A city between the river and the hills
Tortosa spreads along both banks of the Ebro, with the Els Ports massif behind it. That valley geography means television reception depends a great deal on where each building stands: in open ground the signal arrives without trouble, while in hemmed-in streets or in houses at the foot of a slope it can come in weaker, or with reflections that cause intermittent dropouts. So in Tortosa we measure before proposing anything; changing an aerial without knowing what it is receiving is money thrown away.
Buildings in Remolins, El Temple and the centre
In the older districts, such as Remolins and the streets of the centre, and in Sant Jaume or El Temple, there are many associations whose communal installations were put in before ICT existed. They tend to share the same problems:
- Veteran amplifiers with no filter for the 700 MHz band, which have been overloading since 5G arrived.
- Damaged coaxial cable in light wells and on facades.
- Sockets receiving different levels: the first-floor neighbour sees everything and the top-floor one does not.
- Door entry systems with panels for which no spares exist.
We work with committee chairs and property managers to renew the installation in an orderly way: the head-end first, meaning aerial, filter and programmable central unit, then the distribution and the sockets. To see what that covers, have a look at communal TV aerials. When the entry system gives trouble, we change it for a 2-wire or IP video entry system.
Ferreries and the right bank
Ferreries, across the river, mixes blocks of flats with streets of lower houses. In the blocks the work resembles that of the centre; in the houses the norm is an individual aerial and, quite often, a satellite dish for channels from Hispasat 30° W or Astra 19.2° E. We are also asked for cameras in entrance halls, shops and stores, with a recorder and phone access, within what the data protection rules allow. It is explained under CCTV.
Jesús, Bítem, Campredó and the other villages
The municipality of Tortosa is very large and takes in villages such as Jesús, Bítem, Campredó, Els Reguers and Vinallop, as well as country houses scattered among orchards and olive groves. Detached homes with their own aerial dominate here. The typical faults are aerials shifted by the mestral wind, rusted masts and long cable runs crossing the plot.
In houses away from the village, the key is finding the aerial position with the best signal quality. If terrestrial will not arrive reliably, satellite reception can be an alternative for the main channels.
Shops, businesses and industrial units
Tortosa is the Baix Ebre capital, with plenty of retail and a good deal of farming and industry. In shops and stores we are asked for two things above all: cameras covering entrances, the till and loading areas, and access control by card, fob or code, so nobody has to rely on cut keys. In large units we also look at wifi coverage, because IP cameras and point-of-sale terminals need a stable network across the whole site.
Planned visits to Terres de l’Ebre
Let us be straight about it: Tortosa is not next door to Salou. So we do not work here on immediate call-outs but on planned visits. The process runs like this:
- You write to us explaining the fault and sending photos.
- We assess it remotely, working out what may be happening and what materials to bring.
- We suggest a date, grouping jobs in the area together.
- We measure and quote on the visit, free of charge.
- We repair and check the signal with the field meter before leaving.
That way the journey earns its keep and there is a far better chance of settling the matter in a single visit. On the same route we look after Amposta and Deltebre.