All posts by Sean Marshall
Below are all of Sean Marshall's postings, with the most recent are at the bottom of the page.
The real answer is probably to switch to VP. I'd be interested to know why you got a HP aerial a year ago. I haven't seen many, so wondering if the average fitter knows about it.
See the info above - the Com muxes are much lower power on hp. We got crap channels subject to interference from France at DSO so the important people in London could have the decent ones. Hence all the VP nonsense.
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Tuesday 14 January 2014 8:58PM
Here is the response I received from Arqiva. I don't think they'll mind me publishing it here - there's nothing private in it...
"Thank you for your email about the new HD services, specifically concerning their absence from the VP antenna at Rowridge. As Head of PR Im not the normal recipient of these enquiries but have spoken to various teams in order to send you the following information.
Arqiva Services Limited was awarded the licence last year for the Television Multiplex Service utilising channels within the 600 MHz band in which the new HD services are carried. The channels licensed for the new HD services are limited to Channels 31, 32, 33, 34, 35 and 37 which is best received on a Group A or a wide band rooftop aerial. Given the limited number of channels available, many of the sites from which the new HD services will broadcast will unfortunately utilise frequency channels outside of the traditional aerial group for the area. Rowridge is still a Group A area and so many viewers should be able to receive the new HD services using a Group A or wide band HP aerial. Where an upgrade has been made to a VP aerial as a result of the installers choice , then regrettably it is unlikely that the new HD services will be received.
The infrastructure for the new HD services has not been funded by Government nor by the TV Licence Fee. The full cost of rolling out the new services has been borne by Arqiva Services Limited as a private company. Arqiva has opted to roll out the new services to the maximum number of sites permissible by Ofcom under the licence, and has exceeded the minimum coverage requirements stipulated by Ofcom in the licence of 50% national coverage, rolling the network out to circa 70% without any governmental assistance. This does include Rowridge, but only from the HP antenna. Both the VP and HP antennas at Rowridge still do give access to a broad range of Freeview services, including simulcast SD versions of all those channels currently being carried in the HD genre, as well as the HD services carried on 101 -104.
With regard to the Rowridge VP broadcasts, the cost of modifying the on-site infrastructure to radiate the new HD services in VP was considered to be excessive given the small number of homes that could be served by it, and unfortunately viewers who only access the Rowridge VP antenna will fall into the 30% of homes nationally which will not receive these new HD services.
We trust that this provides the information you are seeking. "
So there we go - we have our answer. The new channels are only for old aerials.
I can see Arqiva's point from their business point of view. But following this logic, nobody would have ever made a DVD player as DVDs didn't exist at the time. Nobody would have invented a television as there were no programmes to watch on it. Sometimes there has to be a strategy, and you need eggs to make chickens.
We now have a choice of all channels with poor signal quality or FreeviewLiteHD with decent signal quality.
I'm going to think about whether this can be taken further. All thoughts welcome.