Clermont Carn (Irish: Carnán Mhaighréid Náir, meaning 'cairn of noble Margaret'),[1] also known as Black Mountain, is a mountain that rises to 510 metres (1,670 ft) in the Cooley Mountains of County Louth, Ireland. It is at the border with Northern Ireland, and is also the location of the Clermont Carn transmission site. The mountain's name refers to an ancient burial cairn on its summit, and to Lord Clermont of Ravensdale.[1]
| Clermont Carn | |
|---|---|
| Carnán Mhaighréid Náir | |
 Clermont Carn summit. | |
| Highest point | |
| Elevation | 510 m (1,670 ft)[1] |
| Prominence | 312 m (1,024 ft)[1] |
| Coordinates | 54°04′48″N 6°19′17″W / 54.0801°N 6.3215°W |
| Naming | |
| Language of name | Irish |
| Geography | |
  Clermont Carn Location in Ireland | |
| Location | Louth, Ireland |
| Parent range | Cooley Mountains |
Cairn
editThe 'carn' in the mountain's name refers to an ancient burial monument on its summit,[2][3] also known as 'Black Mountain Chambered Cairn' or 'Ravensdale Park Cairn'. This cairn is 21 m (69 ft) in diameter and over 4 m (13 ft) high, with the remains of another trapezoidal cairn 3.5 m (11 ft) long in the southwest part. Three lintels are in position and the rear part is corbelled. Surrounding this was a court (5.5 × 7 m) and a gallery containing at least two burial chambers.[4]
It was built in the early Neolithic, c. 4000–3500 BC, and forms part of the Clyde-Carlingford group of court cairns. In recent decades the site has been disturbed by quarrying and blasting.[5][6] It is a protected National Monument.[7][8]
Transmission site
edit
The Clermont Carn transmission site is situated at the summit of Clermont Carn and was opened in 1981 to provide UHF television coverage for the northeast of the Republic of Ireland, counties Louth, Meath, and North County Dublin.
With the site being less than two kilometres (1.2 mi) from the border it was clear that this transmitter would be used to provide RTÉ services into Northern Ireland. Initially the two channels RTÉ One and RTÉ2 were carried on Ch52 and Ch56 with TV3 on Ch66 and TG4 on Ch68 following later. FM radio transmission was also added providing coverage of the five national channels to its service area, and in 1982, a 2M Amateur Radio Repeater was installed.[9] In 2002, a new 120-metre-tall (390 ft) cable-stayed mast was erected and this greatly improved coverage into Northern Ireland. The original self-supporting tower was truncated, and is now only used for microwave links and the Amateur Radio Repeater.
Digital terrestrial television (DTT) trials started in 2008, and in common with all 2RN transmitters in Ireland, analogue television transmissions from this site ended on 24 October 2012.[10] Uniquely, Clermont Carn is the only main television transmitter in Ireland that is vertically polarised, and does not service any relay transmitters. Today the Irish digital television service Saorview is broadcast from here to a sizeable area including a large tract of Northern Ireland, with a good signal being received in Belfast and beyond. This overspill has been welcomed by the UK's Ofcom who have provided information for viewers in Northern Ireland about receiving the RTÉ channels and TG4 both from within Northern Ireland on the UK's Freeview service, and via the Saorview overspill.[11]
Current Transmissions
editDigital television
edit| Frequency | UHF | ERP | Multiplex | Pol |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 642 MHz | 42 | 160 kW | 2RN 1 | V |
| 666 MHz | 45 | 160 kW | 2RN 2 | V |
Analogue television
editAll services ceased October 24th, 2012. [12] (PAL-I UHF)
| Frequency | UHF | kW | Service |
|---|---|---|---|
| 719.25 MHz | 52 | 250 kW | RTÉ One |
| 751.25 MHz | 56 | 250 kW | RTÉ Two |
| 831.25 MHz | 66 | 250 kW | TV3 |
| 847.25 MHz | 68 | 250 kW | TG4 |
Digital Radio
editCeased on 31st of March, 2021. [13]
| Frequency | Block | kW | Operator |
|---|---|---|---|
| 227.360 MHz | 12C | 5 kW [14] | DAB Ireland Mux 1 |
FM radio
edit| Frequency | ERP | Service |
|---|---|---|
| 87.8 MHz | 40 kW | RTÉ Radio 1 |
| 95.2 MHz | 40 kW | RTÉ lyric fm |
| 97.0 MHz | 40 kW | RTÉ 2fm |
| 102.7 MHz | 40 kW | RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta |
| 105.5 MHz | 80 kW | Today FM |
| 107.9 MHz | 4 kW | Newstalk |
Amateur radio
edit| Frequency | ERP | Service |
|---|---|---|
| 145.675 MHz (Output) 145.075 MHz (Input) CTCSS 110.9 Hz | 15 W | EI2CCR 2m 12.5 kHz Repeater (Dundalk Amateur Radio Society www.ei7dar.com) |
Gallery
edit-
Approach road to Clermont summit -
Summit seen from Church Hill Road Jonesborough County Armagh -
Mast seen from the N1 road -
Top of mast -
The transmitter building
References
edit- ^ a b c d "Cooley Area - Clermont Carn". MountainViews.ie. Retrieved 23 July 2008.
- ^ Somers, Dermot (4 October 2012). Endurance: Heroic Journeys in Ireland. O'Brien Press. ISBN 9781847175205 – via Google Books.
- ^ Herity, Michael (1 January 1975). Irish passage graves: neolithic tomb-builders in Ireland and Britain, 2500 B.C. Barnes & Noble Books. ISBN 9780064928403 – via Google Books.
- ^ "Ravensdale Park Passage Tomb". Megalithic Monuments of Ireland.
- ^ "Ravensdale Park Court Tomb".
- ^ "Clermont Carn 510m mountain, Cooley/Gullion Cooley Mountains Ireland at MountainViews.ie".
- ^ Cooney, Gabriel (6 December 2012). Landscapes of Neolithic Ireland. Routledge. ISBN 9781135108557 – via Google Books.
- ^ Cunningham, Noreen; McGinn, Pat (1 January 2001). The Gap of the North: The Archaeology & Folklore of Armagh, Down, Louth, and Monaghan. O'Brien Press. ISBN 9780862787073 – via Google Books.
- ^ Dundalk Amateur Radio Society. "EI2CCR Repeater". www.ei7dar.com. Archived from the original on 27 August 2013. Retrieved 7 March 2013.
- ^ "Analogue consigned to broadcasting history". The Irish Times. 25 October 2012. Retrieved 12 June 2012.
- ^ Ofcom. "Digital Terrestrial TV Coverage Map of TG4 and RTÉ in Northern Ireland" (PDF). Ofcom. Archived from the original (PDF) on 24 October 2012. Retrieved 6 November 2012.
- ^ https://www.rte.ie/archives/exhibitions/681-history-of-rte/709-rte-2010s/362294-irish-analogue-television-broadcasting-comes-to-an-end/
- ^ https://www.rte.ie/news/ireland/2021/0302/1200334-rte-dab-network/
- ^ https://www.wohnort.org/dab/ireland.html#National