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

watty

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

The eircom site obviously asked too much money,so the government owned an post to the rescue.
Yes I agree,theres high ground in the town and indeed plenty parts of the town to the west that are going to probably need aerials for this...if thats the case,it's another example of folly.
I'm wondering did rtenl do any testing before picking there or was it a blindfold wearing dart thrown at a map ?

But any high ground overlooking the town should get a signal as they have a view of it.
I'm thinking ballyfad for instance and barniskey.
Ballycoogue will lose rte altogether after 2012,as will coolgreaney across to johnstown/ballycoogue,down to woodenbridge etc and thats 100's of homes in one small area of ireland that currently get analogue but wont get mt leinster dtt unless it goes to ch 39 or any other non presely channel.

Thats what aerial people tell me.

Satellite for them then or sky? wow rte wow.

Gerry Wicklow

If RTÉNL did do any testing they obviously read the instructions wrong. 'Where is the worst places to put a signal rather than where's the worst place to get a signal.'
I'm including ML Ch45 in this (ahemm) logic.:D

Isn't it gas how they picked a government owned site.....just like that.
Rather than researching what they were doing.

p.s kippure is back for me now.

martian1980

Deleted User wrote: »

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

Hi, I'm in wexford town, living in an apartment and there is a group aerial facing towards wales. On traditional Analogue, I get TV3 and TG4 perfectly, RTE2 isn't great, and there's no RTE1 at all. I used get RTE1, RTE2, TG4 and TV3 test card perfectly until the mount leinster messing started. What is the best way for me to get the digital again? has anyone else here experience of getting it from Kippure in Wexford Town? I'd have no problem getting another aerial - preferably a small one that i could have indoors.

Thanks

You might get a signal from Suir valley which iirc is on ch 52.
Many in wexford town I understand already do.
It's near pilltown co kilkenny.
Obviously that will mean repointing of your mt leinster uhf aerial.
If thats a group A,it will need to be changed to a wideband.

I assume you can get presely UK freeview on the existing communal presely aerial?
If you had analogue and nothing was dismantled?

martian1980

Deleted User wrote: »

You might get a signal from Suir valley which iirc is on ch 52.
Many in wexford town I understand already do.
It's near pilltown co kilkenny.
Obviously that will mean repointing of your mt leinster uhf aerial.
If thats a group A,it will need to be changed to a wideband.

I assume you can get presely UK freeview on the existing communal presely aerial?
If you had analogue and nothing was dismantled?

I've got a satellite dish and a Sony 32W5810, with which I am getting freesat. I do searches from time to time on digital and never picked up freeview. Am I going about this the right way? Nothing was dismantled. I'm not sure about making changes to the communal aerial - I'd probably need to run it by the landlady. It'd be easier to put up a small aerial inside. Have you any idea what signal strength piltown is received at in wexford town? I'm close enough to the sea (close to the co. council offices) so I might be on the wrong side of the hill. Thanks a million for the response.

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=67488105&postcount=382

Theres a report on ch52 reception in wexford.
If your aerial is high,try a manual tune on ch52 and see if you can get anything.
Realistically,you'd have to put a new wideband up on the communal mast.

It would be good too if you and your fellow residents would contact a local T.D [Michael Darcy and Brendan Howlin are both aware of this] and ask why RTE can't move to ch 39 instead of ch45 and that would vastly improve reception in wexford town with no presely wales interference.

The channel is cleared for use at mt leinster,it's just that it's not licenced for RTE...which in fairness is just a signiture on a piece of paper,theres nothing to stop it.
They say it's for commercial services but lol,they will never happen.
Besides even if they did,there are other channels that are also free of wales interference that can be used like the existing tg4 and tv3 channels when analogue is switched off in december 2012 and also ch's 30 and 34.

Talk about officialdom being awkward for awkwards sake.

This will all hit the fan in 2012 when people who have perfect analogue now will be told by said officialdom to go get a sat dish....
Lol being asked to get a sat dish when its so much easier for rte mt leinster to go on a freely available uhf channel other than a preseli one...

martian1980

martian1980 wrote: »

I've got a satellite dish and a Sony 32W5810, with which I am getting freesat. I do searches from time to time on digital and never picked up freeview. Am I going about this the right way? Nothing was dismantled. I'm not sure about making changes to the communal aerial - I'd probably need to run it by the landlady. It'd be easier to put up a small aerial inside. Have you any idea what signal strength piltown is received at in wexford town? I'm close enough to the sea (close to the co. council offices) so I might be on the wrong side of the hill. Thanks a million for the response.

if you had analogue presely,then you should easily have uk freeview from there.
Is your apartment still connected to the roof welsh aerial?
There is something wrong if you had analogue and now don't have digital-ie something has been disconnected.
Was the sat dish installed after presely analogue was switched off? That installer may have snipped a cable.

martian1980

Deleted User wrote: »

if you had analogue presely,then you should easily have uk freeview from there.
Is your apartment still connected to the roof welsh aerial?
There is something wrong if you had analogue and now don't have digital-ie something has been disconnected.
Was the sat dish installed after presely analogue was switched off? That installer may have snipped a cable.

