Freeview (UK DTT) Signal possible in Cork/Waterford?

AwaitYourReply

I am aware that some TV viewers are capable of picking up the UK Freeview DTT TV reception most of the time (weather permitting of course) particularly where there is overspill such as those counties that border with Northern Ireland and along East Coast of Ireland.

However; I am curious if there are people living in any parts of Counties Cork (incl. Cork City) & Waterford currently able to pick up any of the overspill reception of Freeview (UK DTT) television reception as these would have been areas that traditionally had widespread UK Deflector TV systems like South Coast/Carrigaline Community Television operating at one stage. I would be interested to know if there are any TV viewers in the Cork City & Co. Cork & Waterford areas capable of receiving the UK Freeview signal with an aerial and which settings are used for tuning-in etc;

ftakeith

AwaitYourReply wrote: »

I am aware that some TV viewers are capable of picking up the UK Freeview DTT TV reception most of the time (weather permitting of course) particularly where there is overspill such as those counties that border with Northern Ireland and along East Coast of Ireland.

However; I am curious if there are people living in any parts of Counties Cork (incl. Cork City) & Waterford currently able to pick up any of the overspill reception of Freeview (UK DTT) television reception as these would have been areas that traditionally had widespread UK Deflector TV systems like South Coast/Carrigaline Community Television operating at one stage. I would be interested to know if there are any TV viewers in the Cork City & Co. Cork & Waterford areas capable of receiving the UK Freeview signal with an aerial and which settings are used for tuning-in etc;

No

Freesat now has 95% of the UK freeview tv channels now

BionicRasher

I got it last summer during a spell of good weather. No sign of it this year however.
I am about 12 miles southeast of Cork City

FRIENDO

Their has been reports from Waterford and Kilkenny of freeview signal from Wales on boards.

Living in North Wexford I'm getting very good freeview signal from Wales.

On the very rare occasion I even picked up dtt signal from France.

AwaitYourReply

BionicRasher wrote: »

I got it last summer during a spell of good weather. No sign of it this year however.
I am about 12 miles southeast of Cork City

I was just curious about the ability of receiving certain channels via UK FreeView DTT system namely: DAVE, QUEST, QUEST+1, 4MUSIC, RACING UK, MOTORS TV, MOVIEMIX are all available via UK FreeView but are still currently not available via free-to-air digital satellite tv unless you pay an ongoing tv subscription to SKY Digital.

If you go into TV settings and set the Country as IRELAND or UNITED KINGDOM on a TV that already has an in-built digital tuner for receiving DTT. We would have a SAMSUNG TV that was bought in January 2010 and it picks up all Saorview Irish DTT with the assistance of an indoor aerial and I would have set Country as IRELAND to access Saorview Irish DTT channels rather than UNITED KINGDOM - Is it possible to receive both countries at same time as I want Saorview but also UK Freeview if possible on same TV? I'm just wondering if the right weather conditions and settings would occasionally allow me to pick up UK Freeview UK DTT signal if configured in a different way if the right favourable weather conditions are met? I live just outside of Cork near The Lough area which is about 1½ to 2 miles south-southwest of Cork City.

Gerry Wicklow

An indoor aerial will never get FreeView in Cork. You would need a very large/high outdoor aerial and even then it would be very erratic and weather dependant if it ever got anything at all.

FRIENDO

I think moviemix is already on freesat under a different name.
Motors and Racing tv are Internet and dvb-t2 requirements I think.
I would imagine Dave and Quest would be difficult to get in Cork, they are on a less powerful frequency from Wales, you may have a better chance getting the BBC channels etc.
However I would imagine this will be very difficult to get in Cork also.

AwaitYourReply

Gerry Wicklow wrote: »

An indoor aerial will never get FreeView in Cork. You would need a very large/high outdoor aerial and even then it would be very erratic and weather dependant if it ever got anything at all.

As there was little or nothing about Freeview reception down here in Cork, I partly guessed that this was gonna be a fairly long shot but I just wanted someone with experience in the industry to confirm the situation. Thanks for your input

AwaitYourReply

FRIENDO wrote: »

I think moviemix is already on freesat under a different name.
Motors and Racing tv are Internet and dvb-t2 requirements I think.
I would imagine Dave and Quest would be difficult to get in Cork, they are on a less powerful frequency from Wales, you may have a better chance getting the BBC channels etc.
However I would imagine this will be very difficult to get in Cork also.

