DAB in Ireland: RTE multiplex closed

watty

If you have a scanner and are in Co. Limerick, bits of Sth. Clare and SW / W Tipp and have a UHF FM scanner

Listen 433.125MHz.

It is retransmitting a VHF signal received in Co. Limerick. Yesturday Belfast and Cornwall. Today it has weak signal from Dundee in Scotland, occasionally Belfast. The VHF receiver has a 10dB attenuator on it

Should be really good today for DX DAB.

deaglan169

hi ive posted here before but for the last month i have been trying to receive the dab transmissions from claremount cairn but with no success can anyone explain, i have a good signal on my 2m radio from the dundalk repeater which i beleive is located on the same site or if not very close i have full receive on divis and score mux's

declan

watty

Clarmont Cairn is RTE site in County Louth. You can get 2m from it now near Red Cow/Naas on N7. I can't see why it would have DAB other than tests, and I thought all the tests at the moment where at Three Rock in Dublin Hills near Dundrum. BTW during the "lift" or tropo ducting last weekend the 2m link rig (1.5W) on the Limeirck 70cm was heard in Wales on a HT with 4" rubber duck.

White Horse

deaglan169 wrote:

hi ive posted here before but for the last month i have been trying to receive the dab transmissions from claremount cairn but with no success can anyone explain, i have a good signal on my 2m radio from the dundalk repeater which i beleive is located on the same site or if not very close i have full receive on divis and score mux's

declan

Hard to explain, I live 10 miles south of Dundalk and the signal from RTE dab signal is very strong. So strong that it partially blocks out the BBC signal from Divis.

However, I receive the signal via a loft aerial.

byrnefm

I know telephone details for RTÉ have been posted on this thread for reception reports - is there an email address available for such also? I notice that RTÉ's page on digital broadcasting (http://www.rte.ie/radio/dab.html) that it mentions of RTÉ's DAB trial and that initial results are 'very encouraging'. I want to email them a reception report but don't know where to send it to, if such an email address exists for them!

Conor S

The address you need is bernie.pope@rte.ie

LOL the DAB trial is nearly over and they still have the wrong time broadcasting........meaning I couldnt listen as much as I would have liked.
Has anybody the actual date that the trial is due to end on?

byrnefm

Conor S wrote:

The address you need is bernie.pope@rte.ie

LOL the DAB trial is nearly over and they still have the wrong time broadcasting........meaning I couldnt listen as much as I would have liked.
Has anybody the actual date that the trial is due to end on?

Cheers, Conor!

Haven't seen any concrete info as to when the trial ends, apart from that it's stated as being for three months from January 1.

Curious - why could you not listen as much as you'd have liked? (I don't understand your comment about the time, unless you mean the time reported by the multiplex on your DAB receiver, which is indeed out by about four years!).

Conor S

My DAB radio ('the bug') takes the time (or at least it did until yesterdays software upgrade) from the multiplex.I couldnt listen to RTE mux because it meant the time would be wrong and I couldnt set it as an alarm for Kiss100 in the morning.
Oh yeah and the fact that its all crap except today fm and WRN might have had something to do with it aswell.
LOL
Conor

waiguoren

When I tuned into WRN at around 9.30pm yesterday, I found I was listening to 'RTE Radio 1 Extra' instead, with what sounded like the Brat Pack Tribute Concert. The display still showed WRN. An hour later when I tuned into the station again, WRN had returned with NPR. I must say I would prefer to receive WRN instead of RTE Radio 1 Extra as I missed China Radio International with its news features and daily mandarin lesson.

In Pete's shop on Parnell Street there's a sign saying that a full range of DAB receivers will available from September. They had the Tivoli Model DAB already been displayed available for 299 euros.

watty

WRN sometimes is actually RTE. Perhaps that's what you heard. Did you check WRN schedule?

byrnefm

That's right - I was also surprised to hear Radio 1 on WRN one evening until I heard that's what was on the schedule. It's also on NTL on 102.7FM and when I first tuned into it there, the Radio 1 program was on and so thought that WRN was no longer being broadcast on cable!

byrnefm

Reception report:

Took the train to Sligo last Friday - reception continued to Mullingar station, though got very patchy towards the end. If I held the radio to window level, reception improved to audible but of course, this isn't a practical way to listen to a radio, so I gave up there.

byrnefm

SPDUB wrote:

Is it possible that these tests from Three Rock could be having an impact on BBC2 analogue reception on NTL in the form of interference that looks like there is a strong signal to the side

We've had interference, here in Crumlin , that has only started in the last few days and has been confined to the daytime except for today when it has continued all evening but wasn't there up until at least 2.30 pm saturday .it has also varied in strength from time to time.

