Analog and Digital Qs

TheDriver

Hi Folks,
I have new house which has one digital wire coming from attic that can do analog also. I want to put UHF aerial and southcoast rebeamer aerial into loft but also have sky box and dish for free channels so can i wire both in to come down from the attic in one cable thats already "plumbed" in? And can a dish be loft installed if its not blocked by any other house?
Anyone know of cheap aerial supplier in Cork? I tried Maplin and their 20euro UHF only works in England they said!
Lastly, some of my neighbours have 2 UHF aerials while some only have one, which is necessary?
Sorry for all the questions, but I am new to all this!

Ulsterman 1690

digital wire coming from attic that can do analog also

Not sure what you mean by "digital wire" MMDS (Chorus ?) maybe

I want to put UHF aerial and southcoast rebeamer aerial into loft.....Lastly, some of my neighbours have 2 UHF aerials while some only have one, which is necessary?

The Southcoast (deflector/rebeamer) aerial is simply a UHF aerial. Houses with two UHF aerials probably have one for Southcoast (British UHF channels) and another for TV3/TG4 (Irish UHF channels)

And can a dish be loft installed if its not blocked by any other house?

In most cases NO
satellite signals ae easily blocked by leaves on trees and heavy rain so when it comes to roof materials they (usually) havent a hope. I have heard of some plastic roof tiles that do let satellite signals through but as far as I know very few houses in Ireland or the UK would use this kind of roof tile

I tried Maplin and their 20euro UHF only works in England they said!

Gawdknows why a shop in Cork woud be selling aerials that "only work in England" but what they probably mean is that they WILL work in Ireland but (in some areas) wont be able to recieve RTE1 and 2 because (in some areas) these two channels use VHF instead of UHF

TheDriver

Thanks for the reply!
Maplin said they had to have it in stock as they are a UK company but their 20 euro aerial doesn't work here as the guy out the back told the sales guy it doesn't pick up some irish channels?! Got a wideband from my parents house and it works grand so not sure. Its a Philex 14 element.
The cable is standard "satellite" cable as opposed to old brown analog only.
Neighbours have 2 of the normal 14 element aerials and no southcoast which is usually the mesh reflector yokes on it.
Talking of which, anyone use the plug in boosters beside tv, do they work, argos have one for 15 euro that boosts upto 16db?

Antenna

TheDriver wrote:

Hi Folks,
I have new house which has one digital wire coming from attic that can do analog also. I want to put UHF aerial and southcoast rebeamer aerial into loft but also have sky box and dish for free channels so can i wire both in to come down from the attic in one cable thats already "plumbed" in?

YOu can see an example of gear to combine satellite and UHF on one cable here:
http://www.satcure.co.uk/accs/page15.htm

However this arrangement introduces some signal loss so your better off running 2 cables if at all possible. Also if you need a masthead amplifier for UHF its power supply unit will have to go prior to the UHF input to the combiner in the attic.

As I said your better off running 2 cables if at all possible
You could try tie-wrapping ends of 2 new lengths of cables to end of existing cable, you may (if holes drilled big enough) be able to pull new cables through by pulling cable behind wallsocket (at your own risk if it gets stuck!)

Ideally you would have 3 cables from attic to where main TV is, one for sat, one for terrestrial (UHF), the other for the RF-out of the satellite receiver so as to distribute to other TV in bedrooms

There is no such thing as Digital coax cable. Maybe you mean 'CT100' type cable which is recommended for digital (excellent at keeping out impulse interference from electrical appliances etc), very important for analogue cable too - to keep out other signals in the air that operate on the same frequencies as the cable signals.

However I very much doubt that it was CT100 cable that was prewired, its probably a cheaper cable (RG6), CT100 type cable has copper braid on a copper foil on outer - have a look.

"Neighbours have 2 of the normal 14 element aerials and no southcoast which is usually the mesh reflector yokes on it.
"

If they have no South Coast, I would expect one is for a strong RTE1, RTE2, TG4 from a local relay, and because the relay has no TV3 the second aerial is for TV3, with perhaps a poor picture if your in a blackspot, from a main transmitter (eg Mullaghanish)

You would have to say where you are when looking for reception advice, if you mentioned the locality someone would give you more information.

