Poor Freeview Limavady reception at the moment?

byrnefm

Hi,

I've been picking up Freeview from the Glencar area of Letterkenny for well over a year now without any problems but today the reception seems to be really poor - for example, the Mux that Five is on is hardly watchable at the moment - it keeps coming and going.

I was wondering if anyone else is noticing any difference in the reception of Limavady at the moment?

I don't know if this is related or not but I'm getting in analogue Five in better than I have ever done before - it's actually watchable this evening for the first time (instead of b&w and slightly noisy). There are horizontal lines through it but no problems watching it.

Could my poor Limavady reception be down to the current spell of high pressure?

you are losing it due to co channel from a visiting transmitter on account of the high pressure weather conditions.

See this thread

If lucky,you may be able to tune in alternative transmitters available tonight on other channel numbers temporarily

sesswhat

As a matter of interest OP, has your Limavady reception returned to normal.

I'm getting Limavady and Holywell Hill on the same aerial. After the disruption in October, analogue from both has returned to normal, and the digital signal strength and quality from Holywell Hill is exactly the same as before.

Digital from Limavady though has remained low in strength and quality compared with previous levels. There have been a few comments on the ukfree.tv pages but it seems anyone who has complained through official BBC channels has hit a brick wall.

Official complaints are not really an option for us but I would be interested to hear if you have noticed the same problems.

Sam the Aerialman

sesswhat wrote: »

As a matter of interest OP, has your Limavady reception returned to normal.

I'm getting Limavady and Holywell Hill on the same aerial. After the disruption in October, analogue from both has returned to normal, and the digital signal strength and quality from Holywell Hill is exactly the same as before.

Digital from Limavady though has remained low in strength and quality compared with previous levels. There have been a few comments on the ukfree.tv pages but it seems anyone who has complained through official BBC channels has hit a brick wall.

Official complaints are not really an option for us but I would be interested to hear if you have noticed the same problems.

That's because the S2 DTT antenna on the second tower at Limavady is now the "main antenna" and as of 27th October Babcock had the main antenna lying on the ground. The big man from Arqiva told me that they were having delivery problems of the new panels to the Limavady site. This seems to be a trend they were moaning about the availability of equipment on our visit to Divis.

The S2 antenna is now split between DTT and Analogue is carrying a 3db drop. DTT tx's are in a mobile transmitter unit, the power rating of what is supposed to be reserve antenna is considerably lower than that of the main, clearly they are having problems maintaining the service levels of before. I' am fully intending to make a return visit to limavady to see how the DSO work has got on and will take a few photos.

sesswhat

Thanks for that Sam.

Hopefully a short term issue in that case.

Sam the Aerialman

Was up at the Limavady site this afternoon. The new paneled aerial is installed and looks to be in service. Babcock appear to have re-used the spine of the old S1 antenna and bolted the new panels onto it. The temporary mobile transmitter unit that was on site is gone, on that assumption the 50/ 50 split has been removed and analogue services have been upped 3db half power working. The DTT services being broadcast at 600w and the height gain will improve reception overall.

2 points of interest that form part of Limavady's DSO planning application is a microwave link between Divis and Limavady via sites on the Glarryford road and BT exchange in Limavady. What for is the question? I doubt it's program feed related as mux1 can be sourced from DSAT. New dishes have appeared on the roof of the Tx hall.

The second is they appear to have rotated the array to reduce fill in to the north of the site and created a deep notch, i can only speculate that's to reduce the risk of interfering with Scottish transmitters as they switchover. I wonder do the Scots in the Western Isles who rely on coverage from Limavady know they may have to go without.

sesswhat

Thanks Sam. The digital signal remains low here. They may not be finished tweaking yet so I'll give it another while. If it's going to remain like this until the switchover I'll look into upgrading my aerial setup.

I imagine the roads were fun up there yesterday .

Digifriendly

Sam the Aerialman wrote: »

The second is they appear to have rotated the array to reduce fill in to the north of the site and created a deep notch, i can only speculate that's to reduce the risk of interfering with Scottish transmitters as they switchover. I wonder do the Scots in the Western Isles who rely on coverage from Limavady know they may have to go without.

Never knew Western Isles picked up Limavady. Do they pick up Freeview as well as analogue and any links to reception reports? Also can some not pick up their own Scottish signals?

