All posts by Mike Dimmick
Below are all of Mike Dimmick's postings, with the most recent are at the bottom of the page.ParishPete: No. There are no free frequencies to launch any new multiplexes, and there's really no time to plan anything at this point - particularly with having built an entirely new transmitting mast at Tacolneston.
Considering that several TV regions have already switched over and launched HD services, there's really nothing to test - particularly since the HD services are taking over BBC One's current analogue frequency.
The switchover programme is complicated, with lots of dependencies between sites. If power is increased or a new service added at one site, it causes additional interference for viewers using another site. Some sites have to have some early retunes in order to free up frequencies for other sites to use, and those sites are farther apart than you might think. The Waltham transmitter near Melton Mowbray will change frequencies twice, for two different multiplexes, at the end of March and mid-April, in order to free up frequencies for The Wrekin transmitter (between Telford and Shrewsbury, about 75 miles away) to start using a week later.
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stuart arbon: While the Digital UK 'Planned Engineering Works' page shows all services 'Liable to interruption', I'd be surprised if any work was being done on a Saturday afternoon. Any outdoor works are done in daylight and usually on weekdays. A transmitter failure would affect all 1.8 million homes using this transmitter.
Did your aerial installer install an amplified splitter? I think the most likely explanation is that the power supply to such a splitter has been turned off or that the fuse to it has blown. My next best guess is that the cable's connection to the aerial was not made securely and it has worked loose. Check for the splitter's power first.
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Jack: UKTV runs Dave, Yesterday and G.O.L.D on Freeview. UKTV is a joint venture between BBC Worldwide and Virgin Media (currently, though they're trying to sell their 50% stake). They don't have rights to show any Star Trek series at present, as far as we know.
'Channel One' was run by Sky, who bought it from Virgin Media when they sold off their wholly-owned channels.
Slots on Freeview - that is, the actual bandwidth to transmit in - are auctioned whenever they become available. You can find Arqiva's rules for Mux C and D at GUIDELINES FOR FAIR, REASONABLE AND NON-DISCRIMINATORY ALLOCATION OF CAPACITY ON ARQIVA SERVICES LIMITED DTT MULTIPLEXES . I believe there is currently one unused slot available on switched-over Mux C (ArqA), which is matched with a slot on Mux B in regions that haven't yet switched over - the BBC and Arqiva asked for permission to do this, matching the permission granted for Sky Sports 1 and 2 to run on Mux B/ArqB.
Challenge is on Mux A, run by SDN which is a subsidiary of ITV plc. For competition reasons they are also required to be fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory, but I can't find a reference document. That means that if a slot became available, there would be a bidding process.
Even if Sky closed Challenge, and Logical Channel Number (LCN) 20 became available, and UKTV decided to set up such a channel (and acquire the content to put on it), there's no guarantee that the channel would get LCN 20. Channel numbers are allocated by DMOL, a joint company owned by all six multiplex operators. Their policy for allocating LCNs is at DTT Multiplex Operators Limited LCN Policy
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Freesat reception - all about dishes | Free satellite - generalTuesday 15 February 2011 1:05PM
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daniel: I suspect your Freesat box is connected to your TV via HDMI? Most likely those channels are signalling the 'copy protected' flag. This causes the box to turn off digital outputs if the device it's connected to isn't considered trusted, using the HDCP protection.
TVs marked 'HD Ready' are supposed to do HDCP correctly, but there's a chance that there's a problem with it, or that the box only does HDCP handshaking when the channel is sending the 'copy protected' flag, and the TV isn't expecting it at this point. You could try unplugging the HDMI lead from the TV and plugging it back in. If you're using a computer monitor, it's possible that the monitor doesn't do HDCP at all.
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James: I think ITV have limited the number of actual ITV1+1 regions due to the limited number of slots available on satellite. It looks like they're using their macro advertising regions in the West, and in the East and South East. You can see the macros at
ITV Media -
. The West macro-region is made up from the old Wales, West and Westcountry regions, and they appear to have chosen the Wales region's service.
The North appears to be split east/west, though it's not clear to me exactly how they've divided it up - whether Border goes along with Granada or with Yorkshire (West). I would expect the Tyne Tees area to be getting Yorkshire West.
Some more populous/affluent regions are divided into micro-regions, each of which has its own satellite service for ITV1, but they're based on the coverage areas of the terrestrial transmitters. News service areas are built up from these micro-regions. It appears that ITV1 local news in your area was retitled 'The West Country Tonight' in their last shakeup, but it's still subdivided into 'east' (formerly HTV West) and 'west' (formerly Westcountry).
The current regional ITV1+1 lineup on satellite is:
Central West (covering Central)
London
Granada (plus Border?)
Meridian South (covering Meridian and Anglia, some sources say Meridian SE)
Wales (covers Wales, West, Westcountry - encrypted)
Yorkshire West (covers Yorkshire, Tyne Tees and maybe Border) (RG47SH)
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Briantist: now that C39 and C40 aren't going to be cleared, can you add them back to the list in the 'switchover complete' box below the map?
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My high gain aerial can't get all the Freeview channels I eTuesday 15 February 2011 11:29PM
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H Akin: you don't have a particularly good option now, but the Heathfield transmitter is probably your best bet.
You need a wideband aerial to get the BBC and ITV/C4/C5 multiplexes before switchover. After switchover, the public-service channels will be within the former analogue aerial group, but the commercial channels will be below it and you probably still need a wideband or semi-wideband (group E) to receive them reliably. You will need a fairly high-gain aerial at present, but you have a very high probability of reliable reception after switchover with your existing aerial. If your current analogue reception is very good, you may not need to change it.
Amplifiers usually do nothing useful. They amplify the noise as much as the signal, and add extra noise of their own. If the level is marginal at the aerial's terminals, a low-gain amplifier offsetting the losses in the cable can help. Always go for an aerial with higher gain before adding amplifiers, though.
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Hugh Monro: As far as we know, never. Basically, the commercial multiplex operators - ITV3 is carried on the COM4/SDN multiplex - have decided it's too expensive to transmit from all the relays, and concentrated only on the 81 sites that they broadcast from before switchover.
Please see 'Freeview Light' for more details.
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abbey television: and no, it will only provide the three public-service multiplexes. The commercial multiplex operators have turned down the option to broadcast from any more sites than the 81 main transmitters they already broadcast from.
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Thursday 10 February 2011 10:48PM
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Pete: I have 5 muxes right now from CP on a roof aerial, 39 miles away. Mux A isn't working, but this is the one that works least well, typically. The aerial is an 18-element contract type, and the cabling runs down to the downstairs flat, through a booster, and up to mine.
I admit that Mux 1 has been pretty erratic over the last couple of months.