All posts by Nicholas Willmott
Below are all of Nicholas Willmott's postings, with the most recent are at the bottom of the page.
Thank you for putting up the spooky sounds video; that's exactly what I meant by MW sounds "hossily" after dark. From my experience, that tends to happen only after dark.
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Do any DAB radios tune in the 88 to 108 MHz range?
How about this idea to re-use various bands:
1) Switch off all analogue transmissions on 88 to 108 MHz.
2) Move all the DAB muxes from the current band III range into the current 88 to 108 MHz range. Obviously this move will render most DAB radios obsolete. Still they could take advantage and transmit using DAB+ instead of DAB in the 88 to 108 MHz as everyone is forced to replace their digital radios.
3) Put 4G LTE in the band III space currently used for DAB - it would then be well away from the range used for DTT.
4) That would allow the 800 MHz band (UHF channels 61 to 68) to be used for DTT. They could then ensure that every UK transmitter has 4 muxes as follows: BBCA - old BBC1 analogue frequency, BBCB - old BBC2 analogue frequency, D3&4 old ITV frequency and SDN old C4/S4C frequency. Arq A, Arq B and perhaps an extra mux could perhaps be slotted in at the current 80 "full Freeview" sites.
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I've recently found out from the internet that the Cheddar self-help relay is no longer in use, and Cheddar is served by Stockland Hill, thereby giving it the south west regional news (BBC Spotlight) rather than the more appropriate west regional news (BBC Points West). If the Cheddar relay served 1674 homes, why was it a self-help relay in the first place? Surely a relay serving 1674 homes should have been an official one; many official ones were built around the UK to serve around 1000 homes, or even less.
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I've said in various other places, circa 2005/2006 I saw a list of 120 then analogue-only relays, which were earmarked to get all 6 muxes at switchover. Bath relay was one of them, which is why I was particularly annoyed that it ended up getting 3 muxes just like some of the smaller relays in the Mendip transmitter group. Bath relay serves 24,000 homes, which is more than some main transmitters; e.g. Rumster Forest (Highland, Scotland) serves 21,000 homes and transmits all 6 muxes, Keelylang Hill serves just 9,400 homes yet carries all 6 muxes.
At the very least, all relays which served 20,000 or more homes should have been made to provide all 6 muxes, and ideally all relays which served 15,000 or more homes should have been made to have all 6 muxes.
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You say about not using C60 to C69 for RF modulation because that range will now be used for 4G LTE. Actually you really mean C61 to C69 as the range to avoid for RF modulation as C60 is still being used for Freeview. If people shouldn't use C61 to C69 for RF modulation now due to that range being reserved for 4G LTE, how come VCR manufacturers set modulators to C36 or C37 in the 1980s at the same time as C35 to C38 were reserved for non broadcasting purposes?
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OK, so they're currently using:
101 BBC One HD
102 BBC Two HD
103 ITV1 HD
104 Channel 4 HD
So wouldn't it be more sensible to have
107 BBC Three HD
170 CBBC HD
In other words, 100 higher than the equivalent SD version.
That'll leave placeholders for the other BBC channels:
109 BBC Four HD
171 CBeebies HD
180 BBC News HD
181 BBC Parliament HD
and (if they want it)
105 Channel 5 HD
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Which MUX are BBC Four HD / CBeebies HD (presumably they'll timeshare one stream) and BBC News HD (which will have to be a separate stream) going to be on - COM 7 or COM 8? Considering that'll be just two streams, there'll still be room for Channel 5 HD, ITV2 HD, More 4 HD, E4 HD and Film 4 HD, plus others, will there not?
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Do you mean 5 slots on COM 7 plus 5 slots on COM 8? I wouldn't have thought there'd be room for 10 slots on one mux.
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Why won't Stockland Hill be getting COM 7 and COM 8? Looking at the COM 7 and COM 8 coverage for other transmitters, it seems all of Exeter won't be able to get COM 7 or COM 8 from Wenvoe, Mendip, Beacon Hill or Caradon Hill. Surely the two new HD muxes ought to be on Stockland Hill as well.
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Wednesday 28 August 2013 12:13PM
If they switch off analogue radio on the VHF/FM band 88 to 108 MHz, could that same band be re-used for DAB muxes? Obviously DAB receivers would then have to be made capable of tuning in the 88 to 108 MHz range as well as the range currently used for DAB.