# Irish Channels through Sky dish when using FTA channels



## NewEdition (1 Jan 2020)

I have joined and left sky a number of times over the years.

When I leave them, I revert to the old sky box and can get all the FTA channels via the box, BBC, ITV's etc but not RTE.

However I was also able to connect the second Sky wire from the dish to the tv aerial socket on the tv and get the RTE channels on the TV.

It does not seem to be working this time.
Is it to do with the analogue channels stopping being broadcast or something else is wrong?
If the former, I will need to look into an alternative box - I know there are other posts on this .


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## RedOnion (1 Jan 2020)

NewEdition said:


> look into an alternative box


You more likely need a UHF arial than a different box.


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## SparkRite (1 Jan 2020)

NewEdition said:


> However I was also able to connect the second Sky wire from the dish to the tv aerial socket on the tv and get the RTE channels on the TV.



Connecting a sat cable to an aerial socket does nothing, in fact I don't know how you managed it, unless you used an F / Coax adapter.
Anyway a dish aligned to pick up Sky (28.2° E) will not pick up Saorsat and if this worked for you before( we don't know how long ago) either the cable itself was working as an aerial and allowed you tune in Saorview or you were picking up the old analogue terrestrial signal.

Either way now you will have to use a digital tuner (most modern TVs have then built in) and an aerial. Depending where you are situated an indoor one may suffice.


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## Zenith63 (1 Jan 2020)

What model of TV do you have, we can see if it includes a digital tuner or not?


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## NewEdition (1 Jan 2020)

After a lot of messing about today.. I plugged in an old aerial I had and the tv now picks up the RTE channels.
However when doing the retune, I had to set the TV to search for UK channels to pick up the Irish channels. When I set it to search for for Irish channels, it only found the radio channels.


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## AwaitYourReply (3 Jun 2020)

Sounds to me like you may have an in-built digital tuner within your tv set which became the norm on models over the last 10 years or so. Once a UHF tv aerial is plugged in it should find the Irish digital tv/radio channels  once you are in a satisfactory reception area. This sounds more likely to be a Saorview rather than Saorsat.


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## SparkRite (3 Jun 2020)

AwaitYourReply said:


> This sounds more likely to be a Saorview rather than Saorsat.



Even though this thread is over 6 months old, for the sake of clarity...........It can only be Saorview  and not Saorsat as he has connected an aerial and not a satellite dish.


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## conmc01 (6 Jul 2021)

I'm obviously very late to jump on this thread, but I did away with Sky and still have the dish. I've a Sony Bravia 4K and have tried tuning the digital channels. All the UK ones are working, but none of the Irish ones such as RTE, TG4 and Virgin Media. Is it possible to get them?


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## Zenith63 (6 Jul 2021)

Have you plugged the satellite cable into the TV?  If you have then I'd guess you're picking up FreeSat which airs the UK channels but not the Irish ones, which are broadcast from a different satellite on a service called SaorSat.

You could potentially add a second LNB to your satellite to pickup the SaorSat stations and your TV should detect them all.  There might be some messing around required to merge the two signals onto a single cable, not looked into it.

Or much easier is to get an aerial connected to the TV and let it pick up the SaorView stations.  The signal is very strong in most areas so you'll get away with a small internal aerial.

You might be better off contacting a local TV/aerial company and have somebody come and do it, they'll know exactly what is required, otherwise you might need to spend a few days in a boards.ie rabbit hole to figure it out yourself.


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## Buddyboy (6 Jul 2021)

Unless things have changed.
Saorsat, the Irish satellite broadcast is scrambled, so you need sky or similar to view.

Easiest, as Zenith63 said, is get the Irish channels via an aerial (Saorview). The Bravia will have a tuner build in, to find the Irish channels once an aerial is plugged in.  We have an aerial on the roof for the Irish Channels, and a Freeview box plugged into a dish to get the English satellite channels.

I remember a thread or two on this board describing same, which should be easier to find than heading over to boards.
Just search for Saorview


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## Zenith63 (6 Jul 2021)

Buddyboy said:


> Unless things have changed.
> Saorsat, the Irish satellite broadcast is scrambled, so you need sky or similar to view.


The Irish stations are re-broadcast by Sky from their satellite and so are encrypted, you'd need a Sky subscription.  However there is a different satellite that broadcasts the official Saorsat signal which is not encrypted, you just need an appropriate LNB on your dish and receiver in the TV.  Still though, Saorview over an aerial is much easier!


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## SparkRite (6 Jul 2021)

Buddyboy said:


> Unless things have changed.
> Saorsat, the Irish satellite broadcast is scrambled


No, nothing has changed, SaorSat always was and still is FTA ( clue is in the name )and therefore is unencrypted and
is available ( albeit a reduced service, compared to SaorView  )  on Ka Sat at 9 east.


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## tallpaul (6 Jul 2021)

conmc01 said:


> I'm obviously very late to jump on this thread, but I did away with Sky and still have the dish. I've a Sony Bravia 4K and have tried tuning the digital channels. All the UK ones are working, but none of the Irish ones such as RTE, TG4 and Virgin Media. Is it possible to get them?


There are two input feeds (well there are more, but they are not immediately relevant!) on your TV: Digital channels through the RF cable (i.e. an old-fashioned aerial) and through the satellite input. To get the Irish stations, you will need to connect an aerial to the RF socket on the back of the TV, point it in the general direction of your nearest transmitter and search for the stations. For the UK channels, you will need to connect the cable that used to be used for your Sky box and connect into the satellite input on your TV. Again carry out a search for the channels. There will be a lot and many that you can't watch!! There is a piece of software on the Sony support website that will allow you to sort these channels and hide the ones you can't see anyway.

Please note that the digital Irish Stations and the UK satellite stations are coming in on different input feeds and will not be presented together in a unified Electronic Programme Guide (EPG). You will need to switch between these inputs when you want to watch something from the respective feeds.


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## Leo (6 Jul 2021)

If you can live with the RF & satellite approach above, and you don't want an internal RF aerial by the TV you can add an external RF aerial near your dish (depending on the direction of your local transmitter) and switch to an LNB with a combiner. That will send the RF Saorview and satellite signals on a single wire to the TV, at the TV end, use a splitter or splitter wallplate to separate the signals. Alternatively put the RF aerial in the attic and do the combining with the satellite feeds there.


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## conmc01 (6 Jul 2021)

This sounds like the preferred option, but definitely the most complicated one.


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