Saorview and Trees

Dempo1

I've been curious if Tree's and in particular foliage is a factor in diminished signal on Saorview. From the months of October through to May, no issue's at all, But since mid June, complete deterioration of signal on all RTE channels, apart from RTE news Now, All virgin media apart from Virgin Media 1 and TNAG, completely scrambled signal.

How RTE 1 and Virgin Media 1 Are not affected is completely beyond me. I live in Laois and do have an enormous oak and Ash located in line of sight to transmitter (I'm presuming, foliage the issue) or perhaps its an atmospheric issue as the issue is only prevalent in summer time.

Thanks for thoughts

swoofer

Get a better aerial with an amp and find the best location to site it, preferably outside, how far are you from transmitter? And yes trees will degrade signal.

Dempo1

swoofer wrote: »

Get a better aerial with an amp and find the best location to site it, preferably outside, how far are you from transmitter? And yes trees will degrade signal.

I'm in the slieve bloom mountains, have a standard aerial, I'm not sure of distance from transmitter which I think is carlow?

When you mention aerial with Amp, I assume it requires power supply, forgive me lack of knowledge. Moving aerial would not be an option, it's current location is the highest point and I've tried every other location to no avail, as mentioned not an issue from autumn until early June. Thanks for the response

athlone573

If some Saorview channels remain OK year round then it points to a problem with your aerial.
Different channels use different muxes (frequencies), different aerial's (signified by a coloured plastic tip) cope better with different frequencies.

Also check the direction, and orientation (horizontal or vertical)

More details on Saorview dot ie, or somebody posted the frequencies in the Terrestrial forum a few weeks ago.

Elvis Hammond

Dempo1 wrote: »

I've been curious if Tree's and in particular foliage is a factor in diminished signal on Saorview. From the months of October through to May, no issue's at all, But since mid June, complete deterioration of signal on all RTE channels, apart from RTE news Now, All virgin media apart from Virgin Media 1 and TNAG, completely scrambled signal.

How RTE 1 and Virgin Media 1 Are not affected is completely beyond me. I live in Laois and do have an enormous oak and Ash located in line of sight to transmitter (I'm presuming, foliage the issue) or perhaps its an atmospheric issue as the issue is only prevalent in summer time.

Yeah, tree would be a likely cause; atmospherics wouldn't be a constant problem. You're probably mistaken about the affected channels though.

These articles might be worth a look, although you say you've tried different aerial locations: http://www.wrightsaerials.tv/articles/whatsat-trees.pdf

http://www.wrightsaerials.tv/reference/resources/trees-and-uhf-reception.pdf

Dempo1

Elvis Hammond wrote: »

Yeah, tree would be a likely cause; atmospherics wouldn't be a constant problem. You're probably mistaken about the affected channels though.

These articles might be worth a look, although you say you've tried different aerial locations: http://www.wrightsaerials.tv/articles/whatsat-trees.pdf

http://www.wrightsaerials.tv/reference/resources/trees-and-uhf-reception.pdf

Appreciate that, very useful

Ten Pin

MUX 2 channels:
RTE Junior, RTE One, RTE One +1, RTE2 +1, Saorview Information, Virgin Media 3

The rest are on MUX 1.

Poor reception usually affects all channels in a MUX if the issue is between aerial and transmitter. If the problem is on both muxes and affects individual channels then it's possibly a problem with aerial and or wiring from aerial to TV.

Check the coverage map...find the transmitter that's not "behind" the mountains. Polarization needs to be correct...AFAIK most transmitters are horizontal so aerial elements also need to be horizontal.

Elvis Hammond

Ten Pin wrote: »

... If the problem is on both muxes and affects individual channels then it's possibly a problem with aerial and or wiring from aerial to TV ...

Individual channels in a mux can't be affected without the whole mux being affected.

icdg

moved to terrestrial

Johnboy1951

Dempo1 wrote: »

I've been curious if Tree's and in particular foliage is a factor in diminished signal on Saorview. From the months of October through to May, no issue's at all, But since mid June, complete deterioration of signal on all RTE channels, apart from RTE news Now, All virgin media apart from Virgin Media 1 and TNAG, completely scrambled signal.

How RTE 1 and Virgin Media 1 Are not affected is completely beyond me. I live in Laois and do have an enormous oak and Ash located in line of sight to transmitter (I'm presuming, foliage the issue) or perhaps its an atmospheric issue as the issue is only prevalent in summer time.

Thanks for thoughts

That points to leafy tree growth to me.
That coupled with wind moving the foliage could account for it being somewhat intermittent.