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Full Freeview on the Divis (Northern Ireland) transmitter

first published this on - UK Free TV
sa_streetviewGoogle Streetviewsa_gmapsGoogle mapsa_bingBing mapsa_gearthGoogle Earthsa_gps54.607,-6.009 or 54°36'24"N 6°0'34"Wsa_postcodeBT17 0NG

 

The symbol shows the location of the Divis (Northern Ireland) transmitter which serves 440,000 homes. The bright green areas shown where the signal from this transmitter is strong, dark green areas are poorer signals. Those parts shown in yellow may have interference on the same frequency from other masts.

Are there any planned engineering works or unexpected transmitter faults on the Divis (Northern Ireland) mast?

Divis transmitter - Divis transmitter: Possible effect on TV reception week commencing 25/03/2024 Pixelation or flickering on some or all channels Digital tick


Choose from three options: ■ List by multiplex ■ List by channel number ■ List by channel name
_______

Which Freeview channels does the Divis transmitter broadcast?

If you have any kind of Freeview fault, follow this Freeview reset procedure first.

Digital television services are broadcast on a multiplexes (or Mux) where many stations occupy a single broadcast frequency, as shown below.

MuxH/VFrequencyHeightModeWatts
PSB1
BBCA
 H max
C27 (522.0MHz)551mDTG-100,000W
Channel icons
1 BBC One (SD) Northern Ireland, 2 BBC Two Northern Ireland, 9 BBC Four, 23 BBC Three, 201 CBBC, 202 CBeebies, 231 BBC News, 232 BBC Parliament, plus 14 others

PSB2
D3+4
 H max
C21+ (474.2MHz)551mDTG-100,000W
Channel icons
3 UTV (SD) (UTV), 4 Channel 4 (SD) NI ads, 5 Channel 5, 6 ITV 2, 10 ITV3, 13 E4, 14 Film4, 15 Channel 4 +1 NI ads, 18 More4, 26 ITV4, 28 ITVBe, 30 E4 +1, 35 UTV +1 (UTV),

PSB3
BBCB
 H max
C24 (498.0MHz)551mDTG-100,000W
Channel icons
46 5SELECT, 101 BBC One HD Northern Ireland, 102 BBC Two HD Northern Ireland, 103 UTV HD (UTV), 104 Channel 4 HD NI ads, 105 Channel 5 HD, 106 BBC Four HD, 107 BBC Three HD, 204 CBBC HD, 205 CBeebies HD, plus 1 others

COM4
SDN
 H -3dB
C23 (490.0MHz)551mDTG-850,000W
Channel icons
20 Drama, 21 5USA, 29 ITV2 +1, 32 5STAR, 33 5Action, 38 Channel 5 +1, 41 Legend, 42 GREAT! action, 57 Dave ja vu, 58 ITVBe +1, 59 ITV3 +1, 64 Blaze, 67 TRUE CRIME, 68 TRUE CRIME XTRA, 78 TCC, 81 Blaze +1, 83 Together TV, 89 ITV4 +1, 91 WildEarth, 209 Ketchup TV, 210 Ketchup Too, 211 YAAAS!, 267 Al Jazeera English, plus 30 others

COM5
ArqA
 H -3dB
C26 (514.0MHz)528mDTG-850,000W
Channel icons
11 Sky Mix, 17 Really, 19 Dave, 31 E4 Extra, 36 Sky Arts, 40 Quest Red, 43 Food Network, 47 Film4 +1, 48 Challenge, 49 4seven, 60 Drama +1, 65 That's TV 2, 70 Quest +1, 74 Yesterday +1, 75 That's 90s, 233 Sky News, plus 11 others

COM6
ArqB
 H -3dB
C30 (546.0MHz)528mDTG-850,000W
Channel icons
12 Quest, 25 W, 27 Yesterday, 34 GREAT! movies, 39 DMAX, 44 HGTV, 52 GREAT! romance, 56 That's TV (UK), 61 GREAT! movies extra, 63 GREAT! romance mix, 71 That’s 60s, 73 HobbyMaker, 82 Talking Pictures TV, 84 PBS America, 235 Al Jazeera Eng, plus 18 others

LBT
 H -13dB
C36 (594.0MHz)528mDTG-125,000W
Channel icons
from 29th September 2014: 7 NvTv,

NIMM
 H -40dB
C48 (690.0MHz)551mDTG-10W
Channel icons
from 4th September 2019: 53 TG4, 54 RTÉ One, 55 RTÉ Two,

DTG-8 64QAM 8K 3/4 27.1Mb/s DVB-T MPEG2
DTG-12 QSPK 8K 3/4 8.0Mb/s DVB-T MPEG2
H/V: aerial position (horizontal or vertical)

Which BBC and ITV regional news can I watch from the Divis transmitter?

regional news image
BBC Newsline 0.6m homes 2.5%
from Belfast BT2 8HQ, 1,044km northeast (51°)
to BBC Northern Ireland region - 46 masts.
regional news image
UTV Live 0.6m homes 2.5%
from Belfast BT7 1EB, 1,044km northeast (51°)
to UTV region - 46 masts.

