Arklow

spireland32

Have a summer place in arklow...Had 2 aerials years ago for Irish and UK channels. Got a aldi fta sat... which is a bit of a nuisance now. I believe I can get freeview... what aerial do I need? Will a saorview tv or STB decode freeview? Have a 14 element log for Irish at the min.

spireland32

Have a summer place in arklow...Had 2 aerials years ago for Irish and UK channels. Got a aldi fta sat... which is a bit of a nuisance now. I believe I can get freeview... what aerial do I need? Will a saorview tv or STB decode freeview? Have a 14 element log for Irish at the min.

Peter Rhea

Any Saorview box or tv will work with standard definition Freeview, some of the tvs also have the DVB-T2 tuner needed for Freeview HD.

Do you have a satellite dish to go with the receiver? (& I don't mean one from a 'camping' kit) I'd be inclined to stick with that, rather than rely on the vagaries of reception from Wales.

spireland32

It's a aldi... frying pan size dish works alright I suppose. Could just a decent dish and a combo box?

Peter Rhea

If you already had an aerial for the UK channels & it wasn't some monster setup, then there's a good chance you'd get usable reception with something fairly modest now.

It's just that a well spec'd satellite system is practically bulletproof & the same system will get your UK channels pretty much anywhere in Ireland, so it's easier to predict how costs will work out.

spireland32

Cheers thanks for you help and time

Gerry Wicklow

If you had half-decent UK analogue before now you will get decent FreeView using either a Saorview box, TV or Freeview HD tv or box. Prior to DSo Mt Leinster Saorview clashes with one of the Welsh channels. Arklow also has it's own SaorView repeater on CH21.

spireland32

Gerry Wicklow wrote: »

If you had half-decent UK analogue before now you will get decent FreeView using either a Saorview box, TV or Freeview HD tv or box. Prior to DSo Mt Leinster Saorview clashes with one of the Welsh channels. Arklow also has it's own SaorView repeater on CH21.

I'm in clogga bay. Right on the sea. What aerial would I need. I had a grid doing UK but she gone now. A scan on saorview box would show UK channels too?

TheReverend

spireland32 wrote: »

I'm in clogga bay. Right on the sea. What aerial would I need. I had a grid doing UK but she gone now. A scan on saorview box would show UK channels too?

Im in Arklow myself but can only get the Irish channels, then again I am not near the bearch, can only get UK channels via free sat

spireland32

Hi lads... a neighbour down here has analogue tv he can receive tv3 and .tg4 very well but rte 1 and 2 aren't great at all. What does that mean as he wants to get a saorview box? It's a new aerial

Gerry Wicklow

RTÉ use the older VHF from Mt Leinster. TV3 and TG4 are on UHF which explains why the newer aerial works better for them.

spireland32

So does he need both aerials for soarview? Is saorview all on uhf?

Gerry Wicklow

At present Mt Leinster is using UHF CH45. This clashes with one of the Welsh channels so someone with an aerial pointing at Wales may have problems getting Mt Leinster on the same aerial. At DSO Mt Leinster will change to CH23 which is currently is use by TG4 analogue. With luck a single UHF aerial will cover both FreeView and Saorview at your location.

spireland32

Thanks gerry. So Irish digital is all on uhf...?

newleaf

spireland32 wrote: »

Have a summer place in arklow...Had 2 aerials years ago for Irish and UK channels. Got a aldi fta sat... which is a bit of a nuisance now. I believe I can get freeview... what aerial do I need? Will a saorview tv or STB decode freeview? Have a 14 element log for Irish at the min.

For Saorview (Irish Channels) you need a simple UHF aerial, set up vertically, - pointed at the Arklow Transmitter in Knockenrahan.
English Freeview is more complicated. I'm northside Arklow and getting good English Freeview most of time (ironically it's gone at the moment, hoping it's the muggy weather), even Freeview HD. But I've a large, high-gain UHF aerial (UNix 100 I think) as well as my simple UHF aerial, pointed at Arfon in Wales, with a strong amplifier. You'd need a good view of the sea too. Some high up houses get it from Preseli in Wales.
Saorview box or TV should get English Freeview but not Freeview HD.
Freeview HD box however should get Saorview AND Freeview AND Freeview HD. My Icecrypt box gets all, though others have reported issues with some boxes e.g. Irish channels getting assigned to the 800's. Not a major problem I think.