I've just started seeing this interference recently - although only in the last two weeks or so. May have been there on / off before that but I don't watch BBC 2 all that often. I'm nearly in direct line-of-sight of Three Rock here in Stillorgan.

DMC

DAB is off-air from Three Rock this evening.

byrnefm

No sign of it since, either Tried last night and just now this morning. From my house in Stillorgan, I can still (just about) pick up Claremont Carn.

DMC

On air this evening.

lawhec

Sadly tried many times (even during good lift conditions where FM radio from Three Rock came through well) since January to try and pull it in but to no avail

byrnefm

Was in Lucan over the weekend - signal strength varied from 1/2 (mostly) to 2/3 (max) out there, with some dips to 1/3 in the lower part of the town. At Woodies DIY just before you enter the fringe of Lucan, the reception (on the bus, anyway) gets quite poor temporarily before picking back up again, to the point where I had to reposition my radio for better reception.

byrnefm

Another small reception report: DART to Dún Laoghaire from Lansdowne Road.

Sitting in an aisle seat, reception came in good as far as Blackrock, where it died just before the station. From there onwards, with the exception of 1-second-snatches here and there, there wasn't any further audible reception, 1-2 'bars' mostly (ie. '>' on my radio, where 15 is full reception). Seapoint station, however, got 4 bars.

From Dún Laoghaire train station to Bloomfield shopping centre, going up the hill and then along York Road, reception was literally 50% - a few seconds here, then not. Reception strength went from nearly zilch to 1/2 to nearly zilch, etc. It reminded me a bit of shortwave radio listening... I'm guessing its down to its elevation.

waiguoren

Again last Thursday (23/3/06) at 9.45pm, the channel where WRN normally broadcasts was broadcasting RTE Radio 1 Extra instead of China Radio International. The announcer explained that it was a test service and any comments could be sent to dab@rte.ie. RTE Radio 1 is scheduled to broadcast on WRN, but between 7 and 7.30pm.

Here is a link to the WRN schedules to confirm:
http://wrn.org/listeners/schedules/schedule.php?ScheduleID=1&CurrentTZID=1&Show=week

Does any other additional DAB services planned by RTE?

DMC

Is it each evening that this occurs or is it just a random evening? I confess I dont listen to the radio at that hour, but I will try again.

waiguoren

I've only heard 'RTE Radio 1 Extra' twice, both times instead of CRI, but I normally only listen to WRN between about 9.30pm and 10pm so they may have it at other times.

david23

Does anyone know what's happening at the end of the month? Will the DAB service be switched off or will RTE start a full service from the two transmitters?

byrnefm

The only news I heard about the trial was that if it were successful, that RTÉ would apply to get a national broadcasting license for DAB. Such a license isn't required for trials. I've no idea how long that would take but they were talking about doing a full service in the autumn time-frame, if all went well. Again, whether that would mean they'd turn back on the two existing transmitters and then do a gradual roll-out, is another question.

L1011

So, do we still have DAB now that we're out of the trial period?

DMC

Still on air.

DMC

So... first time in a while, the wireless was in the front seat of the car, looking at RTÉ coverage... Good signal from Lucan to Trim via Kilcock, only occasional break-ups and bubble and squeak. Prone to more drop outs from there to Kells, but very good at street level in Kells.

Tried the N52 from Kells to Dundalk, signal patchy from Kells to Cassidy's Cross (near Cross Guns Pub), but from there to Ardee and Dundalk, excellent reception. For the full length of the M1 (southbound) reception is excellent, save for the known transmission black hole that is Drogheda.

watty

I blame the River boyne. The Amateur repeaters vanish also crossing Drogheda Town

The Cush

Moving away from DAB for a moment but staying in digital radio land - DRM -, did anyone see this RTĒ Tender for

replacement an existing AM transmitter. The replacement transmitter should have an output power of 300KW, be of solid state construction and be capable of operation in either AM or DRM mode (switchable). The contract will be for the supply, installation and testing of this transmitter and all associated on-site items, including the feeder to the existing mast. Also required is decommissioning and removal and disposal of the existing transmitter

Which AM transmitter is being replaced?
Any information on a DRM trial, frequency allocation etc.?

DMC

I would assume Tullamore, 2FM's old site on 612kHz. I would say that a trial of DRM would occur once this replacement is up.

Good news, though.