I'll do some investigating on the communal aerial this evening. The satellite dish was installed about a year ago. My flatmate had Sky HD and when he moved out, the dish stayed, so I got the new Sony and when I plugged the dish into it, I got the freesat straight away. For a short whole I had both the freesat and the digital RTE. The sat dish is some distance from the analogue (sat is on side of the building, analogue on the roof) so I don't think anyone messing with satellite dishs mucked up the analogue. I am still getting RTE 2 (poorly) and TV3 ad TG4 (decently) on the analogue aerial, so I don't think anything was snipped.
I see from techtir (http://www.techtir.ie/saortv/saorview) that forth mountain will be part of the rollout in oct/nov 10. Will this solve my problem for me? forth is so close to wexford town that I should get some kind of digital signal, even if the aerial is pointing the wrong way. I'll write to the TD regardless - it's a ridiculous situation!

forth will be very low power and isn't on yet.
It may be by november 1st.

Write to both of those t.d's if you can summarising the situation posted by me above.
When writing to Brendan howlin,you might note to him that his colleague liz mcmanus took up the ch45 and presely issue with rte before in committee in the dail.
The people who have the power to sort the issue are comreg who would if only they were made more aware of it.
RTE apparently aren't telling them as I refuse to believe if rte engineering aka rtenl wanted to move the public service channels to 39 and 34,that comreg would object.
I reckon rte are just not bothering to ask for that change.
Local t.d's will have to put pressure on comreg and rte for that.
It's not a hot topic yet you see untill people discover analogue will be gone and digital unreceivable by people with welsh aerials and difficult even without one.

I dont know your set up but there should be a separate cable for the communal aerial.
The sat one is different.
If it was a year ago,that installer may well have cut something en route to where the tv is , not necessarally at the actual aerial.
If you pm me,I can let you have the number of someone very good that would look at it for you and get everything going.

bmaxi

Thought I'd jump in on this thread rather than start a new one.
I live near Courtown and have been getting perfect DTT reception for about a year, using a rabbits' ears and a Sagem Picnic box.
That is, until a few weeks ago. All RTE channels went off air for two days and now flash up only intermittently, with the box flashing the message "check aerial connections".
Nothing has changed in the set up, I haven't moved the aerial or anything. If I try to retune, the tuner stops only briefly at channel 45, then goes on to report "no channels found". Any clues?

Sponge Bob

engineering works at Mount Leinster this week.

sbabu_irl

Deleted User wrote: »

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

Was away for few days and didnt get the time to catch up on this thread. So bad news for me then as woodlands is not an ideal position if the mast is at new anpost sorting center.

I will wait for the transmission to start and then invest on the right aerial. Thanks everyone.

Verso

As mentioned in a previous thread I normally receive the Welsh Freeview on my Preseli aerial at 93% quality and Ch. 54 at around 54% on my Technomate Combo in North Wexford. This is satisfactory for me as I can get the UK Freeview and Irish DTT on the one EPG.

However yesterday afternoon I found that Preseli had dropped back to about 40% quality (perhaps due to fog or other as sometimes happens. When I tried Ch. 54 I found that this had jumped up to 93% quality. Is this usual?

Verso

Verso wrote: »

As mentioned in a previous thread I normally receive the Welsh Freeview on my Preseli aerial at 93% quality and Ch. 54 at around 54% on my Technomate Combo in North Wexford. This is satisfactory for me as I can get the UK Freeview and Irish DTT on the one EPG.

However yesterday afternoon I found that Preseli had dropped back to about 40% quality (perhaps due to fog or other as sometimes happens. When I tried Ch. 54 I found that this had jumped up to 93% quality. Is this usual?

Could be interferrence but i doubt it since its mt leinster on ch 45 and preslie being on ch 45-46 or similar (can someone remind me of the correct channel) thats being causing the problmes there....

you getting Irish DTT via Mt Leinster?

Gerry Wicklow

Most likely due to weather conditions. I've been getting a few brief drop-outs on Preseli and at the same time Caradon Hill and Redruth are showing up from Devon. Such is the nature of the beast.

Verso

warlikedave wrote: »

Could be interferrence but i doubt it since its mt leinster on ch 45 and preslie being on ch 45-46 or similar (can someone remind me of the correct channel) thats being causing the problmes there....

you getting Irish DTT via Mt Leinster?

I can get Mount Leinster Ch 45 on a separate aerial but I have to disconnect Preseli and which I do not like doing. I prefer to receive Irish DTT on Ch 54 Kippure as this is not co-channel with Preseli.

Gerry, I agree it possibly is weather conditions but I am curious if anyone else has noticed this type of reception in the general area.

Verso

Verso wrote: »

As mentioned in a previous thread I normally receive the Welsh Freeview on my Preseli aerial at 93% quality and Ch. 54 at around 54% on my Technomate Combo in North Wexford. This is satisfactory for me as I can get the UK Freeview and Irish DTT on the one EPG.

However yesterday afternoon I found that Preseli had dropped back to about 40% quality (perhaps due to fog or other as sometimes happens. When I tried Ch. 54 I found that this had jumped up to 93% quality. Is this usual?

Yes this is usual.
Kippure dtt reception to the south of the wicklow mountains gets strong during rain.
It is the same for VHF from there.

It something atmospherical about the rain that both signals seem to like coming down through the wicklow mtns.
Don't ask me what because I simply don't know.
I just know that it happens.

Fog extensively over presely's seapath is probably what dropped your presely reception.

watty

Magic
Real RF & Communication people only pretend to use Maths & Physics. They have the Robes and secret protocols.