I am not sure what MovieMix is called on digital satellite - it's news to me
It may go under the channel name: more>movies (more than movies)
I hadn't realised that DAVE or QUEST were unlikely options even if Freeview had been picked up from Wales. I just pulled up the Freeview website: freeview.co.uk and entered a UK Postcode for Fishguard Harbour, Goodwick, Pembrokeshire, SA64 0BU in Wales and neither DAVE or QUEST seem to be offered as channel options at this address. Thanks for your advice - much appreciated.

Oscarziggy

AwaitYourReply wrote: »

I just pulled up the Freeview website: freeview.co.uk and entered a UK Postcode for Fishguard Harbour, Goodwick, Pembrokeshire, SA64 0BU in Wales and neither DAVE or QUEST seem to be offered as channel options at this address. Thanks for your advice - much appreciated.

Fishguard has it's own Freeview light transmitter --- the main transmitter for the area is Preseli.
Regards

Thurston?

AwaitYourReply wrote: »

I hadn't realised that DAVE or QUEST were unlikely options even if Freeview had been picked up from Wales. I just pulled up the Freeview website: freeview.co.uk and entered a UK Postcode for Fishguard Harbour, Goodwick, Pembrokeshire, SA64 0BU in Wales and neither DAVE or QUEST seem to be offered as channel options at this address.

Dave, Quest, & Quest +1 are available from the main transmitters in Wales, Preseli being the only one relevant for Irish reception, I would think, with the power discrepancy between PSB & commercial multiplexes already mentioned (20kW PSBs v. 10kW coms.).

The postcode you give there has a small relay transmitter as its source of 'good' reception, with main transmitters Blaenplwyf & Preseli showing up as less reliable alternatives, if you look at the detailed view.

AwaitYourReply

Thurston? wrote: »

Dave, Quest, & Quest +1 are available from the main transmitters in Wales, Preseli being the only one relevant for Irish reception, I would think, with the power discrepancy between PSB & commercial multiplexes already mentioned (20kW PSBs v. 10kW coms.).

The postcode you give there has a small relay transmitter as its source of 'good' reception, with main transmitters Blaenplwyf & Preseli showing up as less reliable alternatives, if you look at the detailed view.

Well, I would not consider myself to be a technically minded guy and for the record I do not work in the industry but I would have observed some of the developments down through the years - The Freeview.co.uk web site requested a UK Postcode in order for a visitor to be shown the selection of channels that would be available in a given area relevant to that specific Postcode. I chose Fishguard as I thought a coastal location in South Wales would give me a rough indication of what might be possible for someone to pick up by way of signal reception across the Irish Sea (South Corridor) if the right equipment and weather conditions existed in my area in Cork.

I knew least of all about the UK Freeview DTT system but thankfully I have a better idea after some of the posts published in the thread. It was a long shot but I was still curious to hear the views of more experienced people who work in the industry.

Thanks for your advice in this regard anyway.

FRIENDO

AwaitYourReply wrote:

I hadn't realised that DAVE or QUEST were unlikely options even if Freeview had been picked up from Wales. I just pulled up the Freeview website: freeview.co.uk and entered a UK Postcode for Fishguard Harbour, Goodwick, Pembrokeshire, SA64 0BU in Wales and neither DAVE or QUEST seem to be offered as channel options at this address. Thanks for your advice - much appreciated.

I've no problem picking up Dave or Quest in Wexford from Preseli.
At our house we also pick up FM radio stations from Wales also.

Gerry Wicklow

FRIENDO wrote: »

I've no problem picking up Dave or Quest in Wexford from Preseli.
At our house we also pick up FM radio stations from Wales also.

There's a big difference between Wexford and Cork. Preseli to Wexford is mainly across open sea.

(and for the record I'm not in the industry either, merely an anorak )

AwaitYourReply

Gerry Wicklow wrote: »

There's a big difference between Wexford and Cork. Preseli to Wexford is mainly across open sea.

