All posts by J Peter Wilson
Below are all of J Peter Wilson's postings, with the most recent are at the bottom of the page.
Anthony: I need both DAB and FM to listen to the stations of my choice where we live in East Yorkshire.
I am able to receive a range of radio stations on DAB, such as Premier, UCB UK, Smooth (only available on DAB in Yorkshire), 6Music & Radio 4 Extra, that are not available on analogue radio while on FM I can listen to my local station Yorkshire Coast Radio (YCR).
For us the reception of stations on DAB is far superior to that on FM and this is perhaps due to the fact that all three DAB multiplexes - BBC, Digital 1 & Humberside - have some of their transmitters on Buckton Barn whereas the FM network transmitters are many miles away either on Holme Moss or Belmont. The only exception is YCR that is also on Buckton Barn.
Until all the DAB multiplexes have added their additional transmitters there will be parts of the country that will have patchy reception. I notice that the BBC is still working on adding their additional transmitters in both the Red Rose and White Rose counties which means that when I visit parts of Upper Nidderdale and around Skipton that I also find DAB reception patchy.
Finally it is interesting to note that all our PURE portable DAB/FM radios work fine on their portable power packs but that in some rooms of our home the FM reception on these radio suffers from interference where as the DAB signal is fine.
It therefore is not that one transmission system is superior to another but that for many years to come we will need both DAB and FM in order that we will be able to hear a wide choice of radio stations.
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Brian: I have read on the website of Muxco that DAB will be coming to Somerset as well as North Wales and North Yorkshire by the end of this year - Full Steam Ahead | MuxCo.com - DAB Digital Radio Multiplexes
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My car - Fiat Panda - came with only an AM/FM car radio and so I bought the Fiat car radio unit into which I transferred the JVC DAB/FM/LW/MW from my previous car. I then had a proper DAB/FM/AM antenna installed to replace the previous antenna. I can now listen to DAB national stations and local stations (where there are local multiplexes) as well as local FM stations as I travel across Yorkshire and other parts of the country. I now hardly ever listen to LW or MW.
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The trouble with the existing BBC TV local news service is that for us Yorkshire folk we cannot get a proper Yorkshire service at present as the news areas seemed to have been organised by transmission engineers rather than people who understood the regions of the country. People in Scarborough get a different version of the news from those in Bridlington and Leeds & the southern parts of Harrogate get a different news from those in Ripon & the north parts of Harrogate.
If for instance the Yorkshire area was combined with the same feeds to Belmont, Bilsdale and Emley Moor then The White Rose County would have a proper news coverage. This area could be combined with Newcastle and Teesside while the West & East Midlands/Lincolnshire could be joined together.
Real local news coverage is best done through local radio e.g. Stray FM or Yorkshire Coast Radio.
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I would make the following suggestions:
1. The BBC are currently running trials of shutting down some local radio MW transmitters. This process needs to be extended to all BBC local radio stations in England and the Channel Islands plus, as soon as DAB roll-out reaches 97% of the population, the Radio 5 MW transmitters and the Radio Scotland, Radio Wales and Radio Ulster MW transmitters should also be shut down along with the three LW sites. This would leave all BBC radio broadcasting on a combination of DAB and/or FM.
2. The Radio 1 and Radio 3 FM transmitters should then be shut down as soon as DAB coverage reaches 97% in each of the UK's four nations: switch-off should be done one nation at a time. The FM frequencies released should then be used by Ofcom for community radio. The Radio 2 and then Radio 4 FM networks should then follow. Already Norway, Sweden and Switzerland have fixed dates for analogue radio transmission shut downs.
3. The BBC World Service must be kept. There is a good case for Radio 5 Live taking BBC World Service overnight instead of producing its own programming.
4. Radio stations used to shut down between midnight or 01.00 and 05.00 or 06.00. I would therefore suggest that the following BBC services shut down over night between 01.00 & 05.00:
Asian Network;
Radio 1 & Radio 1 Xtra;
Radio 3;
Radio 4 & Radio 4 Extra;
Radio 6 Music;
Local Radio in England;
Radio Ulster;
Radio Cymru & Radio Wales;
Radio Scotland & Radio Nan Gaidheal.
This would leave the following stations operating 24 hours:
Radio 2;
Radio 5 Live/BBC World Service.
5. There should be more automation on the national music networks Radios 1, 1 Xtra, Radio 3 & Radio 6 Music thus saving on costs outside outside peak listening hours.