Are there any self-help relays?

Chapel FieldsTransposerCentral Belfast61 homes

How will the Divis (Northern Ireland) transmission frequencies change over time?

1950s-80s1984-971997-981998-20122012-134 Mar 2020
VHFA K TA K TA K TK TW T
C1BBCtvwaves
C21C4wavesC4wavesC4waves+D3+4D3+4
C23SDNSDN
C24ITVwavesITVwavesITVwavesBBCBBBCB
C26ArqAArqA
C27BBC2wavesBBC2wavesBBC2wavesBBCABBCA
C29ArqB
C30LBT
C31BBC1wavesBBC1wavesBBC1waves
C33com7
C34com8
C36_local
C48NIMMNIMM
C55tv_offcom7tv_off
C56tv_offCOM8tv_off

tv_off Being removed from Freeview (for 5G use) after November 2020 / June 2022 - more
Table shows multiplexes names see this article;
green background for transmission frequencies
Notes: + and - denote 166kHz offset; aerial group are shown as A B C/D E K W T
waves denotes analogue; digital switchover was 10 Oct 12 and 24 Oct 12.

How do the old analogue and currrent digital signal levels compare?

Analogue 1-4 500kW
BBCA, D3+4, BBCB(-7dB) 100kW
SDN, ARQA, ARQB(-10dB) 50kW
com8(-16dB) 12.7kW
com7(-16.1dB) 12.4kW
LBT(-20dB) 5kW
Mux 1*, Mux 2*, Mux A*, Mux B*(-23.4dB) 2.3kW
Mux C*(-24dB) 2kW
Mux D*(-24.9dB) 1.6kW
NIMM(-47dB) 10W

Which companies have run the Channel 3 services in the Divis transmitter area

Oct 1959-May 2006Ulster Television
May 2006-Dec 2014UTV plc
Feb 1983-Dec 1992TV-am•
Jan 1993-Sep 2010GMTV•
Sep 2010-Dec 2014ITV Daybreak•
• Breakfast ◊ Weekends ♦ Friday night and weekends † Weekdays only. Divis was not an original Channel 3 VHF 405-line mast: the historical information shown is the details of the company responsible for the transmitter when it began transmitting Channel 3.

Comments
Sunday, 30 December 2012
G
g duffy
10:24 PM

I live in Plumbridge, Tyrone - no rte - has anyone any information - from the maps it doesnt look good. I get my Uk channels from ch. 45

link to this comment
g duffy's 2 posts GB flag
Monday, 31 December 2012
Dave Lindsay
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

11:28 AM

g duffy: The C45 signal is from the Strabane transmitter.

RT coverage is not uniform across Northern Ireland; a few pockets can't receive it.

You are looking to see if you can receive either:

1. Saorview from one of the transmitters in the Republic (overspill), or;

2. A signal from one of the three RT transmitters in the North. These are intended to complement the coverage of the overspill.


I agree that you are going to be lucky to receive RT and, as such, will probably be best consulting with an aerial installer.

The difficulty is obviously that you're in a valley.

I had a look at the centre of Plumbridge on Streetview (photos taken well before switchover in March 2009) and quite a few houses have a UHF aerial on Strabane and a horizontally-polarised VHF aerial pointing roughly 90 degrees clockwise of Strabane. By my reckoning these are pointing to Truskmore.

Prior to switchover, Ireland used VHF for some transmitters, including Truskmore:

TELEVISION FREQUENCY CHANNELS USED IN IRELAND

I'm not a professional so I wouldn't like to say whether those who could receive the VHF might be able to receive the current UHF Saorview signal.

However, as you're in a valley what can and can't be received might vary over a short distance.

link to this comment
Dave Lindsay's 5,724 posts GB flag
G
gerard duffy
1:44 PM

Thanks, Dave - my VHF signal indeed was from Truskmore.
Cheers for going to so much trouble!

Do you think if I purchased another UHF aerial and pointed that at Truskmore I might get RTE? My VHF aerial now is no use? I'd also need a another UHF aerial and a Saorview box?

link to this comment
gerard duffy's 2 posts GB flag
Dave Lindsay
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

2:17 PM

gerard duffy: You are right, the VHF aerial is now of no use for picking up TV.

