Northern Ireland "mini multiplex" (NIMM)
Brian Butterworth published on UK Free TV A special service for 80%-90% of households in Northern Ireland will see three Freeview additional channels being available. These will be:
- TG4 - Irish language television channel - Teilifis Gaeilge
- RTE Television: RTE One
- RTE Television: RTE Two (in HD on Saorview)
Some homes will be able to receive the services directly from the Saorview transmitters in the RoI (see SAORVIEW - Ireland's free digital television service ), and others will, from the digital switchover date of Wednesday 24th October 2012, have a service provided from three Freeview transmitters in Northern Ireland.
- Brougher Mountain at 2kW on C30 (
speculativlyC30) - Black Mountain at 1kW on C39+
(speculativly C48) - Carnmoney Hill 16w on C48 (
speculativlyC48)
However, you will not be able to view these services using a standard-definition Freeview receiver - a Freeview HD box or set will be required. It is not known at this time if the NIMM will carry RTE2 in HD, as per the Saorview service. TG4 and RTE1 are broadcast in standard definition at the moment.
The requirement for a Freeview HD receiver is because the services are being broadcasting in "D-Book Option 11", which uses the DVB-T2 standard ("a new mode, option 11, is being planned for a multiplex in Northern Ireland. Receivers should be able to switch between these automatically", D-Book 7, DTG164 is defined in appendix G as: FFT size 32k, 16QAM modulation, 1/128 guard interval, PP7, FEC 64800). Digital Television - Technical guidance on the availability of TG4 in Northern Ireland after digital switchover says that Option 11 is: DVB-T2 16QAM FEC 1/2.
Update: DVB-T2 16QAM FEC 1/2 provides a bitrate for the multiplex of 12.77Mb/s.
Update: DVB-T2, QPSK modulation, FEC 2/3, 32K carriers, 9.954 Mbit/s.
Help with Freeview, aerials?
In this section
Sunday, 26 February 2012
Briantist: So is there a reason they didn't use DVB-T as then it still would have been SD, but would have been viewable on many more receivers?
If they had have made it DVB-T, they could have changed it to HD by switching it to DVB-T2 at a later date.
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Dave Lindsay: Yes, as I think Mike said above, you get better coverage for the same signal output, DVB-T2 "co-operates" better and the RoI services are in MPEG4, which is part of Freeview HD in the UK. Ofcom specifically banned using MPEG4 on DVB-T.
Given that NI is the very last region to switch in the UK, there should be mainly Freeview HD in the shops by then.
Yes, they could have done a MPEG2/DVB-T solution but the coverage would have been poor.
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Monday, 27 February 2012
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ronan o dwyer4:11 PM
if freeview hd is mpeg4..ahern ireland nd saorsat is mpeg4 ..can saorsat be recievable in ni from roi transmitters?
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ronan o dwyer4:16 PM
if freeview hd is mpeg4..and in southern ireland saorsat is mpeg4 ..can saorsat be recievable in ni from roi transmitters?
sorry for gobblygook in previous message..
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ronan o dwyer: Saorsat is a satellite service and has nothing to do at all with terrestrial transmitters.
Soarview, however, can be watched from NI using a Freeview HD in some areas, as Freeview HD boxes can display all of the Soarview channels, and you won't be limited to three channels in SD.
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ronan o dwyer8:21 PM
i apologise i meant saorview...my apologies
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ronan o dwyer8:57 PM
Ronan: is there any high powered transmitters on the isle of man...i.m a tv dxer and enjoy it..i.ve a samsung 46 inch tv mpeg 2 and mpeg 4 combined so can recieve freeview from ni and possibly wales from clandonna and have clear view to isle of man wonder is there any horizontal transmissions from there ..thanks for your help
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Peter Henderson10:33 PM
Newtownabbey
Depends on your location Ronan.
Cambrett Hill in Southwest Scotland comes in well in parts of East Antrim and East Down, as do some of the relay stations on the Isle of Mann (Beary Peark for example) on the East Down coast.
All are Freeview Lite, including Cambrett Hill Cambrett is horizontally polarised and has an ERP of 2.8 Kw, which is stronger than Freeview from Divis at present.
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Peter's: mapP's Freeview map terrainP's terrain plot wavesP's frequency data P's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Tuesday, 28 February 2012
ronan o dwyer: Ofcom published a list of post-switchover transmitters by region here:
Ofcom | Digital Switchover Transmitter Details
It has been found to be the case that these appear not to bt being updated, so ERP could be wrong.
The latest list of multiplex licences are here:
Ofcom | Supplementary licence documents in relation to DSO
They don't give polarisation, so you might have to switch between the two.
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