No Saorview signal in Skibbereen

muddled1

Hi,
I bought a Saorview box, thinking it would be a piece o' cake. WRONG.
While I get excellent analogue reception for RTE1 and 2, TV3 is mediocre. TG4 was never great, now seems to be gone. I have both UHF and VHF aerials in the loft. As far as I can tell the UHF aerial is the correct type (about 8 years old),and is facing the right direction. As I CANNOT get any signal on Saorview I was wondering if I should disconnect the VHF aerial.

Any suggestions greatly appreciated.

gozunda

muddled1 wrote: »

Hi,
I bought a Saorview box, thinking it would be a piece o' cake. WRONG.
While I get excellent analogue reception for RTE1 and 2, TV3 is mediocre. TG4 was never great, now seems to be gone. I have both UHF and VHF aerials in the loft. As far as I can tell the UHF aerial is the correct type (about 8 years old),and is facing the right direction. As I CANNOT get any signal on Saorview I was wondering if I should disconnect the VHF aerial.

Any suggestions greatly appreciated.

Have you checked the Saorviewwebsite map for your location and strength of signal?

If not check that your location is showing adequate signal

There are some areas that reception will be poor - see site for details

muddled1

The only information I get from Saorview is that there is coverage where I live.
Site: Mount Gabriel
Site On-Air:Yes
Channel: 37
AERIAL INFORMATION Polarization: H
Direction to point (degrees): West (273)

The part of the above I'm not sure about is Channel 37-is this what channel the TV should be on? If so, it doesn't make a difference.

coylemj

muddled1 wrote: »

The part of the above I'm not sure about is Channel 37-is this what channel the TV should be on? If so, it doesn't make a difference.

You say you 'bought a Saorview box' - by that do you mean that you bought a Saorview set top box (STB) to connect to an TV that can't get Saorview by itself?

If that is the case, you don't use the tuner in the TV, you tell the Saorview STB to do an autotune and it should find the radio and TV channels. The TV should be set to AV1 or similar to accept the signal from the STB via a SCART or HDMI cable connection, this byasses the tuner in the TV.

If you have a set top box and you're tuning the TV to channel 37, you're going about it the wrong way.

If you bought a TV with a digital tuner, you may need to switch on the digital option on the setup menus if the TV isn't picking up Saorview.

Peter Rhea

Channel 37 is the UHF channel on which the Saorview services are carried. You could try a manual tune on your Saorview box, but there mustn't be a strong enough signal or it would have got it on an auto tune.

The coverage checker isn't infallible & your UHF aerial is probably pointed at Mullaghanish, which is also a recommended Saorview transmitter in that area, along with Drimoleague.

You'll most likely have to move your UHF aerial outside, maybe get a new one if you have to use Drimoleague.

e17

muddled1 wrote: »

Hi,
I bought a Saorview box, thinking it would be a piece o' cake. WRONG.
While I get excellent analogue reception for RTE1 and 2, TV3 is mediocre. TG4 was never great, now seems to be gone. I have both UHF and VHF aerials in the loft. As far as I can tell the UHF aerial is the correct type (about 8 years old),and is facing the right direction. As I CANNOT get any signal on Saorview I was wondering if I should disconnect the VHF aerial.

Any suggestions greatly appreciated.

If your aerial set up was UHF and VHF your aerials are pointing at Mullaganish. Mt Gaberial analogue was only UHF and did not have TV3. You may need to repoint your uhf aerial. Mt gaberial was only switched on last week for dtt. If it is on the roof Maybe an installer should look at it for you

The Cush

muddled1 wrote: »

While I get excellent analogue reception for RTE1 and 2, TV3 is mediocre. TG4 was never great, now seems to be gone. I have both UHF and VHF aerials in the loft. As far as I can tell the UHF aerial is the correct type (about 8 years old),and is facing the right direction. As I CANNOT get any signal on Saorview I was wondering if I should disconnect the VHF aerial.

Any suggestions greatly appreciated.

As said above Mt Gabriel is recommended for your area in Skibbereen.

You say analogue TV3/TG4 from Mullaghanish isn't great, it could that your area is a difficult reception area for Mullaghanish UHF analogue and Saorview and installing the aerial in the attic doesn't help in that case either as it reduces the signal strength further getting thru the slate/tile roof. Saorview always recommend a roof aerial for Saorview reception. This could be the reason why Mt Gabriel is recommended for your area.

You could start by removing the VHF aerial and any diplexer/joiner for the 2 aerials and connect the UHF aerial directly. The aerial will be defunct in about 2 weeks anyway.

What does the UHF aerial in the attic look like - http://www.tvtrade.ie/tv-and-radio-aerials/uhf-aerials.html ? Is there any coloured plastic bung at the end of the aerial (red=Mullaghanish, black=wideband)? You may have to turn the aerial towards Mt Gabriel and either keep it horizontal polarisation (as per Mullaghanish) or rotate it to vetical polarisation. (see this document for explaination of polarisation)

Peter Rhea

An 8 year old group A aerial should be alright for Mt. Gabriel, mux. 1 anyway. The group was extended up to ch. 37 some time in the mid 1990s, if I'm not mistaken.

The Cush

Peter Rhea wrote: »

An 8 year old group A aerial should be alright for Mt. Gabriel. The group was extended up to ch. 37 some time in the mid 1990s, if I'm not mistaken.

That would be correct, at the time Channel 5 launched. What frequency will be allocted to mux 2?

Peter Rhea

Wonder will they keep mux. 1 on channel 37?

The Cush

Peter Rhea wrote: »

Wonder will they keep mux. 1 on channel 37?

I was surprised to see Ch 37 used as I think it's the only transmitter to use the cleared 600MHz band (Ch 31-38) here or in the UK.