Northern Ireland Saorview reception reports:

Mr. Rabbit

eamonpk wrote: »

Hi and thanks very much – I really appreciate advice from everyone and also still hopeful I can get it.

I spoke to knowledgeable TV guy in Enniskillen (I'm originally from Fermanagh) advised me to not give up as Clermont Carn is putting out a strong signal - hence I put the question on the board.

If you know Glengormley I am in Colinbridge which is very high up and gets Freeview from a relay transmitter in Carnmoney I was so keen to get RTE when I moved here the guy in Enniskillen got me a Sky+ box initialized in Longford which I brought up to Glengormley. Now since digital switchover the options have increased hopefully I can ditch Sky and get RTE etc using another method

I considered Saorsat although I still won’t get TV3 and 3E which I would primarily miss as they now get a slice of the Champions League and GAA championship. Apart from that I don’t see any real advantage over Saorview from the Northern transmitter and the fact that I will get the blocked RTE2 transmissions. Or is possible to add FreeSat so that all Free/SaorSat will come to one box and show on one EPG? If so then I would consider it – or even if there was a good chance that TV3 or other channels were thinking of going with SaorSat

I don’t know of anyone who got RTE before but to be honest I don’t know many about here anyway. Tomorrow snow permitting I am going to take a walk around and look for 2 aerials or elevated aerials pointing South to Clermont Carn

zg3409 if you can give me any details of any local specialist satellite installer here I would appreciate it.

Lastly if any my knowledge is incorrect please let me know as I don’t pretend to be an expert and thanks again.

Sky it’s been great but we need to go our separate ways!

I'm pretty sure there are CC aerials further down the Antrim Road Eamon, say as far as Ben Madigan prep school. I'm not sure about Colinbridge, but a rough indication might be to check the radio signals from C.C. e.g. RTE Radio 1 on 87.8, RTE Radio 2 on 97.0, and Today FM on 105.5 Mhz. If you're getting nothing on those radio frequencies then there's no point in even trying, but I'm pretty sure they come in quite weell up around Colinbridge.

I'm in Jordanstown, which isn't that far away and Saorview reception is perfect. It was non existant before ASO, so that shows you the improvement.

Digifriendly

Mr. Rabbit wrote: »

I'm pretty sure there are CC aerials further down the Antrim Road Eamon, say as far as Ben Madigan prep school. I'm not sure about Colinbridge, but a rough indication might be to check the radio signals from C.C. e.g. RTE Radio 1 on 87.8, RTE Radio 2 on 97.0, and Today FM on 105.5 Mhz. If you're getting nothing on those radio frequencies then there's no point in even trying, but I'm pretty sure they come in quite weell up around Colinbridge.

I'm in Jordanstown, which isn't that far away and Saorview reception is perfect. It was non existant before ASO, so that shows you the improvement.

Very wise advice. FM Radio from same location as DTT is a good guide.

eamonpk

Thanks again guys. I had a look round today and I didn't see any aeriels looked like they were pointing South suggesting they were getting Soarview as

As for FM I can get Today FM on 105.5 and RTE on 87.8 (better on LW) but reception is very poor. 2FM on 97.0 can barely be made out. In the car when parked outside house reception is better but still not great

Is there any hope?

I have googled and only local aerial supplier that came up was www.newtownabbeyaerials.co.uk so if you know anything about them or any other reputable TV guys near I would apprecitate

Mr. Rabbit

eamonpk wrote: »

Thanks again guys. I had a look round today and I didn't see any aeriels looked like they were pointing South suggesting they were getting Soarview as

As for FM I can get Today FM on 105.5 and RTE on 87.8 (better on LW) but reception is very poor. 2FM on 97.0 can barely be made out. In the car when parked outside house reception is better but still not great

Is there any hope?

I have googled and only local aerial supplier that came up was www.newtownabbeyaerials.co.uk so if you know anything about them or any other reputable TV guys near I would apprecitate

I've used Newtownabbey aerials Eamon and he's very good, in my opinion. He should be able to tell you if it's worth while or not.

