All posts by Peter Henderson
Below are all of Peter Henderson's postings, with the most recent are at the bottom of the page.
P.S. I wouldn't pay too much attention to those Digital UK postcode predictions Frank as they do seem to be somewhat arbitrary.
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Frank: Have a look on this thread on boards.ie.:
http://www.boards.ie/vbul…e=13
There's a mini discussion about Saorview reception from Clermont Cairn in and around Bangor, and a number of locations are mentioned.
Try the Digital UK postcode checker at your location and tick the box marked "detailed view". This should give an indication if reception from the NI mux is possible at your location.
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Khalid:The answer is no, unfortunately. Once you cancel your subscription to Sky you cannot use the recording facilities on a Sky+ box (unless you pay Sky £10 per month.
However, you can replace your old Sky+ box with a Freesat PVR (recorder). It costs nothing to use the recording functions on Freesat. Freesat recorders start from around the £200 mark and would be your best bet if you don't subscribe to Sky.
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Does this mean more HD channels on Freesat for those that are served by main transmitters other than those listed, or relay stations Brian ?
It would be a shame if the extra HD channels were just confined to a few main terrestrial transmitters.
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P
Ten more HD channels on two new Freeview HD multiplexes on air Monday 26 November 2012 11:36PM
Newtownabbey
Charles: The other two main Freeview transmitters in NI are Limivady and Brougher Mountain. The Londonderry transmitter is a PSB relay only.
I'm surprised neither Limivady or Brougher are included.
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Niall:According to Digital UK's postcode checker, the answer is no.
However, I wouldn't treat that as gospel. Have a look and see if there are any Divis aerials in the village. These will probably be quite large and horizontally polarised. I assume you're currently receiving signals from the Newcastle transmitter Niall?
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Judging by what I can view on streetview Dave, there aren't any Divis aerials at all in the village. I notice Quite a few aerials for Clermont Cairn though, so Saorview shouldn't be a problem.
Niall might be better off going down the Freesat route.
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Dave: At Niall's location the Newcastle transmitter shouldn't be a problem post DSO at his location (literally only a few miles from the transmitter site). Whether or not the photographs on streetview were taken in 2008, he still should have no problem with the PSB multplexes from this transmitter.
There are alos numerous properties with CC aerials so Saorview shouldn't be a problem either (i.e. he shouldn't need to faff around with Saorsat).
Nial: Reception from the Newcastle transmitter should be near perfect at your location so I've no idea what's wrong. I'd check out all connections just to be sure a co ax plug hasn't come lose for example. Failing that I'd get somwone out just to see if there's something wrong outside (e.g. water ingress etc.}. You should be able to diplec CC and Newcastle at your location with no problems.
If Divis is a no no I'd go for Freesat, as Dave suggests. Freesat combined with Saorview would ive you a pretty good choice of free to air channels, in my opinion. By all means have a go at Divis, but bear in mind there's always Feesat if it doesn't work out.
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Well, whatever it is they're using as an alternaitive in Castlewellan Dave.
There definitely doesn't appear to be a problem either with Newcastle or CC in the village, so they must be using something to combine the two. Certainly, there's no point in worrying about Saorsat if you can receive Saorview without any problems.
Unless Niall knows of someone getting Divis in the area there's probably no point in putting up large aerials for Divis. This can work out quite expensive in the long run, believe me (I know this from experience). Freesat would would be the better option, in my opinion. OK, so there are 4 or 5 channels missing on Freesat that aren't on Freeview but, conversely, there is so much more on Feesat that's not on Freeview, so it's really horses for courses.
Castlewellan does seem to be a black spot for Divis, even with the power increase at DSO, for some reason.
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Wednesday 21 November 2012 12:27AM
Frank:Some reports of excellent reception of Saorview from Clermont Cairn in the Bangor area on the Boards.ie forum, so I would maybe investigate this especially if you're interested in the full Saorview service without the blocking due to rights restrictions.
Another possibilty is Carnmoney Hill (just across the lough) if you have no joy with Black Mountain.
Strangely, the NI mux from Black Mountain isn't that strong at this location (Jordanstown) despite predictions of good reception on Digital UK's postcode checker, although there's no break up on the signal. Much weaker than the old low power multiplexes from Divis for example, so those couple of miles and a slighly different direction does seem to make quite a difference. My aerial for Divis is a wideband one.
Like Dave, I'm unfamiliar with the box you're using, but if it gets the HD mux then it shouldn't have any problems with either the NI mux or Saorview.