A Freeview HD receiver will definately receive Saorview; Freeview standard definition may or may not.

Saorview uses the DVB-T signal standard and pictures are encoded using MPEG4. Freeview standard definition also uses DVB-T, but pictures are encoded using the earlier MPEG2 standard. For this reason, quite a few Freeview standard definition receivers won't be able to show the Saorview pictures.

If you can receive from a Saorview transmitter, then you can connect the feeds from two aerials together using a diplexer providing that the channels used by each transmitter allow:

Online TV Splitters, Amps & Diplexers sales

For example, uses 39, 42 and 45 and Truskmore uses 53 (and prospectively 57 in the future), so a diplexer that "splits" at C51 will work. This will allow you to view Saorview and Freeview on the same receivers; or alternatively you could keep them separate and use a separate Saorview box.

This is perhaps getting a little ahead, but really the only way is to have an installer visit you to pass judgement whether you might be able to pick-up from Truskmore or any other Saorview transmitter.

Coverage maps are only a rough guide and don't necessarily relate to the real-world situation of what can and can't be picked up.

Letterkenny @ 2kW is about 15 miles away, but again we assume that the chances of reception diminish the lower down you are. Plus Truskmore and Letterkenny are co-channel, albeit that the latter is vertically polarised. This probably explains the reason for the slight notch in Truskmore's radiation pattern in the direction of Letterkenny. There is nothing to be lost by manually scanning C53.

Failing that, call an aerial installer.

And have a look around to see what others around you have done.

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Dave Lindsay's 5,724 posts GB flag
Wednesday, 16 January 2013
L
Lynn Steenson
10:32 PM

We live in Clontibret Co. Monaghan.
Before the DSO we received all freeview channels from Divis. We have a high gain digital horizontal aerial.
Since the DSO we can only get PSB1,PSB2 + PSB3 multiplexes. We cant get COM4 COM5 or COM6 multiplexes.
Any ideas what we could do to get all the freeview channels that we did before the DSO.
(aeriel has not been touched).

link to this comment
Lynn Steenson's 15 posts IE flag
Thursday, 17 January 2013
P
Peter Henderson
sentiment_satisfiedSilver

1:09 AM
Newtownabbey

It may possibly be too nmuch gain Lynn. If you have an amplifier try removing it, or you may need to fit an attenuator.

Another thing to bear in mind is that some Freeview STBs/TVs have built in amplifiers. If this is the case then switch it off in the menu system. Look for something such as "antenna power" or similar.

link to this comment
Peter Henderson's 240 posts GB flag
Peter's: mapP's Freeview map terrainP's terrain plot wavesP's frequency data P's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Dave Lindsay
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

5:05 AM

Lynn Steenson: Go to the manual tune function on your receiver and see if it might give you some indication as to the strength and quality of the three COM muxes as they may be sitting just below the strength your receiver needs to show them or they may be above but of too poor a quality.

Once you have the manual tune screen up, select the UHF channel and give it five or 10 seconds. See if it gives an indication of strength and/or quality *before* you press the button to scan the channel. Do this for each of the COMs.

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Dave Lindsay's 5,724 posts GB flag
Dave Lindsay
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

5:12 AM

Lynn Steenson: There is no such thing as a "digital aerial" as set against an "analogue aerial". Aerials work based on frequencies received and those used for TV after switchover are the same as those used before.

If your aerial is a yagi-type, which it is likely to be if it is a "high-gain" one, then it won't be "high" gain on the low (Group A) channels used by Divis if it is a wideband. That said, if it worked prior to switchover, then maybe you aren't too far off; perhaps additional or even less amplication, as suggested by Peter, is the answer.

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Dave Lindsay's 5,724 posts GB flag
L
Lynn Steenson
1:46 PM

Peter Henderson: I cant find a built in amplifier option on the tv.
Could gain be a problem after DSO?
Exact same aerial/amplifier setup before DSO and we were receiving all freeview channels before?
Could it be because Divis is only broadcasting the COMs at half the strength of the PSBs? 100,000 watts for PTSBs and COMs only at 50,000 watts?
Is this likely to change?

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Lynn Steenson's 15 posts IE flag
L
Lynn Steenson
1:57 PM

Dave Lindsay:
The aerial isnt a yagi .
From reading the aerial page here I think it falls into the Digital High Gain class 2 category.
It is described as "48 Element High Gain Digital TV Aerial".
All freeview channels were being received before the DSO using this exact same aerial set up.
I cant get any indication of strength/quality for any of the COMs.
Would it be down to the different output power levels from Divis?

link to this comment
Lynn Steenson's 15 posts IE flag
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