RTE installing DTT on woodcock spur hill and dungarvan

TVDX · 06-11-2008 04:57AM

fkearney wrote: »

Testing on 4 frequencies earlier today. No video just carrier but at least its a start. Signal strength looked good and no problems with existing analog channels. All switched off again this evening though. Hopefully not much longer before we see some real video.

What aerial are you using?.

Saul Good · 06-11-2008 09:30AM

Spur Hill Antenna pattern checks due to take place this morning.

Helicopter will carry the receive antenna.

Transmitters will be on air for the duration of the tests. Carrier only, no video.

Antenna · 06-11-2008 11:20AM

yes,
'carriers' on all 4 planned channels for Spur Hill DTT on at present

45,49,66,68

49 is used for analogue RTE2 from Collins Barracks (Cork city centre), I think that is switched off for the duration of the tests.

Mossy Monk · 06-11-2008 01:27PM

Has anyone any idea on when the Dungarvan TX will spring into life?

radiospan · 06-11-2008 04:39PM

Ah good stuff! I must have a look when I go home

Antenna · 06-11-2008 05:39PM

Antenna wrote: »

yes,
'carriers' on all 4 planned channels for Spur Hill DTT on at present

45,49,66,68

49 is used for analogue RTE2 from Collins Barracks (Cork city centre), I think that is switched off for the duration of the tests.

had a look a few minutes ago (4:30pm)

The DTT test on 49 is now switched off, but the other 3 channels are still on with test 'carriers'.

plazzTT, as mentioned a DTT receiver will receive nothing for now.

Zaphod · 06-11-2008 09:18PM

Who thought null PIDs could be so interesting?

Antenna · 07-11-2008 10:49AM

The Spur Hill tests on 45, 66, 68 remained on all night.

At a TV with previously perfect reception of all 4 analogues from Spur Hill - slight deterioration was noted on the RTE2 (Ch 57)
This due to the +9 image problems that people may be aware of.
TVs can suffer from image interference from a strong signal present 9 channels above the tuned channel, (and the peak power of the DTT channels is very high)
(66 - 9 = 57).
It would be more noticeable on TVs with poor quality tuners.

I suspect that the test on 68 is causing many problems to people who use the RF modulator on Sky Digiboxes

in the Cork area resulting in perhaps very snowy pictures
(68 is often used for Digibox modulators as its the default, and people will have to change this) -
http://www.stevelarkins.freeuk.com/dtv_retuning_advice.htm

fkearney · 07-11-2008 09:07PM

Tests from Woodcock Hill on Ch41, 44, 47 and 51. No sign of any video but signal level and quality look good.

Saul Good · 07-11-2008 09:22PM

Has there been any effect on the Analogue TV services?

com7 · 07-11-2008 10:38PM

I heard today that its causing trouble alright !

fkearney · 07-11-2008 10:45PM

Saul Good wrote: »

Has there been any effect on the Analogue TV services?

My Analogue TV signals are weak on TV3 and TG4 so these would be most susceptible to adjacent ch interference but both look fine.

Rippy · 08-11-2008 12:20AM

tests causing problems alright !
Replaced aerials on a house in Hilltown (high point to the NE of Carrigaline) and found no reception on CH 45 (ITV via South Coast). Know that S. coast analogue is heading into it's death throes so just assumed problems with transmission. Nothing visible but noise. did not even bother to put the meter on it.
This morning got a phone call from a customer in Ballinhassig complaining of 'fuzzy' picture on her sky. Then another 2 calls with same problem, Ballincollig and Carrigtwohill.
Finally the penny dropped (bit slow today, rough night last night:D).
I stooped the van where I was (Ballycureen, near Musgraves and the Kinsale roundabout), got a Triax yagi 10 C/D out the van and pointed it towards spur hill.
Result was
CH68 =73 db C/N 37
CH 45 82db C/N 42
Gonna be adjusting a lot of digibox RF outputs!
Sort of reminds of the mass CH5 retuning exercise in the UK whe they launced on CH37.
Checking this evening, at home in Carrigaline, South Coast had swapped ITV with CH4 frequencies. ITV now on Ch40 and CH4 now on 45. I was suprised to see them using CH45 at all! I assumed Comreg would have instructed them to turn it off immediatley because of the clash. Both 45 and 40 were down on power , lot of noise that wasn't there before.
Bye bye S coast analogue very very soon I think!

watty · 08-11-2008 12:34AM

ALL Analogue so called "Deflectors" are supposed to close when DTT starts. SCTV has a 12GHz MMDS licence. Uses satellite receivers and high band of LNB.

Antenna · 10-11-2008 12:42PM

The Spur Hill test carriers on 45, 66, 68 were switched off on Saturday evening and AFAIK have not been on since. South Coast UHF viewers got all 4 channels back.

Rippy wrote: »

Checking this evening, at home in Carrigaline, South Coast had swapped ITV with CH4 frequencies. ITV now on Ch40 and CH4 now on 45. I was suprised to see them using CH45 at all!

Since the Spur Hill test on 45 wasn't actually carrying any DTT programmes, RTE probably don't really care at this point in time. AFAIK much of the testing is to see if the aerial system can withstand the very high peak voltages with DTT. South Coast being on 45 or not makes no difference to those tests. And I suspect 66 and 68 will actually be put to use before 45 (which is a bit out for group C/D aerials). Boxer DTT is not going to launch any time soon, so I suspect we will only have one of the 4 DTT channels (public service MUX) put to worthwhile use anytime soon!

in relation to DTT tests on 41,44,47 and 51 from Woodcock Hill (serving Limerick) , is there going to be any difficulty with outlying viewers of the Mitchelstown RTE transposer, which also uses 41,44,51 ? Admittedly, the polarisation is opposite, so maybe not too likely.

