TV Aerials - UHF Vs VHF - Which Way Is Ireland Leaning?
As mentioned in the intro, both UHF and VHF TV Aerials are in use at the moment to receive all the terrestrial TV stations in Ireland. Up to last October these were used to pick up the analogue TV signal but since then the transmissions have been broadcast in both digital and analogue. This is the whole crux of the issue. To understand this, we will need to go into a little history of TV signal being broadcast in Ireland.
Up to now and until 2012 the analogue TV signal in Ireland was / will be broadcast in both UHF and VHF frequencies. The National TV stations (RTE1 & RTE2) had to be picked up using a VHF TV Aerial. TV3 & TG4 had to be received using a UHF Aerial.
This was (and still is) a little awkward for a couple of reasons.
1. You needed two aerials to receive the domestic TV channels and possibly some sort of signal combiner.
2. The signal for both UHF and VHF depending on where you are / were in the country could be hit and miss due to the nature of the analogue signal and also your location.
Within both type of aerials, then you had different variations of that particular model. You might have chosen a 4 or 7 element VHF aerial depending on your signal strength and from a range of 7 different UHF aerials based on their grouping, Group A Red for example for use with the Mount Leinster transmitter and also you had to decide between a contract or grid type also
It was a fairly tricky set up requiring some technical knowledge and certainly not for the uninitiated DIY self installer.
The good news though (not for VHF TV Aerial manufacturers though!) is that the new digital TV service that went officially live last October is only being broadcast on UHF. This makes matters a lot more simple for installers and DIY installs alike.
Basically if you want to get the DTT signal now, all you have to do is have a Digital Television receiver that is HD and MPEG4 compatible or a Television of the same specification. The is still the grouping issue with the UHF TV Aerilas but in fairness to the DTT signal, it is so strong that the vast majority of people will get away with using a wideband UHF aerial and not have to bother with specific aerials for specific transmitters.
It's not all bad news for VFH though. The new DAB Radio service in Ireland is broadcasting in VHF, so you will still need to have a VHF DAB Radio Aerial to receive the new channels. There are no immediate plans to migrate from the current medium wave / FM set up that we are all familiar with so there has not been a huge uptake so far on the DAB radio channels but from a 'light at the end of the tunnel' point of view for the VHF TV Aerial, at least it will have some future in Ireland even if it's not as popular as it used to be.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Barry_F
Up to now and until 2012 the analogue TV signal in Ireland was / will be broadcast in both UHF and VHF frequencies. The National TV stations (RTE1 & RTE2) had to be picked up using a VHF TV Aerial. TV3 & TG4 had to be received using a UHF Aerial.
This was (and still is) a little awkward for a couple of reasons.
1. You needed two aerials to receive the domestic TV channels and possibly some sort of signal combiner.
2. The signal for both UHF and VHF depending on where you are / were in the country could be hit and miss due to the nature of the analogue signal and also your location.
Within both type of aerials, then you had different variations of that particular model. You might have chosen a 4 or 7 element VHF aerial depending on your signal strength and from a range of 7 different UHF aerials based on their grouping, Group A Red for example for use with the Mount Leinster transmitter and also you had to decide between a contract or grid type also
It was a fairly tricky set up requiring some technical knowledge and certainly not for the uninitiated DIY self installer.
The good news though (not for VHF TV Aerial manufacturers though!) is that the new digital TV service that went officially live last October is only being broadcast on UHF. This makes matters a lot more simple for installers and DIY installs alike.
Basically if you want to get the DTT signal now, all you have to do is have a Digital Television receiver that is HD and MPEG4 compatible or a Television of the same specification. The is still the grouping issue with the UHF TV Aerilas but in fairness to the DTT signal, it is so strong that the vast majority of people will get away with using a wideband UHF aerial and not have to bother with specific aerials for specific transmitters.
It's not all bad news for VFH though. The new DAB Radio service in Ireland is broadcasting in VHF, so you will still need to have a VHF DAB Radio Aerial to receive the new channels. There are no immediate plans to migrate from the current medium wave / FM set up that we are all familiar with so there has not been a huge uptake so far on the DAB radio channels but from a 'light at the end of the tunnel' point of view for the VHF TV Aerial, at least it will have some future in Ireland even if it's not as popular as it used to be.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Barry_F
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