Northern Ireland Saorview reception reports:

culabula

zg3409 wrote: »

I agree. If you are in Bangor you need a Freeview HD box and a fairly good aerial pointed at Black Mountain in west Belfast or Carmoney Hill and RTE will appear as channels 51, 52 and 53 and a radio channel at 729

Any local installer should be able to help you out. I would first recomment just trying a Freeview HD box and it may work without any aerial adjustments. With this setup you will not get all Saorview channels, just TG4, RTE1 and RTE2, none in HD.

Well, that's not strictly true. It is wholly accurate that you need a Freeview HD box, you will get the NIMM (North of Ireland Mini MUX) which will give you RTÉ One and Two plus TG4, albeit with georestrictions.

This is not Saorview.

However, depending on your locale and aerial position, you may ALSO get Saorview, which is an additional service to your local Freeview bouquet. For example, my sister gets it just 3km from me on Shaw's Road whereas I don't get it at all.

If you are lucky enough, then in addition to the NIMM, you will get RTÉ One, RTÉ One + 1, RTÉ Two HD, TV3, TG4 and more. These Saorview channels appear in the 800s.

NorthDown2

mrc70734 wrote: »

Help! In Bangor. I bought a TECHNIKA T8030 IRISH FREEVIEW HD SET TOP BOX but all I get is my standard freeview channels! No RTE or TG4. Last number is 791. Nothing in the 800s, Any ideas? My aerial looks pretty new.

Can we ask whereabouts in the town you are located (East/West/South - Clandeboye/Bangor West/Ballyholme/Ashbury etc)? There are some areas of the town where good Saorview reception is possible.

Mr. Rabbit

NorthDown2 wrote: »

Can we ask whereabouts in the town you are located (East/West/South - Clandeboye/Bangor West/Ballyholme/Ashbury etc)? There are some areas of the town where good Saorview reception is possible.

There is also a local Freeview light relay station in Bangor, so it's possible the aerial could be pointing in that direction rather than Divis/Black Mountain:


http://www.ukfree.tv/txdetail.php?a=IJ500817

Digifriendly

Mr. Rabbit wrote: »

There is also a local Freeview light relay station in Bangor, so it's possible the aerial could be pointing in that direction rather than Divis/Black Mountain:


http://www.ukfree.tv/txdetail.php?a=IJ500817

Interesting that link says Bangor transmitter covers less than 500 homes. Is this one of the fewest in UK in terms of its reception base?

Shakyfan

Have a Walker Saoirview box which until yesterday was working great! RTE, TV3 etc on channels 1 to 8, radio stations from 200 on and the UK channels starting with BBC1 at 250 and so on. Last night there was no picture coming up on RTE so I foolishly tried a retune and now no matter how many times I try I can't get any of the Irish stations. The channels are coming up starting with BBC1 at 1 etc;

I'm in County Antrim (Ballymena). Oh and when re-tuning I have the active antenna on.

Patricia Mackle

Shakyfan wrote: »

Have a Walker Saoirview box which until yesterday was working great! RTE, TV3 etc on channels 1 to 8, radio stations from 200 on and the UK channels starting with BBC1 at 250 and so on. Last night there was no picture coming up on RTE so I foolishly tried a retune and now no matter how many times I try I can't get any of the Irish stations. The channels are coming up starting with BBC1 at 1 etc;

I'm in County Antrim (Ballymena). Oh and when re-tuning I have the active antenna on.

I'm in N Antrim and getting all Saorview Channels from Moville OK.
I did lose them for a few days some weeks ago. I did nothing and they reappeared

Have you set the Country as Ireland before re-scanning?

Shakyfan

Yeah country to Ireland (it actually doesn't give UK as one of the options!). I should really have left it last night and it would probably have come back on its own. Looks like I'm just going to have to keep re-trying. I wouldn't mind but RTE is probably the channel which is most watched - we lost the BBC stations a few months back for 3 or 4 weeks but didn't miss it at all!

