New Northern Ireland and Dorset BBC DAB transmitter
Brian Butterworth published on UK Free TV The BBC have brought two new DAB transmitters into service this week.
The first is from the Bridport transmitter, central Bridport in Dorset, England.
The second is at Maddybenny More, on the north-eastern coast of Northern Ireland.
This transmitter coivers the Coleraine, Portrush, Castlerock and Bushmills area.
Two further Northern Ireland DAB transmitters are expected soon.
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Friday, 20 May 2011
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James Thompson10:38 AM
Ballycastle
Maddenbenny More would never cover Ballycastle as it is 10 miles away and was originally a 405 line TV relay for the Portrush /Coleraine area. It sits in the middle of the triangle of Portstewart Cloeraine Portrush. The DAB addition back fills the signal into parts of Coleraine that are below line of site from Limavady. I think the cofusion began with the statement 'coverage in North Antrim coast' which I assumed meant Ballycastle, given a population of only about 4000 I doubt that the town will be included in this phase of roll out, my bet would be either Bangor or Newry for the last of this phase.
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Jordy12:07 PM
It's Newcastle and Camlough are the two sites being brought online. I hear the Timescales are 4 months for Newcastle and a little less for Camlough as the work is done.
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James Thompson12:43 PM
Ballycastle
Jordy: That sounds about right Camlough will cover Newry and the A1 and Newcastle will provide coverage in an area not served.I regularly travel to Dungannon on business and find that coverage in the Maghera/ Cookstown area to be patchy. I look up at Slieve Gallion and think ideal site for DAB on the existing mast, Divis appears to run out of power despite being line of site!
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Peter Henderson2:28 PM
Newtownabbey
What's the story with Ballycastle then Jordy ? Ballycastle was definitely mentioned on the list when the 7 transmitter sites were originally announced. Most people assumed (wrongly ?) that Maddybenny More covered the town but apparently not.
Is there an additional site for Ballycastle (i.e. similar situation to Enniskillen and Brogher coverage) ? Just wondering,
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James Thompson3:30 PM
Ballycastle
Ballycastle will use the FM radio mast to the west of the town according to the list further up this thread. This carried 405 line TV but was not used for UHF. Ballycastle Forest to the south east and directly overlooking the town is the UHF and mobile phone site.
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Sunday, 22 May 2011
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Jordy9:31 AM
While Ballycastle was implied has a contender it was never confirmed as a choice. In fact the last I heard Arqiva were looking to move the band 2 services to their site at Ballycastle Forest. The reason I believe is because Limavady is due an up rate in ERP and if they adequately cover the service area there is no point in a filler. Certainly the next four sites and Arqiva/Beeb have not mentioned Ballycastle but again that's not to say they won't at some stage. They have clearly said they will bring online two this year and that's Camlough and Newcastle and thats confirmed.
Just a point on Maddybenny More, the DAB band 3 stacked dipoles that are being put into use are highly directional antennas using a rigid line blocker. This allows them to drop the antennas added gain by 3db, it also allows them the option of a considerable power up at little expense in the near future. When the space is cleared on channel 12 in the south then we could see more powerful DAB tx's but until then spectrum will be tightly controlled and used accordingly.
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Jordy9:57 AM
Hi James
I know were you're coming from but a high site isn't always the best choice from a spectrum planning point of view when using a low powered service. This leads you to ask questions such as were is my target audience, what distance are they from transmission and do they live under or over the radio horizon. When a high site is used they are typically of high power with limited RF restrictions and that can't be said for a band 3 service with severe restrictions that use highly directional arrays. You end covering less of your target area and causing more pockets of patchy reception were the power will tend to fizzle out or just get lost in the earths upper atmosphere.
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James Thompson11:31 AM
Ballycastle
Jordy would make sense to move to Band 2 Ballycastle Forest. The original Ballycastle pre dates Limavady and needed to recieve Divis/Black Mountain as feed. The site chosen for B Forest would not be able to recieve a feed from Belfast but is LOS Limavady and is a better site to serve the target area. Some palces in the town suffer from poor signal even with the relay so a move would be a good idea.
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Peter Henderson5:18 PM
Newtownabbey
Any more word on progress re. getting Digital One in the province Jordy ? I assume this will take place late 2012 or early 2013 when the ROI clear band III ?
We should get around 10 extra stations when they appear here, plus several locals as well. This should give the province 30+ DAB stations which would be comparable to most parts of England, Scotland, and Wales that have the national commercial multiplex.
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Peter Henderson5:22 PM
Newtownabbey
Our local commercial multiplex is also badly in need of expansion.
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