Lost channels? Look here for transmitter/reception issues

The Cush

Announcement on RTÉ1 earlier (before Who Do You Think You Are? USA) that RTÉ 1&2 will be subject to intermittant interruption in the coming weeks nationwide due to upgrade work.

reboot

To_be_confirmed wrote: »

Been having some occasional pixelation and garbled images over the last hour or so from Cairn Hill Saorview on Mux 1 Ch. E47. It's the first time I've ever seen a reception issue from Cairn Hill in this house in Louth. It's a long distance but the terrain's very good for reception from there. Signal quality is at 100% currently. It's been worse for the last 20 minutes or so.

As pointed out on another thread,I have been picking Cairn Hill transmissions up as far away as just outside Castlewellan in Down.
Was sig strength around 45%,but little or no C/N.,still could see a locked picture on Ch.44 and 47. RTE system seems a little more robust than the UK Freeview,particularly the HD,with the interference problems.
If the Cairn O/P ERP was increased a little I may be in with a chance,pity Clarmont Carn is not available to us until DSO is complete in the North.

lucernarian

I've seen no breakup or pixelation of any sort since that night. I wonder what the issue was...

Machinehead

While mux 2 on ch. 55 from Maghera had been broadcasting at full strength without content in recent weeks, it seems to powered off today.

Gerry Wicklow

Anyone else missing Arklow all day today, Thur?

I can't wait for them to launch this new Saorview service they've been testing for so many years.... Oh wait they did launch:(

the_god_swan

I only have Saorview since Tuesday and at 5pm today the single begins to pixelate and at 8pm we've just had a very heavy but short rainfall.
Now... no Saorview.

Anyone else having problems in the area North Cork/South Tipp on the Mitchelstown signal?

With no info on planned outages I cannot be 100% sure if its my setup or their problem!

the_god_swan

the_god_swan wrote: »

I only have Saorview since Tuesday and at 5pm today the single begins to pixelate and at 8pm we've just had a very heavy but short rainfall.
Now... no Saorview.

Anyone else having problems in the area North Cork/South Tipp on the Mitchelstown signal?

With no info on planned outages I cannot be 100% sure if its my setup or their problem!

The Mitichelstown transmitter was being worked on last evening and again this morning, but when the signal came back for everyone else, it didnt come back for me.

Had to get my local installer out, and it turns out the old coaxial cable coming in from the aerial needed replacing. Odd how it died just after connecting the digital.

Anyhow; Now I can tune in Saorview on both C21 (Mullaghanish) and c40 (Mitchelstown), so it has back a back up plan... how bad!!

lucernarian

Coax cable is often forgotten about after an aerial's installed, but cable that's used outside can only really be expected to last 15 or maybe 20 years (if the cable doesn't have to rub off tiles etc) before there's a good chance the cable insulation simply breaks down. Leading to corrosion inside the cable or water getting in.

kah22

Posting from Armagh City and receiving Saorview from Monaghan. This past 18 hours or so all Saorview stations are down.

As you know all Saorview stations down here in the North seemed to be dumped in the 800 range, mine comes through on 837 and following.

Any idea of when we'll be back to normal?

The Cush

kah22 wrote: »

As you know all Saorview stations down here in the North seemed to be dumped in the 800 range, mine comes through on 837 and following.

The Irish channels are placed in the 800's if the TV is setup with UK as the country/profile/region i.e. the Irish channels are out-of-region. Same happens in the UK if duplicate channels are received from another region.

Installing the TV with Ireland as the region should place them in the correct LCN but place the Freeview channels in the 800's.

Some receivers allow channels to be renumbered/moved as required.

Don't know the reason for the lack of channels from Monaghan but I'd guess maintenance/upgrade work - http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=73247496&postcount=272

kah22

Today I carried out a Factory Reset on my Humax HDR Fox-T2 HDR PVR and to my surprise discovered that there are no television stations from the Republic coming in. There are no programs registering in the 800 range. The range stops at 309

I've checked on my HD ready television connected directly to the aerial and again no Saorview broadcasts are been received.

Pre the reset I was able to receive ALL the Republic's Saorview stations. The stations were all registered in the 800 range although over the past few days I was not able to pick up a signal all I was getting was the 'no signal' message.

I appreciate The Cush posting

Don't know the reason for the lack of channels from Monaghan but I'd guess maintenance/upgrade work - http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showp...&postcount=272

but find it odd that I'm not receiving any signal at all.

Anyone in the Armagh area having the same difficulty?

Peter Rhea

What's your ROI analogue reception like?

kah22

Reasonably decent, though not as strong as it was sometime back; maybe because I upgraded my aerial to cope with the new digital service.

deaglan169

the monaghan transmitter isnt offline nor has it been in the past week, id check your rte antenna or diplexer

Peter Rhea

kah22 wrote: »

. . . maybe because I upgraded my aerial to cope with the new digital service.

Did you install it yourself?