(and for the record I'm not in the industry either, merely an anorak )

Looks like I would have to move to Wexford for UK Freeview DTT in Ireland

STB.

AwaitYourReply wrote: »

Looks like I would have to move to Wexford for UK Freeview DTT in Ireland

Hey dont knock it until you've tried it. Pissing out of the heavens, all over the country, but 42 degrees here today. Beers and BBQ's all the time in the Sunny South East. And we get Freeview.

The Cush

STB. wrote: »

And we get Freeview.

What's the long term future for Freeview reception along the east coast? DTT replanning is already underway for the clearance of the 700MHz band which will require much tighter frequency reuse. Directional rectrictions towards Ireland to avoid CCI within the next 4-5 years.

FRIENDO

The Cush wrote:

What's the long term future for Freeview reception along the east coast? DTT replanning is already underway for the clearance of the 700MHz band which will require much tighter frequency reuse. Directional rectrictions towards Ireland to avoid CCI within the next 4-5 years.

If Ireland goes back to using the same channel frequencies as Wales Freeview, as happened before with channel 45 with Mth Leinster and Preseli, this will be a problem.

bulbs2010

I was on holidays in a caravan park in tramore ,got freeview no problem with a small wide band aerial out the window of the caravan

obezyana

bulbs2010 wrote: »

I was on holidays in a caravan park in tramore ,got freeview no problem with a small wide band aerial out the window of the caravan

Yep plenty of places along the Waterford coast can receive freeview. Alot of houses in tramore and dunmore use Saorview and Freeview.

AwaitYourReply

obezyana wrote: »

Yep plenty of places along the Waterford coast can receive freeview. Alot of houses in tramore and dunmore use Saorview and Freeview.

That's interesting!

It would remind you of bygone days when the TV Deflector Systems used to boost the UHF reception signals from those TV transmitters over in Wales which was of benefit to those in the South-East and along parts of the South Coast with the appropriate aerials connected to their TV sets all those years ago. South Coast Community Television (Carrigaline, Co. Cork) used provide BBC1 Wales, BBC2 Wales, HTV Wales and S4C for analogue tv users for many years. I reckon if you had not experienced an explosion in Free-To-Air TV channels on digital satellite the UK Freeview signal might have been boosted in a similar way like it was in the 1980s etc

obezyana

AwaitYourReply wrote: »

That's interesting!

It would remind you of bygone days when the TV Deflector Systems used to boost the UHF reception signals from those TV transmitters over in Wales which was of benefit to those in the South-East and along parts of the South Coast with the appropriate aerials connected to their TV sets all those years ago. South Coast Community Television (Carrigaline, Co. Cork) used provide BBC1 Wales, BBC2 Wales, HTV Wales and S4C for analogue tv users for many years. I reckon if you had not experienced an explosion in Free-To-Air TV channels on digital satellite the UK Freeview signal might have been boosted in a similar way like it was in the 1980s etc

I remember living in Waterford City when I was a youngster and we could receive HTV and the likes with rabbits ears. I used to watch the soccer show they used to have on a Sunday morning. I grew up watching Wrexham play. My first supported football team from across the sea :-)

AwaitYourReply

obezyana wrote: »

I remember living in Waterford City when I was a youngster and we could receive HTV and the likes with rabbits ears. I used to watch the soccer show they used to have on a Sunday morning. I grew up watching Wrexham play. My first supported football team from across the sea :-)

Yeah, the old analogue cable tv service from Princes Holdings/Cork Communications Ltd. t/a: Cork Multi-Channel TV from 1982 to early '90s used have the BBC1 Wales, BBC2 Wales, HTV Wales and S4C (Sianel4Cymru) versions as well. Then around 1993 Cork Multi-Channel TV took the 4 main UK terrestrial tv channels direct from Ulster instead of Wales meaning viewers in Cork were able to receive Channel 4 for the first time instead of Welsh language station, S4C.

Early 1990s seem like happier days when most people did not have a mobile phone or internet connection. When you met your friends they were not lost checking their phone every second minute either!