Patricia Mackle

Which Saorveiw transmitter do you receive from? Maybe posting again, naming the transmitter you receive Saorview from, will get more replies.
You can check if there are any transmitter problems at http://www.ukfree.tv/closedown.php
Does the Walker box allow you to check the Strength and Quality of each Channel or MUX?

I lost the analogue RTE1, RTE2 and TG4 channels in early 2012 when the 12v power unit to the masthead amplifier failed. A new power unit fixed that problem.

Peter Rhea

Shakyfan wrote: »

Have a Walker Saoirview box which until yesterday was working great! RTE, TV3 etc on channels 1 to 8, radio stations from 200 on and the UK channels starting with BBC1 at 250 and so on. Last night there was no picture coming up on RTE so I foolishly tried a retune and now no matter how many times I try I can't get any of the Irish stations . . .

Given the weather we've had over the past day or 2, have you checked for something obvious like an aerial that's blown down or been damaged?

geriatrix

Peter Rhea wrote: »

Given the weather we've had over the past day or 2, have you checked for something obvious like an aerial that's blown down or been damaged?

Or a frayed co-axial cable.

Shakyfan

All sorted! A quick inspection showed that the aeriel was sitting at a peculiar angle. Called out a repair man who arrived this afternoon and within an hour everything was back to normal. The aeriel was actually very badly rusted and had to be replaced - in fact the repair man was surprised we'd been able to pick up anything in the first place.

formerly scottish paddy

Saw on another thread someone having problems with Saorview mux 2 (ch.56) from Clermont Carn in Belfast. I was wondering if anyone else is experiencing problems with the mux 2 signal being down/lower than mux 1 (ch.52)?

SRB

Mux 2 is more prone to break up here in Portaferry, and is weaker with me, though I could probably do with the aerial being further up the pole, as the signal was so good when it came on last year, I left it at roof hight, when using Kippure/Three Rock it was on a 20ft pole. Mux 1 is fine on an indoor roof aerial with me, but Mux 2 is a good bit weaker.

SRB

Mux 2 is more prone to break up here in Portaferry, and is weaker with me, though I could probably do with the aerial being further up the pole, as the signal was so good when it came on last year, I left it at roof hight, when using Kippure/Three Rock it was on a 20ft pole. Mux 1 is fine on an indoor roof aerial with me, but Mux 2 is a good bit weaker.

formerly scottish paddy

I am worried as my mum in Belfast watches mostly RTE 1 and if that is moving on to Mux 2 that could be a problem. Her RTE 1 at the moment is perfect on Mux 1 and since her tv doesn't do DVB-T2 no NIMM!

Digifriendly

MUX 2 not working without masthead amp. here in Moira Co. Down while Mux 1 comes through without the amp.

Peter Rhea

Digifriendly wrote: »

MUX 2 not working without masthead amp. here in Moira Co. Down while Mux 1 comes through without the amp.

It's not necessarily 'getting through' the amplifier.

You would have a separate aerial for Freeview? How is it combined with the Saorview aerial feed?

Anyway, as was mentioned in other examples of this 'working/not working', it doesn't mean there is any big discrepancy in signal level between the muxes.

formerly scottish paddy

Well we have seen the comments from people who have had problems getting Mux2. But, anybody getting Mux2 OK, specifically in Belfast? Perhaps we won't hear much until RTE 1 is switched off on Mux1.

JamesyBelfast

I'm getting Mux2 fine with my outdoor aerial in Belfast - indoor aerial gets Mux1 fine, Mux2 with picture breakup.

On my outdoor aerial, although picture is fine on all channels - Mux1 channels show a signal strength reading of 30, while the new Mux2 channels show a reading of 13 (its a Philips TV and I get that info from the "Status" option while watching the channel).

So basically I am not too worried right now - my outdoor aerial is a very basic cheap aerial which I installed myself on an existing pole on the back wall of my house which has a satellite dish on it (and I can reach the pole from indoors through a Velux window!). And as I say - Mux2 channels are absolutely fine from that, no breakup at all.

The indoor aerial is getting a Mux2 signal that's "almost there" - so I'm gonna trick about with that / maybe get a better aerial.


