All posts by KMJ, Derby
Below are all of KMJ, Derby's postings, with the most recent are at the bottom of the page.
John Mitchell: There are no plans at the present time to transmit BBC4HD from Heathfield. Unless you are able to get a sniff of a signal direct from Crystal Palace (try a manual tune on C33) the only way of receiving BBC4HD at your location is via satellite.
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Stevie D: Are you sure that your receiver is in fact tuned to the correct frequencies for the Oxford transmitter? If the aerial is pointing to Beckley
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Stevie D: If the aerial is pointing to Beckley the signals from Mendip are arriving from directly behind the aerial. As Mendip frequencies are found before the corresponding Oxford frequencies on the SD muxes, when scanning for channels, it is quite possible that some of them could have been stored in error. This could make viewing the affected services less reliable when slight changes occur to the weather causing the signal strength to drop below the threshold required for stable reception. .
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john: BBC4 HD is already supposed to be available from Sutton Coldfield. I say "supposed" as there have been a number of posts suggesting that the new COM7 mux is not loading correctly on some equipment. What happens if you do a manual tune to C33 for Sutton Coldfield? Incidentally Waltham is not due to transmit COM7 until about March 2014, although it could of course appear sooner if good progress continues to be made with the roll-out.
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Pw69: Ofcom recently gave permission for Lincs FM to be removed from the Humberside DAB multiplex
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ads: The Cane Hill transmitter is shown as being off-air since 9.30pm. If you have lost channels from your channel list due to re-tuning with no signal present you will need to re-tune again when service resumes.
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David Mansell: There are insufficient frequencies available for every service to be received on every kind of tuner throughout the UK. That is why satellite reception is suggested as a way of receiving many of the extra options that could be required. For example the licence fee also pays for BBC Scotland or BBC Wales, but these are only available on Freeview in their respective countries. For that matter the BBC Asian network is only available on medium wave in selected cities, forcing listeners to use DAB (where available) for mobile listening. Increasingly TV will be regarded as a satellite delivered service, with extra coverage for selected services on Freeview and cable in areas of greater population.
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David Mansell: The last sentence is a (vague) reference to possible developments in the future. Ofcom is considering what would happen if even more spectrum is transfered to usage by mobile devices. There is already a plan for the possible transfer of C49 to C60 from Freeview to 4G/5G from about 2018. This is why broadcasters and regulators are keen for viewers to buy DVB-T2 equipment or install satellite receivers so that fewer UHF frequencies are required to maintain Freeview coverage. Ofcom are considering possible longer term options which would see the spectrum available for Freeview reduced further, or even a total cessation of Freeview with TV services delivered by satellite or on-line. A look at the situation in Germany where just PSB services now use both UHF and satellite, with commercial services only using satellite -SD is free-to-air, HD is subscription, might be an indication of future developments in this country. Arqiva has already said that we might run out of frequencies in the UK with the 2018 plans - so what happens to relays that can't be accommodated?
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Thursday 12 December 2013 10:05PM
Richard E: It is unlikely, unless there is a change of heart by Ofcom or political pressure to increase coverage of COM 7. As it is the plans are to reduce the spectrum used for Freeview even further around 2018, meaning that some relays might have to be housed initially in the C31 to C37 zone. There is then discussion taking place to transfer all or most TV viewing to satellite or internet usage. What, if any, DTT could be retained in such an event to provide a back-up service remains to be seen.