Divis New mast complete - 27/10/10

Sam the Aerialman

Divis New mast complete - 27/10/10


From the Arqiva (Horses) mouth -

The new mast has been topped out at 156.8 meters and is on a permanent set of stays although this morning they were removing and replacing one set of the stays. The adapter piece for the new S1 array is lying at the base of the mast waiting to be hauled up once stay adjustments are complete. It’s a 5 sided piece which they have confirmed as a 5 sided 12 tiered paneled antenna. That will add an additional 25.2 feet to the structure. Possibly an RFS PDP antenna?, this array is currently under construction and due for commissioning early next year.

The current Mark 1 mast is apparently staying as is with only the DAB being removed from within the band 2 crossbow aperture. They reckon there’s at least 12 more years of use out of the current S1 antenna. The old Freeview radiators will be removed including dishes and other ironmongery. The current mast will not be decommissioned.
A new band 3 array will be constructed on the new mast under the wrap around S2 Reserve antenna this will include new DAB transmitters rated at 10kw and be one Part of the BBC DAB roll out in the province. That is to come online in 2011.

Three arrays – We will have the new S1 array, S2 wrap around reserve and the third Paneled aerial which they call S2 which is the current S1 antenna. Possibly for use for interleaved multiplexs. Obviously that antenna has a much higher power rating than even the new antenna although the new antenna will be specifically designed with Electrical beam tilt and electrical length in mind. The higher mast is also a factor that will result in phasing issues.

RF issues – Divis has some serious RF issues which result from a unique problem were it’s close to the coastline and has to cover some serious inland ground. This of course means that areas east of Divis (North Down) for example receive less than brilliant service because they sit over the radio horizon. Obviously the antenna can’t put out varied powers because only 2 feeders are in use, this would cause the phasing to skew. A 4:1 power divider couldn’t be deployed because of the sheer power needed to power the array. The way round is to design the array in two blocks are halves, and feed each half separately, Divis will carry an electrical beam tilt only on the the lower half of the array allowing the upper half to put out the main beam, I think from memory the beam tilt on the current antenna was just above half a degree. The array will be specifically designed with a -10db in the direction of Moel Y Parc.

I have stuck a few photos on my photobucket page –

http://s663.photobucket.com/albums/uu358/AerialServices/Divis%2027%20Oct/

lgs 4

Sam the Aerialman wrote: »

Divis New mast complete - 27/10/10


From the Arqiva (Horses) mouth -

The new mast has been topped out at 156.8 meters and is on a permanent set of stays although this morning they were removing and replacing one set of the stays. The adapter piece for the new S1 array is lying at the base of the mast waiting to be hauled up once stay adjustments are complete. It’s a 5 sided piece which they have confirmed as a 5 sided 12 tiered paneled antenna. That will add an additional 25.2 feet to the structure. Possibly an RFS PDP antenna?, this array is currently under construction and due for commissioning early next year.

The current Mark 1 mast is apparently staying as is with only the DAB being removed from within the band 2 crossbow aperture. They reckon there’s at least 12 more years of use out of the current S1 antenna. The old Freeview radiators will be removed including dishes and other ironmongery. The current mast will not be decommissioned.
A new band 3 array will be constructed on the new mast under the wrap around S2 Reserve antenna this will include new DAB transmitters rated at 10kw and be one Part of the BBC DAB roll out in the province. That is to come online in 2011.

Three arrays – We will have the new S1 array, S2 wrap around reserve and the third Paneled aerial which they call S2 which is the current S1 antenna. Possibly for use for interleaved multiplexs. Obviously that antenna has a much higher power rating than even the new antenna although the new antenna will be specifically designed with Electrical beam tilt and electrical length in mind. The higher mast is also a factor that will result in phasing issues.

RF issues – Divis has some serious RF issues which result from a unique problem were it’s close to the coastline and has to cover some serious inland ground. This of course means that areas east of Divis (North Down) for example receive less than brilliant service because they sit over the radio horizon. Obviously the antenna can’t put out varied powers because only 2 feeders are in use, this would cause the phasing to skew. A 4:1 power divider couldn’t be deployed because of the sheer power needed to power the array. The way round is to design the array in two blocks are halves, and feed each half separately, Divis will carry an electrical beam tilt only on the the lower half of the array allowing the upper half to put out the main beam, I think from memory the beam tilt on the current antenna was just above half a degree. The array will be specifically designed with a -10db in the direction of Moel Y Parc.