10-11-2008 03:11PM

Antenna wrote: »

in relation to DTT tests on 41,44,47 and 51 from Woodcock Hill (serving Limerick) , is there going to be any difficulty with outlying viewers of the Mitchelstown RTE transposer, which also uses 41,44,51 ? Admittedly, the polarisation is opposite, so maybe not too likely.

I wouldn't count on it being trouble free. My parents near Listowel in Kerry have trouble picking up the Listowel transposer (they have to use Mullaghanish instead) because the Knockmoyle transposer near Tralee is coming in on the same frequencies. The polarisations are different but it still causes the "venetian blinds" effect.

pa990 · 10-11-2008 04:23PM

I get my tv from Spur Hill using a C/D aerial,

I thought that this aerial would be sufficent for DTT, however, with testing being carried out on CH45, will i now require a W Band antenna (which are crap) or will i now need two antenna's B & C/D.
Or is CH45 simply a test.. with no intention of actually being used for DTT.
I was under the inpression that DTT from Spur Hill was gonna be on 52, 56, 58, 61, 66, 68

Antenna · 10-11-2008 06:46PM

pa990 wrote: »

I get my tv from Spur Hill using a C/D aerial,
I thought that this aerial would be sufficent for DTT, however, with testing being carried out on CH45, will i now require a W Band antenna

your existing aerial will probably be OK as these test carriers are very powerful!

An update:
the test 'carriers' are switched back on this evening (Monday) on channels 45,66,68

pa990 wrote: »

I was under the inpression that DTT from Spur Hill was gonna be on 52, 56, 58, 61, 66, 68

They decided on using different channels at some stage. The Spur Hill DTT is now very high power so it was probably decided to avoid using channels adjacent to the analogues (53,57,60,63) so ruled out 52,56,58,61 for DTT (until after ASO).

pa990 · 10-11-2008 08:53PM

My reception isnt fantastic,i am actually in a black spot, especially for TG4. (using a 10element contract with booster)

I was about to upgrade to a high gain c/d antenna, but i dont know what to do now. A W/Band is absolutely useless around here.

The Cush · 11-11-2008 12:40AM

Lit of DTT Channels as of mid 2007

pa990 · 11-11-2008 03:54AM

For Fu©ks sake.. now i'll need to combine highgain Group B and a Group C/D antenna, along with a DAB antenna to a sat multiswitch...

Why cant they just stick with Ch 48 -69 on Spur Hill

fkearney · 11-11-2008 11:13PM

Tests on again this evening from Woodcock hill. Power on Ch. 47 (682Mhz) seems to be well down. Other three test frequencies look ok.

12-11-2008 12:06AM

The Cush wrote: »

Lit of DTT Channels as of mid 2007

Three Rock and Kippure are on the same channels? Ya wha?

galtee boy · 12-11-2008 12:37AM

Antenna wrote: »

The Spur Hill tests on 45, 66, 68 remained on all night.

At a TV with previously perfect reception of all 4 analogues from Spur Hill - slight deterioration was noted on the RTE2 (Ch 57)
This due to the +9 image problems that people may be aware of.
TVs can suffer from image interference from a strong signal present 9 channels above the tuned channel, (and the peak power of the DTT channels is very high)
(66 - 9 = 57).
It would be more noticeable on TVs with poor quality tuners.

I suspect that the test on 68 is causing many problems to people who use the RF modulator on Sky Digiboxes in the Cork area resulting in perhaps very snowy pictures
(68 is often used for Digibox modulators as its the default, and people will have to change this) -
http://www.stevelarkins.freeuk.com/dtv_retuning_advice.htm

TG4 on Ch31 from Mullaganish is being obliterated tonight here in Mitchelstown - would this have anything to do with the +9 rule ? Woodcock Hill DTT Channel 41-9 = 32. I know it's one above 31, but close enough to cause interference ? Maybe something else is causing the interference, but thought it was interesting as Woodcock Hill DTT tests have started.

The Cush · 12-11-2008 01:49AM

Karsini wrote: »

Three Rock and Kippure are on the same channels? Ya wha?

SFN (Single Frequency Network) maybe?
DAB transmits on Single Frequency Networks.
In Spain 4 of 5 national multiplexes are SFN.

barnicles · 12-11-2008 11:36PM

Any video on the masts yet?

fkearney · 13-11-2008 12:15AM

barnicles wrote: »

Any video on the masts yet?

No video, just test carriers ? Anyone an idea of when the test video streams will start ?

syboit · 13-11-2008 11:18AM

Antenna wrote: »

I suspect that the test on 68 is causing many problems to people who use the RF modulator on Sky Digiboxes in the Cork area resulting in perhaps very snowy pictures
(68 is often used for Digibox modulators as its the default, and people will have to change this) -
http://www.stevelarkins.freeuk.com/dtv_retuning_advice.htm

I've definetly noticed this issue, picture is snowy on the 2nd tv! will go through the steps on moving off channel 68.

icjzfmq7ewon1t · 14-11-2008 11:23AM

Is there any DTT trials available at the moment in South Tipperary and if so what is required to receive them. Sorry if this is already addressed elsewhere I've done some searching and I'm afraid I'm a bit confused.

radiospan · 14-11-2008 03:00PM

Londyn Young Wildcat wrote: »

Is there any DTT trials available at the moment in South Tipperary and if so what is required to receive them. Sorry if this is already addressed elsewhere I've done some searching and I'm afraid I'm a bit confused.

As far as I know, it's only in parts of Leinster right now. They're in the process of starting trials in Limerick and Cork City.

RTE installing DTT on woodcock spur hill and dungarvan

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