Clermont Carn TG4

Richard

Okay, this is weird, now getting Channel 4 GRAMPIAN Region! At least Teletext says "CH4 North Scotland"!

Just checked - I'm getting "Daliburgh", which is a relay of "Eitshal" which is on the Western Isles.

And now I've got Grampian TV (Ch 60) itself - the quality is pretty good considering I'm using a set-top aerial.

I wondered if I could get S4C here - but according to the details for the TX on Anglesey - it using the same frequencies as Daliburgh.

lawhec

Originally posted by Richard
Okay, this is weird, now getting Channel 4 GRAMPIAN Region! At least Teletext says "CH4 North Scotland"!

Just checked - I'm getting "Daliburgh", which is a relay of "Eitshal" which is on the Western Isles.

And now I've got Grampian TV (Ch 60) itself - the quality is pretty good considering I'm using a set-top aerial.

I wondered if I could get S4C here - but according to the details for the TX on Anglesey - it using the same frequencies as Daliburgh.

Richard if you're getting Daliburg that is incredible, as that relay station is located on one of the southern islands of the Western Isles with a power of just 30 watts! If your aerial at the time was pointing with the elements vertical, then that case would stand. But if they were horizontal it's more likely to have been the Angus transmitter which uses the same channels (53 for CH4).

I've been trying a little bit of DX reception here from a room window pointing NE which gives a good view towards Scotland, and the usual suspects of Darvel and Black Hill are coming in nicely. Darvel can only be confirmed by picking up Channel 5 (35) as the other four services are blocked by Brougher Mtn.s DTT TX. Black Hill's TX is causing co-chanel with Black Mt (Belfast) Channel 5 TX, other four services are also coming through. Haven't had anything else yet. No luck with Clermont Carn but then I don't have a great view of it from the room.

FM radio is providing interest though. I'm getting nearly every service from Three Rock (98FM, Spin, Newstalk, FM104) coming in loud and clear along with the BBC stations at Sandale in Cumbria and Kick FM from the Isle of Man.

Richard

Originally posted by Northern Correspondent
If your aerial at the time was pointing with the elements vertical, then that case would stand. But if they were horizontal it's more likely to have been the Angus transmitter which uses the same channels (53 for CH4).

Ah, I see! I think you are right. My aerial was horizontal at the time. I also managed to get near-perfect Scottish TV through the main Group A aerial during the early afternoon. It was the best of the lot. So after managing to get Granada, Grampian & Scottish as well as the usual UTV and Border, I'm rather pleased with myself.

My friend in Belfast reports that his RTE reception is worse than ever today, however.

lawhec

The Clermont Carn signals have improved westwards as well! What used to be for me a lost cause trying to receive Clermont TV is no longer. All four services are now coming through here! RTÉ1 and Network 2 are coming in the strongest with a colour lock and sound, TV3 and TG4 are at least there. Amazing considering I had NOTHING AT ALL before! Nothing special about the technique though - it's used a set of rabbit ears plugged into an indoor amplifier looking out a window! I also tried another set-top aerial but it has problems receiving channels above ch40 (it's no problem here though for Brougher Mt.) and it was worse.

There were some atmospherices yesterday as I mentioned but these are now gone so I assume that these signals I'm picking up from Clermont Carn are stable.

I'll try with a better indoor aerial later today (one which has a better response over the whole UHF band) and if it's successful I'll be ordering an outdoor C/D aerial and a masthead amp an go into the attic and try it. In fact these signals are coming in even better than Carin Hill (RTÉ1 is usually the best from that) and could be another alternative source for RTÉ around here in West Tyrone.

I'll also call later tonight to the relations in Whitehead to see if all of this has ruined their UTV & BBC2 Reception!:D

Richard

I watched the end of the F1 Coverage partly on RTE1 today because ITV often cut the press conference and RTE always show it in full (as was the case today). My TV usually cuts out poor quality sound but by feeding the TV signal into the video and back again I was able to hear at least something.


The quality was poor though - very crackly and the picture was very snowy. But apart from Friday night this is the best RTE1 reception I've ever had!

Good to see a third place for Eddie Irvine, however!

NorthDown

Friday night I had BBC NE & Cumbria (Caldbeck) and BBC One NW (Winter Hill) Tried to find Granada but couldn't.

