Castlebar reduced power?

Galway

Has anyone's reception of RTE 1, RTE 2, TG4 from Castlebar on channels 29, 33 & 23 respectively deteriorated since Friday? Power definitely seems to be well down at my location.

yop

Still the same quality here

Avns1s

Same here too. No deterioration.

The Cush

There was an announcement on radio or tv last weekend (I think) about ongoing maintenance work at Castlebar - downtime / reduced power, don't remember the specific details.

Possible DTT upgrade work?

Galway

The Cush wrote: »

There was an announcement on radio or tv last weekend (I think) about ongoing maintenance work at Castlebar - downtime / reduced power, don't remember the specific details.

Possible DTT upgrade work?

Well I am picking it up south west of the Tx so it might only be certain beams that are affected. Usually perfect but unwatchable here now.

thomasking22008

i live in tuam country i have same problem rte 1 rte 2 tg4 bad picture aswell but i use watch on DTT on signal come from magrea

Galway

Im south of Tuam, so it must be that beam, any reception reports from the Ballinrobe area as I figure that is the beam we are on.

elvis23

Yep, I'm in Ballinrobe area. RTE 1, RTE 2, TG4 on channels 29, 33 & 23 is fairly bad right now since Friday. Tv3 on ch60 is perfect.
Thought it might be my grid aerial as there's a few bits of the deflector blown off, guess it's not.

Antenna

Could the deterioration be due to co-channel DTT tests from somewhere?!

Clifden Co. Galway is allocated 23,26,29 and 33 for DTT !

could Clifden be a problem?

analogue suffering from digital CCI will give the same effect as the analogue gone weak

Galway

elvis23 wrote: »

Yep, I'm in Ballinrobe area. RTE 1, RTE 2, TG4 on channels 29, 33 & 23 is fairly bad right now since Friday. Tv3 on ch60 is perfect.
Thought it might be my grid aerial as there's a few bits of the deflector blown off, guess it's not.

Thanks for that info from Brobe, the reason channel 60 is clear is thats coming from the Truskmore transmitter near Sligo, TG 4 is on channel 63 and RTE 1 & 2 On VHF band 3 channels I and G respectively. I will contact RTE tomorrrow to see whats going on.

Antenna wrote: »

Could the deterioration be due to co-channel DTT tests from somewhere?!

Clifden Co. Galway is allocated 23,26,29 and 33 for DTT !

could Clifden be a problem?

analogue suffering from digital CCI will give the same effect as the analogue gone weak

Clifden transmits on VERTICAL polarisation and although is a 1O KW relay I suspect is blocked by the Connemara Mts for me. Never ever been Adjacent Channel Interference here on Cbar from Clifden, for CCI it would have to transmit on the same channels as Cbar and it doesnt. This is clearly a case of a major fault at Cbar or severly reduced power on its southern beam.

Galway

I spoke to RTÉ this morning. They are aware of the problems. The woman I spoke to said that they are carrying out DTT tests and that has led to the analogue impairment. She wouldn't say however where they were testing but then let slip that if I was using a masthead amp then the DTT signals are overloading the analogue channels. I therefore deduced, though she still wouldnt confirm, that the DTT tests are in the same UHF channel group and on adjacent channels to the analogue - therefore the tests are emanating from Cbar. However, only blank carriers are being transmitted so you will only be able to verify the are transmitting with a terrestrial meter, a MPEG 4 tv or box wont show anything yet. She also said that the DTT tests from Cbar would end on Friday. Hmm I wonder what will happen when DTT is oficially live from CBar - the analogue is likely to be unwatchable for a large swathe from south Mayo to North Galway until ASO in 2012.

UPDATE

The engineer for Sligo rang me. Infact they are testing the DTT channels for a new proposed relay at Tonabrucky hill just outside Galway city - the DTT channels are co-channel with Cbar analogue! He was most concerned at the near wipeout of Cbar analogue for loads of people who have to rely on CBar for their reception as Maghera is blocked for them for topographical reasons. He said they would get the DTT from Tonabrucky switched off this afternoon. Clearly a rethink is needed here as Tonabrucky DTT cant go live untiil analogue switch off at Cbar.

thomasking22008

well well r engineer going fix get rte 1 2 tg4 better picture ? but when ?

Galway

thomasking22008 wrote: »

well well r engineer going fix get rte 1 2 tg4 better picture ? but when ?