Sam the Aerialman

sesswhat wrote: »

Thanks Sam. The digital signal remains low here. They may not be finished tweaking yet so I'll give it another while. If it's going to remain like this until the switchover I'll look into upgrading my aerial setup.

I imagine the roads were fun up there yesterday .

Curious that with completion of the work i would expect services to return to full power. Certainly the DTT services lost height on the mast, although i never confirmed it i was told a temporary aerial was in use through October. Limavady isn't on any of the restricted lists, nor is it on the Beeb list. Babcock have packed up and left and would say it's fair non-essential is done for the winter. I will do some digging.

Yes the roads were great fun yesterday! Took about an hour to get the 8 miles into Ballymoney after the Frosses Road was closed. Parked the van on the access road at Binevenagh, full up on the handbrake and she began to roll back down the hill. I hear the mountain road was closed all day today - Perhaps the engineers can't get up to up the tx's!

Sam the Aerialman

Digifriendly wrote: »

Never knew Western Isles picked up Limavady. Do they pick up Freeview as well as analogue and any links to reception reports? Also can some not pick up their own Scottish signals?

Unofficial coverage of course but Limavady and even Divis is useable in the western Isles and parts of Kintyre. Some privately owned self help relays in Kintyre are primarily fed from Divis. The isles of Jura and Islay fall outside the service areas of Darvel and Black Hill, large sea paths that cause huge tidal fading and crap rx results. On the isle of Islay when the Port Ellen relay was commissioned the log periodics were positioned off site further down the hill because Limavady was wiping out the Rx feed.

I would imagine analogue services would be only available with a large rig and the use of a masthead. If you go for a tour round there on google earth you will see old style parabeam aerials (48 element) pointing across the sea towards Northern Ireland.

Digifriendly

Sam the Aerialman wrote: »

Unofficial coverage of course but Limavady and even Divis is useable in the western Isles and parts of Kintyre. Some privately owned self help relays in Kintyre are primarily fed from Divis. The isles of Jura and Islay fall outside the service areas of Darvel and Black Hill, large sea paths that cause huge tidal fading and crap rx results. On the isle of Islay when the Port Ellen relay was commissioned the log periodics were positioned off site further down the hill because Limavady was wiping out the Rx feed.

I would imagine analogue services would be only available with a large rig and the use of a masthead. If you go for a tour round there on google earth you will see old style parabeam aerials (48 element) pointing across the sea towards Northern Ireland.

Fascinating info. Thanks very much for the post. Presume satellite has to a certain extent meant less longer distance 'TXing' if that's the right word.

Sam the Aerialman

Digifriendly wrote: »

Fascinating info. Thanks very much for the post. Presume satellite has to a certain extent meant less longer distance 'TXing' if that's the right word.

'DXing' - Rather than Transmit it's a Distance calculation but not so much DXing in this case. You much remember Limavady puts as much North as it's 'main south beam' being that is it's primary service area. The curious question is why was the antenna rotated and protection to scottish tx's seems the only answer. Co channel problems were mentioned in one of the Arqiva spectrum documents.

Every individual antenna array will have a different HRP, even of that of the antenna it replaced. Varied gain calculations or projected beam tilt can differ from what's on paper. Two very recent cases at Sutton Coldfield and Beacon Hill were they took the extra-ordinary measure of removing each panel 1 by 1 and replaced them, just on the basis that the new antenna wasn't performing to expectations. The technical problem was causing shadowing in the area under the transmitter. That could cause issues for viewers who have previously enjoyed good reception. Aerials built nowadays are typically high gain, with a narrow response and highly directional. Meaning the slightest tweak within 5 degrees could effectively impair reception, BER quality on a mux which is extremely important to good solid DTT reception relies heavily on good quality signal and pin point accuracy on the main beam of the transmitter.

byrnefm

Is anyone noticing a breakup in the Limavady channels lately? This evening Channel 4 is very poor on DTT but watching BBC4 was fine.

I'm also wondering if the Letterkenny DTT transmitter is being worked on yet (if it's on the reduced list of 51 sites)...

excollier

byrnefm wrote: »

Is anyone noticing a breakup in the Limavady channels lately? This evening Channel 4 is very poor on DTT but watching BBC4 was fine.

I'm also wondering if the Letterkenny DTT transmitter is being worked on yet (if it's on the reduced list of 51 sites)...

