Blenheim Freeview DTT Reception

[markmlbnz]

I see there has been a few posts a year or so ago regarding Freeview HD reception in Blenheim (from the Wellington Kaukau transmitter?).. From what I can gather 'toobar' was going to attempt it, but never saw a post with results..

Anyone know if it is possible?.. I get fairly decent UHF Prime from Wellington with a UHF antenna and amp..

Cheers,

Mark

[Apsattv]

Buy a STB from Dick Smiths and take it back if it doesn't work?

[kiwisteve]

Remember the KauKau UHF analogue service antennas are right at the top
and the DTT array is smaller and lower down and on one tower face only ,it may not favour Blenheim very well but the only way is try and see !!!

[shadownz]

Would Blenheim be able to receive the signal from Ngarara? Looking at google earth they appear to have line of sight.... (only just)

[kiwisteve]

I think Goggle earth represents the flat earth society !! does it take the earths curve into consideration ??

Ngarara hardly transmits out of its own coverage area I think anything in Blenheim be most unlikely . Mt KauKau be you best chance !!
try some good quality coax , a high gain antenna and set top box !

[herbie_g]

I think Goggle earth represents the flat earth society !! does it take the earths curve into consideration ??

Ngarara hardly transmits out of its own coverage area I think anything in Blenheim be most unlikely . Mt KauKau be you best chance !!
try some good quality coax , a high gain antenna and set top box !

Although having said that, the right place in Picton may have a chance ex Wharite... MAY HAVE.

[kiwisteve]

It would be hard to Identify as Wharite and Kaukau use the same channels
and at that distance there is a chance of either being received

[shadownz]

I'm sure the signal can travel tho? I'm sure I read somewhere in the past that Triangle TV has been picked up in Nelson before, may of been a fluke due to good atmospheric conditions...
Can anything be picked up from Christchurch or those hills in the way?

[garvani]

Any news on DTT to Blenheim? Has anyone tried it yet?

[Apsattv]

No report as yet?

You could be a pioneer? and be the first to report it?

Its not like you have a mountain in the way or anything?

Even off the back of the Kaukau antenna you should still get something.

[kiwisteve]

Its very odd there are no reports even the very low power triangle signal
on its much lower antenna could be seen in Marlborough

:D:D

[Apsattv]

Try asking around a few local TV antenna install firms?

[garvani]

I don't have a uhf aerial of any kind and know i would need to shell out for a pretty decent one, so i wont be pioneering this (yet). Someone must have tried it, the aerial company would be the best bet, ill go down tomorrow during lunch and have a chat :)

[garvani]

I emailed around two local aerial/freeview installers and got back 1 reply so far.

"Receiving FreeviewHD from Mt Kaukau is very difficult. Have tried here with
a big UHF aerial and booster and only got two channels that faded in and
out.
We now tell customers that signal is to weak for reception.
To get Freeview in Marlborough satellite reception is required.
Thanks"

So not looking too good :_s:

[garvani]

and second reply

"At this time we have been unsuccessful in obtaining a watchable signal for hd from Kaukau. We have used several different Uhf Aerials and our tests are contining. We have HD set up in our office, you are welcome to call and see the weak signal that is being picked up. The best quality signal is the test channel. It freezes constantly and breaks up."

[Apsattv]

Interesting , I wonder which STB they tried with?

Hope not the E.T box!

Maybe you email those installers, and give them the address of the dtv forum. We need more techy people posting here.

[24grape]

Hi there, new here and just adding my 2 cents worth to this thread, which started well over a year ago.

Just got sony HD TV and out of interest started the digital tuning. Much to our surprise our first attempt found 17 channels, those as advertised on UHF freeview|HD. However that day must have been a fluke as most of the time the only channels that show well are TV1, 2, 6, 7. The rest of the channels tv3, Maori, prime, Chinese TV, freeview HD demo etc. and radio NZ come and go depending on the weather and signal strength i presume?

The UHF aerial has some kinda booster plugged into indoor aerial socket, and if i remove this and just plug the TV in no freeview is picked up at all. So my question: is there another type of booster that could increase the number of channels reliably received?

Thank you.

[kiwisteve]

HiYa
Thanks for your posting . Yes there are several different brands of booster / amplifiers
some offer better gain and noise figures . Antenna gain will also be important down there too .
In my case im 74Km from Transmitter run the 91 element uhf antenna and a Nippon Antennas model 5000
amplifier . Sig is great near % 100 of the time and thats with two lots of hills in the way

Steve

[Apsattv]

Which antenna do you have can you post an image? what is written on the indoor booster? how old is the coax as you seem to be getting some signal. You might just need to optimize things. Are any other antennas combined into your setup?

