All posts by KEVIN GARDINER
Below are all of KEVIN GARDINER's postings, with the most recent are at the bottom of the page.
K
Sutton Coldfield (Birmingham, England) Full Freeview transmitteThursday 30 January 2014 4:17PM
Stourbridge
Today, I did my usual channel re-scan and noticed that Aljazeera news have two channels on standard Freeview. One news channel in English on channel 83 and on in Arabic on channel 84. However, the Arabic version of the channel is only available from Sutton Coldfield and not from the local re-lay to me Brierley Hill. I wonder if it's the same case elsewhere, i.e., only available from the main transmitters?
On another matter, the local tv channel that is going to be broadcasting on frequency channel 51, channel 8 on standard Freeview, is not going to start broadcasting, at the earliest , till this coming Easter, that being April ,or as late as June from what I've read.
| link to this comment |
K
Brierley Hill (Dudley, England) Full Freeview transmitterWednesday 26 February 2014 8:17PM
Stourbridge
Today, test transmissions for the new local tv channel on standard Freeview by mean's of a test card, started broadcasting today on the Brierley hill re-lay transmitter on channel 791 for a temp period only, till it is moved to it's permanent channel position 8 in the programme channel line-up. around Easter or no later than June this year. Also, recently, the local tv channel has decided to rename the channel prior to launching . They've not, as of yet ,come up with a new name yet for it.
| link to this comment |
K
Sutton Coldfield (Birmingham, England) Full Freeview transmitteSunday 2 March 2014 12:32PM
Stourbridge
I do a channel re-tune at least once a month to see if there's any new carriers for any new and up-coming tv or radio channels. After performing a re-tune, I quickly scanned through the new channel line up, and I can safely say that the reported rumour that there was a audio stream of BBC radio WM on the Brierley Hill transmitter is false. The only new channels to appear in the last week are for the local tv channel and Bonanza on channel 64 and local tv temp position on ch 791.
| link to this comment |
K
Sutton Coldfield (Birmingham, England) Full Freeview transmitteThursday 20 March 2014 1:55PM
Stourbridge
I performed one of my monthly re-tunes to see what is new on Freeview, and today, the local tv test card has been replaced for the time being by children's tv channel " POP" on channel 75 in standard Freeview line-up. Both pop and Bonanza on ch 64 are temporary channels on the local tv com8 multiplex till June, when the local tv channel is launched between Easter and June this year, and the second channel slot is believed to be going to the ABC shopping channel.
| link to this comment |
K
Why the BBC should abandon 700+m "regional news" to fund local Thursday 20 March 2014 6:34PM
Stourbridge
Ian: The BBC 's annual budget is around 3.5 billion pounds I believe, and some 67% of this public funding is spent exclusively on tv programming. The annual licence works out at just 41.22 pence a day for each licence payer. For this, we get the best television service and programming in the world. Plus the BBC are heavily involved in the development of new transmission standard technology, which is being embraced around the world, to give us even sharper, life like tv pictures and channels. Currently working on two HD standards up and above the current HD standard.
Ian, if it bugs you that you don't like paying for a service even if you don't use it, then why not just get ride of your tv and any equipment capable of playing or recording television signals altogether. Write to tv licensing letting them know what you've done, then they may visit you a few times to check you haven't got a tv etc, then once they are satisfied you haven't, then they'll leave you alone.
As for myself, I'd hate the thought of de-regulate commercial tv full of cheap trashy tv shows and adverts every ten minutes or so like they have in U.S.A. I think the status quo suits most uk folk.
| link to this comment |
K
Sutton Coldfield (Birmingham, England) Full Freeview transmitteWednesday 9 April 2014 2:57PM
Stourbridge
I've recently read a technical release about the roll out of the new com7 multiplex. The following information refers to the transmitters which have switched on the new multiplex and have made changes to their ERP.
OXFORD: CH 31. 17.4KW UPTO 16.38KW.
RIDGE HILL: CH32. 6.3KW UPTO 10.54KW.
SUTTON COLDFIELD. CH33: 81.3KW UPTO 89.2KW.
WALTHAM; CH31. 8.7KW UPTO 10.6KW.
| link to this comment |
K
Sutton Coldfield (Birmingham, England) Full Freeview transmitteWednesday 9 April 2014 4:10PM
Stourbridge
SANDY HEATH: CH32. 43.7KW UPTO 49.5KW.
TALCOLNESTON: CH 31. 22.4KW UPTO 27.4KW.
WINTER HILL: CH 31. 24KW UPTO 25.7KW.
CRYSTAL PALACE: CH33. 36.3KW UPTO 43.09KW.
BLUEBELL HILL: CH 32. 3.7KW UPTO 4KW.
HANNINGTON: CH32. 29.5KW UPTO 36.7KW.
ROWBRIGDE HP: CH31. 23.4KW UPTO 24.4KW.
BLACKHILL: CH32. 39.8KW UPTO 42.8KW.
CRAIGKELLY: CH33. 9.3KW UPTO 10.84KW.
BILSDALE: CH31. 17.8KW UPTO 18.48KW.
PONTOP PIKE: CH 33. 33.9KW DOWN TO 33.84KW.
DIVIS: CH33. 10.5KW UPTO 12.4KW.
WENVOE CARDIFF: CH31. 40.7KW UPTO 46.9KW.
BELMONT: CH33. 33.9KW UPTO 37.14KW.
EMLEY MOOR: CH32. 50.1KW UPTO 54.82KW.
Hope that this data will be of use to you Brain.
| link to this comment |
K
Sutton Coldfield (Birmingham, England) Full Freeview transmitteThursday 10 April 2014 4:15AM
Stourbridge
It seems that the projected Erp of the new com 7 multiplex was somewhat under estimated prior to the launch date, and even the start date Erp's of the main transmitters were way out compared to actual erp that was being transmitted, if you look at the table above.Therefore, I'm wondering whether the local tv multiplexes are transmitting higher Erp's than is stated? I'm currently receiving the local tv multiplex on ch51 from SC and the signal strength is 85%. And the signal strength from all the other standard multiplexes is 92% except the com 7 multiplex which is 47%. Now the com 7's erp is 89.2kw, which is just under half that of the full powered multiplexes, so I'm thinking that the local tv multiplex may indeed be somewhat higher than we think it is.
| link to this comment |
John Biggles: The reason for this is because it is just a temporary channel to raise advertising revenue till the local tv channel gets launched. ON the local tv multiplex there are just two channel slots, and when the local tv channel goes on air, the other slot will go to the ABC shopping channel it's reported.
| link to this comment |
Wednesday 22 January 2014 10:48PM
Stourbridge
Just thought that you may like to know this. I made a few test sample recordings in HD from the new Hd multiplex on frequency channel 33. It turns out that the data streams have a rather low bit rate. A recording of a programme I already have in my archive with a bit rate of over 8.000 kb was being transmitted at just over 4,000kbs on BBC 4 Hd. Not only is the low bit rate being applied to BBC4 Hd, but all the other channels on this multiplex are low bit rated also. Anyone else noticed this? And if so, why are they transmitting programmes at 50% data stream?