RTE Announce FTA Saorsat service

Ronnie Raygun

I've nothing against the "big" dish either, but it seems a bit unfair that the people who have to buy extra equipment, particularly if they already have what is necessary for decent terrestrial reception from a local transmitter, are those who will be further penalised with a reduced channel lineup.

At least "Freeview Lite" in the UK will work with existing aerial setups & widely available tv sets. Not to mention that it offers a better channel lineup than analogue, right from the off, while Saorsat doesn't do much more than replicate the output of a typical Irish 3-channel analogue relay.

I can understand why RTÉNL made the decision that they made. The government didn't give them a cent for the DTT rollout so they had to go with what they could afford. The money just wasn't there to equip every relay. I don't get the large hatred for satellite dishes myself.

bigVee

Capt'n Midnight wrote: »

1 meter dish isn't a whopping big dish, most people who will need one will be in the country side.

In good weather a 40cm dish will do in North Wales.

For the first time Saorsat provides all-island coverage without contract.

If the 1 meter dish can be mounted unobtrusively then not a problem. I am in the countryside operating with 3 dishes, 1 meter motorised, 80 cm Saorsat & 60 cm Freesat. At last on the NE coast I can get decent RTE and TG4 reception free to air. Installation costs drop dramatically for self installs. 80 cm dish was spare so LNB plus cabling and diSEqc switch gave me Saorsat for about £50.

Mr. Rabbit

zg3409 wrote: »

Just in case you arn't aware you should NEVER use a Sky dish nor a fibreglass dish for Saorsat unless you just messing around. The recommendation is a solid dish due to the frequency used. The setup using the Sky dish will probably drop out many time a year. The dish size recommended for Belfast is probably 1Metre.

Yes, I gather that.

I have an old 1 metre solid dish that I used for Sky, which is positioned midway between 13 degrees and 19 degrees east, so I reckon I could use that (after repositioning it) with an LNB F should saorview from CC not work out.

Sponge Bob

dowtchaboy wrote: »

I have ITV on Freesat, and ITV+1, so apart from Vincent Browne there's nothing interesting TV3 delivers.

Tv3 will never be on Saorsat according to a contact of mine. The same contact reckons that Rte will ditch Saorsat within 5 years as a combination of new windfarms in the west together with associated new relay transmitters reduces the unserved households below a sustainable limit.

Within 4 years it will be cheaper to fibre the isolates than run Saorsat.

watty

Never. Data by fibre is 1000s of times the cost of Broadcast. Also Comreg's and Ofcom's strategy is Satellite only for Broadcast. Fibre can only economically replace nichce channels and only if universal.

Satellite and Fibre are not portable, and Mobile can't even replace FM Radio amount of traffic ever.


Besides the main reason of Saorsat is a backup feed to TX sites when a digger bites a cable.

TV3 will never be on Saorsat unless they are forced by BCI etc.

Peter Rhea

Sponge Bob wrote: »

. . . The same contact reckons that Rte will ditch Saorsat within 5 years as a combination of new windfarms in the west together with associated new relay transmitters reduces the unserved households below a sustainable limit.

New relays? Presumably to repair any future loss of post-ASO coverage due to new windfarms? And they'll just conveniently happen to be in the right place to restore most of the pre-switchover terrestrial coverage in areas dependent on Saorsat?

Sponge Bob

Peter Rhea wrote: »

And they'll just conveniently happen to be in the right place to restore most of the pre-switchover terrestrial coverage in areas dependent on Saorsat?

Indeed, especially in Donegal Galway and Mayo where RTE will even have masts ready for the DTT gear, eg Cornamona posibly as early as next year.

Peter Rhea

So what you're saying is that a lot of people who will find themselves without terrestrial coverage in 10 days time will get it back at some time in the near future, purely as a side effect of measures taken to repair future coverage loss in areas that won't lose it at switchover?

Or RTENL are just waiting to see the impact of the windfarms before upgrading any more existing sites & people will just have to get Saorsat 'for now'?

Sponge Bob

Peter Rhea wrote: »

Or RTENL are just waiting to see the impact of the windfarms before upgrading any more existing sites & people will just have to get Saorsat 'for now'?

