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All posts by Dave Lindsay

Below are all of Dave Lindsay's postings, with the most recent are at the bottom of the page.

Moville Saorview transmitter
Friday 26 October 2012 12:28AM

Mark: The PSB2 you are receiving, it is definately on C30? And it is definately the Northern Ireland regional variant (which it will be if it has UTV and U105). Across England, Wales and some of Scotland it is "ITV1".

This is very odd because Limavady's PSB2 is, as you say, on C59 and also C30 does not appear to be used in NI.

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Divis (Northern Ireland) transmitter
Friday 26 October 2012 12:35AM

Sinead: Do you just have the one aerial?

Do you have another aerial pointing a bit clockwise of south which you used previously to receive RT from the Republic? If so and this is connected to the aerial lead coming into your lounge, then this could be relevant to being unable to receive the NI Mux on C39.

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Divis (Northern Ireland) transmitter
Friday 26 October 2012 12:37AM

Sinead: As Carl says, ensure that there isn't something like a Sky box that could be interfering. If there is, then for test purposes, connect the incoming aerial directly to the Freeview HD receiver box you are trying to get RT channels on.

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Moville Saorview transmitter
Friday 26 October 2012 1:13AM

Mark: I have no idea whether this is a possibility as I'm not an RF expert.

The spreadsheet here shows no licenced deflectors on C30 in Co. Donegal:

Technical Parameters - ComReg

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Moville Saorview transmitter
Friday 26 October 2012 1:32AM

Mark: UTV analogue was on C59 from Limavady so maybe it is the same deflector.

BBC Two and Channel 4 (analogue) were on C62 and C65 respectively, but as the 60s have been cleared for use by 4G mobile services, the digital channels don't use them.

The other one was BBC One which was on C55 but this is now the HD multiplex which uses the DVB-T2 standard which isn't used in Ireland. I guess that if you have a Saorview receiver it probably won't be able to receive DVB-T2 signals.

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Diagnostics - old version
Friday 26 October 2012 2:15PM

Sandra: Unfortunately the Grasmere transmitter isn't ever likely to receive anything more than the current Public Service Broadcast (PSB) channels.

The reason for this is because there are two types of broadcaster: Public Service (PSB) and Commercial (COM).

The Commercial multiplexes (each multiplex is a single signal that carries multiple services) cover about 90% of the UK population from 81 of the largest transmitters (largest by viewer population). The cost for them to broadcast from the other 1,000 or so smaller relays would roughly double their cost of transmission whilst only adding 8.5% of the population to their a potential viewerbases.

Their objective is show advertising which they sell. They want to get as many viewers as possible for lowest possible cost. Doubling the cost of transmission to increase potential reach by around 10% doesn't make sense to them. They operate purely for profit and have no obligation to provide a "Public Service".

I understand that Sky Sports 1 and 2 are available via BT Vision but these too are carried on the COM channels and will therefore be unavailable to you.

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carlos: Because those that don't broadcast from Hebden Bridge transmitter (the Commercial ones) don't consider it worth their while. Those that do broadcast have a "Public Service obligation. See here for an explanation:

Londonderry transmitter | ukfree.tv - 10 years of independent, free digital TV advice

Look around for any aerials directed at Emley Moor as these are likely to provide all channels. Emley Moor is at 121 degrees and aerials will be horizontal/flat (unlike Hebden Bridge ones which are vertical). This might give you an idea as to whether you might be in with a shot at getting the full service from Emley.

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ITV 3
Friday 26 October 2012 3:17PM

B. Bartlett: Turn your aerial to vertical (or have it turned). It will still point in the same direction and shouldn't need replacing (unless it's defective in some way).

You are receiving from Rowridge, I presume. Rowridge broadcasts horizontally and vertically. The latter polarisation was introduced in April and the former is more for backward-compatibility with existing installed aerials.

Rowridge's Commercial (COM) channels, which carry ITV3, Pick TV, Yesterday, Dave, Film4 and others aren't as strong horizontally. This is why switching to vertical polarisation should be expected to cure your problem.

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Feedback | Feedback
Friday 26 October 2012 3:33PM

Clive Porter: Out of interest, how does your recorder fare as far as recording starting up due to receiving from different transmitter networks/regions? Similarly, does it affect how the EPG builds up?

I have heard that this may be an issue but wonder whether it is always the case or may vary by design of the receiver.

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Robert Wood: The Winterbourne Stickland transmitter broadcasts only Public Service Broadcaster (PSB) channels whereas Rowridge on the IOW is a full-service transmitter (it broadcasts Commercial (COM) channels as well.

Rowridge broadcasts horizontally and vertically and has been doing so since April. The COM channels aren't as strong horizontally, so better reception of those may be gained by switching the aerial to vertical polarisation.

See this page for which service are carried on PSBs and which on COMs:

DTG :: DTT Services by Multiplex

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