It's just a bit of a shame that the 2nd Mux is not broadcasting at anything like the same level as the 1st. I'm not knowledgable about any of this in terms of the reasons - but same aerial getting "signal quality" 29/30 on Mux1 channels versus 12/13 on Mux2 channels, says it all.

Peter Rhea

JamesyBelfast wrote: »

It's just a bit of a shame that the 2nd Mux is not broadcasting at anything like the same level as the 1st. I'm not knowledgable about any of this in terms of the reasons - but same aerial getting "signal quality" 29/30 on Mux1 channels versus 12/13 on Mux2 channels, says it all.

Factors causing apparent differences in received signal strength have more effect as you move towards the margins of coverage & in analogue days, people with less than optimal reception would always comment on the difference in picture quality across the channels.

SRB

Oddly Peter, the level of Mux 2 was actually higher with me on the various occasions it was switched on over the last year. At the start of September it was on and that was still the case. Then when it next appeared it was much weaker, when it came back up last week, it was stronger again, but not as strong as it had been. As the 1st MUX has stayed more or less the same for over a year, something must have changed with MUX 2 between September and October.

formerly scottish paddy

JamesyBelfast wrote: »

I'm getting Mux2 fine with my outdoor aerial in Belfast - indoor aerial gets Mux1 fine, Mux2 with picture breakup.

Thanks for that Jamesy, hopefully my mum's setup will be OK.

As the 1st MUX has stayed more or less the same for over a year, something must have changed with MUX 2 between September and October.

Maybe power levels or whatever will be sorted out in the next few weeks?

Peter Rhea

formerly scottish paddy wrote: »

Maybe power levels or whatever will be sorted out in the next few weeks?

How long were they 'testing' this bloody mux before the 21st? Surely they have to have things to their liking at this stage?

formerly scottish paddy

Peter Rhea wrote: »

How long were they 'testing' this bloody mux before the 21st? Surely they have to have things to their liking at this stage?

Yea, but they are not to OUR liking! :mad:

MACHEAD

Haven't posted on this thread in quite a while! Getting Mux 2 here in South Down (20 K's NE of Newry). After a rescan my Sony Bravia reordered the channels and placed RTÉ 1 HD in position 1, and the SD version down in 19!

The two STB's in other rooms (both Humax), have RTÉ 1 SD still at 801, but listed as 'Unknown'. They have placed RTÉ 1 HD down in 820.

Have the custom SW on board both these to reorder channel list but have never got round to doing it. Anyway as there's still changes and new additions going on to Saorview and Freeview, I'd only have to reorder them all over again after a rescan. Hopefully TG4 will go HD on DTT soon as well.

TAFKAlawhec

Have been moving home recently back to Fintona, Co. Tyrone. My new spot is able to pick up both Saorview multiplexes from Truskmore (E53 & E57) with a Telecam indoor aerial (non-amplified) pointing out of the ground-floor living room window in a roughly WSW direction sitting on the window sill with no pixelation at all! :eek: Transmission path distance is 70km, though it is almost line-of-sight which also helps. What also helps is that Brougher Mountain is also visual LOS from the window of the room directly above at 13km away, and that both sites are within a 30 degree arc meaning Freeview & Saorview services all come in on one indoor aerial. :cool:

Still the usual cavets about indoor aerials for reception still apply, my intention is to get two separate aerials (one for Brougher, another for Truskmore) set up in the attic - respective signals for both are very strong so even using a 3-way passive splitter should not give many problems (might actually need an attenuator for Brougher!) But for now the indoor aerial works OK. A lucky location! Just a shame Brougher isn't carrying COM7 or it would be a full house.

Zeus06

I'm in south down and recently lost my rte saorview signal after a few days of poor signal. Anyone any reasons as to why and any solutions how to fix?

The Cush

Zeus06 wrote: »

I'm in south down and recently lost my rte saorview signal after a few days of poor signal. Anyone any reasons as to why and any solutions how to fix?

Have you checked all the connections from the aerial to the receiver?
Could be an aerial or cable problem, water ingress, corrosion?