There has been a squad of men working up there a lot lately,(Mongorry/L'kenny Transmitter) I see them every time I take the dog for a walk in the forest beside it.
I must stop and have a word with them next time they are there.

snaps

A lot of reception problems are due to the High pressure above Ireland at the moment!

byrnefm

snaps wrote: »

A lot of reception problems are due to the High pressure above Ireland at the moment!

That may explain the poorer signal strength I get on BBC and now zilch reception for UTV / Ch 4 / FIVE at the moment, according to my Samsung TV (on 770 MHz / Ch 58). I was watching Ch 4 earlier so the night time effect must be adding to the signal degradation?

Sam the Aerialman

The latest from the Limavady site, new main S1 antenna replacement and re-routed twin feeders to the existing 'DTT' antenna indicating she's back in business. The size of those feeders looks like they intend to frequently move the services back and forth.


Pics on link below-
http://s663.photobucket.com/albums/uu358/AerialServices/Limavady%20Dso/

byrnefm

I'm not able to receive Channel 4 / Five and those on that Mux this evening.. all other muxes are fine. The reception on just this mux seems to stay very weak lately with most days the signal breaking up a little but still watchable... Is there anything else which could be interfering with ch 58 at the moment? I don't think we're under any high pressure weather.

byrnefm

Hi,

Has anyone noticed if the Letterkenny DTT transmitter is transmitting a signal on ch 57 now as well? I've lost all the BBC radio channels as well as BBC Four and it's on a different mux to Fiver / Five USA (ch 53)... :mad:

sesswhat

byrnefm wrote: »

Hi,

Has anyone noticed if the Letterkenny DTT transmitter is transmitting a signal on ch 57 now as well? I've lost all the BBC radio channels as well as BBC Four and it's on a different mux to Fiver / Five USA (ch 53)... :mad:

'Fraid so. See here.

byrnefm

sesswhat wrote: »

'Fraid so. See here.

Thanks ..

Not sure where you're based but just wondering if you noticed that the mux wiht Channel 4, UTV and the like is weaker than it used to be since about maybe 3 months or so now? We used to have stable reception on all Muxes but since maybe April or so, there tends to be spells of bad pixellation on the mux with Channel 4 to the point where we either switch to analogue or Freesat. I know there's no RTÉ DTT signal to interfere with it but I'm wondering if that mux is on lower power these days. It's not a huge concern since our analogue signal from Limavady is perfect but was just wondering.

sesswhat

Analogue RTE 2 from my local Ballybofey transmitter means I can't get ch58 from Limavady anyway so I can't say if it has deteriorated or not. Everything below ch60 has gone for me at this stage but 60, 63 and 67 should be safe until ASO.

No Freeview From Limavady

Seen Web link on Highland Radio News Motion http://www.highlandradio.com/2012/09/26/inishowen-saorview-signal-problems-aired-in-the-dail/

Same issue applies here in Speenogue Burt At moment with Digital Signal Coming from Limavady Transmitter cannot get Signal at all.

Have sent emails to northernireland@digitaluk.co.uk russell.keene@digitaluk.co.uk

I have been in contact with all Media Organisations UTV.BBC,RTE about this same issue as this is the broadcasters area and have a vested interested that we get a good picture after digital switchover from both sides of the border under the Good Friday Agreement.

Would you be able to find out who runs and operates TV mast at Limvady Co. Derry and weathers assurances can be got that residents who live in Border Areas I.E. Burt Co.Donegal who have always got a picture from this tranmitter will still remain get picture from Limvady after switchover.

Richard

No Freeview From Limavady wrote: »

I have been in contact with all Media Organisations UTV.BBC,RTE about this same issue as this is the broadcasters area and have a vested interested that we get a good picture after digital switchover from both sides of the border under the Good Friday Agreement.

The Good Friday Agreement is about TG4 reception in Northern Ireland. The more recent Memorandum of Understanding is primarily about RTE reception in NI.

Would you be able to find out who runs and operates TV mast at Limvady

Arquiva.

They are, however only concerned with their NI coverage.

excollier

"They are, however only concerned with their NI coverage."

And rightly so.

byrnefm

Hi,

Is anyone else in the Letterkenny area or surroundings having pixellation in the BBC channels today on/off? BBC Three, BBC One, CBeebies were all like that for me today. Was just wondering if it was the weather or if my aerial has been blown a bit off-course...

sesswhat

byrnefm wrote: »

Hi,

Is anyone else in the Letterkenny area or surroundings having pixellation in the BBC channels today on/off? BBC Three, BBC One, CBeebies were all like that for me today. Was just wondering if it was the weather or if my aerial has been blown a bit off-course...