Having deciphered your text speak - its not a matter of 'fixing' they need to switch off the co channel DTT test at Tonabrucky, Galway.

breaux

very funny......i live here in rosscahill and can practical see Tonabrucky hill from where i am - was thinking of getting either a STB or new TV with an MPEG4 tuner to receive DTT but would i be wasting my time for the moment....Thanks Galway.

Galway

breaux wrote: »

very funny......i live here in rosscahill and can practical see Tonabrucky hill from where i am - was thinking of getting either a STB or new TV with an MPEG4 tuner to receive DTT but would i be wasting my time for the moment....Thanks Galway.

At the moment they are only 'testing' the DTT not even test transmissions as such as across most of the main transmitter network. They obviously now have problems as it is co channel with analogue from Castlebar. We dont know if channels will have to be changed, what the eventual output power will be, or whether it will be omni-directional i.e, will transmit equal power in all directions. They may decide only to cover Galway city and west of it so the northern beam could be nulled to minimise interference with analogue Cbar until ASO. If you get a new tv with MPEG 4 you should be able to get DTT now from Maghera - even though theres no TV3 until the official launch. I would hold on until at least the official launch in October (??) until we know which TVs and STBs are given the official seal of approval.

Antenna

Galway wrote: »

for CCI it would have to transmit on the same channels as Cbar and it doesnt.

I never said anything about analogue TV from Clifden possibly interfering with analogue TV from Castlebar, impossible as they are different channels
. What I posted was correct according to the list I have, Clifden DTT (Digital) is allocated the same channels as Castlebar analogue (and vice-versa BTW). I never said it (Clifden DTT) was definately on air or was the problem, I just brought it up as a possibility.

Tonabrucky, obviously also allocated 23,26,29,33 - wasn't on the list I have, though

Galway wrote: »

- its not a matter of 'fixing' they need to switch off the co channel DTT test at Tonabrucky, Galway.

They can still test away if they want (with the PSB MUX) on channel 26 without affecting Castlebar analogue as 26 is the never used TV3 channel!

Galway

Antenna wrote: »

I never said anything about analogue TV from Clifden possibly interfering with analogue TV from Castlebar, impossible as they are different channels
. What I posted was correct according to the list I have, Clifden DTT (Digital) is allocated the same channels as Castlebar analogue (and vice-versa BTW). I never said it (Clifden DTT) was definately on air or was the problem, I just brought it up as a possibility.

Tonabrucky, obviously also allocated 23,26,29,33 - wasn't on the list I have, though



They can still test away if they want (with the PSB MUX) on channel 26 without affecting Castlebar analogue as 26 is the never used TV3 channel!

I am getting a weak signal on channel 26, alright. Not sure why they want a relay there as the DTT from Maghera should cover Galway City.

Galway

The tests at Tonanbrucky now appear to have been switched off as the Castlebar reception is now back to normal.

elvis23

yep all good again.
cheers for following up galway

Mike 1972

Seems like very sloppy frequency planning work that such a problem wasnt foreseen.

Have there been any DTT tests from Castlebar itself yet or has the recession affected the roll out ?

Why are these extra transmitters and relays needed for DTT ayway. Surely they should be able to get along with the same/fewer TX sites ?

Galway

Mike 1972 wrote: »

Seems like very sloppy frequency planning work that such a problem wasnt foreseen.

Have there been any DTT tests from Castlebar itself yet or has the recession affected the roll out ?

Why are these extra transmitters and relays needed for DTT ayway. Surely they should be able to get along with the same/fewer TX sites ?

I have heard from a local in the trade that there is a some sort of digital activity emanating from Cbar on channels 22, 25, 28, 32. These are co channel with Brougher Mountain, Enniskillen. The Balla deflector has been taking sat feed for all the UK channels since just before Christmas - I would suspect because any DTT tests from Cbar would wipe out the analogue UK reception from Brougher at the Balla site, so maybe thats why that was done. CBar DTT has implications for Mayo/Ros receiving analogue from B Mt but as ASO in NI is in 2012 it probably wont be an issue.

Btw there is fill in DTT tX proposed for Loughrea at Derrybrien, Maghera will be 160 KW DTT once the mast is rebuilt, PP applied for I think. The Maghera signal is currently on 80kw (i think) and is reaching well up into Mayo, other parts of the county are getting DTT from Truskmore or Cairn Hill.

The Tonabrucky channels issue will have to be sorted - there's no way it can go on while Cbar analogue is still broadcasting. The Cbar analogue gets all the way into Galway City and is used on parts of the Tuam Road which are blocked from Maghera by the hill at Ballybrit.