All posts by John Ramsbottom
Below are all of John Ramsbottom's postings, with the most recent are at the bottom of the page.
I'm another Anorak I'm afraid. It brings memories of the 405 system going off although that happened all at once. I've been having a last look at Ceefax (apart form the odd occassions when I may still see it eslsewhere). When the first part of the changeover happened two weeks ago I drove past the Thetford mast near where I live and was suprised to see no engineers vehicles there. I later realised that as Thetford probably follows Tacolneston in some way, this made sense as the same channels are being used new and old systems and presumably the same equipment is being used. Can anyone please tell me if the same equipment is being used at the repeater transmitters. I realise that the power is supposed to be lower for the digital system so I presume this requires a real person on site to do this at some point. I used to work for BBC Radio but have always had an interest in TV engineering as well.
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BBC1 analogue at Thetford and presumably also Tacolneston, went off at 23.48. I was feeling nostalgic and taking a photo of a Ceefax page and realised at the same time that the Ceefax clock wasn't changing. I then suddenly realised that the normal picture and sound had gone. Fortunately my TV held the Ceefax page for the camera which was rather handy. With the time now at about 00.05 CH4 has just gone off and I've found that ITV has also gone. The end of an era for East Anglia.
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I admire your efforts Mark to try and see when the various switch-offs would take place. I doubt you ruined anyone's viewing though. Having said that there were two interesting looking films on ITV and Ch4 (analogues) that I can't see now!
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Ok Mark. You sound as though you were a bit like me when you were younger. I used to fiddle around with valve black & white TVs (405/625) in the 70s and worked for BBC radio in the 80s. Regarding the digital switchover, it is clearly working better in some areas than others. I wasn't aware of the situation in Sudbury although I won't be able to get the SDN, ArqA and ArqB Muxes at all as Thetford won't be radiating these. I note with interest that the main multiplexes seem to be using the analogue channels post switchover which seems to make much sense given that these frequencies were worked out very carefully in the 60s and have been found to work together generally ok. This would also make dealing with the repeaters much easier and I have a feeling that the repeaters are using the same equipment pre and post switchover given that engineers have not generally been present at these during switchover nights.
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I forgot to say that D3+4 mux is now operating in Thetford and presumably Tacolneston. I can't see any sign of the BBCB mux but this may be because it looks like an HD only service. I can now see Channel 5 for the first time (at home) since it came into service although of course I may not like the programmes! Actually I did see a bit of it on the night it started by taking a portable tv in the car and driving nearer to Tacolneston. That must seem seriously nerdy!
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Yes Mark, yes some Thetford households have been receiving Tacolneston even with the (until now) reduced power of the digtal system. It generally depends on the height of the property above sea level. I'm quite low down but some of my neighbours received it using a high gain aerial on a high pole but even then it was iffy at times. They may as well continue to use Tacolneston as the signal is stronger anyway now and there are the extra muxes. I don't watch much TV so will probably stay on Thetford for the moment. It seems odd and a bit sad not being able to see the Ceefax weather this morning (although I took a photo of Wednesdays day and night forecast page yesterday!!). The digital text is ok but seems take longer to sort itself out than teletext. I also find the tendancy of only using a small part of the page for text on the digital system rather annoying.
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I've done another scan and am surprised find I can now also receive the SDN multiplex fron Tacolneston on C42 with a decent signal level. I'm surprised because my aerial is pointing pretty much the wrong way! The fact that this channel is nearer to my aerial group than the other Tacolneston channels probably helps a lot.
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Wednesday 9 November 2011 7:53PM
I'm getting fine reception of the first digital mux here in Thetford. My house is quite low so I can only receive the Thetford transmitter. The analogue reception has been excellent over the years with some visitors being surprised they were watching an analogue picture. Obviously I'll be running 'dual standard' for the next few weeks, bringing Memories of 405/625 toggling many years ago when switching between BBC2 and the other two channels. It seems appropriate that BBC 2 is the fist analogue channel to go off as it was also the first channel to use the 625 system in 1964 (BBC1 and Ch4 didn't use 625 until a few years later).