Two aerials on the roof

zagmund

I moved into a house a few months ago and from the start the TV reception has been fine so I haven't paid too much attention to it.

I was out in the back garden this afternoon when I noticed there were two aerials on the roof. I'm not sure (yet) what's cabled up, but I wanted to get an idea of what difference there might be between the two.

Location-wise, I'm near Blackrock in south Dublin, so I'm assuming that 3 Rock comes into the picture somewhere.

The first aerial (other houses nearby have similar ones) is like a sheet of chicken wire which has had a medicine ball dropped into it. It's like a sat dish in general terms although of course it's not and there's no LNB. I can't find an image online. It seems to point northwards across Dublin bay towards Howth.

The other one is horizontal and seems to point off towards Blackrock, Stillorgan, Mount Merrion. Actually, now that I mention Stillorgan I guess it's pointing at 3 Rock. It looks a bit like this - http://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTzDRd7e6TdTKlyuM-HPsAl0a28Z63DBE9OzZzfPTBR4MP3rqsLng

Is there any chance the one pointing north is likely to pick up UK signals from across the border ? Or anything else useful ?

I'll have to get on the roof and find out what's cabled to what so I don't know which one is in use at the moment.

z

Any chance you could tell us what channels,you receive?
We're not mind readers.
The contract aerial you link to is probably a wideband pointed to 3 rock--
The chicken wire aerial does it look like this? This is an mmds aerial and needs a upc decoder.

zagmund

Black Briar - yep, that's the chicken wire one alright. So, it looks like that's not going to be adding anything to my viewing experience since I don't have a decoder or a contract with UPC.

In terms of channels received - I'm picking up the Irish DTT (RTE News Now, etc . . .) channels no problem. I get the BBCs, etc . . . from free to air satellite.

Location-wise, I'm near Blackrock in south Dublin.

So, it looks like I'm getting DTT from 3 Rock with the wideband aerial and nothing with the MMDS one.

Thanks for the info,

z

yeah,for the mmds,you'll need to contact upc and pay a sub..for which they will send you out a decoder and card..much like sky only not as many channels.

watty

MMDS unlikely to ever have HD. Especially in ex Chorus areas. It's faintly possible in ex-NTL areas.

The only thing you might pay for MMDS for if you have Freesat + Saorview is maybe Sky Sports.

FREETV

zagmund wrote: »

Black Briar - yep, that's the chicken wire one alright. So, it looks like that's not going to be adding anything to my viewing experience since I don't have a decoder or a contract with UPC.

In terms of channels received - I'm picking up the Irish DTT (RTE News Now, etc . . .) channels no problem. I get the BBCs, etc . . . from free to air satellite.

Location-wise, I'm near Blackrock in south Dublin.

So, it looks like I'm getting DTT from 3 Rock with the wideband aerial and nothing with the MMDS one.

Thanks for the info,

z

Z, you may be able to receive some Freeview channels also from one of the Welsh transmitters in Blackrock if you are willing to replace the MMDS antenna with a large high gain wideband aerial with a high gain low noise masthead amp and good quality sat cable if you are interested. Somebody who lives in the area or who has tested for a signal there could advise you better.