CC really is getting into quite a few areas of Belfast now, and in places where you wouldn't expect.I was quite surprised at the increase in signal strength post DSO. It's by far the strogest signal around here and even better than the PSB multiplexes from Divis.

To be honest, I could probably live with the NI mux if there was nothing else as it's better than nothing.

eamonpk

I contacted Newtownabbey Aerials and he didn't seem too hopeful but would look up if they had done work in Colinbridge before. He reckoned SaorSat would cost £200-300 to set up which is a bit dear. I may well have to live with the NI mux

Thanks again for the help

eamonpk

Hi

Talked again to Newtownabbey Aerials and although he is not hopeful (reckons it is about 85%) sure that I won't be able to get Saorview but he will come out. He will charge £45 to come out and check the signal and if can go ahead will charge £180 for fitting aerial and I presume an amplifier.

What do you think - worth going for - is that standard pricing for this

Thanks again
Eamon

eamonpk

Hi

I have someone out tomorrow morning to look at the possibility of putting up an aerial to get Saorview. I am in Glengormley north of Belfast and close to the Cave Hill so I realise that the odds aren’t great.

Not particularly knowledgeable in this area but with a bit of research and asking a friend I have come up with these questions and would appreciate any corrections or other things I should be asking

• He is charging me £45 to check the signal – Does he need to get up on the roof/chimney to check this properly or should he just check the signal round different parts of the house
• Presuming signal is there does he have to use a High Gain Aerial – if signal is there it will be of low signal strength
• Do I need a masthead amp mounted – if so where aerial pole/chimney/..? And where should the power for this be positioned

If anything missed or have got things wrong will greatly appreciate your comments before tomorrow morning

Cheers
Eamon

Digifriendly

eamonpk wrote: »

Hi

I have someone out tomorrow morning to look at the possibility of putting up an aerial to get Saorview. I am in Glengormley north of Belfast and close to the Cave Hill so I realise that the odds aren’t great.

Not particularly knowledgeable in this area but with a bit of research and asking a friend I have come up with these questions and would appreciate any corrections or other things I should be asking

• He is charging me £45 to check the signal – Does he need to get up on the roof/chimney to check this properly or should he just check the signal round different parts of the house
• Presuming signal is there does he have to use a High Gain Aerial – if signal is there it will be of low signal strength
• Do I need a masthead amp mounted – if so where aerial pole/chimney/..? And where should the power for this be positioned

If anything missed or have got things wrong will greatly appreciate your comments before tomorrow morning

Cheers
Eamon

• I guess he needs to get aerial set up first on roof/chimney to check signal strength.
• If area is not the best for receving Saorview he will almost certainly try a High Gain Aerial to get best signal.
• Masthead amp will certainly be employed to improve signal with box attached to aerial pole and power unit either put in your roofspace or behind the TV.

Mr. Rabbit

eamonpk wrote: »

Hi

I have someone out tomorrow morning to look at the possibility of putting up an aerial to get Saorview. I am in Glengormley north of Belfast and close to the Cave Hill so I realise that the odds aren’t great.

Not particularly knowledgeable in this area but with a bit of research and asking a friend I have come up with these questions and would appreciate any corrections or other things I should be asking

• He is charging me £45 to check the signal – Does he need to get up on the roof/chimney to check this properly or should he just check the signal round different parts of the house
• Presuming signal is there does he have to use a High Gain Aerial – if signal is there it will be of low signal strength
• Do I need a masthead amp mounted – if so where aerial pole/chimney/..? And where should the power for this be positioned

If anything missed or have got things wrong will greatly appreciate your comments before tomorrow morning

Cheers
Eamon

The guy from Newtownabbey eaerials should know what he's doing Eamon, certainly if my experiance is anything to go by.

I have quite a large aerial for C.C. Saorview reception was non existant prior to ASO, despite a near perfect analogue signal. Since the 24th October it's been perfect, and by and large the strongest signal at this location (even better than the Divis PSB multiplexes). It's so strong it's even coming in on a Cambret Hill aerial, which is odd though IO'm probably getting it off the downlead, so never say never. I have noticed some C.C aerials further down the Antrim Road so you could be OK, given the increase in signal strength.

