Soarview picking up UK freeview channels

EB_2013

Hi, I just wondering if anyone else was having problems with their Saorview signal this morning.

I ended up doing a re-scan and now I'm picking up all the UK freeview channels including the Irish digital ones. I wonder are they testing or could it be down to the weather. I'm in the Artane area using an indoor amplified aerial.

Peter Rhea

It's the weather: the high pressure conditions can help signals travel further.

Post the UHF channel nos. or frequencies if you want to know which part of the UK they're coming from.

petronius

Would you know if it is Freeview from Wales (Afron) or the North (Divis)

Is your aerial pointed towards Kippure or 3 Rock? or northwards

petronius

Could this tread be renamed Saorview and not Soarview...?

EB_2013

petronius wrote: »

Would you know if it is Freeview from Wales (Afron) or the North (Divis)

Is your aerial pointed towards Kippure or 3 Rock? or northwards

Typical...I have no signal now but got the Irish channels back. Thats the first time I've had to re-scan since last year and never lost the signal since.

I have the antenna pointing towards the Dublin mountains so I'm guessing its Three Rock I'm picking up.

Peter Rhea

petronius wrote: »

Would you know if it is Freeview from Wales (Afron) or the North (Divis)

It wouldn't be limited to those 2 transmitters. If it was actually causing interference to Saorview in the Dublin area, it could be Caldbeck on channel 30 or Winter Hill on channel 54. Both of these are in NW England.

markc1184

I usually have all the UK channels but today they are all gone. Just have the Irish channels coming through. Would the weather be the cause of this too?

whitebriar

markc1184 wrote: »

I usually have all the UK channels but today they are all gone. Just have the Irish channels coming through. Would the weather be the cause of this too?

Possibly.
Usually if it's caused by a clash from a visiting transmitter you will have good signal but no quality,one has cancelled out the other.
If there's a way in your device to check signal/quality on the UK mixes you usually have,then,you will know.
If there's nothing there and it lasts more than a day,you probably do have a technical problem.

Fog by the way,Uk dtt does not like.
During high pressure weather,your UK wanted signal can get weak as it bounces all over the place,as well as perhaps has to compete with a visiting signal.

Peter Rhea

markc1184 wrote: »

I usually have all the UK channels but today they are all gone. . . Would the weather be the cause of this too?

More than likely. I can't see the UK signal being much good to begin with in Drogheda, so it wouldn't take much to knock it out.

Chelon

So a Saorview box can handle Freeview signals....and vice versa? I thought they were independent systems.

The Cush

Chelon wrote: »

So a Saorview box can handle Freeview signals....and vice versa? I thought they were independent systems.

Not always vice versa, Freeview uses an older standard for video decoding MPEG-2, Saorview uses MPEG-4.

Mpeg-4 is backward compatible with Mpeg-2 but not vice versa. Newer Freeview TVs will/should have mpeg-4 decoding built-in and so will be suitable to receive the Saorview channels.

The Freeview HD channels use a newer standard again DVB-T2 with Mpeg-4 decoding which is backwards compatible with both Saorview MPEG-4 and Freeview MPEG-2.

petronius

Would you know what Channels Muxes these were coming in on ?

Drogheda may well get a signal from Divis in the North depending on aerial height and if you have a signal amp.

Sadly I note some of the resources for DTT and Sat Tv in Ireland such as http://www.techtir.ie/ and www.saortv.info and http://www.mpeg4ireland.com/ are off line now - The value of community and ordinary people sharing their knowledge, is often under appreciated.

Skull Murphy

petronius wrote: »

Could this tread be renamed Saorview and not Soarview...?

Tread? You're one to be pointing out spelling mistakes ...

You spelt Arfon wrong too.

petronius

oops...i will give you Thread but Arfon is understandable.
good job i didnt try presley or preseli..

petronius

How High is your Aerial ?
Does it have clear line of site with the coast?
If its pointing south to 3 Rock its not far off pointing to BlaenPlwyf or Preseli, not sure what polarity they are?

Peter Rhea

petronius wrote: »

How High is your Aerial ?
Does it have clear line of site with the coast?

You asking the OP?

EB_2013 wrote: »

I'm in the Artane area using an indoor amplified aerial.

Fazer6

I live about four miles south of Drogheda and I can get prefect Freeview reception from Kilkeel, Freeview Light, 400W TX. It's even better picture quality than the old analog signal which was higher power. I'm still using a Group B aerial with a masthead amp, which was my original setup. I don't get the Freeview HD channels as I don't have a DVB-T2 tuner. I'm getting Saorview from Clermont Cairn from the same aerial.
Next year, funds and weather/time permitting, I plan to put up a Group A aerial and masthead amp and point it towards Divis. Many years ago I used to get analog tv from Divis, but I took down the aerial and amp many years ago.

Fazer6.

Peter Rhea

Fazer6 wrote: »

. . . I can get prefect Freeview reception from Kilkeel, Freeview Light, 400W TX. It's even better picture quality than the old analog signal which was higher power.

There's no point comparing digital to analogue like this. The digital signal includes error correction 'overhead' that can reconstruct corrupted data, allowing perfect onscreen results down to the point where the error correction is overwhelmed & you then get sudden & complete failure (signal falls off the 'digital cliff').

The signal delivering your perfect reception could be just hovering above the failure threshold & the 1st little drop in signal quality will result in unwatchable programmes.

Woodie40

Peter Rhea wrote: »

There's no point comparing digital to analogue like this. The digital signal includes error correction 'overhead' that can reconstruct corrupted data, allowing perfect onscreen results down to the point where the error correction is overwhelmed & you then get sudden & complete failure (signal falls off the 'digital cliff').

The signal delivering your perfect reception could be just hovering above the failure threshold & the 1st little drop in signal quality will result in unwatchable programmes.

True, I live a couple of yards from the north of Ireland. In analogue days, I always got the UK channels, since DSO they come and go weather permitting, in high pressure, nothing.