Digifriendly

AwaitYourReply wrote: »

Yeah, the old analogue cable tv service from Princes Holdings/Cork Communications Ltd. t/a: Cork Multi-Channel TV from 1982 to early '90s used have the BBC1 Wales, BBC2 Wales, HTV Wales and S4C (Sianel4Cymru) versions as well. Then around 1993 Cork Multi-Channel TV took the 4 main UK terrestrial tv channels direct from Ulster instead of Wales meaning viewers in Cork were able to receive Channel 4 for the first time instead of Welsh language station, S4C.

Early 1990s seem like happier days when most people did not have a mobile phone or internet connection. When you met your friends they were not lost checking their phone every second minute either!

Any idea how they took the signals from Ulster in Cork? Was there some sort of satellite uplink?

Thurston?

Digifriendly wrote: »

Any idea how they took the signals from Ulster in Cork? Was there some sort of satellite uplink?

From reading threads here in the past, it would seem that off-air reception of Brougher (& also Divis I think) was possible on Keeper Hill, near Limerick, though I don't know if Cork took a feed from it. (Their Welsh feed was from some hill in Co. Waterford IIRC.)

Later Limerick used an off-air reception site further north (Roscommon?), with a microwave link going south.

A search of this forum for 'Keeper' should throw up something interesting, even if not the specific info. on Cork.

Antenna

bulbs2010 wrote: »

I was on holidays in a caravan park in tramore ,got freeview no problem with a small wide band aerial out the window of the caravan

There is no way that would be a consistent reception, it would have been due to 'Tropo' occurring usually during fine settled weather. If you had taken note of what UHF channel (s) or frequency your receiver received Freeview on, you or we here, could tell what transmitter you were getting?
Was it Wales or S.W. England?

Sam Russell

Antenna wrote: »

There is no way that would be a consistent reception, it would have been due to 'Tropo' occurring usually during fine settled weather. If you had taken note of what UHF channel (s) or frequency your receiver received Freeview on, you or we here, could tell what transmitter you were getting?
Was it Wales or S.W. England?

Actually the programme content would tell you as well.

Antenna

Sam Russell wrote: »

Actually the programme content would tell you as well.

That IS what I meant by my last last question, was it Wales or SW England?, they are BBC/ITV regions.

bulbs2010

Antenna wrote: »

There is no way that would be a consistent reception, it would have been due to 'Tropo' occurring usually during fine settled weather. If you had taken note of what UHF channel (s) or frequency your receiver received Freeview on, you or we here, could tell what transmitter you were getting?
Was it Wales or S.W. England?

it was 2 years ago antenna so I cant remember what frequencys,but I think the locals can receive it all year round,I could be wrong but i think someone told me in tramore at the time

AwaitYourReply

Antenna wrote: »

There is no way that would be a consistent reception, it would have been due to 'Tropo' occurring usually during fine settled weather. If you had taken note of what UHF channel (s) or frequency your receiver received Freeview on, you or we here, could tell what transmitter you were getting?
Was it Wales or S.W. England?

I suppose we never really had any prolonged settled weather patterns between May - September of 2015, perhaps the recipient was lucky given all the unsettled weather experienced in much of Ireland during the so called Summer of 2015. If that is the case, it sounds like he may not be so lucky in future Summers if we get periods of settled weather we would normally hope to receive.

I'm not what you would call a professional expert working in the industry but I would have dabbled away in a DIY sense over the years with the "Colour-king Aerial" that used receive FREE UHF analogue reception from TV Deflector Systems that boosted signals from Wales and then we had analogue cable tv from Cork Multi-Channel TV for a number of years followed by satellite tv via one of the Astra satellites (first briefly analogue, and then we updated to digital satellite from 2001 onwards). I currently use Saorview Irish DTT these days for all the Republic of Ireland tv channels and I'd also use a Free-To-Air box for digital satellite tv and I would do some internet streaming thru KODI too.

AwaitYourReply

Digifriendly wrote: »

Any idea how they took the signals from Ulster in Cork? Was there some sort of satellite uplink?

I have no idea - I just recall that there was a lot of change in the industry and I'm not sure whether a new parent company had acquired Cork Multi-Channel TV behind the scenes as far back as 1993, which is around the time they switched all of the four main UK terrestrial tv channels from Wales to Ulster for the first time.

