Are Saorview ever going to add more channels?

Saorview have so few channels, they need to do what they can to persuade what they have to be at least the best quality they can provide. It's embarrassing to be burning off excess bandwidth while VM1/2/3 are in fuzzy vision and even RTE 1/2 are not full HD.

Capt'n Midnight wrote: »

The BAI have deemed that channels only pay for the bandwidth they use.

So RTENL have to pay for the rest , even though the main cost is electricity and it's constant regardless of the bandwidth used.

The DTT multiplex broadcast charges are based on the regulated tariff, determined under ComReg Decision No. D11/13

The tariff calculation is a bit more complicated than paying just for the bitrate used. The tariff calculation includes a bit called relative use/relative consumption, as I understand it if a broadcaster uses for example 10% average bitrate in a mux then that broadcaster will be charged 10% of the overall running costs for that mux. The unused bitrate is not included but the total running cost of the mux is included in the tariff calculation. Basically the service provider cannot be out of pocket for providing the service.

Calculation Basis

The Tariff charged to each Client is calculated so that the full costs from the Service Provider are recovered (including a return) on a non-discriminatory basis from all users of the DTT Multiplexing, Distribution and Transmission Broadcast Service in accordance with the requirements of ComReg Decision D11/13. Tariffs are derived from the Tariff Model constructed on the basis of assumptions as regards, without limitation, the overall costs of the Service Provider and/or the number, types and total average bit rate consumption per year of the Content Transport Streams.

Mickey Mike wrote: »

Does anybody know what channel 14hd holds on saorview? An idea would be to merge RTE jr and RTE News Now, and put it on channel 7 using the HD channel.
On another note I'd like to see Today FM, Newstalk and Classic Hits etc join saorview when the RTE digital radio channels leave next month.

There's nothing 'on' any channel no. (LCN) on Saorview (or any other digital service), no 'HD channel' either, & there's already spare bandwidth, so it's not like Today FM etc. are waiting for it to be freed up.

Some people might not know about the Monaghan transmitter on 103.3, since Newstalk advertise themselves as 106 to 108. It should give a decent signal into some areas of the North.

Anyone wanting it on Saorview would have gone to the trouble of putting up a TV aerial outside. A FM aerial on the chimney would do wonders for radio reception.

Radios like that are designed to pick up FM signals in the transmitter service area, using just the telescopic aerial. Newstalk is not trying to service anyone in the North, it is overspill reception. Same for car radios.

Anyone with a home cinema system will have the right aerial sockets for FM, DAB and maybe Medium Wave (AM). If they think it is worthwhile putting an external FM aerial where the TV aerial is, that will improve reception of Newstalk.

dxhound2005 wrote: »

Some people might not know about the Monaghan transmitter on 103.3, since Newstalk advertise themselves as 106 to 108. It should give a decent signal into some areas of the North.

Anyone wanting it on Saorview would have gone to the trouble of putting up a TV aerial outside. A FM aerial on the chimney would do wonders for radio reception.

Reception of Newstalk here in Moira, near Lisburn N.Ireland is slightly better from Clermont Carn than Monaghan though I guess if you lived in Armagh area and further south in border area the Monaghan signal would be stronger.

dxhound2005 wrote: »

107.9 Clermont is listed as 4 kilowatts here.

http://www.frequencyfinder.org.uk/Irish_Radio.pdf

I think it might be stronger, judging by the distances I can hear it in the car in various directions from Dundalk. Monaghan 103.3 is listed as 2.5, fairly good signal in Dundalk. I am not using an outside aerial.

Before Newstalk came onto Clermont, I always used 107.4, which I take to be the high power transmitter from Truskmore. I notice that Today FM has higher power than RTE on Clermont and Monaghan.

Very interesting information. Also out of interest is there any reason why Today FM is on much higher power than Newstalk? Aren't both national stations?

Digifriendly wrote: »

Very interesting information. Also out of interest is there any reason why Today FM is on much higher power than Newstalk? Aren't both national stations?

Today FM is combined into the same antenna as the four RTE FMs which goes well across the border, whilst Newstalk is into a different directional antenna intended for ROI coverage only.

Newstalk is only quasi-National as far as I know.

How much does it cost Newstalk to go on Satellite?