I have stuck a few photos on my photobucket page –

http://s663.photobucket.com/albums/uu358/AerialServices/Divis%2027%20Oct/

the new height should help with the reception dab and freeview in meath and dublin area,s :rolleyes:

Sam the Aerialman

RFS's 5 sided 12 tier Horizontal PHP series broadband antenna array -

http://tinypic.com/r/2crt0mq/7

Should be noted that particular antenna is a circularly polarised version
containing both polarisation components unique to the UK market.

Sam the Aerialman

lgs 4 wrote: »

the new height should help with the reception dab and freeview in meath and dublin area,s :rolleyes:

Unfortunately not with a 42 foot wrap around reserve being added to the new mast there will not be any height increase in band 3 aperture only in output power. Infact it may end up lower due to the fact any height gained is lost by the use of the top aperture. There is a discussion taking place within Arqiva to move the entire band 2 aperture onto the new mast whether a temporary move to work on the current structure or permanent in my opinion
it makes very little sense and a considerable drop in agl. Why else keep the current mast aloft.

FREETV

Sam the Aerialman wrote: »

Unfortunately not with a 42 foot wrap around reserve being added to the new mast there will not be any height increase in band 3 aperture only in output power. Infact it may end up lower due to the fact any height gained is lost by the use of the top aperture. There is a discussion taking place within Arqiva to move the entire band 2 aperture onto the new mast whether a temporary move to work on the current structure or permanent in my opinion
it makes very little sense and a considerable drop in agl. Why else keep the current mast aloft.

The question is how far will Divis freeview be receivable in Dublin when the mast is switched to full power in two years? Any idea of a reception prediction for the east coast?

Sam the Aerialman

FREETV wrote: »

The question is how far will Divis Freeview be receivable in Dublin when the mast is switched to full power in two years? Any idea of a reception prediction for the east coast?

DTT coverage will be roughly the same as the current analogue - It's a fair bet if you got 4 channel analogue from Divis you will get DTT.
Worth remembering DTT is 1/5 power of the analogue transmissions minus the awful multipath effects.

The biggest benefit to viewers in the South would have been an increase in aerial height that would given serious coverage expansion - Must also be told
that the new antenna spec at Divis will carry an attenuation of -10db to the south/ south east to protect interleaved frequencies at Moel Y Parc.

Sam the Aerialman

Sam the Aerialman wrote: »

DTT coverage will be roughly the same as the current analogue - It's a fair bet if you got 4 channel analogue from Divis you will get DTT.
Worth remembering DTT is 1/5 power of the analogue transmissions minus the awful multipath effects.

The biggest benefit to viewers in the South would have been an increase in aerial height that would given serious coverage expansion - Must also be told
that the new antenna spec at Divis will carry an attenuation of -10db to the south/ south east to protect interleaved frequencies at Moel Y Parc.

No.

The biggest benefit to viewers in the south would be viewers who previously didn't bother with bad analogue Divis reception.
Those who could technically receive bad analogue Divis will now get perfect Divis Dtt as once theres some sort of signal there,the decoding will work and pictures will be lovely.
thats the beauty of the new type of dtt signal,that we are discovering right left and centre in the south east with both signals from wales and where signals on uhf analogue from RTE tx's was bad.

Thats why people in South Dublin may be in luck with new Divis!

Peter Henderson

I wonder if the current Freeview situation from will improve in this area with the increased height prior to DSO ?

Freeview reception here in Jordanstown isn't bad, viewable for around 98% of the time and the only break up occurs during exeptional lift conditions. The strongest multiplex is channel 34, with the weekest being 23.

I assume the increased height will improve matters even before the power increase ?

The local transmitter is Carnmoney Hill, only a couple of miles away and viewable from my bedroom window. However, it will be Freeview Lite post DSO so my aerial is pointed towrds Divis.

Sam the Aerialman

Just to add Arqiva have confirmed that Divis will switchover in November 2012 not March 2013 as is commented in places. There will be a planned retune of frequencies at possibly Divis & Caldbeck to uprate the COM muxes at Caldbeck which are currently low powered.

Brougher will go in April in time for the Olympics and Limavady will go in September. There's to be some re-jig to switch Crystal Palace, Rowridge & Hannington in Q1 of 2012. Midhurst and Heathfield will then be switched over mid summer.

