MMDS Set-up Complete Beginner

There is the IF222 downconverter in use in Mayo and Galway and frequency scheme B.

 

ah deadly yea the ones on satandcable will do and the irish site slso mentioned,

typical i thought i had the whole downcoverter shortage thing sorted and now there everywhere...
ah well...

could anyone confirm the channel list to be expected from the woodcock hill transmitter in Limerick, as i am only getting 33 channels plus about the same in radio stations....

Cheers guys....

 

130 channels for ch0ru$ would be typical, how many transponders are you picking up and at what frequency ?

 

hi wiseguy where abouts in limerick are you as im trying to setup my aerial receiving fom woodcock hill but not having anyluck using a old mmds mesh aerial and new downconverter. what dvb-t box you using and which mast is the chorus 1 on woodcock as i can see about 6, help appreciated.

 

hi at night you can see a red light blinking on the tramsmitter on woodcock hill. have you tried turing your ariel 90 degrees as i was having trouble setting up mine untill i realised that woodcock hill is on "vertical polarisation"

Hope this helped
by the way i got a total of 92 channels plus radio...

 

Im back again! Ive increased the height of my antenna (at least as high as the neighbours a few doors down). And through a lot of work Ive also made it that bit more stable. The reception has improved, but it is far from tolerable. I often get 10 to 20 seconds of good reception. Then, as I get my hopes up it gets all pixelated for the next 10 seconds. Then the cycle starts again. Its very frustrating.

There are some trees in the distance. Maybe they are interfering when it gets a bit windy. Is there anything I can do? After 3 months of moving the antenna, changing downconverters and trying different frequencies - I'm out of ideas and almost ready to give up

The only other thing I can think of is getting a stronger antenna. The one I have is a standard Ch0ru$ antenna with a SatAndCable downconverter attached. Would purchasing a 27dB Gain Antenna get a steady reception or would it just be a waste of time and money.

Really appreciate all the advice. Thanks.

 

jimme, how long is your pole and is it strapped to the chimney??

 

The pole is around 14 ft long. It is attached to the wall of the house using strong external wall brackets. There is no chimney on the house.

 

what is the distance from the top of the highest wall bracket to the aerial, which i presume is at the top of the pole

 

I guess it is about 12 feet. Other than stability, why would this matter? Thanks

 

if it any more than 8ft then it will sway too much and give you the issues you are having

 

just a quick note: as of last week i seem to be able to get the EPG for the entire night instead of now and next which i had all along - past 8 months... i didnt do anything extra the only thing i can think of is i did a rescan and a channel called guide came in and i didn't delete it as i previously did. dunno if this is related.
has anyone else noticed this recently or has the Epg been there all along??
BTW im on c****s M**s

 

I have 4 wires attached to the top of the pole. These are then pinned to the roof at different locations. The antenna appears to be as stable (or more stable) than many of my neighbours. Even on days when there is NO wind, there is some interference.

Is it possible that the trees I can see in the distance are causing problems. Would a stronger antenna fix this or would the interference still be too bad? Thanks

 

I dont think a larger grid will make much of a difference,24db is already quite large.
A 27db grid is 1m in diameter.Huge.
How high is the ber on the channels ?
Are you splitting the signal ,that will reduce the signal slightly ?
Are you using good cabling ,RG6 or better ?
How tall are the trees in the distance ?
The signal from beam benders is pretty poor compared to a main transmitter.
I have a 24db grid pointing through a huge bunch of trees,well over 90ft tall and I have a steady signal.
Chorus told me it wasnt possible to get a signal there,ha ha .

 

guys when was the last time the keys for ch@r2s mmds limerick were updated and is the prov id 005e01 ??

 

I doubt the trees are the issue, how long is the cable run from the power supply to the aerial and what cable did you run

 

try a signal booster normally to ways to attach these the simplest are the ones plugged in close to the tv bought from argos for about 15 euro this way might work get the adjustable type and test it at different levels as sometimes they can just amplify degradation . the second way is to apply the booster in between the aerial and the power insert this method reduces the risk of amplifying degradation.

 

Maybe not a 27db grid, but would getting a 24db grid improve my signal compared to that recieved by a standard ch0ru$ grid?

Not sure what is meant by ber. When doing a manual scan on my eurovox-tx the level meter reads between 80 and 85 percent. The quality meter reads between 48 and 55 percent. But the quality can jump up and down.

No, the downconverter is directly connected to the power inserter. The output from the power inserter is then connected directly via a short cable to my eurovox tx.

The roll of cable reads: 1.00MM conductor, 75OHM, RG6. So I think it should be ok.

There at about the height of the ariel, but its hard to say. They may not be the problem, but then again they could be!

I'm about 12 or 13 miles from the beam bender/transmitter by Cork Airport. But my neighbours seem to be picking up channels ok.

I assume you got the 24db grid because a standard install wasnt sufficient? Was your problem similar to mine? In other words, do you think I should try a 24db grid or am I just wasting my time?

Thanks a million for all the advice. Its very helpful.

 

Ber is Bit error rate,its used on Dreamboxes ,it measures the noise on the signal,the lower the better.
I find that if the Ber>10,000 the signal will break up.
I'm not familiar with the sensitivity of the tuners in the Eurovox Tx .
The tuners in the 500T are quite good ,stronger than the standard Sagem chorus box.
A 24db Lance grid is better than the standard Chorus mesh grids .
http://www.qsl.net/n9zia/wireless/pics/lance-24.gif
The Chorus ones are cheaply made.
A difference of 3 dB is a doubling or halving the power. That
is a bit deceptive though. A difference of 3 dB is not noticeable at all,unless it is on the fringe of the signal threshold. In which case you would need to significantly increase the gain, i.e., from say a +3 to a +9 or better, in order to have a stable signal.
In most cases, you either get the signal or you don't.
Either it is way down in the dirt or there is plenty of signal.
Its prob worth a shot allright.