You could always check your current set up and get him to do any additional work so as the £45 is not a wasted charge. It's quite a reasonable price these days in my opinion. I did try East Antrim Aerials a couple of years back and they were far more expensive, I think about £85 for half an hour's work.

You should also be able to receive a resonable signal from Cambret Hill at your location. The strength of this transmitter has also increased quite dramatically here in recent months. There's been ongoing talk it may go full freeview at some stage.

eamonpk

Thanks for all the help. They were able to get a signal of 15 to his tester but when he tried it to to see if he could actually get a picture he couldn't get it to tune into any of the Saorview channels – signal was 20% but quality was 0%. I was using a Tehnica(Tescos) HD STB. It probably wouldn't have made a difference but I wished I had used the much better Humax Fox T2 that I own but I didn't have it in the house at the time just to give it every chance to get the Saorview signal

Mr. Rabbit

eamonpk wrote: »

Thanks for all the help. They were able to get a signal of 15 to his tester but when he tried it to to see if he could actually get a picture he couldn't get it to tune into any of the Saorview channels – signal was 20% but quality was 0%. I was using a Tehnica(Tescos) HD STB. It probably wouldn't have made a difference but I wished I had used the much better Humax Fox T2 that I own but I didn't have it in the house at the time just to give it every chance to get the Saorview signal

That's a pity Eamon as I thought you might have been OK. I don't think the Humax is available any more, although you can still get them on Amazon.

I suppose your only other option is Saorsat then. At least you'll get the football in the clear, even if you miss out on TV3 and 3e. There's always the hope they may appear on Saorsat eventually.

eamonpk

Mr. Rabbit wrote: »

That's a pity Eamon as I thought you might have been OK. I don't think the Humax is available any more, although you can still get them on Amazon.

I suppose your only other option is Saorsat then. At least you'll get the football in the clear, even if you miss out on TV3 and 3e. There's always the hope they may appear on Saorsat eventually.

Yes a bit disappointed and I have a Humax box but had got it at the house on the day which wasn't too clever – doubtful if it would have made a difference as reading was only 15 and guy from Newtownabbey aerials said he would hope to have 23 or higher and even then it could be a dodgy picture depending on the weather.

Would recommend Newtownabbey Aerials as they were very good and knew their stuff. He only wanted to charge me £35 although gave him for £40. For 2 guys to spend about 1.5 hours for that money is certainly not over charging

Mr. Rabbit

eamonpk wrote: »

Yes a bit disappointed and I have a Humax box but had got it at the house on the day which wasn't too clever – doubtful if it would have made a difference as reading was only 15 and guy from Newtownabbey aerials said he would hope to have 23 or higher and even then it could be a dodgy picture depending on the weather.

Would recommend Newtownabbey Aerials as they were very good and knew their stuff. He only wanted to charge me £35 although gave him for £40. For 2 guys to spend about 1.5 hours for that money is certainly not over charging

Yep, they're very easy to pay Eamon. They did some work for my dad a while back and I think he gave quite a bit extra over what they were charging. He's actually an uncle of Stuart Robinson (Downtown/ex Citybeat presenter).

You could have a go at Saorsat if you're madly keen on the football. As I say, TV3 and 3e may come on eventually.

Patricia Mackle

I receive Freeview and Freeview HD from Limavady and Saorview from Moville.I have 2 aerials.
The Saorview aerial is 12V amplified at the masthead and the signals are combined with a masthead diplexer.

Over recent weeks I have, from time to time, been receiving nothing from:-
BBCA C50 (706.0MHz) - All BBC television and radio
ARQIVA B C49 (698.0MHz) - Film4, 4Music, Yesterday, ITV4, etc and several radio stations
SV1 C45 (666.0MHz) - All Saorview television and Radio
Channels from all three Muxes disappear at the same time.

For some weeks this only happened for a short time some mornings around 6am, but on Saturday they were off from around 3:30pm to 6:15pm, on Sunday from around 10.45am to around 3:30pm and today is worst of all from around 12.45pm and still off now at 8.15pm.

