Digidome picking up uk channels only,

beebaw

i recently installed a digidome on the side of my house and initially i got the 8 irish digital channels but when i completed the installation i can not get any of the irish channels but it is picking up the uk channels, i get all the bbc'c and a few others. the picture for these channels is very intermittent though. im located in howth north dublin. any ideas how i can get the proper irish digital channels?

STB

beebaw wrote: »

i recently installed a digidome on the side of my house and initially i got the 8 irish digital channels but when i completed the installation i can not get any of the irish channels but it is picking up the uk channels, i get all the bbc'c and a few others. the picture for these channels is very intermittent though. im located in howth north dublin. any ideas how i can get the proper irish digital channels?

AFAIK those Digidomes have to be pointed directly at the Transmitter site. You havent got it pointed towards Three Rock by any chance (Ch 30)? Kipuure is the TX for Howth afaik which is on 54.

Manual scan the Saorview Channels on Ch54 and adjust the mounting of the Digidome until you get the best PQ/Signal.

At the moment we are experiencing high pressure which causes skip and you pull in all kinds of stuff. But I am guessing that this may not be helped if you are pointing at the wrong transmitter.

Peter Rhea

Aren't those dome things omnidirectional? I haven't installed one or seen what's inside, but why make them that shape otherwise?

The most 'pointing' you could do would be to make sure it's mounted on the side of the building nearest the wanted transmitter, maybe try rotating it, as there could be nulls in its response pattern.

lucernarian

He would be pointing at the wrong transmitter if he were pointing at Three Rock or Kippure! Clermont Carn is the correct transmitter for Howth and is slightly west of north in direction. Anyway from Howth, Kippure is almost directly behind Three Rock so there's no need to change aerial direction. Except for the fact there's a large hill in the way between Three Rock and Howth village!

Also, Clermont Carn broadcasts with Vertical polarisation and I can't tell what effect this will have on reception with that aerial. No websites I've found makes any reference to whether it works out of the box with both horizontal and vertical broadcasts.

Clermont Carn broadcasts on Ch. 53 but the power is reduced until at least October so this may lead to some reception issues with the aerial in the meantime.

STB

To_be_confirmed wrote: »

He would be pointing at the wrong transmitter if he were pointing at Three Rock or Kippure! Clermont Carn is the correct transmitter for Howth and is slightly west of north in direction. Anyway from Howth, Kippure is almost directly behind Three Rock so there's no need to change aerial direction. Except for the fact there's a large hill in the way between Three Rock and Howth village!

Coverage. Most of Howth is covered by Kippure. For the OP to decide where they are.

Peter Rhea

That's only one point on the map. If you move around you'll find areas served by Kippure, Three Rock & Clermont (the whole red area is CC). There's even one point where Greystones is recommended.

STB

Peter Rhea wrote: »

That's only one point on the map. If you move around you'll find areas served by Kippure, Three Rock & Clermont (the whole red area is CC). There's even one point where Greystones is recommended.

Oh I understand that but a lot of Howth from Sutton inwards to Baily is Kippure (light green), not CC (red & pink). The pink areas are only available from October when CC changes channel.

lucernarian

I tried ten different points in Howth village and eastwards along the road towards the summit, all points were recommended to use Clermont Carn. If he said Sutton or suchlike, I would have suggested Kippure/Three Rock. Anyone can check for themselves, most of Howth (where the people actually live, like in or nearby the village) is covered by Clermont Carn. The areas in pink are on the threshold of reception anyway, a good outdoor aerial would still work for Clermont Carn before October. And having been in Howth many times, all the aerials in the village are vertically polarised for Clermont Carn and Kilkeel.

Also, the other point about adjusting the aerial for Three Rock v Kippure was moot, Kippure is literally behind Three Rock when viewed from that general area.

FREETV

The OP should try to borrow a terrestrial meter and go for the transmitter with the highest reliable signal available, there is a choice of Three Rock, Clermont Carn and Kippure at my location, CC should be very strong from October 24th.:D I wouldn't align any aerial to the first transmitter that RTENL site recommends to be honest, they recommend Kippure in my Dad's area and all of the aerials there are pointed vertically towards Clermont Carn. They state that they are only an indication of what maybe the best transmitter for a certain area, a terrestrial meter is needed when installing for reliability and obviously line of sight is very important.

Peter Rhea

We're dealing with an omnidirectional aerial for use in strong signal areas. Apart from the fact that most of its gain, I would suspect, is from the inbuilt amplifier, it will also have inferior rejection of interfering off-beam signals. You can't 'align' an aerial like that, although positioning is still important & it's possible it would work fine without a line of sight if you can find the right spot to mount it.