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. Even including the commercial multiplex, the overall offering on DAB is rubbiksh.
The BBC aside, most of the stations are avalable on FM or AM anyway. The only ones that aren't are Heat Radio, Kiss, and UCB (or Q102.9 if you live in Belfast, Citybeat and Cool if you live in Derry or the morth coast).
Complete and utter rubish, and really not an insentive for anyone to invest in DAB in the province.
At least if Digital One were here it would improve thins dramatically.
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Tim: noticed all stations on channel 23 were poor last night (unwatchable) so it may well have been conditions.
Roll on next October.
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Confirmed on UK Digital Radio's website:
ukdigitalradio: Coverage
"Up until 2010, a legal anomaly combined with a shortage of spectrum prevented the national commercial network from broadcasting in Northern Ireland. However, following a change to the law, spectrum has now been identified. Digital One is in the process of developing a financial and transmitter plan for the area, but a date for switch-on has not yet been fixed. In the meantime, the postcode checker will show details of other stations that are already broadcasting in the area."
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I've no idea what you're talking about Chris.
The proposed RTE mini mux will broadcast from the mast at Black Mountain, not Divis.
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"WHEN NORTHERN IRELAND GOES DIGITAL IN OCTOBER 2012 WILL RTE BE AVAILABLE ON FREEVIEW - I CANNOT CURRENTLY OBTAIN RTE ON FREEVIEW.
MY CURRENT DIGITAL TV HAS MPEG4"
The proposed mini RTE mux will broadcast from transmitters at Black Mountain, Brougher Mountain, and Carnmoney Hill.
After 24th October 2012, Saorview from clermont cairn will have the null to the north removed and many areas that currently receive analogue transmissions only, should get a decent signal from Saorview. Note that Clermont Cairn Saorview transmissions also change from channel 53 to 52 on that date.
Brian: I'm not sure if this is the case with Saorview as I was led to believe the SD transmissions were simply MPEG4 and could be received by an MPEG4 capable receiver (e.g. the Picnic box). I'm not sure if the proposed NI mini mux conform to these standards.
You are correct that a UK Freeview HD box will receive Saorview. However, there could be EPG issues, and I've read elsewhere that one box (the new Technisat) has problems with RTE channels (but not the others). There should be no such issues with the NI mini mux as the EPG will conform to UK Frreeview standards.
If you are out of range of the NI min mux or border transmitters John, your only other solution is Saorsat, or a Sky subscription.
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I've had similar issues Carl. Thought it was just myself affected.
All I can say is roll on October 24th when all of this should be a thing of the past.
Incidentally, my strongest channel on Freeview is 34 which, strangely, is one of the lower power multiplexes
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It should be fine after DSO, hopefully Carl, as the power increases to 50kw.
My issues are also to do with the quality of the signal. I'm in BT 37 (Jordanstown) and up until recently channel 23 was OK, although a bit weaker than the rest.
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"it is now Feb and the DSO is months away"
Digital Dave should be making an appearance soon Carl !
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but the soarview signal in the north seems "to be restricted"
I have been reliably informed on Boards.ie (by Saorview Brian) that Clermont Cairn will increase power to the north on 24th October 2012.
There will also be a change of channel from 53 to 52, so anyone currently receiving Saorview from Clermont Cairn will have to do a retune on that date.
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Tuesday 8 November 2011 3:59PM
Mike: The reason why NI (and some western parts of England and Wales) have no Digital One is because the ROI still use Band III VHF for analogue TV. That is the reason why additional commercial frequencies for DAB were not allocated to NI.
These transmitters will be closed down on 24th October 2012, so there is absolutely no reason why Digital One cannot broadcast in NI (or any of the other parts of England and Wales that are affected) after that date.
As I have shown, there are sites proposed for the expansion of Digital One into the province.
Hopefully, these propsals will take place sooner rather than later. A measly 20 stations and no Absolute Radio is a disgrace at this stage.
NI radio listeners deserve better.
Personally, I can't see huge numbers of listeners going out and buying DAB radios in order to listen to just the BBC offering on DAB.
There is absolutely no excuse for Digital One not to be available in NI after 24th October 2012