The Cush

Sam the Aerialman wrote: »

Just to add Arqiva have confirmed that Divis will switchover in November 2012 not March 2013 as is commented in places. There will be a planned retune of frequencies at possibly Divis & Caldbeck to uprate the COM muxes at Caldbeck which are currently low powered.

Brougher will go in April in time for the Olympics and Limavady will go in September. There's to be some re-jig to switch Crystal Palace, Rowridge & Hannington in Q1 of 2012. Midhurst and Heathfield will then be switched over mid summer.

Sam can you link to an official release? I note that Ofcom have not yet published the transmitter switchover details for NI, is that on the way?

The reason I ask is that it was announced at the end of July by both the Dept of Comms and ComReg that analogue terrestrial television down here will be switched-off in Quarter 4 of 2012, in conjunction with switch over in Northern Ireland. The Dept of Comms is chairing the new Digital Switchover Steering Group which is dealing with DSO, ASO and related matters.

On Thursday 29 July 2010, the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources , announced that analogue terrestrial television will be switched-off in the State in Quarter 4 of 2012, in conjunction with analogue switchover in Northern Ireland.

Source: ComReg

The Minister said in June

I have informed RTE that the date for the provision of a full national digital terrestrial television service is 31 December 2011. In conjunction with this, the memorandum of understanding I signed earlier this year with the United Kingdom will facilitate co-ordination around the roll-out of digital terrestrial television and analogue switch-off with Northern Ireland.

EDIT: A rep of Ofcom said last year that it may be possible in 2012 that NI could switch over in 1 day like the Channel Islands this month.

Sam the Aerialman

No official press releases or links just information i get from my contacts in Arqiva.

I can confirm with absolutely certainty Divis will switch over in November 2012.

FREETV

Sam the Aerialman wrote: »

No official press releases or links just information i get from my contacts in Arqiva.

I can confirm with absolutely certainty Divis will switch over in November 2012.

Another two years is a hell of a wait still and some of us may not even be around at that stage unfortunately. :rolleyes: I was hoping that they would switch the mast on to full power a bit earlier than that. I hope that my parents are alive to see the DSO when it happens.

Sam the Aerialman

FREETV wrote: »

Another two years is a hell of a wait still and some of us may not even be around at that stage unfortunately. :rolleyes: I was hoping that they would switch the mast on to full power a bit earlier than that. I hope that my parents are alive to see the DSO when it happens.

2 years is not a great deal of time... I was at Caldbeck for a IET walkabout about 2 years ago almost exactly.

FREETV

Sam the Aerialman wrote: »

2 years is not a great deal of time... I was at Caldbeck for a IET walkabout about 2 years ago almost exactly.

Maybe not, quite true Sam but I know that there are a lot of people looking forward to combining the UK and Saorview epgs all on the one box or even two boxes if needs be and would also like to have the extra channels available on Freeview which are not available yet on FTA from Astra 28.2E As far as I am concerned that is all the tv one requires using the three platforms which will be then available to many people, that is unless they are sports nuts. I only watch GAA, snooker, Ireland when they play rugby and international soccer and have no interest whatsoever in club football especially when they are foreign clubs and have very little to do with us here.

mullingar

Sam the Aerialman wrote: »

No official press releases or links just information i get from my contacts in Arqiva.

I can confirm with absolutely certainty Divis will switch over in November 2012.

So, I have 2 years to reposition my aerial from Brougher to Divis. (Due to the crappy 2kw for Broughers COM mux's)

doney84

Anybody know when we can expect the muxs frequencies from Divis to be changed or will we have to wait until late 2012 ?

Joe7

doney84 wrote: »

Anybody know when we can expect the muxs frequencies from Divis to be changed or will we have to wait until late 2012 ?

You're not missing much if you only have a group A aerial. All the existing muxes will switch to group A in 2012 but there may be room for more after ASO (possibly just 1, maybe out of group).

Sam the Aerialman

doney84 wrote: »

Anybody know when we can expect the muxs frequencies from Divis to be changed or will we have to wait until late 2012 ?

