli in the last ten years:

b) Arfon is being switched on for the first time, Blaen-Plwyf will radiate at 40Kw

c) Preseli is going from 1.6kW to 20kW with an omnidirectional HRP.

I would think reception conditions will be rather different than this article predicts.

The best solution is to try out existing antenna systems with cheap MPEG2 boxes or IDTVs if you have one and then decide how to play. No mention is made of Freesat in the article. The obvious longer-term solution is a combined DVB-T2/S2 box with a near-term DVB-T1 MPEG4/DVB-S2 box. No doubt this will be closely monitored by installers once BBC Mux A starts radiating from Preseli at 20kW on 19 August as well as Black Briar. Just standby...

Yes that gorey guardian article is typical ill informed or rather uninformed crap.
I'm watching a beautifully sharp itv 1 wales on freeview from presely tonight as usual with over 70% strength and 100% quality on the lower power as it is...
Damn it...will I be taking the twins down next week and replacing them with cats ears

Digifriendly

Deleted User wrote: »

Yes that gorey guardian article is typical ill informed or rather uninformed crap.
I'm watching a beautifully sharp itv 1 wales on freeview from presely tonight as usual with over 70% strength and 100% quality on the lower power as it is...
Damn it...will I be taking the twins down next week and replacing them with cats ears

Out of interest are you on a idTV or Freeview set top box?

Both.
I have a sonyw4000 tv with an mpeg4 decoder and I have a Humax freeview pvr on one of the other tv's in the house.

Digifriendly

Digifriendly wrote: »

Quite a lot i would imagine unless they have a UK compliant iDTV. Out of interest are these in the shops in ROI?

Most tv's in the shops including tesco have at least an mpeg2 decoder so would get freeview if in coverage.
Most of the new models coming out have mpeg 4 which will do both the irish dtt and the UK stuff,my sony w4000 is an example of that.

On the sony set to UK standard,it starts with the freeview channels from presely on 001 BBC one wales and puts the Irish channels from kippure starting at 800.

marclt

Hi all

From my location here in west Wales, I'm picking up Wenvoe, Mendip and Caradon Hill (analogue - due to band congestion) on an unamplified aerial tonight..

Definately an enhancement to the east... just wondering if signals are travelling any further with you. BB - are you getting anything else from further afield tonight???

M

I was out last night so didn't see this.
This morning is one of those one percent mornings.

Watching BBC one analogue only slightly grainy which would be average ..but then a sudden drop to nothing in seconds followed by a gradual lift back up to clear again.
In the last month this has happened just twice and like this morning,it happened for just 10 minutes before it got back to stable.

No rain ,no wind just cloud.You'd love to know what athmospherically causes that.
On the digital-all channels were gone for about 2 minutes followed by an immediate reappearance of the channels from the BBC one mux [the strongest one,not because of it's power but because of it's channel number being in the centre of the group B threshold] followed a minute later by the rest.
This would be the first time I've seen all muxes go,the BBC one mux never went before.

It's typical of presely though to drop down like that in an instant and climb back up again.
As I type it's perfect again-but given the weather is the same and the athmosphere is prone to doing whatever it is it did 20 minutes ago today,it will happen again probably during the day.

marclt

Deleted User wrote: »

I was out last night so didn't see this.
This morning is one of those one percent mornings.

Watching BBC one analogue only slightly grainy which would be average ..but then a sudden drop to nothing in seconds followed by a gradual lift back up to clear again.
In the last month this has happened just twice and like this morning,it happened for just 10 minutes before it got back to stable.

I recall something similar happening before in Wexford. Again signal level would drop on channels and then rise again. Most notably though the drop out would move up the band, so starting with BBC2, then ITV, BBC1 and finally S4C. I'm sure there is some explanation for this but I'm not sure what! I dare say you'll pick up Carmel if you had a wideband aerial - I was always picking analogue up on that in the best days of a lift.

In one summer during the mid nineties, I recall picking up Granada, Central Border and Meridian on top of the usual Wales and TSW/Westcountry. Moving to digital won't be same... to much 'scanning' to be done!!!

yup.
Hasn't been the same since you could get them all on satelite actually imho.

No drop outs since.
In fact despite the rain,the analogues are even better with no grain and the dtt stuff is all in the mid 70's strength wise and 100% quality.

fat-tony

Deleted User wrote: »

yup.
Hasn't been the same since you could get them all on satelite actually imho.

No drop outs since.
In fact despite the rain,the analogues are even better with no grain and the dtt stuff is all in the mid 70's strength wise and 100% quality.

BB - what do you think the chances of picking up Llanddona here in north Wicklow (Greystones area) once DSO occurs in November and the power output goes up from 1kW to 15kW? I see that two of the muxes are on C51 and C53 - our local active mux from RTENL is C52, with Three Rock/Kippure on C54.

mrdtv

fat-tony wrote: »

BB - what do you think the chances of picking up Llanddona here in north Wicklow (Greystones area) once DSO occurs in November and the power output goes up from 1kW to 15kW? I see that two of the muxes are on C51 and C53 - our local active mux from RTENL is C52, with Three Rock/Kippure on C54.

Adjacent channels are never a problem with DTT especially with big differences in direction. However a) do you get Lllandona analogue and b) what's the aerial system like? Traditionally Arfon and Preseli were preferred although Blaen-Plwyf is in use too. It all depends! If you can get the main stations its much better: carry all Freeview services unlike Arfon scheduled to be only 3 muxes.

Arfon digital should be your best bet in greystones - so freeview light.
It's probably the only one thats going to be reliable there.

It's actually a relay of llandonna which in itself says something for why you wouln't have a chance with its parent.
We only ever see llandonna here in hp conditions and thats with a wideband.

If Blaenplwyf is omni directional and not shielded to the west like it's analogue is at present,then it is a definite possibility for the full freeview service-depending onthe channels used.
It's technically group A but in actual fact on analogue at least the upper end of group A comes in quite well on a group B-so if it is omni at switch over,I'd expect to get it here...not that it would be any great addition-other than the fact that being omni directional,it could be even more reliable than presely-in other words it would be a service you could market!