Donnybrook tower still needed?

formerly scottish paddy

Having looked at 2RN's distribution diagram below, I notice that most of their links to the DTT network now come to, and from, their HQ at Cookstown Court in Tallaght. The lines from RTÉ are fibre-optic, and it seems therefore that there is no real need for the tower on the Donnybrook campus. The circuit to Three Rock that it carries is for back-up by the looks of it, and that could be achieved without the tower. I think it was originally erected to provide line of sight to Kippure (and Skreen), and as such is now obsolete. The question is will it be taken down, or just left as a relic of broadcasting history?

wexfordman2

formerly scottish paddy wrote: »

Having looked at 2RN's distribution diagram below, I notice that most of their links to the DTT network now come to, and from, their HQ at Cookstown Court in Tallaght. The lines from RTÉ are fibre-optic, and it seems therefore that there is no real need for the tower on the Donnybrook campus. The circuit to Three Rock that it carries is for back-up by the looks of it, and that could be achieved without the tower. I think it was originally erected to provide line of sight to Kippure (and Skreen), and as such is now obsolete. The question is will it be taken down, or just left as a relic of broadcasting history?

Surely the tower is used for more than just the sdh ring ? Any local links out of it or other stuff ?
Also it's bit just in use by Rte, there are a good number of other networks on it

SunRain

Its a eye sore it should be taken down, it serves no purpose to them from a technical point, but dont they lease space on it too 02 and some isp's etc.

I hate the look of any of those pylons.

formerly scottish paddy

I take it the tower is now "owned" by 2RN and not directly by RTÉ?

The Cush

The Donnybrook Tower is officially allocated 2 DTT frequencies - UHF Chs. 31 & 37, V pol and an ERP of 20W, restricted to the east (10º-140º). Unrestricted towards their HQ in Tallaght.

Probably used by 2RN for testing purposes without having use one of their active main transmitters sites.

VHF DTT tests reported from there back in 2012.

Sam Russell

Also, the Eircom Nutley exchange is underneath it. Do they have aerials up on it?

STB

What if the fibre connection is "lost" to Cookstown ?

The tower has microwave links on it.

formerly scottish paddy

STB wrote: »

What if the fibre connection is "lost" to Cookstown ?
The tower has microwave links on it.

Yes, but they do not need to be at the height of the tower, they could be just on top of the Television Centre for line of sight to Three Rock. The point is if RTÉ were setting up Donnybrook today the tower would not be built.

Sam Russell

formerly scottish paddy wrote: »

Yes, but they do not need to be at the height of the tower, they could be just on top of the Television Centre for line of sight to Three Rock. The point is if RTÉ were setting up Donnybrook today the tower would not be built.

If RTE were setting up Donnybrook today, it would be in Cork.

formerly scottish paddy

Sam Russell wrote: »

If RTE were setting up Donnybrook today, it would be in Cork.

Touché!

L1011

They rent space on it for huge sums so it'd be a fairly hefty hit to 2RN's finances if it went.

More Music

The tower is still a major part of the network. If the fibre to Cookstown went down or the Cookstown facility suffered a major outage they would need the microwave link to 3 Rock to distribute the services.

Can't fault redundancy plans.

The tower also generates income from 3rd party operators.

You would not get planning for such a structure in that location nowadays, so they would be mad to knock it.

formerly scottish paddy

More Music wrote: »

The tower is still a major part of the network. If the fibre to Cookstown went down or the Cookstown facility suffered a major outage they would need the microwave link to 3 Rock to distribute the services.

Yes I understand that, my point was that 3 Rock can be reached by microwave link from the top of the TV Centre without the need of the tower.

More Music

Ok, but there's also the equally important 3rd party income, future use and planning issues.

Hotblack Desiato

They often have a van with a microwave antenna on a boom parked in Earlsfort Terrace, I presume this is to beam back reports from Kildare St / Merrion Sq to Donnybrook tower. Top of TV Centre wouldn't have the height for that.

formerly scottish paddy

Nearly all live news reports are linked by satellite and downlinked to a dish in Donnybrook with no need of the tower.

Sam Russell

formerly scottish paddy wrote: »

Nearly all live news reports are linked by satellite and downlinked to a dish in Donnybrook with no need of the tower.

They could use a radio link at lower cost than satellites. The tower could come in handy for that.

Hotblack Desiato

In any case it should be a listed structure