Is the balun on the antenna an older type? is there a Vhf/Uhf diplexor combiner or splitters in the system?

You could start by running one new run of RG6 Coax directly to the uhf ANTENNA and bypass any combiner and see if you have any signal.

Also can you confirm which Frequency did you actually load and store?

[24grape]

sorry not much of electronics buff. Just have a 18 month old aerial with the 40 wing UHF atennna at top and the VHF antenna below, both connect to a little gray box below the VHF antenna. the box has 5 slots for cables, two go in from each antenna and then one comes out and goes thru the roof inside. The amplier plug into the indoor wall socket is a Hills PSU4P 15vac 100mA.

[LXSWRX]

I'm sure the signal can travel tho? I'm sure I read somewhere in the past that Triangle TV has been picked up in Nelson before, may of been a fluke due to good atmospheric conditions...
Can anything be picked up from Christchurch or those hills in the way?

Too many hills in the way between Blenheim and Christchurch. When it comes to Blenheim and Wellington, Blenheim is quite sheltered in places from anything from Wellington(Kaukau is the only thing from Wellington Blenheim can pick up). TV1 and 2 from Kaukau are fine, but you need a booster in parts of Blenheim to pick up TV3 and Prime.Broadtech( in those days installed a translator on the Wither Hills to broadcast tv1,2 and 3. TV4 by Sky Digital Only.

[24grape]

Freeview|HD from Kaukau can be received in Blenheim if you have a UHF aerial and a amp, BUT (and its a big but) the reception of signals is sporadic and patchy at best. Sometimes you can get all the Freeview|HD channels and other times nothing. Generally TV1, 2, 6 and 7 are received more often than others (TV3 is "no signal" most of the time). The govt/FV have no plans to extend a proper broadcast to Blenheim. So if u don't have the SD satellite version of FV setup by April 2013 u will be in the dark in terms of receiving free-to-air state TV. Personally I think its a appalling cop-out by the govt and it setups a horrific double standard in New Zealand Television, those in the big centres that can get HD TV and folk in smaller regions/towns stuck with SD TV. I would have thought the extension of proper HD broadcast to Blenheim would be quite affordable in terms of just getting more transmitters stuck on Kaukau and pointed in the Blenheim direction?

[kiwisteve]

Hi Its not as simple as adding more at KauKau , there are channel re-use factors while analogue has a current licence on same channel at Mt Campbell . But what would be nice would be the DTT transfered to the upper antenna at the very top of the tower , rather than the present lower one !!I guess that could happen at ASO !! In time I would expect a local digital transposer to be added at Wither Hills . In the meantime you will need to improve your antenna system. Im running at 71km from WTE and through 5 sets of hills and get % 99 ++ reliability out of all 3 muxes

[24grape]

Hi couple of things in the local paper on digital TV in Marlborough for people to take a note of.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/marlborough-express/news/4582744/Marlborough-left-behind-in-TV-switchover

http://www.stuff.co.nz/marlborough-express/news/4600283/Wellington-no-help-with-TV-signal

In the second link this statement is made "Ministry for Culture and Heritage switch-over programme manager Greg Harford said increasing the strength of a transmission from the Mt Kaukau site was not possible, because it could cause interference to the service in Canterbury."

Is this really true? So does the current beaming UHF analogue prime, maori and trackside TV signals at Blenheim interfer with the like in canterbury too?? There are plenty hills not to mention mountains between welli and chch that would naturally block the signal out i would have thought.

[kiwisteve]

Sounds like Marlborough resdients need to make some very strong representations to the local MP during the election campagin ,prior to the next election , for a transposer at Wither Hills etc

[Apsattv]

As you drive over the peninsula at Kaikoura you will see dozens of 91 elements pointed at Wellington. I doubt they are there for the seagulls to sit on.

I don't think they have any UHF translaters down that way?

[wiilliiss]

kaukau is very unlikely to interfere with sugarloaf, if kaukau was set up properly blenheim would have 1/2 way signal levels then a small translator setup on wither hills to finish off.

[kiwisteve]

Not even on same channels !!

[24grape]

Hi there,


Sounds like Marlborough resdients need to make some very strong representations to the local MP during the election campagin ,prior to the next election , for a transposer at Wither Hills etc

Further update on public views re Freeview|HD in Blenheim.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/marlborough-express/news/mp-reports/4682571/Viewers-need-to-get-back-to-lobbying

Ok folks time to get going on this, a few waves have been made, now its time build on this.

