Correct aerial for Newport, Co. Mayo

intro

I am putting in a dish and aerial for my father. The house is quite high up and gets reception on rabbits ears. ! was looking to put the aerial in the attic. I understand that i need a uhf c/d for TV3 but what aerial would be best for RTE1/2 and TG4? I would then need to use a diplexer to combine the signal and a splitter to give two tv points. I read on a site that a diplexer may not work correctly in an attic but I am not sure why this would be. I was hoping to get away without using an amplifier. The house is not used much so the TV's are analogue ones. Many thanks.

Randyleprechaun

I'm not sure if you can get signal from Castlebar at your location(very good chance that you can) but if you can a good high gain group A will do it. You might even be better getting a wideband to make sure you are future proofed.

A 21-37 to 40-68 diplexer should do the trick.

Point the group C/D to Truskmore in Sligo

Probably better to use a masthead amp to guarantee good pic on both TV's

If you do, make sure to diplex the two signals before amplifying or else make sure diplexer has power pass to allow power to amp

snaps

From previous experience Truskmore is very tricky to get from that part of mayo. Also Castlebar is too. Achill Island relay is the most likely but that will mean no TV3.

Westport relay as well is very very low powered and i know that really only covers Westport town.

I had a chart somewhere with all RTEnl's frequencys but cant lay my hands on it at the moment.

Found it........

Achill: Group B UHF Vertical CH 40(RTE1), 43(RTE2), 50(TG4)
Castlebar: GRoup A UHF Horizontal CH 29(RTE1), 33(RTE2), 23(TG4)

12 element

Handy to have:

http://www.rtenl.ie/downloads/television-frequencies.pdf

Mike 1972

If the tuning function on your TV gives channel numbers/frequencies it should be able to identify which transmitter is receivable in your area from which one youre getting on the "rabbits ears"

Castlebar is 23/29/33 (UHF Group A)

Truskmore and Maghera use VHF (for RTE1/2) and UHF (for TV3/TG4) the UHF channels in both cases are in the 60-68 range (e.g. Group C/D)

Polorisation for Castlebar and Truskmore is Horizontal while Maghera is Horizontal for the UHF channels and Vertical for RTE1/2

Achill is 40/43/50 which equates to Group B Polarisation is Vertical

A few years back RTE did publish some nice coloured coverage maps for each county (plus all NI) indicating which TX was likely to give best service in each area. Unfortunately this was in the days when one had to be initiated into the masonic order of TV dealers and aerial riggers to get on their mailing list. Dont think any of these publications ever made it online as RTE used to have some kind of inexplicable paranoia (thankfully subsided somewhat now) about releasing such sensitive information to the general public.

Randyleprechaun

What are others nearby using?

intro

Thanks for all the info. I was talking to my father last night and he told me that he was unable to get TV3 at all, but got quite clear RTE 1/2. There is a clear line of sight onto Nephin mountain where there is a TV mast. Would this be the Castlebar transmitter or something else completely? I have not been in the house for a while so have not paid much attention to aerials in the area. Probably watching the tv in the pub! I'm thinking that the advice on the wide band might be the way to go given the number of possible transmitters in the area. Thanks for everyone who took the time to reply. Best regards.