Another Aerial Question

Bogger77

Hi All,
Another aerial question. I moved into a new house about 10miles due south of Athlone. There is an old yagi type aerial pointing towards Dundalk, RTE1/2 and TV3 are really good, but TG4 is a bit grainy. Anyone know what aerial type I need to ensure good reception on all 4 ?

Also, I know it's possible to get BBC direct from Nothern Ireland (Boughter?), from where I am, I just to get have the aerial about 15/20 feet above the ground. What aerial type would I need for it?

Thanks
Bogger

lawhec

Bogger77 wrote:

Hi All,
Another aerial question. I moved into a new house about 10miles due south of Athlone. There is an old yagi type aerial pointing towards Dundalk, RTE1/2 and TV3 are really good, but TG4 is a bit grainy. Anyone know what aerial type I need to ensure good reception on all 4 ?

Also, I know it's possible to get BBC direct from Nothern Ireland (Boughter?), from where I am, I just to get have the aerial about 15/20 feet above the ground. What aerial type would I need for it?

Thanks
Bogger

The aerial pointing towards Dundalk is most likely for the Clermont Carn transmitter. Maybe why TG4 is a little grainy is that its transmissions from that site are right at the top of the UHF band and some aerials may struggle to bring it in as well as as the other three. A good Group C/D aerial which has a flat gain all the way up to Channel 68 (which TG4 is on) should do the trick.

I'm told that most of the Athlone area can pick up BBC/UTV/Ch4 from the Brougher Mountain transmitter - for that you'll need a good large high gain aerial that is "Group A" and possibly a masthead amplifier and power unit for it. The aerial would need to be a Triax Unix or something similar. Hirschmanns are well recommended here. Make sure that this aerial is as high up as you can make it and use CT100 for the downlead and not TV coax. If your results are good enough you might also be able to get some of the freeview channels with the right STB.

Bogger77

That's it, Clermont Carn, to think I lived in Dundalk and couldn't remember the name.

Thanks, Will get looking for the right aerials.

Bogger

Ulsterman 1690

Would you not be better off using Cairn Hill for your RTE's ?

Bogger77

Ulsterman 1690 wrote:

Would you not be better off using Cairn Hill for your RTE's ?

Which county is that in?

Richard

Bogger77 wrote:

Which county is that in?

Co. Longford

http://www.irish-tv.com/cairnh.asp

I think I used that TX when I was in Athlone, much better quality than Clermont Carn, which only came through during High Pressure weather.

I don't see why you'd want to get Clermont, as there aren't any regional variations at the moment (though the capability does exist).

Bogger77

Richard wrote:

Co. Longford

http://www.irish-tv.com/cairnh.asp

I think I used that TX when I was in Athlone, much better quality than Clermont Carn, which only came through during High Pressure weather.

I don't see why you'd want to get Clermont, as there aren't any regional variations at the moment (though the capability does exist).

all the locals appear to have aerials pointing the direction of Louth, picture quality is great other than TG4, and thats from an old falling apart aerial placed in the loft. I'll try swing it to Cairn Hill

Bogger77

Northern Correspondent wrote:

The aerial pointing towards Dundalk is most likely for the Clermont Carn transmitter. Maybe why TG4 is a little grainy is that its transmissions from that site are right at the top of the UHF band and some aerials may struggle to bring it in as well as as the other three. A good Group C/D aerial which has a flat gain all the way up to Channel 68 (which TG4 is on) should do the trick.

Silly question, where would I buy this type of aerial.
I'm based in Cork city until saturday morning, any one recommend a shop down here that sells them?
tks
B

Ulsterman 1690

Is there a Maplin in Cork ?


RE "swinging" the aerial from Claremont to Cairnhill bear in mind that Cairnhill is on a different polorisation and aerial group

Mossy Monk

Bogger77 wrote:

I'll try swing it to Cairn Hill

if the picture quality is great then why bother?

Bogger77

Ulsterman 1690 wrote:

Is there a Maplin in Cork ?