No change outside Ballybofey, despite daily thunderstorms with horizontal hailstones. Electricity has been off three times since Sunday though.

byrnefm

byrnefm wrote: »

Hi,

Is anyone else in the Letterkenny area or surroundings having pixellation in the BBC channels today on/off? BBC Three, BBC One, CBeebies were all like that for me today. Was just wondering if it was the weather or if my aerial has been blown a bit off-course...

Still occurring several days later here (Glencar area) even though the other stations such as ITV2, a weaker mux, do not show as much as a sparklie. Could it be that the signal is stronger than normal on account of the weather (signal strength is 85/100 - it hasn't changed at all but errors creep in from time to time over the last week or so)? I checked up on ukfree.tv and didn't see any transmitter on ch 50 that might be interfering with Limavady.

byrnefm

Hmm... still having pixellation on some channels (Quest today, for example - despite the signal level being 85/100 - the same as RTÉ from Holywell Hill).

Still trying to think what could be causing this ... just wondering - if the masthead amplifier were to die, could this cause this intermittent interference? With Freeview from NI being so much strong since ASO, I'm thinking I could still get a picture in that case but with some breakup from time to time.

As it sits near the aerial itself - way out of my reach above my two-storey house, I've no easy way to go check it out. However, this is purely a theory on my part.. all this only started after the stormy weather a few weeks ago!

Ronnie Raygun

If damage has been caused by weather, you (or someone else) will have to climb up for a look.

Maybe the problem is caused by a nearby source of interference? You could try using AM radio to detect electrical impulse interference.

You could also try changing the masthead PSU, as this will often be the cause of a malfunctioning amplifier. Save going near the amp itself.

whitebriar

Are you using a distribution amplifier? If so by pass it and check what it's like on one tv without it.

byrnefm

whitebriar wrote: »

Are you using a distribution amplifier? If so by pass it and check what it's like on one tv without it.

I am, actually - the next chance I can get to go into the attic (it's pretty low so requires mini-acrobatic skills to get to the corner in question), I'll move it back over to the passive splitter that I used to use before getting the distribution amplifier.

whitebriar

If you can,also try direct to one tv with no splitting at all.
The distribution amplifier might be overloading signal.
If that's the case,you should solve the problem by a direct unsplit signal to one tv,but you might create a new one by having signal too low with the passive splitter.

If this is what's causing the problem,an attenuator on the feed into the distribution amplifier will sort it.Just adjust the incoming signal down untill there's no more overload.

byrnefm

whitebriar wrote: »

If this is what's causing the problem,an attenuator on the feed into the distribution amplifier will sort it.Just adjust the incoming signal down untill there's no more overload.

Thanks for your suggestions. I haven't gotten into the attic again yet but when I connected up the distribution amplifier last August, I did find (at the time) that I had to connect an attenuator on the feed as RTÉ was at near full power while BBC at the time was on low power. The amplifier has a variable setting so I can see if I can adjust it down a little otherwise.

Strange how the problem has only started happening these last few weeks...

whitebriar

Sometimes it can be weather related,a slight increase in received power from one of the tx's or even one you don't use can upset the apple cart.
It mightn't be the problem but worth checking out anyhow.
If it is,the best way to solve it would be to use the attenuator to turn the signal down to just above the threshold needed to receive.

byrnefm

I know this is an old thread but still the same topic :-)

In the last few weeks, I've noticed some intermittent pixelation on the Limavady freeview channels, maybe three times an hour, from Letterkenny.

Has anyone else noticed this? It's still watchable - this pixelation used to only happen during periods of high pressure in the past. I'm wondering if it is possible that it might be occasional 4G interference?

swoofer

its bad for me right now on rte1 in clare and its windy

Gerry Wicklow

swoofer wrote: »

its bad for me right now on rte1 in clare and its windy

Aerial bouncing around or bad connection?

byrnefm

Is anyone having a lot of pixellation on UTV / ITV2 and a few others lately from the Limavady transmitter? My picture keeps breaking up in the evening. They're all on UHF ch 59. Other UK channels are fine (which aren't on ch59)

I tried plugging in a 4G filter (Labgear) behind my tv just in case but no difference at all. If it is 4G interference, would the filter need to be plugged in closer to the masthead?

Thurston?

I wonder is there any 700 MHz clearance work going on there?

DS thread might be worth keeping an eye on.