Zeus06

The Cush wrote: »

Have you checked all the connections from the aerial to the receiver?
Could be an aerial or cable problem, water ingress, corrosion?

Currently I have two aerials in attic (one UK one Irish) which are combined to one cable feeding TVs. Freeview channels fine. Perhaps could be a cables but doubtful. need to check tomorrow.

The Cush

Zeus06 wrote: »

Freeview channels fine. Perhaps could be a cables but doubtful. need to check tomorrow.

It wasn't a sudden loss of signal so something in the setup isn't working properly.

Zeus06

The Cush wrote: »

It wasn't a sudden loss of signal so something in the setup isn't working properly.

By setup do you mean the TV setup (e.g tuning) or something else? I've tried manually tuning but not getting anything. Scanning channel 30 which only has max 15% signal strength.

The Cush

Zeus06 wrote: »

By setup do you mean the TV setup (e.g tuning) or something else?

Aerial, combiner and cabling to the TV, the TV isn't getting sufficient signal. Might have been borderline signal strength up to now.

Zeus06 wrote: »

Scanning channel 30 which only has max 15% signal strength.

Which transmitter does the Saorview coverage checker recommend for your location - http://www.saorview.ie/get-saorview/make-the-switch/coverage-map/

I assume you're scanning for Ch.30 Three Rock, that's quite a distance for an attic aerial to get a decent signal. An outdoor aerial might be required to get a strong signal.

Clermont Carn (52, 56) or Greenore (40, 43) are closer to you and Clermont Carn is much more powerful, have you scanned for it?

What group aerial are you using for Saorview?
Which Freeview transmitter are you receiving from?

Zeus06

Which transmitter does the Saorview coverage checker recommend for your location - http://www.saorview.ie/get-saorview/make-the-switch/coverage-map/

Believe it or not the site suggested the Three Rock so scanned for it.

Clermont Carn (52, 56) or Greenore (40, 43) are closer to you and Clermont Carn is much more powerful, have you scanned for it?

Have tried these channels but no joy.

What group aerial are you using for Saorview?

I'm unsure on this one

Which Freeview transmitter are you receiving from?

Divis

I may not get a chance to look at this again for a few days but will let you know how I get on.

Thanks

The Cush

Zeus06 wrote: »

I may not get a chance to look at this again for a few days but will let you know how I get on.

Having the aerial in the attic could be problem for Three Rock reception, I'd guess if you mounted it outside you should an improvement.

Peter Rhea

Zeus06 wrote: »

Which Freeview transmitter are you receiving from?

Divis

Divis has a multiplex on UHF channel 33, same as Three Rock mux 2.

The Cush

Peter Rhea wrote: »

Divis has a multiplex on UHF channel 33, same as Three Rock mux 2.

Co-channel interference, that would be a problem. Divis COM7 Mux (BBC4 HD, BBC News HD etc.) sharing the same frequency as Three Rock Mux2 (RTÉ1 HD, RTÉ Junior/RTÉ1+1). Moving the aerial outside won't sort that.

@Zeus06, any chance you could get Clermont Carn (52, 56) or Greenore (40, 43) with an external aerial?

dubmick

does BBC4HD come in on channel 33 in the North? Can't seem to pick this up despite being able to get all the other UK HD channels.

Patricia Mackle

dubmick wrote: »

does BBC4HD come in on channel 33 in the North? Can't seem to pick this up despite being able to get all the other UK HD channels.

Not all UK transmitters are broadcasting BBC4 HD yet.

Peter Rhea

dubmick wrote: »

does BBC4HD come in on channel 33 in the North? Can't seem to pick this up despite being able to get all the other UK HD channels.

It's on ch. 33 from Divis (Belfast). It's on lower power than the other HD services & is co-channel with Saorview mux 2 from Three Rock, so won't be widely receivable south of the border.

dubmick

Patricia Mackle wrote: »

Not all UK transmitters are broadcasting BBC4 HD yet.

Thanks, will this change?

Peter Rhea

dubmick wrote: »

will this change?

Unlikely in the short/medium term. Certainly not at the relay transmitters. There will most likely be a shakeup in 4-5 years when more spectrum is sold to the mobile opertators.

