Digital aerial West Cork

maddladd

Hi all, I recently got a new samsung mpeg 4 tv and tuned in the rte digital service. The trouble is the reception is awful and is virtually unwatchable as it keeps breaking up, the analogue is also none too hot either. I live in Kealkill near Bantry, could it be that the signal here is very bad or should I try a new aerial to try to improve it. I enclose a pic of the existing aerial which is faced for Mullaghinish, I presume the bottom one is the uhf/digital aerial, would a new one improve the situation or is the digital signal still bedding in as such ?
Thanks in advance
Just looked at polarisation map would turning it to vertical as Mullaghinish transmitter do the trick?

watty

No such thing as a Digital Aerial

That's just a minmal strong signal area "contract" UHF aerial.

Mullaghanish Cork
21 24 28 25
Polarisation H
Group A

If you can "really" get Mullaghanish in Bantry on UHF, you need an aerial for Group A, Horizontal.

Something like a Blake SR18A, anything similar. Stiff real aluminum and not baking foil and minimum of plastic and spiky bits (all gimmicks).

Sponge Bob

Top aerial is VHF, what is that like ( RTE1 and RTE2 signal) , you will not need aerial anymore that if you go all digital. Move the other lad up perhaps ???

WHL

Keep the UHF antenna but get a masthead amp. I am further away than you and I have a hill right behind the house (outside Skibbereen). Anlogue pictures from Mullaghanish are poor but the digital is excellent

The Cush

maddladd wrote: »

I live in Kealkill near Bantry, could it be that the signal here is very bad or should I try a new aerial to try to improve it.

The Bantry relay is on watty's provisional list of 51 sites to be upgraded for DTT. To get an official update why not email RTÉNL to get an update - http://saorview.ie/contact.html.

They have provided such information to posters here recently (here & here)

I agree with watty.
spend 40 euro on a decent aerial rather than the piece of tinfoil you have up.

a group A unix 52

http://cpcireland.farnell.com/triax/108788/unix-52-uhf-aerial-group-a/dp/AP00067

posullivan

i agree with that,
i have a PS3 with play tv setup to recieve saorview via "rabbit ears" in my parents house,and can get a good signal as we are on the top of seskin just south of bantry so we have direct"ish" line of sight to mull .
If you are in kealkil then you are screened by douce and doucal mountains, not a mind the maughnaclea hills ( sorry for the spelling) so the analogue reception is very poor.I have tested the relay on top of seskin but there is no digital signal coming from that. havebt seen any workmen there for a while either so that isnt going to change.
Most of the people in kealkil i know get their analogue signal from the bantry relay or else invest in a very substantial aerial as suggested by the other posters to see if you can get a better signal from mull.
cheers
Paul

STB

Deleted User wrote: »

I agree with watty.
spend 40 euro on a decent aerial rather than the piece of tinfoil you have up.

a group A unix 52

http://cpcireland.farnell.com/triax/108788/unix-52-uhf-aerial-group-a/dp/AP00067

It wont be a Group A for Bantry BB.

The allocation is Ch 52 on DTT come the summer. Group C/D Yagi.

To the OP, if you can wait til June/July for DTT you probably wont need to change your aerial at all when the bantry relay comes on.

True assuming,the op is near enough to Bantry to receive it when it comes on and its power is strong enough.
I can see gorey but not a flicker of a signal here 8 miles away for example.
Arklow is working 5 miles out and forth 25 miles.

If Bantry doesn't work,mulla definitely should with the unix A.

Incidently, Is inchigeelagh going digital or is it being decommisioned?
Its located on a hill half way between the village and Tooms bridge.

watty

List on Techtir was correct and complete, except for channels
Now updated from new Saorview brochure

STB

Might be worth a Sticky....

maddladd

Thanks for all the replies I received an email today from saorview to say the Bantry transmitter was up and running, the DTT has been perfect the last two days also even though the aerial still faces northwest and should be southwest for Bantry. Will get round to turning it in time.

posullivan

Thanks for letting us know re bantry transmitter, haven't been back since xmas to parents house, looks like RTENL finally got the finger out.
I had assumed that the transmitter wouldnt be upgraded due to budget restrictions and we would have to make due with saorsat.
At least it will mean that there will be a bit more choice for the bay area pop ( although most people now have SKY or ex sky with free uk channels) along with ordinary terrestrial).
looks like most people wont need to shell out the readies to upgrade their aerial either.;)
cheers

vince

maddladd wrote: »