Peter Rhea

Saorview is all UHF, yes. The only thing you have to take into account is the aerial group for each transmitter, particularly if you need more gain than a wideband design will provide.

spireland32

Hi peter thanks for that. I'm in clogga right under the arklow quarry...right on the sea. So arklow transmitter is no good to me I heard. I believe I'm picking up mt leinster? But my aerial is horizontal and looked at the map and its a vertical transmitter?

Peter Rhea

Mt. Leinster Saorview (& UHF analogue) is horizontally polarised. Only RTE analogue on VHF band III is vertically polarised.

Or if you're referring to Arklow, yes, it's vertical pol. but all you can do is use whatever transmitter gives the best (or indeed any) signal.

spireland32

It can be vertical and horizontal from the same transmitter? Albeit digital and analogue. Does that sound right that I wouldn't get arklow trans from clogga? How do you know what group to use? Is it distance from the transmitter? So a wideband is.nt a solution to everything?

Peter Rhea

What does the coverage map say? Drag the marker to your exact location.

The map isn't infallible, but the Arklow transmitter is only intended to have a small service area as it's not on a particularly high site or high powered. You're probably shielded from it by terrain.

spireland32

Mount leinster 249 west. The site should recommend an aerial group. Jayus I'm learning a lot about how all this works and its not thanks to gay byrne

Peter Rhea

So you currently have a wideband aerial pointed at Mt. Leinster? I'm assuming reception isn't great or you wouldn't be enquiring about alternative transmitters or grouped aerials?

newleaf

Clogga might be too far away to get Saorview from Arklow on Ch 21, and the Roadstone hill might be in the way, though worth a try with a small UHF aerial vertical. Sounds like you should be able to get Freeview from Wales either from Arfon - (vertical) or Preseli (horizontal) but in both cases you will probably need a strong high gain UHF aerial with signal amplifier. If it can be got, installer Mylie Redmond from Gorey way is the one to do it. Yes, Saorview box/tv will tune in Freeview assuming you have that extra aerial, but for getting Freeview HD might be worth getting Freeview HD box which should get everything! Boards has plenty of reviews of Freeview HD boxes. And there's one in Tesco Arklow at least they had one a few days ago.

spireland32

Jaysus lads yiz are like the salmon of knowledge! As I saying further back in the posts... can get tv3 and .tg4 perfect on analogue but rte is crap

Peter Rhea

So you don't have a Saorview receiver then, or is this the neighbour we're dealing with? I think it was already mentioned that Mt. Leinster RTE is on VHF band III & vertically polarised, so a horizontally polarised UHF aerial won't get you much there.

If TV3 & TG4 are good, you should have no problems with Saorview, after switchover anyway. (Arklow doesn't carry any analogue btw.)

A grouped UHF aerial is one that is tuned for a specific part of the UHF tv band, as opposed to a wideband which covers the whole band. They can offer more gain & help combat interference in some cases, but if the wideband provides satisfactory reception, I'd be happy to stick with it.

Gerry Wicklow

1. Forget about RTÉ on analogue. That's a red herring. Once your neighbour has half-decent TV3 & TG4 it is reasonably safe to assume you have good enough coverage from MT L.
2. Forget about the Arklow relay as I strongly doubt it would get around the Roadstone hill.
3. Mt L will be changing to channel 23 UHF horizontal at ASO. The Welsh channels from Preseli are all horizontal 42, 43, 45, 46, 49 & 50 so a wideband would probably be best.

spireland32

Yeah the neighbour.. he's an elderly man. I'm just interested into how it all works uhf...vhf...widegain...diplexers... thanks to you all for your helpful inputs

Ronnie Raygun

Here's a very informative site for all things aerial related: http://www.aerialsandtv.com

spireland32

Got neighbor sorted... got him a combo 150 and a mini dish... all up and running. Thanks lads.