UPC FM Connection

Custardpi

Hi there,

Just wondering if anyone knows what the story is with UPC's fm signal. I've heard that one can get a decent fm service by connecting the coaxial socket of a hi fi tuner (I think I'm right in calling the socket the fm aerial comes out of coaxial) to that of the wall box but have never tried it myself. Moved into a new place a while back & although there's two sockets coming out of the wall box (one of the newer white ones with UPC rather than NTL written on it) neither are marked fm, no markings at all actually.

Is it still possible to receive radio this way with the newer boxes & is there an exact type of cable & connectors needed to do so? Thanks a mill!

coylemj

Yes, you can receive FM radio from the second socket. The cable is the same as the one for TV, a screw-in plug to go into the wall box and a co-ax plug at the other end to go into the FM antenna socket on your tuner. If you don't have an extra cable you're best bet is to watch out for a UPC van in your neighbourhood and ask the driver for a cable.

If your tuner has RDS you can just do a scan and you'll get RTE and several independent Dublin stations with station names but the frequencies are slightly altered from the local Dublin broadcast frequencies to prevent overlap. The UK stations seem to be the Divis frequencies e.g. BBC R2 is 90.1 Mhz so it looks like they're picked up and sent down the wire on the original frequencies but the RDS data (including station name) is missing.

You'll find the frequencies at the bottom of this web page, UPC don't advertise the frequencies any more.

http://www.iolfree.ie/~icdg/tuning_ntl_dublin.htm

Custardpi

Ah cool, was thinking it was the same as the TV cable but wasn't sure. I'll see if I can pick up a cable like that & try it out. Thanks.

Custardpi

Ok, have obtained the right cable (needed a female joiner to connect them but got that for 50c in my local hardware shop) & connected up to the tuner. Interestingly, although the national stations come in clearer than with the old aerial & I can pick up the BBC World Service, which I never could before, I can't seem to tune in many of the independent Dublin stations apart from 98 & FM104. Is there a way to get the likes of Nova & Phantom or does the UPC signal only carry the bigger stations?

coylemj

I don't think those stations are present. UPC/NTL/Cablelink stopped publicising the FM facility a long time ago. As with the analog TV stations, FM radio is a legacy service on UPC, nowadays they want you to only access TV and radio via the digital box.

Eventually I would guess that they will shut down the FM signal but for the moment it's useful for the UK stations because you don't have to switch on either the TV or the UPC Digital box to access radio though there are a lot more stations on the digital service, especially some local Irish stations which is handy for the culchees to keep in touch with events down home!

Custardpi

Ah ok, I just assumed that they broadcast whatever stations were on the fm band, rather than just those who existed back when the service mattered to them. Guess I'll have to figure out another way to pick up all the stations I want. I was looking at those long t-shaped aerials you can buy in a few places & online. Cheap enough so might see if they improve reception enough to pick up the BBC stations.

coylemj

Custardpi wrote: »

Ah ok, I just assumed that they broadcast whatever stations were on the fm band, rather than just those who existed back when the service mattered to them. Guess I'll have to figure out another way to pick up all the stations I want. I was looking at those long t-shaped aerials you can buy in a few places & online. Cheap enough so might see if they improve reception enough to pick up the BBC stations.

If you hook up an FM antenna to your tuner you'll probably have to unplug the UPC FM feed because the BBC channels will then overlap, unlike the Irish stations where there is a frequency difference. With UPC and an antenna feed combined you'll see the Irish stations twice, once on their broadcast frequency and also on the UPC frequency so you can pick the better signal to listen to but the BBC channels will overlap which will probably give you an unusable signal because the UPC signal will probably lag the broadcast signal.

You can pickup Divis on a good day but you need to be at a good altitude, I can usually get BBC R2 on 90.1 Mhz on the car radio from around White's Cross in Leopardstown on most days.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/reception/transmitters/radio/n_ireland_fm.shtml#divis