All posts by Dave Lindsay
Below are all of Dave Lindsay's postings, with the most recent are at the bottom of the page.
ed: It is a bit late for that.
It comes down to the fact that when the that the licencees weren't mandated to provide as full a coverage as the Public Service Broadcasters.
Terrestrial television covers around 98.5% of the population. The cost of transmission for the last 8.5% is about the same as that for transmitting to the 90% who do get the full service.
The Commercial broadcasters (those that don't transmit from "Lite" stations) decided to stick with the 81 biggest transmitters (biggest by viewer population). They operate purely for profit by showing advertising that they sell to as many viewers as possible which they wish to aquire at lowest possible cost. Thus doubling their cost of transmission whilst increasing their potential viewerbases by about 10% doesn't make any sense. This is the basic law of capitalism: if it isn't likely to produce a return, it doesn't get done.
The Commercial broadcasters operate for the benefit of their shareholders in just the same way as any company.
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Pentode321: I agree that it is down to the government and that it isn't an issue with capitalism per se.
But as the government decided that there should be no obligation on these broadcasters to mirror the Public Service Broadcasters' network of transmitters, then a two-tier network is an inevitable outcome due to the laws of capitalism.
The first step down the slippery slope was the introduction in 1997 of Channel 5 with its quasi-national network. The network was engineered so that each transmitter had four channels, but the politicians saw that another one was crammed in with sub-standard results.
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Chris: This is because the UK now has a two-tier terrestrial televsion transmitter network. There are over 1,000 small "filler-in" relay transmitters that carry only the Public Service channels. This is because the Commercial broadcasters (those that aren't available from the Bath transmitter) don't wish to pay to transmit from those sites. Those transmitters serve about 8.5% of the population and the full-service transmitters serve about 90% of the population. The cost of running the the 1,000+ sites is about the same as that of 81 full-service transmitters. As the Commercial broadcasters operate solely to generate profit, they decided that an extra 10% potential viewer-bases was not worthy of double the cost.
I guess that the difficulty you have (as far as receiving the full service from a main station such as Mendip) is that you're in a valley.
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david durney: jb38 replied your previous message on this:
Freeview modes - a simplified explanation | ukfree.tv - 10 years of independent, free digital TV advice
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Chris: That is correct; it is likely to stay as it is.
The only thing I can suggest is that you keep your eyes peeled for Mendip-facing aerials. It is extremely doubful, but never say never. Obviously it is likely that where there is a Mendip aerial (in locations where reception from Bath is much easier) that it has been installed to get the full complement of channels.
Mendip is at 226° from your location and aerials will be horizontal (elements flat) rather than vertical for Bath.
In situations such as yours where it is quite a way off line-of-sight, reception may vary in just a short space, so even if a neighbour can get it (just!), you may not be able to. Similarly, greater height doesn't always mean better reception. So if you do see a Mendip aerial, don't let it get your hopes up too high. It is, of course, always a possibility that reception from Mendip may vary over time. For this reason, it may be wise to retain the Bath aerial as a back-up should you find that you can pick-up from Mendip.
I suggest seeing if there are any Mendip aerials because it is about the only thing you can do. I can't over-emphasise how much of a long shot it might be!
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Chris: One final thing; "if" you do find that you can receive from Mendip, but that reception is poor, such as when it rains or when there's snow on the ground, then it is the case that some tuners are more tolerable of poor signals than others. Where one faulters, another "may" be OK.
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Elliott: The COM channels from Stockland Hill are co-channel (same frequencies) with the PSB channels of Caradon Hill. I think that it is for this reason that Stockland's COMs are at 10kW whereas its PSBs are 20kW.
If you require a high-gain aerial for Stockland Hill, then this should be a Group A one and not a wideband one. Wideband high-gain yagi aerials have much less gain on Group A channels, of which Stockland uses exclusively.
I see that you are on a slope and that the terrain appears to preventing reception from Beacon Hill which is only 5.5 miles away. That is a pity because the Teignmouth relay only carries PSB channels.
For a list of which services are PSB (Public Service Broadcaster) and which are COM (Commercial), see this page (those with a bullet in the "E" for England column apply):
DTG :: DTT Services by Multiplex
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Fred Erridge: The COM channels from Hastings are co-channel (same frequencies) as the PSB relay on the top of South Cliff Tower. Therefore you may find that those channels are intermittant or non-existant.
For a list of which services are PSB (Public Service Broadcaster) and which are COM (Commercial), see this page (those with a bullet in the "E"/England column apply):
DTG :: DTT Services by Multiplex
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Friday 7 September 2012 8:58PM
Derek T: Have you checked that your TV isn't tuned to Caradon Hill instead as it is to within a few degrees of Redruth from your location?