The Maplin aerials are wideband (no need to worry about different UHF groups!), if RTE is available on UHF where you are they will be OK, and also for South Coast if a good signal is there - but you say you have neighbours with no South Coast so maybe not? (again if you mentioned where you are living , someone would be able to give more advice about reception where you are)

On the subject of Southcoast, they have recently claimed they will close down their UHF system next year !!!!

Freddie59

Antenna wrote:

On the subject of Southcoast, they have recently claimed they will close down their UHF system next year !!!!

Can't see that happening! Where did you hear it?:eek:

Antenna

Freddie59 wrote:

Can't see that happening! Where did you hear it?:eek:

Irish Examiner report some weeks ago!, saying the plan is that South Coast's terrestrial 11GHz digital system would be up and running by then !!!
Then again don't treat everything that appears in newspapers as gospel - back in 1987 there was a report in the Cork Examiner (as it was then) that the then Cork Multichannel would have MMDS up and running in areas surrounding Cork city within a matter of weeks (as a trial for introduction later to the rest of the country)!! MMDS wasn't introduced to the Cork area until the middle of 1992

Rippy

South Coast will not turn off analogue transmissions until forced to by Comreg or and/or the transition to digital is complete. Digital system is all ready to go but money needed! If everybody receiving South Coast paid their €75 it would be up and running by now.

South Coast does not need a grid antenna (Colour-King). Yagi aerials work perfectly well. Group B for main Carrigaline transmitter. What is your exact location? I have an aerial business based in Carrigaline , if you tell me where you are I can advise you what you need.
As Antenna said, you can use a sat combiner and diplexed outlet plate if you really need to run both signals down the one cable. A little loss, but usually not significant.

TheDriver

Hi Rippy, I'm in Bandon and I have a grid aerial (which u probably sold to my brother in Carrigaline and he sold it to me, a triax BB) and high gain 48 element wideband philex from maplin, was thinking of loft installation with masthead amp and splitter amp, would this be good as reception is poorish where I am, neighbour got charged 350 for 1 14 element aerial with booster and still can't get tv3 yet my aerial with no booster can pick it up though bit snowy. Should i get other aerials instead as I can offload both on my parents who need aerials also. Neighbour has 14 element outside.
Where is the best place to get booster equipment, is philex stuff from Maplin good? Also given up on digital idea for time being if I can get proper analog reception!
Thanks rippy as need good advice to get me going!
Lastly, where can I get power in my attic, would the power to fire alarm be ok?

Antenna

TheDriver wrote:

Hi Rippy, I'm in Bandon and I have a grid aerial

there are two South Coast transmitters serving Bandon (both using horizontal polarisation) one to the South West and another to the North West (roughly) of the town. Also there is a relay located on the southside of the town (horizontal polaristaion Group for the Irish national stations but this does not transmit TV3 - you have to rely on **Mullaghanish - ((horizontal polaristation Group A) Ch 27 for TV3) for that.

A friend of mine in the South East of the town receives RTE1 and 2 on VHF from Mullaghanish, and gets TV3, TG4 and the 4 SouthCoast stations on the same Grid type wideband UHF aerial (as Mullaghanish is in roughly the same direction and same UHF polarisation as the South Coast transmitter he receives)

the situation would be different in most other parts of the town where signals from Mullaghanish are not good and people use the local RTE relay instead for RTE1,2, TG4 and may or may not get useable reception of TV3 from Mullaghanish (horizontal polaristation Group A) - this means you may see houses with 3 UHF aerials (one for RTE1, 2,Tg4, one for TV3 from Mullaghanish, one for South Coast). People in areas of the northern part of the town would have most difficulty receiving TV3 as Mullaghanish is shadowed

** note - Mullaghanish - the main transmitter for the South of the country located near Ballyvourney - so is roughly north west of Bandon - transmits RTE 1 and 2 on VHF, and TG4 and TV3 on UHF (group A)