Hi all, I recently got a new samsung mpeg 4 tv and tuned in the rte digital service. The trouble is the reception is awful and is virtually unwatchable as it keeps breaking up, the analogue is also none too hot either. I live in Kealkill near Bantry, could it be that the signal here is very bad or should I try a new aerial to try to improve it. I enclose a pic of the existing aerial which is faced for Mullaghinish, I presume the bottom one is the uhf/digital aerial, would a new one improve the situation or is the digital signal still bedding in as such ?
Thanks in advance
Just looked at polarisation map would turning it to vertical as Mullaghinish transmitter do the trick?

lol exact same set up as mine im 10 miles east of you on the bantry line i had a snowy tv3 now i get 30% signal strength on digital. it works fine and dosent break up in bad weather thankfully

vince

Deleted User wrote: »

True assuming,the op is near enough to Bantry to receive it when it comes on and its power is strong enough.
I can see gorey but not a flicker of a signal here 8 miles away for example.
Arklow is working 5 miles out and forth 25 miles.

If Bantry doesn't work,mulla definitely should with the unix A.

Incidently, Is inchigeelagh going digital or is it being decommisioned?
Its located on a hill half way between the village and Tooms bridge.

isnt the inchigeelagh relay located just a mile south west of the village above the south lake road. it has a sky dish at base of mast also

I'd have thought from memory about 2 miles,it's a relay of mullaghanish and has a line of sight to it,you can see the mountain and the main rte mast from there.
It could be a self help scheme,but it's definitely on the main road between Tooms bridge and Inchigeelagh.

vince

how long have you noticed that mast? i must admit i dont travel that road much so havent seen it. the one i mentioned is on the south i pass it from my house to swim on south lake road. there is a new (9 months) 3 moble broad band mast to the north of the village which is very high and proud. i must look out for you mast. the one i mentioned is there 4 years or more the sky dish is there in the last few years.

maddladd

Hi all, needing some more advice re digital reception. I put up the new aerial a group A UNIX 52 UHF from Triax, even moved it to the top of the pole facing for mullaghanish but the reception is still poor barely watchable at all and keeps breaking up. Should I extend the pole higher as it did improve slightly when I moved it up or do I need some sort of amplifier or a different aerial or is it a matter of waiting for the signal to improve. I got an email to say Bantry was online but when I face aerial to it I can't get anything at all.
Thanks in advance for the help[IMG]file:///C:/Users/Liam/AppData/Local/Temp/moz-screenshot.png[/IMG]

Antenna

maddladd wrote: »

I got an email to say Bantry was online but when I face aerial to it I can't get anything at all.

That one is vertical polarisation in some directions, horizontal in others, which means you may need rods of aerial vertical instead of horizontal.
all depends where you are. There might be no signal from it where you are.

lucernarian

Have you tried http://coverage.rtenl.ie/index.php to check what's strongest where you live?

Also, on what channel are you receiving any DTT broadcasts?? You mentioned the digital channels were working perfectly at one stage, I don't know why they would want to stop working after a better aerial has been put up.

I'm now wondering if the problem is somewhere between the TV and the aerial...

@Maddladd, did you replace the cable going to the new aerial while you were up there? And how's the condition of the box that combines the cable from the two aerials? (It should be a proper VHF/UHF combiner and undamaged by the weather etc)

maddladd

Checked coverage checker it's definitely horizontal to Bantry from where we are but not a sausage, all the aerials here point for mullaghanish. The cables and splitter look ok and the analogue is relatively ok for an LCD tv but may replace cable or add an amplifier to see if that improves it, otherwise will wait for a couple of months as map shows us near a blue area planned for mid 2011 so it may just be a waiting game!:rolleyes: Thanks for the replies

lucernarian

If the cable hasn't been changed since the older aerials were put up however many years ago, you'd really want to change it. Especially since sometimes you were receiving the DTT stations fine. Water ingress can't be seen from the outside of a cable usually and sometimes big improvements can be seen from replacing older cable that isn't properly shielded. If your analogue TV3 is okay you shouldn't have any difficulties in picking up Saorview (assuming the aerial, cables, VHF/UHF combiner etc are all working fine). That aerial is definitely good enough so the problem must lie elsewhere.