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All the questions about when 'local' DAB multiplex transmitters are coming on-air are best answered by looking at the recent Ofcom document 'Extending Local DAB coverage' which you can find, together with the responses, at: Ofcom | Extending local DAB coverage
Also Ofcom are currently evaluating the two bids for the Digital 2 Multiplex Licence (D2) which is a national licence whose national coverage will be around 70 to 80% of the UK population. It therefore not have as comprehensive coverage as the BBC's national multiplex (12B) which has an aim of reaching 97% of the UK population or the Digital 1 (D1) national multiplex (11D & 12A) which aims to reach or better the Classic FM analogue coverage at around 90% of the UK population. This new D2 service, due on-air in mid-2016, will therefore not reach some parts of the country on its 11A allocation but some of the programme services on the winning bid may wish to supplement their coverage by adding their service to some Local DAB Multiplexes.
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Chris Barker: Ofcom are currently evaluating the two bids for the Digital 2 Multiplex Licence (D2) which is a national licence whose national coverage will be around 70 to 80% of the UK population.
It therefore will not have as comprehensive coverage as the BBC's national multiplex (12B) which has an aim of reaching 97% of the UK population or the Digital 1 (D1) national multiplex (11D & 12A) which aims to reach or better the Classic FM analogue coverage at around 90% of the UK population.
As both D1 and D2 are commercial operations, unlike the BBC, they need to provide transmission facilities that their programme providers can afford. In the case of the D2 bids they will be using between 42 to 45 transmitters compared to over 140 used by D1 and the BBC's national DAB network uses over 280 transmitters.
This new D2 service, due on-air in mid-2016, will therefore aim at cities and other major population centres but will not reach some parts of the country on its 11A allocation. However some of the programme services on the winning bid may wish to supplement their D2 coverage by adding their service to some Local DAB Multiplexes in the parts of the UK not covered by D2 if they feel that some non-city areas are financially attractive to their advertisers or from where they receive financial support if they are a mainly listener-supported operation such as some of the faith-based stations.
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Bob: You said, "So, when FM is is restricted to local radio and we are all drowning in "choice", will the Murdoch empire and its friends and clients permit us to hear anything other than pop music, adverts and sport?"
There is the recent matter over the carriage contact renewal of Premier Christian Radio on D1 and the proposed action by the multiplex operator - Arqiva - to decide to not renew Premier's transmission contract on reasonable terms. In this case, without intervention by MPs and the Minster in an Adjournment Debate on 11 February 2015, there could have been the possible replacement of a majority speech radio station by another variant of an existing pop music format which would have reduced listener choice.
Therefore is the current method the best way to organise the licensing of DAB multiplexes to ensure that a wide variety of programme services are provided? This is a matter that some people, including myself, feel that Government needs to re-consider in the light of what may have happened and that safeguards need to be strengthen to allow Ofcom power to intervene in similar circumstances in the future.
Rob: Yes new radios showing DAB+ should be future proofed and I notice that both the bids for D2 have some DAB+ services in their proposed programme line-ups.
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rb01: Both D1 and D2 are commercial operations and unlike the BBC they need to provide transmission facilities that their programme providers can afford.
It is the important point to note that all commercial radio stations have to make a profit and therefore the number of transmitters has to be at a cost that is viable for the radio stations to cover the appropriate percentage of the UK population that fits in with their business plans.
Now with two national DAB transmitter networks - D1 covering 90% of the UK population and D2 planning to cover 75% of the UK population - they now will have a choice. The BBC, as they are supported with a TV Licence Fee, can afford to build out their network to cover 97% of the UK population.
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Thursday 8 May 2014 7:03AM
I live in an area of Yorkshire where I receive DAB services with a signal strength for the BBC National, Digital 1 and Humberside muxes at 100% on our home DAB/FM Pure radios - kitchen, bathroom etc - but only 85% for the Yorkshire mux.
All these DAB/FM radios on a rescan this week show an extra station but only Smooth Radio UK (Digital 1) at 80 kbps and 100% signal strength shows up on the station listing and not Smooth Radio (Yorkshire mux) at 128 kbps and presumably at around 85% signal strength. All the radios have all the other stations from the Yorkshire mux including Capital Yorkshire, Heart Yorkshire and the UCB stations showing on the station listing and I can tune into these stations but not Smooth from this regional mux.
I have not come across this before as in the case where Gold was on both the Humberside mux and the Yorkshire mux I was able to tune into both transmissions and similarly in the West Midlands where I could receive BBC WM both from the Birmingham and Wolverhampton muxes.
I wonder if it is something to do with the codings on the respective Smooth services.
Has anyone any thoughts?