I don't believe the channel frequencies at Divis will change before switchover. There is talk that a "Rowridge style" retune will have to take place in Northern Ireland before November 2012 to allow Caldbeck's commercial muxes to move to their final higher powers. There is clearly some frequency juggling going on plus agreements being sought hence why OFCOM still have not released a version 1 DSO plan for NI. There is hear say and mutterings from Digital UK that analogue channel 5 from Black Mountain will close pre-switchover allowing some sort of temporary frequency shift. Certainly various meetings i've attended this was being discussed as is usual the trade will be the last to know.

Anything i have put to Arqiva they tell me it is still being discussed or no decision has been taken so we'll have to watch with baited breath.

Peter Henderson

There is hear say and mutterings from Digital UK that analogue channel 5 from Black Mountain will close pre-switchover allowing some sort of temporary frequency shift

Why Sam, and for what ?

It would be interesting to see exactly how many viewers in the province have DTT or digital satellite and how many are still watching analogue.

Unless there's a good publicity campaign pre switchover, I forsee major problems, especially in areas with no current access to freeview.

Peter Henderson

Joe7 wrote: »

You're not missing much if you only have a group A aerial. All the existing muxes will switch to group A in 2012 but there may be room for more after ASO (possibly just 1, maybe out of group).

What are NEW 8 (channel 56) and NEW 7 (channel 30) going to be used for Joe ? I assume local TV such as Northern Visions TV, TG4, and possibly RTEs 1 and 2 ?

Channel 56 is definitely out of frequency and will probably require a wideband aerial, certainly for fringe areas at least.

Joe7

I would imagine the man who started this thread knows quite a bit more than me!

lawhec

Peter Henderson wrote: »

Why Sam, and for what ?

Caldbeck's COM (SDN, ARQ-A & ARQ-B) multiplexes are on E23, E26 & E29, co-channel with Divis Muxs 1, A & B. The COM multiplexes are currently restricted to 15kW ERP at Caldbeck until, under current public schedule, DSO is completed at Divis. To up the power at Caldbeck to its "final" power of 50kW today would presumably cause significant signal degregation to co-channel multiplexes at Divis in places (particularly the coasts). If you were to try and reallocate these three multiplexes into temporary frequencies, the best place presumably would be Group A frequencies above E30. E31 is obviously out, E32 is unlikely (co-channel from Brougher analogue), E33 & 34 already have multiplexes. That leaves E35 (which should be clear when Darvel switches) and E37. In the situation at Rowridge at their last rechannel, they sacrificed E34 from the Fawley TX carrying Channel Five to allow it to carry a mux at Rowridge. Presumably, if such a case were to arise that Sam talked about, E37 would be sacrificed at Black Mountain to allow Divis to temporarily carry a mux at that frequency - otherwise out-of-analogue-band multiplexes would have to be used as is the case currently with Mux C.

Peter Henderson wrote: »

It would be interesting to see exactly how many viewers in the province have DTT or digital satellite and how many are still watching analogue.

IIRC Freeview coverage in N.Ireland is at present 73% of the population. Many viewers without Sky or Virgin Media would still be watching RTÉ, TV3 & TG4 via analogue (a few through Saorview that will increase eventually) at least, even if they have Freeview.

Peter Henderson wrote: »

Unless there's a good publicity campaign pre switchover, I forsee major problems, especially in areas with no current access to freeview.

Considering that Digital UK will have had loads of experience behind them by the time they come to Northern Ireland, I'd be surprised (except for the possible explaining of Saorview i.e. where are my RTÉ channels?) if there is a major PR cock up at that stage.

The Cush

lawhec wrote: »

Considering that Digital UK will have had loads of experience behind them by the time they come to Northern Ireland, I'd be surprised (except for the possible explaining of Saorview i.e. where are my RTÉ channels?) if there is a major PR cock up at that stage.

The MoU signed earlier this year includes cooperation and coordination on public information campaigns both sides of the border during the transition and at ASO. Information to include coverage and content.

Sam the Aerialman

Peter Henderson wrote: »

What are NEW 8 (channel 56) and NEW 7 (channel 30) going to be used for Joe ? I assume local TV such as Northern Visions TV, TG4, and possibly RTEs 1 and 2 ?

Channel 56 is definitely out of frequency and will probably require a wideband aerial, certainly for fringe areas at least.

Are the interleaved multiplexs that Divis has been allocated post switchover they will be lower powered services (30kw) to provide local operators a platform to broadcast. As i understand it Divis will get one in group and one out. Channels 30, 48 & 56 and of course this is another contentious area of discussion.

