Is Letterkenny testing?

byrnefm

Hi,

I'm in Letterkenny and get Freeview from Limavady, along with Saorview from my location from the one antenna.

I noticed that this evening, I've lost *all* channels which are on Freeview Mux A, which is on Ch 53. These include Fiver, Five USA and others which are not available on Freesat

I know that Letterkenny is due to begin transmitting soon on ch 53 but with vertical polarization instead of Limavady's horizontal. However, I'm suspecting that the signal from the closer mux will block the other. A channel scan showed up 0 channels but my antenna is horizontally set up, for picking up Limavady.

Can anyone else confirm if something is starting to happen in Letterkenny? If so, it'll mean the loss of Mux A from the North until the channel re-assignments in 18 months

sesswhat

Yes. Letterkenny is now live on 53 V.

Good news for some, not so good for us Limavady fans. Still, we will be spoiled for choice next year.

lucernarian

RTE's network seems fairly oddly scattered in NE donegal. Ballybofey, Letterkenny and Holywell Hill are all not that far from each other. Probably the outcome of Holywell Hill's later addition to the network and mainly just to serve NI. It's a shame some sort of SFN couldn't be employed. I take it there's no one site that would cover Derry City and Raphoe at the same time?

More importantly, what was stopping RTE from using the TV3 allocation on Ch 66 which is clear in that whole area? They initially ignored common sense for the Galway city DTT site but then they put it in the clear TV3 allocation for Castlebar on Ch 26. There's the obvious "RTE is not responsible for maintaining Freeview reception" but then I would have thought that in the spirit of the MoU they would avoid jamming the Freeview mux most sensitive to interference if it was at all avoidable.

The Cush

To_be_confirmed wrote: »

RTE's network seems fairly oddly scattered in NE donegal. Ballybofey, Letterkenny and Holywell Hill are all not that far from each other.

Probably down to the terrain, there appears to be a lot of reception black spots even after ASO in 2012.

To_be_confirmed wrote: »

More importantly, what was stopping RTE from using the TV3 allocation on Ch 66 which is clear in that whole area? They initially ignored common sense for the Galway city DTT site but then they put it in the clear TV3 allocation for Castlebar on Ch 26. There's the obvious "RTE is not responsible for maintaining Freeview reception" but then I would have thought that in the spirit of the MoU they would avoid jamming the Freeview mux most sensitive to interference if it was at all avoidable.

UHF channels 61-69 have to be cleared of broadcasting by 1st Jan 2013 based on an upcoming EU Decision. It could be used on an interim basis until then.

lucernarian

The clearance of 800MHz channels and the space for the second mux are bridges that could have been crossed at a later stage, though it's quite possible that it wouldn't be easy for RTÉ to simply change frequencies from Ch 66 to ch 53 or say 57 over the next 2 years.

Donegal_TDI

Yes, Letterkenny(Mongorry Hill) is transmitting on 53 v.
I receive ch 53 h from Truskmore as I have no line of sight to anything else.

See the problems this caused me here.....

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=72131886&postcount=174

Coverage map here....

http://www.saorview.ie/make-the-switch/coverage-checker/coverage-map/

byrnefm

Thanks for the replies! As a result of Letterkenny coming online, I get no channels at all on ch 53 as a result of my horizontal antenna pointing towards Limavady, neither RTÉ or Mux A Interesting choice of channels to use .. knocking out the only channels from the North that you can't pick up on Freesat...

Sigh. I rather liked Five USA...

byrnefm

byrnefm wrote: »

Thanks for the replies! As a result of Letterkenny coming online, I get no channels at all on ch 53 as a result of my horizontal antenna pointing towards Limavady, neither RTÉ or Mux A Interesting choice of channels to use .. knocking out the only channels from the North that you can't pick up on Freesat...

Sigh. I rather liked Five USA...

heh... another mt Leinster!
Those of us in the south east have had this issue for ages.

Are you in Letterkenny or near it? have you a separate aerial pointed to letterkenny that is combined with your Limavaddy one?
Could you try separate feeds and if that clears the limavady mux,could you get Saorview from an alternative tx?