RE "swinging" the aerial from Claremont to Cairnhill bear in mind that Cairnhill is on a different polorisation and aerial group

There is indeed, although last time I popped in and asked for a Linksys router, the guy asked me how do u spell Linksys, so I'm not expecting great help there.

Bogger77

Mossy Monk wrote:

if the picture quality is great then why bother?

I wont be pointing anywhere new for a while, next step after this is to put up a decent mast to get direct from NI

Antenna

Ulsterman 1690 wrote:

Is there a Maplin in Cork ?

yes, Blackpool shopping centre,
they have wideband UHF aerials there

+ also in there I saw a Band 3 (I presume intended for DAB) aerial on display labeled as being an FM aerial :rolleyes:

Richard

Antenna wrote:

+ also in there I saw a Band 3 (I presume intended for DAB) aerial on display labeled as being an FM aerial :rolleyes:

Well - when you have RTE referring to DAB as "FM Digital", what do you expect?! (i can't find the webspage where they did this atm, but I swear it existed!)

Debracd

Hi, We want to get the 4 Irish channels and the 4 UK ones too. We need a fairly tall mast as we also want to use it to mount a broadband receiver. I'm a total novice as far as this stuff is concerned.. so have no clue what section to even look up an aerial installer in the Golden pages

Would appreciate any help you could give.

Thanks,

Deb

lawhec

Debracd wrote:

Hi, We want to get the 4 Irish channels and the 4 UK ones too. We need a fairly tall mast as we also want to use it to mount a broadband receiver. I'm a total novice as far as this stuff is concerned.. so have no clue what section to even look up an aerial installer in the Golden pages

Would appreciate any help you could give.

Thanks,

Deb

OK, well first off if you are serious in wanting what you've said then its better off leaving it to a TV aerial contractor, especially in the case of someone who'd describe themselves as a novice. They'll be a section somewhere usually either "aerial contractors" or "TV aerial contractors". For viewing the 4 Irish channels only the Clermont Carn transmitter (which is located north of Dundalk near the border) covers more or less all of Meath quite well, as does Kippure Mountain in Wicklow (though you will need two aerials to receive all four channels). For the UK channels they'll be the need for a tall mast in most locations. In general most UK TV reception in Meath comes from the high-powered Divis transmitter near Belfast. However the signal has to travel over the Mourne mountains and the picture may vary from day to day depending on the weather. If you get a line through the mountains though then a good setup should give good results and you might even be able to pick up Channel 5 with a little luck (it transmits from a nearby site to Divis on lower power). Along the coast some people recieve the stations instead from the Kilkeel relay transmitter in Down which despite being low powered has the advantage of going mostly over a sea path (i.e. no tall obstacles in the way like hills) from transmitter to receiver which doesn't vary as much during the weather. Near the county border with Cavan reception seems to be preferred from the Brougher Mountain transmitter in Tyrone (it lies between Enniskillen and Omagh, albeit closer to Enniskillen) which is not as powerful as Divis but doesn't have any huge obstructions between transmitter and receiver. Neither Kilkeel or Brougher Mountain (at least in analogue) broadcast Channel 5.

I'm not as familiar with broadband in the Republic (most broadband internet access here in the North is through ADSL from telephone exchanges which has excellent (98% population) coverage) but I assume you are talking about a wireless system - surely the provider will install that themselves albeit at a cost, I don't really know any self-install wireless broadband providers.

This has all been gleamed off from info provided here and by my own observations in the past. Other people who know the local area better could be able to give a better answer but in general, the Irish stations can be got easily, the UK stations are best left to a professional installer.

Debracd

Thanks for the Info Northern Correspondant! The Wireless Broadband company we had out said we were too low down in a dip and needed to install a very tall mast...I mean how are they supposed to mount the receiver if we have the mast pre installed? Thats a whole other story.

I'll whip out the Golden pages tomorrow and have a look for a contractor, better safe than broke with no reception

Thanks again,

Deb