A thick pot of RF soup -

Currently in band 4 there are only four available channels that can be used at Divis, three of these being Brougher's PSB's leaves channel 30...

Channel 30 is being broadcast at high power from Caldbeck, Channel 30 is also being RBL via Caldbeck's relays. Channel 30 usage at Divis would cause CCI problems for incoming signals at most of Caldbeck's border relays.

Areas such as the west coast of Scotland would suffer greatly if Channel 30 usage was allowed at Divis. The great overlap problem would all but wipe out coverage along this coast plus cost attributing to line feeding sites.

An alternative approach may be to swap the channel allocated to the Caldbeck Scottish PSB1 service (Ch 22) for Channel 30. Further work would be required to see if this is a workable solution.

If use of Channel 30 at Divis is not possible, Arqiva believe that only channel 48 in retained spectrum is likely to be available for a further multiplex at Divis at any significant ERP. This channel is used at three Divis relays (Whitehead, Rostrevor and Bellair), which would need re-channelling.

There is no significant use of 48 in the Border TV region, but 48 is used for COM services at Moel-y-Parc...

lawhec

Surely E56 from Divis would be unusable considering it's allocated (post analogue switchover) to Clermont Carn (who may use this frequency to get better northern coverage) and to a lesser extent, Truskmore (if Irish DTT plans to use more than two multiplexes on UHF).

The potential co-channelling of the PSB multiplexes from Divis and the COM multiplexes from Brougher are already potential headaches.

The Cush

This from Tue's Irish Times.

From a GAA perspective, Dermot Power, the GAA’s director of commercial and marketing.

Interest to centre on rivals' allocation
SEÁN MORAN

Tue, Nov 09, 2010

GAELIC GAMES: THE LATEST award of GAA domestic broadcast rights is expected within the next day or two. There are no major surprises on the cards, but speculation is there will be some changes to the existing packages.

...

BBC Northern Ireland were another rights holder in the last agreement, as the GAA recognised the need to relay accessible signals to the north to allow Ulster championship matches to reach as much of the provincial audience as possible. But according to Power developments in technology will impact on that with the switch to exclusively digital television in two years’ time.

“Saorview (the official free-to-air terrestrial service planned for Ireland) when it comes fully on stream will enable the rights holder to make its games available throughout the 32 counties.”

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/sport/2010/1109/1224282955490.html

Rick_

Since the new masts completion the reception in my mothers house is much more stable. The mast mightn't even be in use yet, but whatever power dips they have been enforcing recently to help with the building of the mast must surely now be over as for the first time since she got the Divis aerial installed she has a stable Freeview service.

mullingar

I dont know if this is any benefit to anybody, but its very informative. Its an Arquiva report about NI and the interference to other TX sites if they were to add a 7th multiplex.

http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/binaries/consultations/ddrinterleaved/arqiva.pdf

championc

The only problem I see Cush is that most people in the 6 counties will have Freeview MPEG-2 kit so come Jan 2013, there'll be a huge drop in the potential audience from the 6 counties. Essentially, people will need to upgrade kit to DVB-T2 to be 99% sure of being able to continue receiving broadcasts unless some inter-country agreement was reached to re-broadcast RTE on Mux's on the Freeview spectrum.

The Cush

championc wrote: »

The only problem I see Cush is that most people in the 6 counties will have Freeview MPEG-2 kit so come Jan 2013, there'll be a huge drop in the potential audience from the 6 counties. Essentially, people will need to upgrade kit to DVB-T2 to be 99% sure of being able to continue receiving broadcasts unless some inter-country agreement was reached to re-broadcast RTE on Mux's on the Freeview spectrum.

The "inter-country agreement" exists sort-of in the form of the MoU signed last Feb but whether it happens in reality remains to be seen.

If it doesn't happen people will have to upgrade anyway to Saorsat if they are outside the overspill area.

championc

I read down through some of it. I assume it only provided for the legalized "allowing" of both territories to view the other sides' programming or was there anything to actually provide for the re-broadcasting of channels ?

The Cush

championc wrote: »

I read down through some of it. I assume it only provided for the legalized "allowing" of both territories to view the other sides' programming or was there anything to actually provide for the re-broadcasting of channels ?

