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Northampton and Herts, Beds and Bucks DAB muxes to split
Robert Williams
Posts: 2,213 Forum Member
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Haven't seen this mentioned here yet: Radio Today http://radiotoday.co.uk/2015/01/dab-splits-in-herts-beds-bucks-and-northants/ and a516 http://www.a516digital.com/2015/01/changes-to-local-dab-in-northampton.html are reporting that the Northampton and HBB muxes are to go their separate ways from next month. This means that, for example, Radio Northampton and 3CR will only be available in their respective areas. Only Sunrise and Connect FM will remain the same on both muxes.
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former Chiltern Radio North
former Chiltern Radio South
former Horizon Radio
The original Chiltern Radio North (also known as Chiltern Radio Ouse Valley), was on 95.5 (then 96.9) and 792 kHz MW. This serves Bedford
The original Chiltern Radio South was on 97.6 MHz and 828 kHz MW. It was 828 that was the Supergold on Sky News in the anlalogue sky days.
I was under the impression that the current arrangements are that on MW
792 has different ads to 828 and,
on VHF
96.9 has different ads to 97.6
and 103.3 (the former Horizon Radio) is also different ads.
I also had the impression that DAB listeners on both muxes got a copy of 828 kHz (Chiltern South version), and 103.3 (the former Horizon Radio). This is probably because Milton Keynes was the host feed in the days of "The Hot FM" so it became the host feed for the whole of the 4 Counties network.
Despite this, before Chiltern became Heart, 96.9, 97.6 and 103.3 were all different, and 792 and 828 were also different for ads on MW.
The licence changes on the Ofcom website still show that 828 kHz will be the version for Smooth 4 Counties mux, but for Heart it still says a simulcast of either AL010 or AL012 - which is either Horizon Radio OR Chiltern.
So please can someone tell me -
1: What version of Heart is on DAB on Northampton and HBB muxes at the moment?
2: Are the adverts still different on the different frequencies - particularly 96.9 and 97.6, as Ofcom lists these now as the same licence.
Also has anyone got a recorfding of the Engineering announcement on the temporary channel which apparently appeared on Sunday on both muxes and have the same SID. Does anyone know the SID number?
Thanks
Shropshire only gets the Wolverhampton output of Free Radio and Free Radio 80s on DAB. It has been the same since the days of Beacon Radio.
That is NOT planned to happen. It can be done on the former Chiltern/Northants area because Northampton had a separate frequency allocation to Herts Beds and Bucks. Wolverhampton/Shropshire is one mux and has not got a second frequency block.
The initial merged offering was more of a stopgap.
The problem there is that Wolverhampton & Shropshire are just a single licence. It's unlikely the same will/can happen there.
Excuse my ignorance but it was my understanding that Plymouth and Cornwall are one licence (they were awarded together at least), but two separate multiplexes and broadly similar content (although there are stations on one mux that aren't on the other).
Or am I wrong?
But there shouldn't be a long wait for a DAB signal to come to Aylesbury, anyway. I believe you're right. Two frequencies were made available for this licence which allowed splitting to take place between Plymouth and Cornwall.
The mux operator decided to do just that.
From memory, Cornwall had Pirate and Plymouth Sound but no Classic Gold.
Plymouth had Classic Gold and Plymouth Sound but no Pirate.
Presumably Global has the facility in place to split the transmissions such that when 10C goes its own way, Heart for Northampton (the old Northants 96) and Smooth 1197 will go up, though of course the programming elements will differ little...
How does Free / Free 80's split in the ex Beacon area?
Is 97.2 fm & Free Wolves one feed, with 103.1 being another feed(No separate Shropshire service on Dab!) with Free 80's Wolverhampton & 990 & 1017am being the same feed, or is there advert splits for Shropshire am frequencies as well?
As for Radio Northampton, as a station I much prefer it to 3CR. It's quieter, friendlier and more homely. The presenters on the whole are warmer, and personally, I just find it much easier to listen to.
We'll just have to wait until Step 1 kicks in and Radio Kent finally goes out on DAB from Wrotham !
Can you get Radio Kent on FM there ? If you can, there's no need to wait for it to be on DAB.
1557, surely?!
No the joke is that the Kent multiplex is so poor, that unless you're close to Tunbridge Wells, Medway, Maidstone or Canterbury then you've not got much hope. I get a better signal around East Surrey than much of West - North Kent on 11C.
Essex and HBB get in to North West Kent better (apart from London)
I can't understand why Wrotham has always been one of the last sites to be DAB enabled, rather than the first. There were low power fillers at Otford and Kemsing, but Kent was also missing from them.
Kent (11C) used to be listenable with a bit of fiddling, but when Wrotham fired up its transmitters on 11B and 11D they punched a hole in 11C. Nothing to do with French TV either, it was too far away and it's closed.
I can get listenable reception of the Kent mux from the Tunbridge Wells transmitter around Reigate/Redhill - so this might actually improve when Wrotham comes on!
Indeed it might. High points in Redhill and bursts between Reigate and Dorking do quite well considering Bluebell Hill and Tunbridge Wells are really the only 2 TXs that would be covering the area. St Marks may help improve things a bit too.
I think the Ofcom Kent pre signed agreement proposal map is probably underestimating outdoor mobile coverage for properly installed car aerials.
Off topic, but I'm really quite disappointed that East Grinstead didn't make it on to the list for Sussex at all, despite being on the plans and now includes BBC 12B.
I do wonder about the changes for London - I'd be surprised if the antennas on Reigate for London I, II (quite directional at the mo) and III (post Sussex changes) don't get modified.
I had wondered if the BBC had been working through TX sites which weren't going to be seeing local DAB rollout after all. Which is why for example East Grinstead is online whereas Crawley isn't. But then the list doesn't entirely correlate, so perhaps not.
Aha. Just doublechecked with the Smooth site and Northants AM is indeed 1557, had it down wrong in my own offline reckoner - lordy alone knows where I got 1197 from, it's not, as far as I can tell, a Smooth frequency at all!
I'm no expert but I believe I'm currently getting FM - and possibly national (and London?) DAB - from Wrotham - I'm in that little corner where London Freeview (from Crystal Palace, obviously) and radio comes in relatively clear, but reception of Meridian TV (Bluebell Hill, I presume) and/or Kent DAB is also usually possible, if the equipment's in the mood, even without Wrotham's help - and even the Southend mux has turned up on occasion, though not on all of our digital sets. (Not unusual for me to hear from Essex - back in the analogue days Anglia would occasionally float across, and as I've said before, Time 107.5 comes in clearer than, say, Capital Xtra on 96.9). So when the Kent mux goes live on Wrotham, DAB reception for those of us in this particular bolthole will only improve. Indeed, I'll be able to get KMFM and its cohorts pretty much round the clock.
Mine is a slightly awkward area to serve properly, in fairness - too far into London for the Kentish stations to worry about, and too deep into the south east for the London-based services to concern themselves with, but with our own local stations largely no longer existing (Time 106.8/107.3, TGR) I guess we gotta take what we're given!
The short answer is that Wrotham was never on the Radio Authority Reserved Assignment List, which is why it was low down the pecking order for DAB transmissions.