Any ideas why this is happening?
The only thing I noticed that 'connects' these three is that they transmit at the lowest frequencies. Could this be significant?

All advice and help welcomed.

See next post

Patricia Mackle

8:30pm today. All have returned for no resason. Puzzling.

Please help if you can.

Peter Rhea

Patricia Mackle wrote: »

The Saorview aerial is 12V amplified at the masthead and the signals are combined with a masthead diplexer.

Over recent weeks I have, from time to time, been receiving nothing from:-
BBCA C50 (706.0MHz) - All BBC television and radio
ARQIVA B C49 (698.0MHz) - Film4, 4Music, Yesterday, ITV4, etc and several radio stations
SV1 C45 (666.0MHz) - All Saorview television and Radio
Channels from all three Muxes disappear at the same time.

Were these aerials originally installed for reception of the analogue broadcasts?

Moville TG4 was on ch.50 & the lowest channel used at Limavady was ch.55, so a diplexer used in such an installation mightn't be the best for the digital channel allocations.

Patricia Mackle

Thanks Peter

The aerials are group C/D for Limavady and B for Moville and were indeed installed some years ago for analogue broadcasts.

So the problem could be solved with a different diplexer - which one?

A few naive thoughts come to mind:-
Everything was OK since Switchover until a few weeks ago so why have the signals only been lost for the last few weeks?.
Is it caused by this cold dry weather and high atmospheric pressure? - (sometimes in bad weather and low cloud, I get signals from Holywell Hill C30!!).
Why do the signals come and go randomly?
Why is the problem getting worse?

Although all three Muxes are back now, the Saorview signals, are not the full strength and quality I remember from after the switchover when both were given by the TV Set-up as 10/10. The other Mux signals are all 10/10.

Peter Rhea

If the diplexer was specified to allow up to at least ch.50 to pass on the 'low' leg, then it would be best if it were replaced with one that allows down to ch.49 to pass on the 'high' leg.

The fact that this only caused problems recently probably points to some deterioration on the Moville side of the system, as this is where most of the BBC A & Arqiva B signal would be received, if the diplexer has a split above ch.50.

Patricia Mackle

The cover of the diplexer came off at one time and I don't know for how long it was off. Could this have affected the performance?

So, things have changed since switchover - Moville is on ch45 and the lowest Limavady channels are ch.49 and ch. 50, therefore, there may me a problem with the existing diplexer at this 'boundary'? The next Limavady channel is ch.54 and it is OK.

As I was writing this message, the 3 problematic channels disappeared again at 9:55am. I can't think of a condition which changed between 9.54am and 9.55am to cause this. All three have been OK since I woke at around 5am.

I haven't climbed up to open the diplexer to see if it will tell me the split of the high and low legs but I've had a look on eBay and elsewhere for a diplexer which splits down to ch.49. In fact I've only found 3 which appear to me to be suitable for terrestrial TV signals only. The others are mostly for satellite/terrestrial TV or TV/DAB radio. The three I've found are Triax TFC3739, TFC3537 and TFC5052. I've figured out that the numbers tell where the split is between the high and low legs. Am I right in thinking the 3739 and the 3537 are no use for me? And the 5052 doesn't fulfil the requirement to allow down to 49 to pass.
Essentially, I'd be better with a diplexer which allows the Limavady Freeview channels, 49 to 59, to pass on the high leg and the Moville Saorview channel 45 to pass on the low side - a 4549 diplexer would be ideal. Is this correct? Is there such a product?
I think I might be able replace the diplexer myself, if I can buy a suitable one!

Peter Rhea

Fringe Electronics K-C/D diplexers are probably still available (chs. 21-47 & 48-68). I'm not sure how well they are screened against interference, catalogue claims 'Fully screened to C.E. compliance'.

Stocked by NI trade-only supplier with online ordering, iirc.

An ordinary combiner/splitter, with no channel filtering, might also do the job. I think signal losses on each leg tend to be higher than with the 'diplexer' type (though a diplexer with a split at ch.48 would probably have similar losses on chs.49 & 50). Example with outdoor enclosure here.