Another legacy from the early days of VHF in the UK is the frequency usage. The band went between 88 and 100, and later 104 I think before the current 108. No BBC transmitters in England go above 100 for Radios 1 to 4, and not many elsewhere in the UK. And possibly the highest is 104.9 for any BBC service. Independent stations go higher.

Anyone buying a vintage transistor radio, could be restricted to 88 to 104. Nice things to own, but not much use for Newstalk.

Throwing some €0.02 in here regarding FM radio...

The original VHF FM Radio band in Europe only extended from 87.6 - 99.9 MHz, and this was the case also in the Stockholm 1952 &1961 bandplans for the European broadcast area that was the basis for VHF & UHF radio & television. The Geneva 1984 bandplan cleared this up to 108MHz, though some countries had already expanded upwards from 100MHz before then (not sure of the dates).

The ST52 bandplan for VHF Band II didn't have any allocations for RoI IIRC, while the UK was still mulling over wherever to use AM or FM for sound broadcasting in the band (all other sound broadcasts in the band on the continent at that time were already FM) and had different allocations depending on what would eventually be adopted. Shortly after the conference, they settled on FM.

The ST61 bandplan for VHF Band II allocated for the Republic of Ireland essentially two national network sets of frequencies while the UK had settled on a three national network bandplan, which is still used on this basis today for 88 to 94.6 MHz.

I don't know about the RoI, but in the UK much of the band from 95 MHz up (to 108 MHz) was used by the Home Office and by the police and over the decades these were only cleared on a piecemeal basis. The last bit (105 to 108 MHz) was only finally cleared in the mid-90s. It was also a reason why up until the early 90's prisoners in the UK were not allowed radios that could receive FM, lest they were able to tune in to "the filth".

Sometime around the early to mid-80's (not exactly sure of the date, could have been before or after the GE84 conference) the Irish authorities struck an agreement with their British counterparts to allow for the RoI to have three national FM networks based on the UK plan of three main stations separated nominally by 2.2 MHz each. This allowed RTE Radio 1 & RnaG at the time to have their own separate FM networks than sharing one together. In some cases, this also allowed for power increases on both sides of the border.

The original UK VHF FM radio transmissions were all horizontally polarised. The is because at the time of launch, car radios were a luxury item (and if they did, few had FM) and most such listening was for home consumption, intended for use with a roof-top two or three element aerial to a dedicated receiver, either a standalone receiver usually part of a Hi-Fi system, or combined with a television. The BBC technicians in their tests found that horizontal polarisation suffered less from polarisation twist for over-the-horizon reception, and that multipath interference was also less compared to vertical polarisation (not taking into account the more "directional" properties of a horizontal dipole anyway). Most such high-powered VHF FM transmitters in continental Europe were also horizontal polarised only as well, some still are today - the prevalence generally depends on policy by country.

The start of the shift in the UK for the BBC national FM radio network to move towards mixed polarisation was from the original policy of the IBA to have all their ILR stations transmit with circular polarisation. As the VHF FM Band was starting to be included in more transistor and car radios, this provided improved reception capabilities, especially for car radios - transistor radios at least were static and could have their telescopic aerials angled, something that car radios couldn't adjust to. The Beeb's engineers took note of this approach and with many of their original high-powered VHF FM transmitter stations coming up to needing refurbishment as well the the 405 line TV network due to be closed within a few years, they set out to re-engineer the VHF FM network not only for mixed polarisation but also to ensure new TX aerials could also handle future transmissions in the rest of an expanded Band II (e.g. BBC Radio 1). The first main BBC station converted for mixed polarisation was Wrotham in 1981 - IIRC, Divis was one of the last to be converted to mixed polarity by around 1990 - both Brougher Mtn. & Derry were converted several years prior.

RTE's original Raidio Eireann FM network was launched in 1966. I'm not entirely sure why most of the sites were vertical polarisation only, contrary to their UK counterparts (it may have been to do with portable reception, but I don't know either way). From memory, the five 2RN "national" FM networks of Radio 1, 2FM, RnaG, Lyric FM & (a slightly modified) Today FM only have mixed polarisation transmissions at Three Rock, Kippure & Holywell Hill, with all other transmissions vertical polarity only. An old pamphlet from the 1980's for receiving RTE on VHF FM had indicated that Clermont Carn was to use circular polarisation, but later publications had changed this to only vertical.