NI DTT in Roscommon

Gerry Wicklow

Can anyone tell me if NI DTT is available in the Athleague area of Roscommon and if so does it need a massive aerial system.

coylemj

If you can receive Freeview (that's what DTT is called in GB & NI), your nearest transmitter is Brougher Mountain which is 108 kms as the crow flies from Athleague, you'll have to ask local suppliers.

The main issue is likely to be the altitude of your house and if there's any obstacles in the way. Borrow a compass and look at bearing 30 degrees from your house to see what the skyline looks like.

zg3409

Coverage map here:
http://www.ukfree.tv/maps.php?c=6

It seems to show no coverage in Athleague, although as said, depending on the location, it may be possible. Ask a local TV shop/installer.

More info on how to combine Freeview aerial and Saorview aerial on the one cable here:
http://www.tvtrade.ie/how-to-combine-saorview-and-freeview-on-the-same-digital-receiver.html

Along with a rough map

Also note the digital power will be increased from October onwards, you may only get analogue channels now.

Gerry Wicklow

Thanks for that guys. The local area is fairly flat. I was thinking it was a fair ould trip from Brougher. What's worrying me more is that none of the neighbours have any kind of aerials at all, although they are all modern houses, built in the last 15 years, so probably went straight to Sky and didn't bother even trying analogue. I guess I'll have to track down a local installer for more info.
Thanks again.
Gerry

coylemj

I wouldn't be too hopeful. That UK freeview coverage map has a green patch beside Mullingar and there's a smaller patch between Lanesboro and Strokestown, obviously an elevated plateau in Co. Roscommon. It looks to me like there's some hills between Dromod and Drumsna just west of the N4 which are blocking the signal from progressing further south to Roscommon town and the OP in Athleague.

Sponge Bob

I'd wait till after ASO in October Gerry, it will be a big aerial one way or t'other.

Are you changing your name to Gerry Ros in the interim??

Digifriendly

Freesat may be not on your radar but if at all possible you're guaranteed crystal clear reception and more channels than Freeview.

Gerry Wicklow

Thanks again guys. The Freesat option is a no-brainer but the relo's took a fancy to Dave and Quest when they saw them here. Looking at the UKfree maps I reckon it would take an animal of an aerial even post DSO. Now to break it to them gently

lawhec

Gerry Wicklow wrote: »

Thanks again guys. The Freesat option is a no-brainer but the relo's took a fancy to Dave and Quest when they saw them here. Looking at the UKfree maps I reckon it would take an animal of an aerial even post DSO. Now to break it to them gently

Do not rely on the UKfree TV maps! They are not properly configured for the Irish grid reference, for example it shows no coverage north-west of Brougher when there actually is, and also a major hole in coverage in Omagh where there isn't.

A little tip would be to use this panorama which is fixed at Brougher Mountain and find where you are seeking to get reception in. When you've centered on your reception spot, click on "Show Profile" and it will pop up a graph showing straight line obstacles between the transmitter and the place of reception. Doing it for Athleague, reception is clearly beyond the horizon at about 65 miles from Brougher - however using the flat earth projection it shows apart from some very small local obstacles which could be overcome with a tall enough pole, there are no major obstacles so there is a chance. I know a poster here several years ago who was able to get at least some multiplexes at Athlone which has a similar path of being over-the-horizon and a similar distance from Brougher. Although post 24/10 the PSB multiplexes will be upped to 20kW, the COMs will only be 2kW so it could prove a struggle to bring them in reliably at that distance. Also local co-channel interference (say Castlebar?) may upset reception of some multiplexes.

antomack

My parents house is out the Athlone Road in Roscommon town (past the hospital) and on a good day they can get the Freeview signal from Brougher. Dave is usually the best reception station and can be got almost any day while the BBC's are intermittent.

The aerial has been in place for over 20 years on the top of an old telecom pole, not sure what aerial it is but it's about 2 metres long. AFAIK it is not specifically pointed at Brougher but at Cairn Hill but is still picking up Brougher from time to time. Once things settle down with ASO I might look at getting it specifically pointed at Brougher and add another smaller aerial for Cairn Hill.

I'm living in Four Roads myself and had asked an installer what he thought were the chances of picking up Brougher from there to which he replied that he felt Roscommon town was already cutting it fine. His recommendation was satellite combined with Saorview which is what I already installed myself.

Ronnie Raygun

antomack wrote: »

AFAIK it is not specifically pointed at Brougher but at Cairn Hill

I would think it is specifically pointing at Brougher & would have no trouble picking up Cairn Hill anyway. Most likely frequency grouped for Brougher too.

Peter Rhea

Depending where you are in relation to that big hill to the NE of the town, you'd probably have a clearer path to Divis from there (same direction as Cairn Hill) but it's a lot further away than Brougher.

Digifriendly

Peter Rhea wrote: »

Depending where you are in relation to that big hill to the NE of the town, you'd probably have a clearer path to Divis from there (same direction as Cairn Hill) but it's a lot further away than Brougher.

Divis power will be considerably increased at DSO so maybe chance of picking it up.

lawhec

Divis Panorama.

Distance from Divis to Athleague is about 180km LOS - I'm not sure even if the path was completely flat that any broadcast reception would be reliable on a day to day basis at that distance. Though stranger things have happened.

coylemj

OP, Divis and Cairn Hill are almost in a straight line from Athleague, there's only two degrees difference so they're effectively inline.

Cairn Hill needs Group B horizontal and Divis Group A horizontal so a high gain Group K horizontal would be the man for you.

Peter Rhea

Divis is about 115 miles from Athleague, it would be the same thing as someone at my location trying to get usable reception from Mt. Leinster.

I was only speculating about Divis in relation to the post dealing with the location on the Athlone rd. in Roscommon, not suggesting anyone seriously think about trying to get a reliable service from there. I wonder do antomack's parents have UK analogue reception & on which UHF channels?

Ronan|Raven

Interesting thread.

My Grandfather still has analogue reception of the service from Brougher in the Ballinlough area. Will be interesting to see what if anything he can receive of the DTT service.

antomack

Peter Rhea wrote: »

Divis is about 115 miles from Athleague, it would be the same thing as someone at my location trying to get usable reception from Mt. Leinster.

I was only speculating about Divis in relation to the post dealing with the location on the Athlone rd. in Roscommon, not suggesting anyone seriously think about trying to get a reliable service from there. I wonder do antomack's parents have UK analogue reception & on which UHF channels?

They do have analogue UK reception, C22, C25, C28 and C32. Picture is generally fairly good with CH4 grainy at times.

Ronnie Raygun wrote: »

I would think it is specifically pointing at Brougher & would have no trouble picking up Cairn Hill anyway. Most likely frequency grouped for Brougher too.

Checked the direction of the aerial roughly with a compass and seems to be pointing more towards Brougher alright but seems a few degrees off which could be understandable after 20+ years.

lawhec

That info would indicate reception from Brougher. I can't find it on TechTír at the moment, but in the absence of anything else you can use the "Ceefax" test to give a reception prediction when analogue closes down...

On BBC1, call up Ceefax and go to page 284, and wait for the page of white blocks to appear.

Ignore any missing whole lines of blocks...
* If there are no missing blocks, all should be good.
* If there are up to four missing blocks, your reception will probably be OK but not guaranteed.
* If there are more than four blocks missing, then reception will likely be marginal or not there. An aerial upgrade might work if you've enough margin to do so.

Repeat for BBC2 and UTV. If all three pass, then you should be OK at least for the PSB multiplexes which includes the HD channels - however the commercial multiplexes will be more marginal as they'll only have a 1/10th of the power of the PSB multiplexes.



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