This post and thread in general discussed that some months ago - http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=67556503#post67556503

Sam the Aerialman

lawhec wrote: »

Surely E56 from Divis would be unusable considering it's allocated (post analogue switchover) to Clermont Carn (who may use this frequency to get better northern coverage) and to a lesser extent, Truskmore (if Irish DTT plans to use more than two multiplexes on UHF).

The potential co-channelling of the PSB multiplexes from Divis and the COM multiplexes from Brougher are already potential headaches.

Ofcom commissioned Arqiva to perform a Spectrum analysis report for a potential further multiplex in Northern Ireland. Just a few bullet points of what was raised in this reference offer document.

As the UK plan is an MFN plan and existing receive aerials are banded into 3 different sections of the UHF band. Band IV, Lower Band V and Upper Band V, generally main stations are in one section, with the relays of that main station occupying the other two sections. As main stations also cause interference significantly beyond their service boundaries, this presents planners with challenges to find available frequencies for a further multiplex without causing disruption to the DSO frequency plan and so on...

These were the agreed next steps and with 2 years to go still no further on it seems...

*Ofcom to advise on the level of protection required to Caldbeck PSB from Divis Ch 30 or Moel-y-Parc COM from Divis Ch 48.

*Ofcom to comment on whether investigation on changing the channel allocations for Caldbeck PSB Ch 30 for Caldbeck Scottish PSB Ch 22 is worthwhile to reduce impact from Ch 30 at Divis.

*Assess the impact on other UK stations from these proposals to determine if other restrictions are required if JPP proposed restriction requirements for interleaved spectrum are required, these restrictions could significantly reduce coverage and require use of specific antenna systems.

*Find alternative channels for Whitehead, Rostrevor and Bellair DSO plan due to use of channel 48 at Divis.

*Discuss channels for Divis, Limavady and Brougher Mountain with Ireland, especially channel 48 which has been informally discussed with the UK for use at Clermont Carn - This has been deemed as No longer applicable?

*Discuss antenna and aperture availability with site landlords.

Sam the Aerialman

Strange fault on Divis -

I just briefly noticed about 30 seconds of programming on BBC1 (Freeview) were the picture was removed and followed by out of sync audio. Then the picture returned with no audio, the audio has now been out of sync for around 25 minutes. I fetched the Promax and it is measuring DTT signals down about 4db, it isn't measuring any audio carriers at all - Not a peep. Give my own equipment the once over all seemed fine and checked analogue signals in the garage was perfect. I was then in the van and stuck on radio2 FM which is broadcasting in mono, Black Mountain's outputs are struggling in Mono. Cool FM is very patchy and broadcasting in mono with a very noticeable din.

Wonder did one or both masts get struck by lightening and short a few of the BT feeds going in and out of Black mountain? Mux1 is fed by DSAT so can't answer that problem.

A friend confirmed Downtown was patchy in Newcastle so that seems to be a possible fault at Black Mountain.

Rick_

Just fired up the DTT box in the bedroom, BBC 1 from Divis is fine for me. Is this problem still ongoing for you?

Sam the Aerialman

Paddy C wrote: »

Just fired up the DTT box in the bedroom, BBC 1 from Divis is fine for me. Is this problem still ongoing for you?

BBC1 Freeview has been absolutely fine for around an hour now. Very strange fault to occur in DTT, on analogue an audio sync problem is usually a severe drop in db of the audio Tx input. The absence of the audio carrier i can't explain.

There is something up with the FM broadcasts because the 38khz carrier is dead and the pilot tone keeps appearing randoming. Every FM station from BM and Divis is broadcasting in mono. My only explanation is the RC filter caused the band stop filter to fail triggered by a lightening strike that blew the anti surge. But then i have to ask why both sites went unless the Manchester Exchange failed and they decided to take off air feeds locally.

Sam the Aerialman

New DSO Transmitter Details released by OFCOM.

Still no inclusion of Tyne Tees or Northern Ireland FFS....


http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/broadcasting/guidance/tech-guidance/dsodetails/


What do they expect installers to do swan around hundreds of sites retuning and changing filters on a f*cking whim! Winds me up....

The Cush

Sam the Aerialman wrote: »

New DSO Transmitter Details released by OFCOM.

Still no inclusion of Tyne Tees or Northern Ireland FFS....

