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Area covered: Co. Galway, Co. Clare, parts of Co. Limerick
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Site: Maghera Mountain, Co. Clare VHF Aerial Band III UHF Aerial Group C/D (Green) RTÉ One: E; RTÉ Two H; TV3 66; TG4 68 Polarisation: VHF- Vertical UHF - Horizontal Nominal Max ERP Vision: 280 kW (VHF) 500 kW (UHF) Site Height: 1312 ft A.S.L. Mast Height: 400 ft |
Maghera was the home of Ireland's last remaining Band I transmitter. RTE One was carried on Channel B since Maghera opened in 1963 until 1999. Unfortunately Band I is notoriously prone to co-channel interference and viewers in the west of Ireland were regularly treated to Spain's TVE 2 from the Santiago channel E2 transmitter during the summer months. RTE One is now on channel E. RTÉ Two is on channel H in Band III so Maghera viewers had to get a second aerial when the second channel opened in 1978. Maghera viewers then had to get a UHF aerial to watch TG4 on channel 68 when it opened last year! TV3 is on channel 66.
There was a certain amount of controversy when it was announced that TnaG (now TG4) would be carried on UHF from Maghera. Many viewers felt that the spare channel B frequency should have been allocated to TG4, thus saving Maghera viewers the extra cost of installing new UHF aerials for TnaG. Many felt that it was ironic that Anglophone Dublin viewers didn't have to make much effort to watch TnaG whereas the west, where most of TnaG's potential audience live, would have to pay up to £70 per household to watch the new channel.
Maghera Channel B must have the most stamps on its passport of any Irish TV transmitter. Reception has been reported as far away as Finland during the 1996 Sporadic-E season, though I suspect it well have travelled further than that. Perhaps you know! Let me know.