Rather a lot of windfarms made it through planning but as none are built yet a souped up aerial will probably work for now.

Best guess is that they are angling for the windfarm developers to pay for a sizeable upgrade to their Cornamona mast at the very least and possibly for another transmitter in Oughterard (on the eircom mast would be ideal)

Cornamona pulls in at least €20k a year for RTENL even though it is not slated to get DTT and they need to raise it sooner or later.

Peter Rhea

Sponge Bob wrote: »

Best guess is that they are angling for the windfarm developers to pay . . .

Now you're saying what I was only thinking . . .

Stinicker

Sponge Bob wrote: »

Rather a lot of windfarms made it through planning but as none are built yet a souped up aerial will probably work for now.

Best guess is that they are angling for the windfarm developers to pay for a sizeable upgrade to their Cornamona mast at the very least and possibly for another transmitter in Oughterard (on the eircom mast would be ideal)

Cornamona pulls in at least €20k a year for RTENL even though it is not slated to get DTT and they need to raise it sooner or later.

It happened before in Kerry when the locals got up in arms over the Windfarms interfering with their TV reception.

STB

There has been plenty of studies done on the effects of windfarms on DVB-T, the conclusions are not surprising. It is a concern not just to broadcasters but also other businesses up the hills. Blame the planning authorities!

By the way, it actually is a reason that Saorsat would be viable long term!

watty

The Windfarms should pay for TV3 & 3e on Saorsat and supply free dish, set-box and install to all affected viewers

mchalem4

Hi all,
My parents currently have basic free UK satellite channels (using a Sky dish), and get the Irish channels from an analogue aerial.
If they got the Saorsat box, could they use simply replace their existing Sky box with this, and using the sky dish, will it work? Or would they have to fork out for a new dish too?
Thanks.

watty

If they got the Saorsat box, could they use simply replace their existing Sky box with this, and using the sky dish, will it work?

No! There is no Saorsat box.

would they have to fork out for a new dish too?

Yes and other stuff.


They would be best to get a Saorview box for the aerial (€40 to €80) and use the Sky box for Free UK TV.

It's possible to have Humax HDR with custom software and special dual satellite reception to have Freesat & Saorsat, but much more expensive and no TV3 or 3e.

muffler

mchalem4 wrote: »

Hi all,
My parents currently have basic free UK satellite channels (using a Sky dish), and get the Irish channels from an analogue aerial.
If they got the Saorsat box, could they use simply replace their existing Sky box with this, and using the sky dish, will it work? Or would they have to fork out for a new dish too?
Thanks.

If they currently have the Irish channels using an analogue aerial then most likely they will receive these channels on Saorview after the switchover. The same aerial will probably do and if the have a compatible TV then they're flying otherwise they will just need a Saorview box. They can continue using the Sky box for the UK channels.

To go the Saorsat route (which they dont have to as they are already receiving the Irish analogue channels) will entail getting a separate dish.

Skanco

The only analogue is from Kepure using VHF, anyone using this analogue transmitter will have to start from scratch by switching to UHF after the 24th October.

The Cush

Skanco wrote: »

The only analogue is from Kepure using VHF, anyone using this analogue transmitter will have to start from scratch by switching to UHF.

Analogue TV3 and TG4 transmit from Kippure in the UHF band.

http://rtenl.ie/wp-content/downloads/television-frequencies.pdf

dmcdream

Hi folks,

Long time since I've been on the forum. Hope all you regulars out there are keeping well!

I wanted to ask if anyone in or around the Belfast area, could recommend a competent satellite installer for me? (Including yourself by the way, if that happens to be YOU!)

I have a 1m solid dish and Ka LNB for Saorsat, and a 60 cm ('Sky') mini-dish and Ku LNB for UK Freesat. My intention is to have these 2 dishes connected to 3 satellite receivers (to that end, I also have all the various Splitters and DiSEqC switches required.)

I need someone who can fit the various poles, brackets and coax cable together, to make it all work!

All responses gratefully received!

Thanx

Mr. Rabbit

dmcdream wrote: »

Hi folks,

Long time since I've been on the forum. Hope all you regulars out there are keeping well!

I wanted to ask if anyone in or around the Belfast area, could recommend a competent satellite installer for me? (Including yourself by the way, if that happens to be YOU!)

