Rock solid Kippure reception DTT near Arklow lately-South beam now??

On my presely aerial,I used pick up kippure dtt when it was on ch61 intermittently - perhaps 4 days out of seven on average.

When it moved to ch54 and started that SFN with 3Rock,it only ever came in here when it was a wet day/night.

For the last few days it has been rock solid on ch54 with no interruptions.
Signal strength is steady at 40% and quality is 100%
Bear in mind thats with group B's pointed away from kippure so this is coming in at the back of the aerial

Analogue TV3 and TG4 from Kippure is barely watchable as usual.

Has there been a change in Kippure signal strength recently or a south beam or a beam firing down towards the SE of the county?

It's certainly a help whatevers happened,as we've gone from no service to what may be now something reliable though it's early days.

SRB

They've done something, the signal here in Portaferry, where it has been fine for months has dropped away off the last few days, it's gone from 70% to 38% strength.

watty

Portaferry wouldn't be Kippure though? More like Three Rock or Claremont Cairn?

SRB gets his dtt as he reported here many times,on ch54 and reckons it is kippure.

No change in reception here on a sunny breezy day,still 40% strength and 100% quality on gear pointed the wrong way and just out of group.
One wonders what it would be like with a grid pointed to kippure..

I'm not eager to do that though as llandonna on ch 50 needs very little encouragement and I'd like to keep my ch 50 preseli hd!

stam

Im here in kildare and kippure today is signal 77% quality 38% i all ways get it much better around signal 90% quality 90% but not today strange all right yesterday

SRB

With the lift today, RTE DTT was back with me, but while I didn't get a chance to check, I'll bet it was Three Rock that I was getting rather than Kippure "back" as it was 100% Strength and Quality and the Three Rock analogue TG4 was rock solid too. Will know when the lift fades.

Hmmmm-theres no lift down here.
Ch54 is rock steady though.It's not varying one ounce and thankfully delivering 100% quality and 40% strenght.

I've no doubt if I had a grid pointed to it with an amp,it would be 100-100 and maybe 60-100 un amped.

Still early days but I like it.Thank you engineers whatever it is you did.Don't change it please.

It's nice having equipment with RTE and a lot of UK channels including itv1hd on the same epg.

Gerry Wicklow

@Black Briar
I'm getting slightly jealous (only slightly) not a flicker on CH54 here but analogue VHf is always very ropey anyway.

probably topography Gerry.
If you are where I think you are,you are in the immediate lee of hills.
I've no doubt given my reception of Kippure DTT,that it's getting into most of the Arklow hinterland.
I've tried near Coolgreaney aswell,where it's never been before and it's there solid...but I've no doubt ,once you head west of there again,topography kills it but then it also kills mt leinster!

Funny enough those areas will have a good view of the new Arklow transmitter,even though they are 6 or 7 miles from it [as will you actually] so you should be sorted as will they.

SRB

Analogue Three Rock has faded and the DTT signal with it. Must have been Three Rock. Kippure DTT is not coming up my way at the moment, that's for sure !

Gerry Wicklow

I'm not complaining for now. Them same hills give me some protection from ML. I have pretty solid Preseli 45 lately apart from rare weather blips. I should have good LOS to the proposed new site if it is where Im told. Only bogey there is that I also get Caradon Hill on the same freqs during lift which fairly blasts in here (80%S 100%Q).
As I've said before, the fun continues;-)

It looks like they've moved one of the panels to the other side of the mast then \o/ \o/

I'm not saying that to be mean to you srb,I hope you get the high power Clermont or saorsat.

SRB

Wasn't the Kippure site using the analogue TX array with the intention of replacing them with DTT dedicated ones "sometime in the future" ? Could have sworn I read that somewhere.
Aw well, I've always that trusty old Band 111 monster on my roof for analogue VHF RTE, lol.

Kippure is unwatchable this morning here.
Signal strength is the same but quality has gone down to 0-10% sometimes spiking to 40% when it comes in.

It might be co channel or it could be the panels been moved again.

Ah well...

Gerry Wicklow

Who mentioned 'counting chickens'?:p

The fox hasn't been in yet!
Because at lunchtime it was fine and as of now it's rock steady at 40% signal and 100% quality \o/

They must have been doing work up there this morning.

Just to update this.
Reception is still rock solid.
I've only lost it twice and that was last week during the lift conditions.

SRB

Fine up here too, though the signal is lower since it came back, sitting around 43% strength and 48% quality, since last November until the end of August the quality was always in the 85-95% range.(Was at 100% during the recent lift, but that was Three Rock, rather than Kippure).

sbabu_irl

Guys - I am also in Arklow and I have today ordered a LCD TV with built in MPEG-4 tuner.