Why did it need to be 'upgraded', was it merely changed to suit the Monaghan transmitter (I seem to recall you mentioning reception from Cairn Hill in an earlier thread)?

kah22

This digital television game certainly gets complicated.

No Peter I didn’t install it myself I had an experienced aerial guy do the work for me. When I bought a new HD ready TV sometime back I decided to upgrade everything, the old aerials were at least 30 years old! I'm to old to climb up chimneys now

The installer who carried out the aerial work for me connected a PROception 1 in 1 Out Indoor Amplifier to my television when he carried out the upgrade work.

When I bought my new Humax box a few weeks back and connected all up my BBC 1 picture pixelated a little but when I removed the amplifier the picture returned to normal. I assumed there was an amplifier in the Humax box

After deaglan169 posted I reconnected the amplifier and carried out a full channel search and sure enough all the Saorview stations returned, bbc 1 again pixelated a little so I disconnected the amplifier and now have all the freeview and saorview stations back to normal. Can’t figure that one out, but its working!

What I have discovered is that I now have Saorview coming in on two different channels one set is coming in at 819 – 826 and the other set is coming in at 837 -844

On channel 819: RTE 1 is coming in as Ch47 with signal strength of 46% and a signal quality of 100%

On channel 837: RTE 1 is coming in as Ch55 with signal strength of 54% and a signal quality 100%

So it looks as if I am receiving from both Cairn Hill and Monaghan!

Kevin

The Cush

kah22 wrote: »

The installer who carried out the aerial work for me connected a PROception 1 in 1 Out Indoor Amplifier to my television when he carried out the upgrade work.

When I bought my new Humax box a few weeks back and connected all up my BBC 1 picture pixelated a little but when I removed the amplifier the picture returned to normal. I assumed there was an amplifier in the Humax box

After deaglan169 posted I reconnected the amplifier and carried out a full channel search and sure enough all the Saorview stations returned, bbc 1 again pixelated a little so I disconnected the amplifier and now have all the freeview and saorview stations back to normal. Can’t figure that one out, but its working!

What I have discovered is that I now have Saorview coming in on two different channels one set is coming in at 819 – 826 and the other set is coming in at 837 -844

On channel 819: RTE 1 is coming in as Ch47 with signal strength of 46% and a signal quality of 100%

On channel 837: RTE 1 is coming in as Ch55 with signal strength of 54% and a signal quality 100%

So it looks as if I am receiving from both Cairn Hill and Monaghan!

Could the pixellation on the Freeview channels be down to over amplification of an OK Freeview signal?

The Saorview signal is weaker and required a boost to tune/lock in the channels. A high gain wideband aerial for Cairn Hill and Monaghan Saorview might eliminate the requirement for the amp.

Peter Rhea

kah22 wrote: »

The installer who carried out the aerial work for me connected a PROception 1 in 1 Out Indoor Amplifier to my television when he carried out the upgrade work.

After deaglan169 posted I reconnected the amplifier . . .

Did we not clarify in an earlier thread (on at least 2 forums, I might add) that this 'amplifier' is actually a power supply for a remotely located amp, either outdoors or in the attic?

Did you find out if there is a masthead amplifier for one or both aerials or if the Humax does indeed have its aerial power option switched on?

Vince Cable

Is the PROception psu coloured white (regulated) or black (unregulated)?

We really need full details of your system or all you'll get is speculation on the cause of your trouble, there's no point in posting the same problems repeatedly & giving us nothing new to work with.

kah22

Vince Cable wrote: »

Is the PROception psu coloured white (regulated) or black (unregulated)?

We really need full details of your system or all you'll get is speculation on the cause of your trouble, there's no point in posting the same problems repeatedly & giving us nothing new to work with.

First of all apologies for any double postings or confusion, I’m not great into computers or digital televisions. Anyway I’ll try and lay out my stall as best I can again apologies for any overlap.

About two years back I bought a Sony Bravia KDL32EX403, a little later I had my aerials upgraded as the old ones had been there for at least 30 years. A few weeks back I bought a Humax HDR Fox-T2 d primarily to record to.

All three were got in the belief that they were both Freeview and Soarview compatible and would future proof me when we all go digital.

My RTE aerial points towards Monaghan, a large building blocks the signal from Clermont Carn. The aerials were professionally installed.

When the aerial man was doing the job he included a PROception psu box coloured white at the back of the television, mains powered, with one aerial in and one aerial out cord. I’ve had a look at the aerial outside and there does appear to be an amplifier box fitted.

While it was raining this afternoon I had a closer look at the Humax settings and discovered that yes it does put 5 volts to the amp, I’ve discovered in a Digital Spy post increases the signal by 16db. But that means nothing to me.

I carried out two factory resets, one with the Humax’s antenna power option switched off and I came up with 90 television stations, none of these were from the Republic. Ran another factory reset this time with the antenna power switched on and came up with all the Saorview stations showing.

On both resets the PROception was not attached.

So am I right in assuming that the Humax is powering the aerial amplifier, or whatever it is called and that there is no call for the PROception at the back of the telly?