One of the stated aims of having these 'interim' HD services, is to persuade more people to buy DVB-T2 equipment & I would think it's implied, lessen the outcry when all services inevitably move to this newer, more efficient transmission standard.

Mr. Rabbit

It's on lower power than the other HD services & is co-channel with Saorview mux 2 from Three Rock, so won't be widely receivable south of the border.

ERP is reputedly 10 kw which is much higher than the old pre DSO low power muxes.

Failing terrestrial reception, all the new BBC HD channels are available on Freesat and Sky.

AndrewBelfast

Hi all

I live in East Belfast. Recently got YouView fitted, which receives all of the normal freeview channels, including BBC HD, UTV HD etc. However it is not picking up any RTE channels. I am not 100% sure if my aerial is pointed at Divis or Black Mountain, or if this matters.

Does anyone know if YouView picks up the RTE channels (I can't see why it wouldn't) and if it does, is there a particular transmitter I should have my aerial aimed at?

Thanks!

SRB

Yes, the YouView box does pick up the Irish muxes, but you need an aerial pointing at Clermont Carn, same as in the analogue days. East Belfast was always a bit patchy for analogue reception. Really depends where you are. The YouView box doesn't handle having the UK and Irish MUXES very well either. It won't record cross MUX booked programming, so you need to leave the box on an Irish MUX if you want it to record something on one of it's channels. On the other hand, you should be able to receive the NI Mini MUX in East Belfast, this will give you RTE 1,2 and TG4. It is lower power than the other channels, but would have thought you should be able to receive it.

AndrewBelfast

Hi - thanks for the reply

Sorry, I don't really know the technical terms yet!

What is the NI Mini MUX? (Or indeed, what is a MUX?!) How can I get this? Is there some kind of manual tune I need to do?

Also, will the Clermont Carn transmitter still give me all of the channels I currently get, including HD?

Thanks again

Digifriendly

AndrewBelfast wrote: »

Hi - thanks for the reply

Sorry, I don't really know the technical terms yet!

What is the NI Mini MUX? (Or indeed, what is a MUX?!) How can I get this? Is there some kind of manual tune I need to do?

Also, will the Clermont Carn transmitter still give me all of the channels I currently get, including HD?

Thanks again

NI Mini-mux is RTE1/2 and TG4 being broadcast from local transmitters in NI. In your case from Black Mountain and possibly receivable also from Carnmoney (depending on topology). You could manually tune in Ch. 39 for the Black Mountain mini-mux. Clermont Carn (channels 52/56) will give you all the Saorview channels including RTE 1 HD/RTE 2 HD. In order to receive the latter you require an RTE aerial possibly amplified.

SRB

You can't manually tune channels on a YouView box. Yes, if you can receive the NI MUX you will still get the UK channels as it is designed to add RTE1, 2 and TG4 to the Belfast aera. May need to upgrade your aerial though. You would need a separate one for the Irish transmitters, just as in analogue days. These can be diplexed into one lead at the rooftop. Though RTE analogue reception was never great in E Belfast, I have no idea how well the digi signal gets in there. If you can receive RTE etc from Belfast they are at 51,52 and 53 on the YouView box.

Mr. Rabbit

You should have absolutely no problems with the NI Mux throughout East Belfast and I doubt you'll need to upgrade your aerial.

Some parts of east Belfast should be able to receive Saorview from Clermont Cairn e.g. the lower ends of the Newtownards Road and Castlereagh Road, but other areas will have problems especially those in the lea of the Castlreagh Hills e.g. the Knock, Cregagh, and Belmont areas.

Your best bet is probably the Ni mux.

Mr. Rabbit

You can't manually tune channels on a YouView box.

I'm wondering why not ??????

On my Humax PVR (not Youview) this is done under instillation, tuning, and then manual tune

SRB

Mr. Rabbit wrote: »

I'm wondering why not ??????

On my Humax PVR (not Youview) this is done under instillation, tuning, and then manual tune

Because the YouView software isn't the same as that on the native Humax. There is no manual tune option.