Strange aerial alignment to get Saorview

Souriau

I was called to sort out lost of Saorview since the final switchover in March, She lost all Saorview channels from Truskmore.

I would expect a simple retune but that failed.

The first aerial is Group K for Belfast Divis transmitter and the second is Group E for RTE Truskmore transmitter.
She was receiving from Truskmore on C53 & C57. Since this was switched off, I expected a retune to C42 and C45.
Digiair Pro meter showed me a signal strength of 70dbuV but it will not locked on to the signal.
I investigated and found the diplexer was Fringe Electronic 211-141 Special K to CD 50/52 thru CD
I change this to Fringe Electronic 211-201 A+37 to E 37/40 thru E.
I rechecked and still good strong signal but it will not locked on to the signal.
I checked the aerial alignment and set to 282° from her home to the transmitter but still can't get the signal to locked on.
I then aligned to Clermont Carn and change to vertical, the aerial is now pointing 217°, signal had drop to 45dbuV and still no signal locked. I know the mountain was between her home and Clermont Carn so I wonder if the signal can be bounce of the another mountain so I change the aerial alignment to the mountain. I got a signal strength at 69 dbuV and then use the Digitair Pro meter to watch and align to the best BER and now she can received all channels from both MUXs on C42 & C45. aerial now pointing away from Trustmore and Clermont Carn. The aerial is set to 90° to a mountain that seem to bounce the signal from Clermont Carn transmitter.
This is the first for me and surprised to see a solid signal strength and signal quality is high.
I will be keeping an eye on this one for the next 12 months to see if any weather related issue breaking the signal quality.
I will keep you posted.

I wouldn't have this issue if Clermont Carn and Truskmore did not have the same frequency. Why was the two most powerful transmitter is having the same C42 & C45 frequencies?

Elvis Hammond

Souriau wrote: »

... Why was the two most powerful transmitter is having the same C42 & C45 frequencies?

Because they're on opposite sides of the country? (And of course using opposite polarisation.)

You must have found one of the rare houses on the island that couldn't use a nearby high powered site, but was in a suitable spot to turn to another so far away.

I wonder if you're really getting a strong reflection, or if turning the aerial around just put it in a better position WRT multipath coming over the mountain from CC? Did you move it back/forward, side to side or up/down when it was pointed at CC?

Souriau

Clermont Carn is 11.5km from the lady's house andTruskmore is 143km.
I have tried it to tuned into Clermont Carn without a booster but no matter what I do, I can't get a quality signal locked when it is align direct to the transmitter.

Souriau

Elvis Hammond wrote: »

Because they're on opposite sides of the country? (And of course using opposite polarisation.)

You must have found one of the rare houses on the island that couldn't use a nearby high powered site, but was in a suitable spot to turn to another so far away.

I wonder if you're really getting a strong reflection, or if turning the aerial around just put it in a better position WRT multipath coming over the mountain from CC? Did you move it back/forward, side to side or up/down when it was pointed at CC?

I have tried different position toward CC and moved up and down but no luck to get a signal quality locked.
This was with and without the amp.


The current position is with the amp.

pegasuspub

i had something similar with two sites using mullaghanish group A in west cork, in both cases the antenna is pointing directly away from the transmitter, the first house was tucked in under a hill blocking signal from the transmitter and always suffered from v poor analogue vhf signals, the uhf was worse naturally, my meter showed a strong reflected signal from a hill in the opposite direction,i explained the situation to the owner and decided to test the install for a few weeks, no call back so happy days.