Do I need to get an Aerial to get DTT (RTE1, 2 and TV3) or will the built in MPEG-4 tuner be enough to get the RTE channels?

If I need to get the Aerial - What kind of Aerial do I need given that I am in Arklow town. Will a normal 6 euro argos aerial be enough?

I use to get RTE via Sky Dish but 3 months ago I cancelled my sky subscription. Please help and advise.

It depends on where you are in the town and what type of accomadation.
RTE are building a transmitter at the cemetary road industrial estate which should be on air by the end of next month.
I'd hold off on getting an expensive aerial untill then as you might get fair analogue via cats ears depending on where you are for the moment.
Cats ears might pull in perfect digital reception from the cemetary road when on air unless you are in a dip

sbabu_irl

Thanks Black Briar. That was helpful.
I am in Woodlands Estate.

As you said I will wait till the end of next month before I buy an aerial. How will I know when the Arklow transmitter starts the DTT service - Which will be the best palce (website) to check this information.

Apologies for my ignorance.

givecredit

sbabu_irl wrote: »

Thanks Black Briar. That was helpful.
I am in Woodlands Estate.

As you said I will wait till the end of next month before I buy an aerial. How will I know when the Arklow transmitter starts the DTT service - Which will be the best palce (website) to check this information.

Apologies for my ignorance.

This forum will have it as soon as its live...

watty

Argos has NO good aerials.

Also don't buy a One For all Aerial.

See http://www.techtir.ie/radio-tv/uhf-aerials
maybe http://www.techtir.ie/node/1003528

warlikedave

watty wrote: »

Argos has NO good aerials.

Also don't buy a One For all Aerial.

See http://www.techtir.ie/radio-tv/uhf-aerials
maybe http://www.techtir.ie/node/1003528

Ive no real complaints - im using a indoor omni directional uhf with vhf rabbit ears :P and ive had little trouble unless there is lift....it all depends where you are tho - im just south of arklow

sbabu_irl

sbabu_irl wrote: »

Thanks Black Briar. That was helpful.
I am in Woodlands Estate.

As you said I will wait till the end of next month before I buy an aerial. How will I know when the Arklow transmitter starts the DTT service - Which will be the best palce (website) to check this information.

Apologies for my ignorance.

Thats in a line of sight to the cemetery road iirc and about 500 metres away as the crow flies or less from the new tranmitter so game on for you-rabbits ears should do the trick.
We'll let you know when it's live.

sbabu_irl

Thanks everyone and looking forward to see some DTT Irish Channels very soon!!

Astro7

The New Mast at Arklow has just been erected ......GPS Coordinates N 52.7896 W 6.1612.........Due on air for Oct. 31 launch.

Gerry Wicklow

Astro7 wrote: »

The New Mast at Arklow has just been erected ......GPS Coordinates N 52.7896 W 6.1612.........Due on air for Oct. 31 launch.

If that's the new mast near the sorting office it's not exactly a great location to cover the town, not even a very high mast. I still think a flick of a switch in ML to CH39 would be better.
Of course RTÉ NL have loads of (our) money to waste:p

lawhec

Gerry Wicklow wrote: »

If that's the new mast near the sorting office it's not exactly a great location to cover the town, not even a very high mast. I still think a flick of a switch in ML to CH39 would be better.
Of course RTÉ NL have loads of (our) money to waste:p

In some cases, small broadcast stations are placed in areas not very high up but to be designed to cover a built-up population with a strong signal which falls off quickly outside the main coverage area. This might be the case here for Arklow, alongside other new filler stations planned for Saorview. If it was placed on a tall mast on a higher vantage point, you could end up with plenty of tales of someone's reception of Blaenplwyf along the coast being affected.

Kippure is gone for me this evening it first started to break up quickly and then zero signal which suggests to me a panel was moved or taken down again.

The mast for arklow is at the post sorting office and not where I thought.
It's actually at a part of the town that can see most if not all of the rest of the town.
It's not quite so good for that poster at woodlands but we'll see.They may now need an outdoor aerial.
From my mast at the twins you can see all of arklow so I shouldn't have a problem at about a mile away as the crow flies but again we'll see.

For 1000's in rural wexford and south wicklow,the cheapest,easiest solution is for rte to switch mt leinster to ch 39

Gerry Wicklow

From that location at the sorting office I would imagine that anyone west of the Wexford Rd would be in the shadow of the hill and that the signal would drop off quite rapidly going to the west of town. Whats wrong with the 3 dirty big masts overlooking the town?

@lawhec I doubt a few watts will bother Wales, more likely Wales will bother this thing:D