RTE CONSIDERED building a 50 kilowatt transposer in Omeath, Co Louth, in the late 1960s, in order to boost reception of the station in the North.
A feasibility study on extending television and radio reception was sent to the Department of the Taoiseach in September, 1969 by RTE's assistant director, Mr Frank O'Connor.
At the time, the RTE signal was "reasonably well received" in the western parts of Counties Derry, Tyrone and Fermanagh, and in the extreme eastern part of Co Down, according to the study. It was not available in Belfast and in other densely populated areas.
The cost of the Omeath transposer was put at £100,000 to £120,000. It was also proposed to increase the power of another transposer at Moville from 2 kw to between 5 and 10 kw, at a cost of £10,000. Both would be operational within two years and increase coverage of RTE in the North to 80-90 per cent of the viewing public.
The Minister for Posts and Telegraphs, Mr Paddy Lalor, wrote to the Taoiseach, Mr Jack Lynch, on November 11th, 1969, saying that he had established a "special committee" to deal with the matter, comprising two senior officers from his Department and two from RTE.
"I am afraid that it is already quite clear that there can be no quick solution to the problem," he wrote. "On the television side, for example, only a marginal improvement of penetration into the Six County area could be achieved with existing plant. A new station capable of reaching ordinary receiving sets in Belfast would take about two years to establish and would involved a number of questions apart from the obvious technical and financial ones."
In another note the previous month, the Minister referred to a petition in 1966 by Irish people in London which asked for improved Raidio Eireann transmissions across the Irish Sea.
"This was sent to RTE but no acknowledgement was made and nothing was done," Mr Lalor wrote.