This is my best guess of the various trading names of our Cable TV Company serving Cork City from 1982 to 2015.
Cork Multi-Channel TV > Irish Multi Channel > Chorus > Chorus-ntl > UPC Ireland > Virgin Media Ireland

Remember, it's biggest rival was a major TV Deflector System run by Carrigaline Community Television/South Coast Community TV) which would continue to re-broadcast the four UK television channels from Wales for many years afterwards. Cable TV customers of Cork Multi-Channel TV found S4C Welsh language programming irritating if something good was billed in TV listings to be shown on Channel 4 but would not be screened on S4C.

For a number of years (around 1988-1990 period) a former local politician used boost the UHF TV signals of the then four main UK channels on UHF into Cork City from a transmitter site close to Cork Airport much to the annoyance of Cork Communications Ltd (who operated Cork Multi-Channel TV at that time) I'm not sure if the signal source was the exact same one received by Carrigaline/South Coast Community TV (which was not a million miles away) but it did not last very long as I think the Dept. of Communications may have put a stop to the signal being boosted from the site near Cork Airport into the city where Cork Multi-Channel TV was operating. Carrigaline/South Coast Community TV would continue to operate for many years afterwards but the signal was erratic and just too difficult to receive in Cork City suburbs most of the time.

Happy Days up in the attic - Hold the aerial now in that position, ah no it was good a while ago but deteriorated when you took your hand off it! I used be jumping up/down to attic (which had no floor) and asking my late father to shout when he got a decent reception! No, Yes, No! These days when the LNB moves in high winds I'm up a ladder outside in similar attempts to obtain Free Telly!! HaHa

marno21

AwaitYourReply wrote: »

I have no idea - I just recall that there was a lot of change in the industry and I'm not sure whether a new parent company had acquired Cork Multi-Channel TV behind the scenes as far back as 1993, which is around the time they switched all of the four main UK terrestrial tv channels from Wales to Ulster for the first time.

This is my best guess of the various trading names of our Cable TV Company serving Cork City from 1982 to 2015.
Cork Multi-Channel TV > Irish Multi Channel > Chorus > Chorus-ntl > UPC Ireland > Virgin Media Ireland

Remember, it's biggest rival was a major TV Deflector System run by Carrigaline Community Television/South Coast Community TV) which would continue to re-broadcast the four UK television channels from Wales for many years afterwards. Cable TV customers of Cork Multi-Channel TV found S4C Welsh language programming irritating if something good was billed in TV listings to be shown on Channel 4 but would not be screened on S4C.

For a number of years (around 1988-1990 period) a former local politician used boost the UHF TV signals of the then four main UK channels on UHF into Cork City from a transmitter site close to Cork Airport much to the annoyance of Cork Communications Ltd (who operated Cork Multi-Channel TV at that time) I'm not sure if the signal source was the exact same one received by Carrigaline/South Coast Community TV (which was not a million miles away) but it did not last very long as I think the Dept. of Communications may have put a stop to the signal being boosted from the site near Cork Airport into the city where Cork Multi-Channel TV was operating. Carrigaline/South Coast Community TV would continue to operate for many years afterwards but the signal was erratic and just too difficult to receive in Cork City suburbs most of the time.

Happy Days up in the attic - Hold the aerial now in that position, ah no it was good a while ago but deteriorated when you took your hand off it! I used be jumping up/down to attic (which had no floor) and asking my late father to shout when he got a decent reception! No, Yes, No! These days when the LNB moves in high winds I'm up a ladder outside in similar attempts to obtain Free Telly!! HaHa

There used to be a VP UHF aerial hung fairly high on the roof of the Jurys Inn a few years ago, pointing south. Was this an old deflector aerial? I was surprised as it's down on the quays.

AwaitYourReply

marno21 wrote: »

There used to be a VP UHF aerial hung fairly high on the roof of the Jurys Inn a few years ago, pointing south. Was this an old deflector aerial? I was surprised as it's down on the quays.

I've no idea - I never took much note of the TV aerial on the roof of Jury's Inn looking back over the years. All I recall is that Jury's Inn is situated on the site of the former J.W. Green & Company (Cork) Ltd Grain Merchants Stores and it was not a very desirable place to walk or cycle prior to Jury's Inn.