My BBC1 Scotland (Cambret hill) has been very poor over the weekend.

If you think C5 Black Hill givning interference is bad - you should come here and see Cambret Hill (scotland) on ch37 on Divis C5 (or Five?) also on ch. 37.

As I say RTE1 , Net 2 and Tv3 are possible in colour here on the BBC NI/ Scotland combo -and Border comes through reasonably well on the RTE aerial.

If only RTE would reply to my letter - we know the mast was heightened, but was the power increased at the same time? Do many aerial installers know what's going on?

lawhec

More experimenting with receiving RTÉ has proved disappointing. Later on today it was a struggle to receive any of the four stations :mad: Earlier on in the day the F! Italian Grand Prix on RTÉ1 and Top 30 hits on Network 2 had a colour lock on them while TV3 and TG4 could be locked on the TV. I wonder if they've switched back a forth between the masts for testing? I don't have RTÉ here despite many years debating it with the family but declined because of cost. We live halfway up a hill which gets in the way of Brougher Mountain and Truskmore. Brougher isn't too badly affected apart from some ghosting (some people use Strabane instead but it needs an amp) but Truskmore is badly affected. I struggle to get anything on a set of rabbit ears while some who live three miles down the road from me can get perfect VHF RTÉ from an indoor aerial. And when I do get something there is a bad interfering patterning on RTÉ1 which suggests that someone is using a VHF TX locally near 215 MHz (the vision frequency on RTÉ1)

Funnily enough though I got BBC1 Scotland in almost clear pictures again this evening!

I rang the relations up in Whitehead and the question about interference with UTV and BBC2 was incolclusive - apparently where they live is a poor TV reception area and they rely on Sky Digital for the terrestial channels! They did tell me though that a part of the town can receive RTÉ though.

lawhec

Clemont doesn't look like it is powerful enough here to be useful I'm afraid. Though I haven't done an outdiir test with it yet. Got a Triax 18 element group E aerial last week and even with the masthead amp very little could be seen in the attic. Carin Hill is much stronger than Clermont and Truskmore TG4 is the best of the lot (though TV3 from the same location is rather poor.

More later this week!

Richard

And nearly two years later...

Due to the high pressure recently, I have again been receiving far-away transmitters in Bangor.

All of the following has been via a set-top aerial, albeit using a signal booster.

I have been getting BBC ONE NE&C again, from Caldbeck on Channel 30. I have also been getting BBC ONE North West on Channel 40. I am not sure where it is coming from - either Bleary Peak (On IOM) or Sedbergh (near Kendal, Cumbria). Unfortunately the Teletext on the TV I am using is not working, as Bleary Peak is normally fed from Sandale (NE&C) and only switches to Winter Hill during regional opt-outs. The teletext apparently changes region too.

Being able to watch NorthWest tonight last night (albeit holding the aerial in place manaully) was quite handy as I now live in Liverpool.

I wasn't able to get Winter Hill itself, however so no Granada.

I thought I might have got Grampian, however, on Channel 60 from the Angus Transmitter - it unfortunatley turned out to be Border. I presume this was from the Stranraer relay.

And what about Clermont Carn?

Well I was able to pick up the 4 Irish Stations using the same roof-top aerial, but the only one which was remotely watchable was RTE ONE. It took a long time to get the aerial in a position to get a watchable picture, however.

Richard

Another year, another go at receiving high pressure transmissions.

Aside from the usual stuff from Cambret Hill which is available year round, I managed to get the following today, in Bangor:

Scottish (who are still using Davina McCall idents - why?)
BBC ONE NE & Cumbria
BBC ONE NW (poor quality)
RTE ONE(Clermont Carn, very poor quality, no sound)

TG4 from Divis is even worse quality than RTE ONE - none of the other Clermont stations are coming in.

Anyone else manage to pick up anything interesting?

Interestingly (or not, as the case may be), in Liverpool I can recieve several Welsh Digital MUXes which confuses the Freeview box no end. The quality of the Welsh ones is generally worse, and CH4 from the Welsh MUX (which is poor quality) replaces the one from the English MUX, which is annoying. To remedy this, I have to pull the aerial lead out as soon as the English MUXes have been stored so it doesn't pick up any Welsh ones.