Regarding the NI details could the delay be due to the planned new mux and the ASO planning between the two jurisdictions but that doesn't explain Tyne Tees.

Sam the Aerialman

The Cush wrote: »

Regarding the NI details could the delay be due to the planned new mux and the ASO planning between the two jurisdictions but that doesn't explain Tyne Tees.

I suppose we may just thank our lucky stars we don't have to service Sandy Heath. I count around 6 channel changes before the year's out.

I would like to venture that all these channel changes and transitional arrangements are a complete f*cking mess.

Peter Henderson

Regarding the NI details could the delay be due to the planned new mux

That's what I was thinking.

Wonder when Ofcom will release details ?

Sam the Aerialman

Peter Henderson wrote: »

Wonder when Ofcom will release details ?

That is the 64 million dollar question. I cannot understand why there is not on paper a DSO plan for Northern Ireland. The meridian region which had cross polarisation issues, French DSO to contend with is now on it's 3rd version.
Regardless of the issues with the mini mux, they could be inserted in a later edition. All i want to see how the frequencies line up, any potential co-channel problems. What provisions need to be made for systems work, i.e filters amps etc. What channel changes will happen and how long will potential restricted service be. As an installer it's like wandering in the dark, keep being referred to the D UK website well it's proved in Yorkshire that a lot of it is wrong.

Sam the Aerialman

The new mast is now standing on a complete set of permanent stays - AWL's were being outfitted and additional framework is being added presumably mount's for antenna's. There is no word of any new antenna's but it's fair to say after December they must be a few weeks behind schedule. Engineers appear to re-routing feeders from the main gantry of the older mast and over the roof of the main Tx building, i can only surmise they're the reserve feeders and possibly a spare FM feeder that they're trying to track to the new mast. Interesting proposal if they plan to re-locate the FM stack, there is a downside of considerable loss of aerial height. There is a feeder gantry in the planning application to the new mast as yet un-built but if i was to guess the aim is to move service to the new mast and then work on the older mast cold.

Pics attached below.

watty

Sam the Aerialman wrote: »

That is the 64 million dollar question. I cannot understand why there is not on paper a DSO plan for Northern Ireland.

Because they want to Co-ordinate with ASO here, but there is STILL no official date set by Minister Ryan. Retailers and Public are morally at least entitled to two years advance Notice. He ought to have signed a date in Q4 2012 back in Q3 to Q4 2010. He still has about 4 weeks before they dissolve the Dail. I bet he won't! RTE in a recent press release confirm only Q4 2012 and no Official date.

gtg60

watty wrote: »

Because they want to Co-ordinate with ASO here, but there is STILL no official date set by Minister Ryan. Retailers and Public are morally at least entitled to two years advance Notice. He ought to have signed a date in Q4 2012 back in Q3 to Q4 2010. He still has about 4 weeks before they dissolve the Dail. I bet he won't! RTE in a recent press release confirm only Q4 2012 and no Official date.

Well, he's not going to be signing anything now is he!! Another fine mess...

watty

I suppose the Taoiseach or who ever is temporarily assigned could sign it. But I suspect it will be a Fine Gael Minister signing it.

Apparently Pat Carey is Minister for Communications, Energy, Natural Resources, Transport, Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs for next few weeks.

Maybe we should email him?

Digifriendly

watty wrote: »

I suppose the Taoiseach or who ever is temporarily assigned could sign it. But I suspect it will be a Fine Gael Minister signing it.

Apparently Pat Carey is Minister for Communications, Energy, Natural Resources, Transport, Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs for next few weeks.

Maybe we should email him?

Mr Carey's inbox as well as his intray must be pretty full at the moment with all those responsibilities (must make him feel pretty powerful if only for a few days/weeks until the Dail dissolves) so maybe we should leave it until after the election!

Sam the Aerialman

Heads up - Anyone with a camera and bit of time on their hands. The new S1/ S2 antennas are being installed this coming week at Divis using a helicopter. Nice to get a few photos.

Sam the Aerialman

Rather disappointingly not an antenna or a helicopter in sight. Wonder what the bloody hold up is here? If they're going to work on the old mast cold it would make sense to have the new mast in service and be testing the radiation patterns by this stage. Note the combiner building extension has only begun because planning approval was only passed on the 17th Feb...

In image six now that the existing switch room is gone you can make out the original BBC building complete with crest.

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