freeview in Navan for a short while yesterday

emaherx

I recently bought a Sony Bravia with Freesat built in and am very happy with TV.
Last night I decided to tune in analog channels as reception of TV3 and TG4 is not reliable on Digital (Test card every so often).
after the auto tune I noticed that I had channel 5 coming through exceptionly well. So I decided to try rescanning the digital aswell and all or most of the NI muxes came in clearly. I watched Virgin one for a while.

This morning as I expexted the channels are all gone except the 9 Irish ones. Abviously the weather was ideal for tv reception last night.

I have an 80 element Ariel with fringe mast amp mounted in the attic.

I am now wondering if there is anything that I can do to increase reception (Don't really want to install aerial outside though).
Possibly a better amp (have heard bad reports on fringe amps in the past)
or by adding a second aerial.

or mabe just wait until after DSO when power is turned up on Divis.

slegs

You would need to have an outside aerial to get any significant improvement.

Fringe are fine.
You will gain probably up to 20db outside so that might pull in Divis dtt for you.
No need for a big pole if it occassionally comes in from the attic.
Just 4 or 5 feet of a thin pole attached to the chimney.
Loads of them in the south east,they're not ugly and you get so much for free
Use a meter for peaking as even though you will see analogue and can work it out roughly from that...getting to the peak is especially important and usefull for regular dtt.

mrdtv2010

Agreed. Losses from just having aerials in the loft can be up to 20dB


There are three things you can do:

a) Nothing till 2012. Then Divis increases in power from 2.3kW to 100kW

b) Stick with Freesat which I assume you will anyway.

c) Find out if the neighbours can get Freeview with outdoor aerials. If they can't back to a), but if they can then you could consider mounting this aerial outside on a tall pole. Incidentally it was obviously a lift as Five is actually broadcast from Black Mt at 50kW whereas the other four are at 500kW. There have been reports in the past that people are receiving Freeview in Meath, but if you can get Three Rock analogue then you have a problem as this is cochannel with current Divis PSB muxes. This problem goes away in 2012.

After 2012 the Divis DTT will provide far superior overspill into the North and East: it should be on air in time for the Olympics.

emaherx

Thanks for the replies

mrdtv2010 wrote: »

There are three things you can do:

a) Nothing till 2012. Then Divis increases in power from 2.3kW to 100kW

b) Stick with Freesat which I assume you will anyway.

c) Find out if the neighbours can get Freeview with outdoor aerials. If they can't back to a), but if they can then you could consider mounting this aerial outside on a tall pole. Incidentally it was obviously a lift as Five is actually broadcast from Black Mt at 50kW whereas the other four are at 500kW. There have been reports in the past that people are receiving Freeview in Meath, but if you can get Three Rock analogue then you have a problem as this is cochannel with current Divis PSB muxes. This problem goes away in 2012.

After 2012 the Divis DTT will provide far superior overspill into the North and East: it should be on air in time for the Olympics.

option a)+b) is most likely what will happen. As I dont want to move the aerial outside just for Virgin 1 and Dave

I can recieve 3Rock Analog and I noticed PSB channels missing from freeview selection, but its not an issue because of freesat.

Deleted User wrote: »

Fringe are fine.
Loads of them in the south east,they're not ugly and you get so much for free
Use a meter for peaking as even though you will see analogue and can work it out roughly from that...getting to the peak is especially important and usefull for regular dtt.

might invest in a meter as I did just throw the aerial up in the attic and hope for best. Worked well for analog reception.

slegs wrote: »

You would need to have an outside aerial to get any significant improvement.

I thought, that just thouhgt I'd check for other options first.

lucernarian

A relay has been tendered for Drogheda and will be built this year by the looks of things. It is shares the same channels with Divis on its PSB muxes so the extent of the interference caused by it won't be very clear. The ERP is supposed to be just 130W however. I expect Navan town itself won't be affected by this but higher surrounding locations might be.

I once received a signal from Caldbeck that was EBU grade 4 reception on an indoor loop aerial and the signal had to pass through 2 brick walls and a low hill to make the 150 mile journey. I also received the low power BBC A mux that day briefly. It shows how powerful lift conditions can be and the atmosphere is set up correctly overhead. So what can be received in this weather may not be representative of everyday conditions.

To_be_confirmed

To_be_confirmed wrote: »

A relay has been tendered for Drogheda and will be built this year by the looks of things. It is shares the same channels with Divis on its PSB muxes so the extent of the interference caused by it won't be very clear. The ERP is supposed to be just 130W

:eek::eek:
Radio nova again?

lucernarian

This has been on the cards since RRC-06 but I had hoped it would result in the use of Brougher's allocations for Drogheda when common sense paid a visit. Navan could operate on the grouping 23, 26, 30, 34 which would be acceptable when Mt. Leinster switches off. From what I know there's nothing within 30 miles of Navan that broadcasts on those allocations under RTENL's plan or indeed any such service even receivable in that radius except analogue Mt. Leinster.

mrdtv2010

To_be_confirmed wrote: »

This has been on the cards since RRC-06 but I had hoped it would result in the use of Brougher's allocations for Drogheda when common sense paid a visit. Navan could operate on the grouping 23, 26, 30, 34 which would be acceptable when Mt. Leinster switches off. From what I know there's nothing within 30 miles of Navan that broadcasts on those allocations under RTENL's plan or indeed any such service even receivable in that radius except analogue Mt. Leinster.

Drogheda will be buried by a 100kW omni service from a station like Divis, with its new much higher mast now under construction, outside its immediate service area. RTENL should rechannel this station to use Brougher's frequencies as there will be no CCI. However the longer things go on the more I think anything other than a 1 Mux Irish DTT service is DOA. It will also antagonise Divis analogue viewers in the runup to 2012: but RTENL are masters at own goal after own goal of late...

emaherx

To_be_confirmed wrote: »

A relay has been tendered for Drogheda and will be built this year by the looks of things. It is shares the same channels with Divis on its PSB muxes so the extent of the interference caused by it won't be very clear. The ERP is supposed to be just 130W however. I expect Navan town itself won't be affected by this but higher surrounding locations might be.

I once received a signal from Caldbeck that was EBU grade 4 reception on an indoor loop aerial and the signal had to pass through 2 brick walls and a low hill to make the 150 mile journey. I also received the low power BBC A mux that day briefly. It shows how powerful lift conditions can be and the atmosphere is set up correctly overhead. So what can be received in this weather may not be representative of everyday conditions.

Blocking out PSB Mux wouldn't be an issue due to channels being on freesat.
I would just like to have Virgin 1 and dave and mabe a few others that aren't on Freesat.

I understand that lift conditions played a factor in receiving the extra channels.
But as I can receive channel five on analog although not always very clearly, I don't think I would need to improve reception much more in order to get a reliable service from some of the Freeview Mux.

At least I should be able to receive them when power is turned up

lucernarian

It's not an issue per se, but considering the number of posts on the Welsh TV in Wicklow/Wexford thread, there seems to be a lot of interest in people continuing their reception of UK channels without having to go to the expense or trouble of yet another separate way to receive telly. Also, the Freeview HD mux has more HD channels than is available to freesat currently.

Quite a lot of people will look for Freesat to be installed and from quotes I've received, a price for installation with one FTA box can be around the €200 mark. With the allocations Divis has, I expect you should pick up most of the Freeview stations and the HD mux too.