From a techincal point of view is it possible to install a local transmitter of Freeview|HD, given they (Govt) seem to think boosting the Wellington Kaukau signal would start to interfer with the Canterbury signal from sugarloaf in the canterbury region?

[24grape]

And heres another thread to the developing issue, more politics than anything else, but interesting all the same.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/marlborough-express/news/4683364/MP-fails-to-get-digital-signal

[kiwisteve]

There are many more areas than stated that wont get D T T !!!
like most of the King Country and areas around Taihape and most of the East Cape also alot of cental Otago areas .
Its election year so time to hammer those MPs !!!

[24grape]

Has something happened with Freeview|HD broadcast from wellington Kaukau recently? Until about 2 weeks ago i was getting TVNZ mux (1,2,6&7) most of the time, but nothing for the last two weeks at all...

Located in Blenheim!

[Apsattv]

Have you checked the antenna since the recent stormy weather of the past 2 weeks?

[kiwisteve]

I have noticed the currnet weather patterns of the last two weeks are producing lower than normal UHF propogation both TV and Communications

[24grape]

Aerial setup is just same as it was (our weather has been relatively tame over the last month, no snow, wind etc).

still no repection, so all i can conclude its that the broadcast signal has been changed, weakened or change of direction/tramsmitter.

So i'm going satellite with sky. Can't bare to watched low res. analogue TV anymore.

[Apsattv]

Do you know of others getting Freeview HD there?

[kiwisteve]

I have heard reports of DVB T in the Blenheim area on 48 / 91 el antenna and masthead amps
but not sure on the reliability of signal level over time

[24grape]

The loss of signal in Blenheim exactly conincides with Nelsons Freeview|HD coming on stream approx 3 weeks ago, so obviously there was a change in wellington that reduced signal strength to Blenheim in Favour of Nelson setup.

I've switched to sky now.

[kiwisteve]

Not aware of any changes in signal as there is one Transmit antenna and seems normal here up the coast ,
also the Nelson DTT is on a different set of channels so won't be any interaction there . Suspect its something very local to you
causing signal loss . I struck a similar one up here , turned out to be a faulty masthead amp , was internally oscillating , very obvious
on the Spec Ann

[Apsattv]

Have you tried pointing your antenna towards Nelson? you might get lucky?

[24grape]

Have you tried pointing your antenna towards Nelson? you might get lucky?

Through all those Hills, i doubt it.

I think my little amp is still working, helps me get analogue UHF prime and maori TV and of course did for freeview|HD, in saying that i was only getting the TVNZ mux (1,2,6&7) most of the time. the rest of FV channels came and went depending on woteva...

anyway i've gone sky basic for $31/month and that includes TV 1, 2 & 3 in HD.

I've kept my all my UHF aerial setup just in case we get freeview|HD properly one day. I'm presuming Nelson gets its DTT feed from Wellington - bit of a stretch tho.

[Apsattv]

Part of central Nelson use to get TV3 from Wellington there are probably parts of Blenheim that have signal paths into Nelson. The Mainland tv uhf transmitter on the Takaka Hill for example goes into Marlborough and the North Island. Can't hurt to try.

Check the path on google earth?

[24grape]

Part of central Nelson use to get TV3 from Wellington there are probably parts of Blenheim that have signal paths into Nelson. The Mainland tv uhf transmitter on the Takaka Hill for example goes into Marlborough and the North Island. Can't hurt to try.

Check the path on google earth?

True.

Takaka Hill is at 1817 ft and is 104km from my blenheim place. a good 25% of that line of distance has hills/mountains between 2000-3000ft high.

The welli transmitter at Kaukau is at 1300ft and is 74 km away with a direct line of sight. the highest hill in that line of distance is 1000ft.

Just based on that alone i would have thought the chances of picking up UHF signal from welli would be greater than Takaka Hill. I presume Nelsons freeview|HD is being beamed from that location?

[vegas4]

I'm a bit surprised you can't get the Welly signal then - I get mine from Sugarloaf (CHCH) at around 80km away... What's the power of Kaukau, less than the 'loaf I guess.

[musikdj]

Kaukau DTT transmission arrays are directional , Sugarloaf is omni directional - well semi

[24grape]

After a month on no reception the TVNZ mux has come back, so now i can compare the quality of Freeview|HD TVNZ mux (group of channels) agaisnt Skys TV 1 and 2 HD channels.