All posts by Briantist
Below are all of Briantist's postings, with the most recent are at the bottom of the page.
Bill Bullock: Perhaps in 2013/4? There are no plans at the moment, and the BBC is having to make cuts.
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Steve P: Yes, see Local TV on Freeview - new Ofcom maps | ukfree.tv - independent free digital TV advice please.
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MCMLXII: The new local TV services will be provided on a new multiplex in DVB-T, QPSK, rate 2/3, guard interval 1/32 mode.
The services cannot start until switchover is complete - the interleaves are planned into the full new configuration network, so January 2013 is the earliest date.
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Steve P: Re: "They don't seem related to TV regions as we know them".
That is the whole point of the exercise. regional news is all well and good if you happen to live in the city where it is made, but much less so if you don't.
The whole point of this exercise is to provide local TV services that do not follow the BBC and ITV regions.
However, there are constraints.
Firstly, there are no new frequencies available, this means using the "geographical interleave" planning, which restricts the power levels and requires to use of DVB-T, QPSK, rate 2/3, guard interval 1/32, which will provide two TV channels per multiplex at the most.
Secondly, the proximity of transmitters to coverage areas. For example, Emley Moor covers most of the West Yorkshire conurbation, so Leeds gets lumped together with Wakefield, Halifax and Huddersfield, for example. Some places such as Dundee are served by two transmitters. Guildford and Lancaster do have transmitters, but they only serve 30% of the actual local population.
Thirdly, you always have to serve the area between the transmitter and a given target city, the signal is always stronger nearer to the transmitter.
There is no restriction on some of these areas being joined together if needs be, but the principle idea is that this is "local" television.
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Steve P: Even though Moel-y-Parc could serve Chester, people there point at Winter Hill, which is too far distant for low power QPSK to reach.
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jb38: Channel 4 is is on the Eurobird 1 satellite, which are 0.3 degrees out (which is about 220km) from the Astra cluster. A dish that is 100% aligned to 28.2 east will not be 100% aligned to 28.5 east.
It is therefore necessary to actually adopt a position of 28.35 degrees east, which is a compromise position to get the best possible signal for all four birds, Astra 2A, 2B, 2D and Eurobird 1.
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darre: Perhaps you might like to email Richard Desmond at Channel 5 and letting him know?
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Wednesday 10 August 2011 6:48AM
Mike Dimmick: Ah, yes. The mystery of the 81.
At least Pendle Forest is number 52 in terms of homes covered, which justifies the position in the Full Freeview list.
But why not Londonderry (37,000), Kidderminster (33k), Mynydd Machen (31k), Fremont Point (30k), Wrexham Rhos (29k), Luton (29k), Tay Bridge (27k), Poole (27k), Perth (26k), Bath(24k), Hertford (23k)?
Especially as Rumster Foresst (21k), Idle (21k), Pontypool (19k), Hastings (18k), Bristol Kings Weston (18k), Aberdare (18k), Blaenplwyf (17k), Saddleworth (11k), Eitshal (9.9k), Keelylang Hill (9.4k), Bressay (5.3k) and 345th-place Torosay (2.8k) are full-service transmitters.