When NI powers increase whats going to happen to the Limavady/letterkenny clash? has that been thought through at all by either Arquiva or RTENL?
When powers increase there will you get freeview from brougher?

excollier

Limavady will be changing frequencies post DSO, and dropping ch 53, but this will cause a problem until then. It has obviosly been known about for some time, so I guess we will have to endure it for 18 months or so.

see here.

https://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=pCO3RGJvCwxPemIchCichOg

The Cush

Deleted User wrote: »

When NI powers increase whats going to happen to the Limavady/letterkenny clash? has that been thought through at all by either Arquiva or RTENL?

Limavady Mux A/SDN moves from Ch 53 to 54 at DSO 2.

The current DSO 2012 plan for Limavady is
Mux 1 / BBC A | 50
Mux 2 / D3&4 | 59
Mux B |
Mux A / SDN | 54
Mux C / Arqiva A | 58
Mux D / Arqiva B | 49
Mux HD | 55

byrnefm

Deleted User wrote: »

heh... another mt Leinster!
Are you in Letterkenny or near it? have you a separate aerial pointed to letterkenny that is combined with your Limavaddy one?
Could you try separate feeds and if that clears the limavady mux,could you get Saorview from an alternative tx?

I'm in Letterkenny - I've just the one aerial (a Wideband Triax 52-element) pointing at Limavady. Due to LK's position, Holywell Hill is more or less in the same line as Limavady, which is very handy. However, since the LK transmitter is so close (I'm guessing 6 - 8 miles away) and so strong, even though it's vertically polarized and 70 - 80 degrees off Limavady, it's blitzing the weak Limavady signal (800w), which is 37 miles away.

However, as excollier noted, we should have our NI muxes back post-DSO. Fingers crossed :pac: The only channel left which we get that is not on Freesat is PickTV (!).

I'm wondering if the Letterkenny signal is interfering with viewers across the border?

(Btw - regarding Brougher Mountain - it's possible we might get reception from there - at the moment it's not strong enough)

lawhec

byrnefm wrote: »

However, as excollier noted, we should have our NI muxes back post-DSO. Fingers crossed :pac: The only channel left which we get that is not on Freesat is PickTV (!)

What about Dave and YeSterday? Or are they now available on Freesat as well.

As to the switch over, if PSB1 from Limavady is going to be on E50, then I'm gonna to assume that the switch over will be taking place as roughly the same time as Moville otherwise TG4 for many will drown in a sea of snow while many along the Co. Derry and north Co. Antrim coasts might not get PSB1 with analogue co-channel interference. :eek:

The Cush

lawhec wrote: »

As to the switch over, if PSB1 from Limavady is going to be on E50, then I'm gonna to assume that the switch over will be taking place as roughly the same time as Moville otherwise TG4 for many will drown in a sea of snow while many along the Co. Derry and north Co. Antrim coasts might not get PSB1 with analogue co-channel interference. :eek:

That's the plan according to the Dept of Communications

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

mrdtv2010

Nice pics of the new Limavady DSO configuration on the now rapidly updating mb21 web site:


http://tx.mb21.co.uk/gallery/gallerypage.php?txid=889&pageid=391

byrnefm

lawhec wrote: »

What about Dave and YeSterday? Or are they now available on Freesat as well.

You're right - they are only on Freeview still. I forgot about these two stations as I don't watch them much.

I guess the loss of the Mux I like is an encouragement for me to watch less TV

lawhec

mrdtv2010 wrote: »

Nice pics of the new Limavady DSO configuration on the now rapidly updating mb21 web site:


http://tx.mb21.co.uk/gallery/gallerypage.php?txid=889&pageid=391

<offtopic>Noticed that Sam (the Aerialman?) has got photos up now of Brougher's relays - on the page for Ederney, he says that he's not sure why the relay exists when there is LOS coverage and suggests that it could be due to a wind farm in the area but the Ederney relay has been there a lot longer than any local wind farm so that cannot be the reason. I remember getting a BBC Engineering coverage map of Brougher back in the 90's which showed a small hole in its coverage in North Fermanagh close to the marker for the Ederney relay. In any case, I've seen aerial installations for Ederney in the village itself, Lack and even as far away as Kesh so there must be some problem with reception from Brougher in a few places there.</offtopic>