All posts by Dave Lindsay
Below are all of Dave Lindsay's postings, with the most recent are at the bottom of the page.
TERRY HARVEY: I guess that you might be receiving RT from Holywell Hill. In which case, try a manual tune on UHF channel 30 (with DVB-T mode selected, if necessary).
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linsey: And if your receiver has tuned to Sutton Coldfield instead of Brierley Hill, then you might be able to avoid this by having the aerial lead unplugged during the scan of SC's frequencies.
SC's are in the 40s and Brierley Hill's 50s and 60. If it gives percentage as it scans, have it unplugged up to 55%. Or if it gives UHF channel numbers (21 to 69) during scanning, then SC's highest is 46, so wait until it's past it.
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TERRY HARVEY: As Peter says, the Saorview channels will be in the 800s (anywhere, the 835, 836 etc are examples).
For reception of Saorview you really need a separate aerial to that used for Freeview as Holywell Hill requires the aerial to be horizontal and Sheriff Mountain requires it to be vertical.
If you have a single vertically-mounted aerial, then this could be where you are coming unstuck; you are trying to receive the horizontally polarised Holywell signals with your vertical aerial.
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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.
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speake: In specific response to your final question "if not why not?", the answer is "because it is only a rumour!".
Maybe if locals in the area would like to pay for it (including ongoing costs for upkeep), then they might do it.
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joe: As you have found out, the BT Vision box does not work by magic; it cannot receive signals that aren't there!
ITV4 is available free-to-air via Freeview on one of the Commercial (COM) multiplexes. These do not have as great a coverage as the Public Service Broadcaster (PSB) ones.
The rest of the country do not have these channels via the terrestrial network as Machen is but one of 1,000 plus small relays that don't carry them.
Anyone who said that everyone would be able to get all channels was patently incorrect.
The reason that there is a two-tier terrestrial television transmitter network is because the COM networks are operated purely for profit whereas the PSBs are there to provide a public service.
For an explanation, see:
Londonderry transmitter | ukfree.tv - 10 years of independent, free digital TV advice
The politicians did not ensure that, by law, Commercial licence-holders would have to provide the same level of coverage as PSB services. They were allowed to pick and choose.
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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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joe: If your mother lives in an area where reception of all the full service isn't possible (from a full-service transmitter), then Freesat would provide additional free-to-air channels, including ITV4.
Alternatively, ITV4 is streamed online at www.itv.com/itv4 . Flat-screen TVs can often be connected to computers. A computer connected to the broadband connection would allow internet browsing on the TV. I'm not familiar with other alternatives out there; I know that you can browse the net on a PS3, so I assume that you might well be able to watch streamed content such as ITV4 by visiting its website.
Obviously you need a broadband service that you aren't going to go over its download quota limit (with frequent streaming likely to contribute heavily to the amount of data you are downloading).
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nigel: There is a known issue with the Goodmans GDB2 which means that it is unable to receive 8k multiplexes with a negative offset on their channel number:
http://www.digitaluk.co.u….pdf
Refer to this page for services by multiplex:
DTG :: DTT Services by Multiplex
All those you've referred to are on COM5 which has a negative offset from Winter Hill. PSB1 also has a negative offset, but my guess is that your receiver has tuned in PSB1 from an alternative transmitter that doesn't have a negative offset.
Skelmersdale transmitter is in the same direction as Winter Hill and its PSB1 is on C51, so bring up the signal strength screen on BBC One and see if it is tuned to C51.
The good news is that there will be a retune on 10th April 2013 when PSB1 and COM5 will change channels to ones with negative offsets.
A negative offset means that the frequency of the signal is slightly below the centre of the channel. For example, COM5 is on C61- which is at 793.8MHz whereas C61 is at 794MHz.
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Sunday 30 December 2012 2:22PM
Dave: The main free-to-air satellite service is Freesat. The most notable absences over full Freeview are probably Dave, Quest and Yesterday.
See here for a comparison:
Compare TV Freeview/Freesat | ukfree.tv - 10 years of independent, free digital TV advice