I have a 1m solid dish and Ka LNB for Saorsat, and a 60 cm ('Sky') mini-dish and Ku LNB for UK Freesat. My intention is to have these 2 dishes connected to 3 satellite receivers (to that end, I also have all the various Splitters and DiSEqC switches required.)

I need someone who can fit the various poles, brackets and coax cable together, to make it all work!

All responses gratefully received!

Thanx

It's been reported that Aerialworld in East Belfast (Castlreagh Road at John Long's corner i.e. top of Templemore Avenue) have a Saorsat system up and running and on demo. I'm not sure if they do instalations, but you could try.

They used to be in Coperation Street and before that were T.G. Aerials, located just behind the Cathedral.

eh2010

I know that the date 24 October is the switch off date for analogue, but what time will they be doing it on Wednesday?

muffler

10 AM I believe. Thats for the UK analogue channels so Id imagine its the same for the home channels.

Peter Rhea

muffler wrote: »

10 AM I believe. Thats for the UK analogue channels so Id imagine its the same for the home channels.

10 AM on the 24th is the switchoff date for ROI analogue. The northern channels will be gone the night before, possibly before midnight.

There are plenty of other threads dealing with this.

dmcdream

Hi folks,

Following on from my last post on Saturday 20th October..

I’m quite confused however about what to do in terms of DiSEqC Switches and Power Passing Satellite Splitters, to make this set-up work. I've already been informed that I won't be able to watch Saorsat simultaneously on 2 set-top boxes, due to signal splitting issues.

Just to recap...

I am interested in setting up an installation at my home, that allows me to receive Saorsat and UK Freesat in 3 different rooms.

I envisage having 2 separate dishes for the job (i.e. a solid 1m dish for Saorsat and a 60cm ‘Sky’ Mini-Dish for UK Freesat.) I’ll be
using a quad LNB for UK Freesat, along with the twin LNB that’s on the market from Inverto for Saorsat.

All responses from you techie wizards/gurus out there gratefully received!

Thanx

swoofer

well you were told wrong about receiving saorsat simultaneously on 2 boxes so thats a poor start.

and you dont say the make of the sat receivers, thats important.

you will have 2 feeds from the saorsat and 4 from the quad freesat but only 3 receivers.


so say receivers and we take it from there.

Peter Rhea

dmcdream wrote: »

I’m quite confused however about what to do in terms of DiSEqC Switches and Power Passing Satellite Splitters, to make this set-up work. I've already been informed that I won't be able to watch Saorsat simultaneously on 2 set-top boxes, due to signal splitting issues.

using a quad LNB for UK Freesat, along with the twin LNB that’s on the market from Inverto for Saorsat.

The Saorsat signal can be split without problems, as it's 1 band & polarity. You can split 1 of the Ka lnb's outputs between 2 tuners, with the DiSEqC switches downstream of the splitter (between receiver & splitter).

dmcdream

GBCULLEN wrote: »

well you were told wrong about receiving saorsat simultaneously on 2 boxes so thats a poor start.

and you dont say the make of the sat receivers, thats important.

you will have 2 feeds from the saorsat and 4 from the quad freesat but only 3 receivers.


so say receivers and we take it from there.

Sorry GBCULLEN!

The receiver I will be using, is a Xoro HRS 8530

This set-top box has DiSEqC 1.0 / 1.1 switching capability.

Thanks for the clarification regarding the simultaneous viewing of Saorsat on 2 receivers. I openly put my hand up and say my information isn't perhaps the best - that's why I'm here talking to you guys again.

What would work best for me, is if someone would literally provide me with a step-by-step diagram on how to set up the 3 receivers - that would be great!

Peter Rhea

Simple enough as regards switches & cabling. You need 3 switches, one for each tuner. Each will have a feed from 28 east & 9 east: one will have a direct feed from the Ka lnb & the other 2 will be fed from the splitter.

You can use 2-way DiSEqC switches or 4-way will allow extra satellite positions in future.

watty

A multiswitch is better though for multiple LNBs to 4 (to 2000) receivers. A 17 x 16 is a nice size. Up to 4 x LNB in and up to 8 PVRs (dual tuners)