Patricia Mackle

I read here on Boards.ie:-
Home > Tech > Cable & Digital TV >Terrestrial >combining aerials
17-01-2011, gkp1 Registered User found a supplier http://www.vanjak.com who may be able to provide a suitable K-C/D diplexer. The website is under maintenance at present. I've sent an email asking where to buy. They have an outlet in Magherafelt Co Derry.

The Fringe Electronics 2012 catalogue contains three K-C/D diplexers and K – C.D. 21-47 48-68 ● With Thru Leg Klooks like the right one. They replied to an email and have 2 distributors here but one is trade only and the other is Vanjak.com (see above). I don't know if they sell retail

I'll maybe have a word with a local engineer to find out which diplexers he installs and ask if he will supply me with one.

I climbed up to the dilplexer. It's a Triax but I couldn't slide the cover up far enough to see any high/low channel split printed inside. (The cover was off the amplifier for a period of time in the past, not off the diplexer). I'm now getting pixellated reception on all ch. 49. Would this have anything to do with my fiddling at the diplexer?

Replacing and reconnecting the cables will not be as easy as I had hoped. The existing connections are not the F plugs I thought they would be and all I would have to do is unscrew them and screw them back into the new diplexer. The new replacement will likely have these F connections and I've never used them although a YouTube video makes it look easy.

Peter Rhea

The cover being off the amp. wouldn't have done it any favours, or any connected cables. It's more than likely deterioration in this area that has brought on these problems, things might otherwise have continued working away fine, with enough signal getting through on BBC A & Arq B.

You'll likely need to replace the amp, diplexer & at least any dodgy looking cable.

Patricia Mackle

[HTML][/HTML]The job is now too complex for me. I could make things worse by amateur meddling. I'm reluctantly going to give in and get a professional to diagnose the problem on-site and replace any dodgy cable and masthead equipment.

Many many thanks for all your help and advice yesterday and today. Armed with this I'll know what he is talking about!

I'll let you know the extent of the eventual repairs and replacements in due course.

gsni

Hi folks,
Further update to report for Saorview in Bangor, we tried an install today without success. I am between the Clandy Shop and Clandyboye Park football pitch. I realise this is a rather low lying area but felt it was worth a shot given the improved performance since the switch over. The signal meter was able to detect signal on channel 52 however my tv would not scan any services and would not register any signal on this channel. I can get the NIMM easily. We did try a separate decoder box and although it was still a T2 capable receiver it was worse as it was unable to find the NIMM.

eamonpk

gsni wrote: »

Hi folks,
Further update to report for Saorview in Bangor, we tried an install today without success. I am between the Clandy Shop and Clandyboye Park football pitch. I realise this is a rather low lying area but felt it was worth a shot given the improved performance since the switch over. The signal meter was able to detect signal on channel 52 however my tv would not scan any services and would not register any signal on this channel. I can get the NIMM easily. We did try a separate decoder box and although it was still a T2 capable receiver it was worse as it was unable to find the NIMM.

Do you mean that you can't get the RTE1/2 and TG4 from the NI transmitter or was it actually the full range of channels from the ROI

I am in Glengormley and was looking to get full Saorview from ROI but signal wasn't strong enough but I am able to get the 3 channels from the NI transmitter

gsni

I can get the NIMM no problem. Could not get anything from Clermont Carn.

NorthDown2

From the football ground there is a reasonable incline up to the ring road lights which might be the problem. The trees are in full bloom as well which potentially doesn't help. Were you trying yourself or had you an aerial installer doing the work? I can confirm there is good reception of RTE up in Lord Wardens.

gsni

It was installer. I don't know the type of meter used, but I seen it was registering signal on UHF52 but was fluctuating a lot. We tried a 7ft pole and was thinking a bit more hight might of found a stronger signal but I didn't want to put too much weight on the chimney.

sausagehead

audio out of sync tonight from moville transmitters

hawkwind23

belfast
get all the RTE on 801 onward
and
rte 1 +2 and tg4 on 51.....

noticed that i dont get a full epg for 800 channels and they dont record from guide either.

great service for me anyways , living in a flat with single feed meant sky was a waste of money.
couldn't be happier with the youview