When did Ireland first receive the British stations?

Stasi 2.0

British Stations Bah !

Came across an article in Wireless World Feb 1976 (Page 36) About an enthusiast in Dublin receiving experimental satellite service on UHF from......India :eek:

The service in question was an experimental one. Arguably the first direct broadcast satellite which carried educational programming to communal TV sets throughout India on conventional UHF frequencies using a satellite donated by the Soviet Union.

The programming largely on topics like health and agricultural matters was probably not very exciting to a Western audience but was a valuable resource to impoverished rural Indian villages.

The use of frequencies at the high end of the UHF band meant the fringe of the satellite footprint covered up to a third of the globe and with that part of the band empty in Ireland at the time anything was possible with enough aerial gain.

I swindled the NSA wrote: »

Some of the early 1930's Baird transmissions were carried on mediumwave radio transmitters (after regular radio programmes had closed down for the night)

In theory these should have been receivable throughout Ireland although whether anyone tried building the equipment to watch them is anyone's guess

They were received in some university (don't remember which) in Germany

Antenna

Stasi 2.0 wrote: »

British Stations Bah !

Came across an article in Wireless World Feb 1976 (Page 36) About an enthusiast in Dublin receiving experimental satellite service on UHF from......India :eek:

The article mentions a 20 ft. diameter parabolic dish being used by personnel at UCD. It was probably an existing one being used for fringe UHF terrestrial reception of BBC/ITV TV in/near Dublin that was repurposed for this experiment (UHF parabolic dishes in the republic were not uncommon for reception of UK TV in some areas, probably many of them in Dublin before cable TV, especially at hotels, pubs etc).
The satellite used FM rather than VSB-AM, a UHF tuner output feeding an FM demodulator was used, (using the tuner within a TV (VSB-AM instead of FM) would probably have given a distorted picture of sorts though, with no sound).
BTW
THe following page (37) mentions the introduction of an MMDS service in Switzerland.

Stasi 2.0

According to this wikipedia artice it was NASA and not the USSR who supplied the Satellite

Thurston?

Stasi 2.0 wrote: »

According to this wikipedia artice it was NASA and not the USSR who supplied the Satellite

Yeah, ATS-6 was a US satellite: where do you see mention of the Soviets in the Wireless World piece?

Goreme

My parents got their very first TV and an ariel in May 1959, in the north Co. Meath countyside between Kells and Navan. The TV installer from Navan who set it up was amazed at the quality of the reception. The neighbours' children used to come in to watch Bonanza etc, as all the cowboy stuff that was popular at the time (they were only the second family to get a TV in the parish!). They received BBC and UTV. Its gas now, to think that they had a TV three years before RTE television even started broadcasting!!

Sam Russell

Goreme wrote: »

My parents got their very first TV and an ariel in May 1959, in the north Co. Meath countyside between Kells and Navan. The TV installer from Navan who set it up was amazed at the quality of the reception. The neighbours' children used to come in to watch Bonanza etc, as all the cowboy stuff that was popular at the time (they were only the second family to get a TV in the parish!). They received BBC and UTV. Its gas now, to think that they had a TV three years before RTE television even started broadcasting!!

And had to pay a TV licence before RTE even started up.

Tax The Farmers

"Ive heard mention of enthusiasts as far west as Athlone picking up Holme Moss (West Yorkshire) in the early 1950's"

Sutton Coldfield (near Birmingham) is mentioned in an old Telefis Eireann document from the 1960's so presumably there were viewers in the South East using this BBC transmitter which opened in 1949. Sporadic E reception of the Alexandria Palace transmitter in London has been reported worldwide but most of Ireland would have been within the Sporadic E skipzone but maybe Donegal viewers had a chance (if any were prepared to make the sizeable investment for what would have been very occasional reception)

Re: Prewar mechanical TV there were some tests in the United States, Britain and possible elsewhere using this system on shortwave frequencies. Some of these broadcasts would have been receivable in Ireland but in any case these would have been preceded by the mediumwave experiments which took place on BBC domestic transmitters outside of regular programme hours.

Tax The Farmers

Did any Irish cable networks ever carry more than one ITV region or was it a matter of being offered UTV or HTV ?

In the early decades of ITV there was quite a lot of variation in programme offerings between the regions (unlike now) so it was worth the effort to try and receive more than one wherever possible. Especially in the days when the overall number of channels was in single figures.

"BBC1 from "Enniskillen" Ch 4 was theoretically possible"

The Brougher mountain 405 line TX was on Channel B5

icdg

Some carried both UTV and HTV before Channel 4 launched, I think this was at least the case in Dublin.

Hotblack Desiato

Maybe elsewhere but not the part of Dublin I grew up in, UTV only.

I wonder how long after BBC1 and ITV went 625 in 1969, were the 405 versions still relayed on cable here?

Apogee

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/101151186#Comment_101151186

Didn't notice the above post at the time, but went looking and the subsequent issue has a full report from UCD with photos of the setup. Looks like a substantial piece of kit.

Source:https://www.worldradiohistory.com/UK/Wireless-World/70s/Wireless-World-1976-03.pdf

Hotblack Desiato

I wonder was it very difficult to aim such a large dish accurately enough at the satellite?

But this was probably C-band (it says in the article UHF, whoops) so lower frequency means greater acceptance angle.

Still, very impressive!