In the past there have been a few occasions when the signal from the Republic has just seemed to vanish and then reappear a day or two later.

I still can’t figure why that should be. Anyway I suppose I’ve got a little bit closer to understanding what is happening and now that the stations are back I’m happy.

Peter Rhea

kah22 wrote: »

While it was raining this afternoon I had a closer look at the Humax settings and discovered that yes it does put 5 volts to the amp, I’ve discovered in a Digital Spy post increases the signal by 16db. But that means nothing to me.

The increase in dB will depend on the amplifier rating.

I carried out two factory resets, one with the Humax’s antenna power option switched off and I came up with 90 television stations, none of these were from the Republic. Ran another factory reset this time with the antenna power switched on and came up with all the Saorview stations showing.

On both resets the PROception was not attached.

So am I right in assuming that the Humax is powering the aerial amplifier, or whatever it is called and that there is no call for the PROception at the back of the telly?

You appear to be right in your assumption, the amplifier seems to be on the southern aerial, which may or may not be frequency 'grouped' for Cairn Hill, as Monaghan analogue RTE is Band III VHF; needs a different aerial to the Saorview channels on UHF.

TG4 is the only UHF analogue channel broadcast from Monaghan.

Peter Rhea

Should also mention that some of the higher gain PROception amplifiers need the 12 volt regulated supply from the psu; might be no harm to find out exactly what you have.

BTW, are you aware that Clermont Carn & Cairn Hill are seperate transmitters?

Cairn Hill (Saorview on UHF 47 & 44) is in Longford & is nearly in line with the Monaghan site when viewed from Armagh.

DeepBlue

kah22 wrote: »

In the past there have been a few occasions when the signal from the Republic has just seemed to vanish and then reappear a day or two later.

It depends when this happened.

If it was during the testing phase of the transmitter supplying you then this would have been normal. If it happened after your local transmitter "went live" then it shouldn't have been happening.....but again it's quite possible that it could have.

Hopefully the transmitter site has bedded down now and it doesn't happen in the future.

Mexecutioner

kah22 wrote: »

I reconnected the amplifier and carried out a full channel search and sure enough all the Saorview stations returned, bbc 1 again pixelated a little so I disconnected the amplifier and now have all the freeview and saorview stations back to normal. Can’t figure that one out, but its working!

Based on evidence gathered by other posters, I'd guess that the Humax tuner is not as sensitive as what you were watching previously & the psu's small insertion loss was enough to cause problems with the Freeview signal.

Removing the psu restored the unamplified Freeview signal, but the 5 volt Humax antenna power is not sufficient to ensure continuous reliable operation of the amplifier, so your Saorview reception will continue to give problems.

The Freeview signal will be considerably increased next year, but in the meantime you should ensure that there are no needless losses in your system; how many tv points are served by this aerial setup?

This is all just (informed) speculation btw.

Peter Rhea

Didn't want to sum things up until I'd wrung as much info as possible from kah22, but that's pretty much the conclusion I'd come to as well, although still a question mark regarding the specs of the amplifier.

kah22

All you guys and Peter Rhea in particular, thank you for your patience and understanding. If I appeared not to be answering questions you put in order to help me it is because I sometimes get it difficult to grasp these concepts.

Anyway I think I have my problems sorted, I think I now have a better understanding of what went wrong and everything seems to be sorted.

One of the great advantages of Forums is that you can seek expert guidance and this is given quite freely, sometimes it appears that the asker is not very appreciative of help given, from my perspective I really do appreciate your advice and help

Many thanks
Kevin.

lucernarian

Would you mind sharing with us what the solution to this peculiar issue was?

Kensington

RTÉ NL have updated Aertel P169 with a section on planned transmitter maintenance and outages.

kah22

To_be_confirmed wrote: »

Would you mind sharing with us what the solution to this peculiar issue was?

My apologies for not getting back sooner. At the end of the day I think I had my system set up incorrectly. I got everything working properly by doing the following.

Carrying out a full scan with the PROception box unattached and the 5V Antenna Power option turned to On. If I turn the Antenna Power Off then all Saorview channels disappear.

The pixelating occurred when the PROception box was attached.

Messing around a little I attached the PROception box and carried out a scan and it was then that I got the extra set of Saorview stations and they run even with the PROception box unattached. I'm reasoning that the PROception just made the signal that bit stronger and once locked into the Humax it was able to deal with it.

At the end of the day what I think happened was that I simply got confused and when I fixed one issue I disturbed another e.g. I removed the PROception box and turned off the Antenna Power, not thinking that it was sending power up the aerial. But anyway once again thanks for all the help and support

The PROception box was necessary when I only had the television but became redundant when I added the Humax.

Kevin

The Cush

Kensington wrote: »

RTÉ NL have updated Aertel P169 with a section on planned transmitter maintenance and outages.

About bloody time, it's been at least 2 years since this information was carried on p169. Let's hope they keep it updated.

No info on mast upgrade work at Maghera/Mt Leinster.