Has Kiss 101 (Somerset) increased it's signal strength towards the East?
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I notice the signal seems much stronger in this direction then it did say a few years ago, has anything been changed e.g their antenna system etc??
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I know the East Service starts braking up just before Luton.
A new transmitter covering Bedford, Milton Keynes and Oxford would be nice!
But never going to happen
The Mendip transmitter for Galaxy/Vibe/Kiss on 101.0 is a massive 40kW beamed West towards South Wales. The signal to the East used to reach as far as Oxford on a decent radio. If it were omni-directional, it would just overlap with Kiss East Anglia on 106.4 which is actually beamed West towards Bury St Edmunds and re-received in Cambridge for the 105.6 relay.
It's way outside the area of both, so no.
Yes it would, Wrotham 100.9, and also the Swindon relay on 100.8.
I suspect nothing has changed at the Tx, it's just the recent lift conditions, I've been getting Freeview TV from Mendip on and off for the last couple of weeks here in Basingstoke.
The Mendip 101.0 service has to maintain a null eastwards, to protect Classic FM Wrotham.
To protect Wrotham on 100.9 which is 250kW! :rolleyes:
The Wrotham coverage isn't supposed to get past Reading anyway, or else why have local relays? I don't know why they don't just take off the null at Mendip for 101.0 and extend coverage to Swindon and other parts of Wiltshire. Wrotham doesn't need protecting at it's current power!
Perhaps they are taking the lead set by TotalStar Somerset?
Only the Beeb have a cluster of relays on the western edge of Wrotham's service area, all Classic FM have is Reading-Hemdean, and that's it.
Here in Basingstoke it's a rather poor toss up between Wrotham, Rowridge, and Oxford for Classic FM, Oxford has the edge, but many FM yagis are looking at Wrotham/London. Judging by the strength of BBC Somerset here, I'd say that Kiss at full whack might cause problems.
They claimed that, according to a coverage prediciton map from software they used, the interference would occur as far afield from Mendip as Harrow and possibly other high-lying areas of West London.
How is that really possible though, when if Wrotham was switched off you'd only hear Kiss 101 fading in & out anyway under flat conditions, with a stereo signal on high ground but weak. Yet Wrotham blasts out 250kW across the South East and knocks Kiss 101 East of Swindon!
You cannot compare the 95.5 signal with that of 101.0, as 95.5 is omni. If 101.0 was onmi, the power would be significantly reduced, which would ruin reception in Cardiff.
I'm confused what you're advocating, Kiss at 40kW omni, or 9kW omni ?
BTW Somerset 95.5 is not omni either, the northward beam was (apparently) removed when it was reallocated from BBC Bristol.
Interesting, I remember people saying about the signal should be improved on 95.5 in parts of Somerset back in 2006/7 when 95.5 became BBC Somerset, but Yeovil is still a black spot!
Going back to Galaxy, thinking about it, I don't know why Mendip was chosen for 101.0 with such high power and a tight Westerly beam, which are expensive antennas. Surely Wenvoe would have been more suitable at half the power, which would still be solid in Somerset, Bristol and of course South Wales.
Yeovil has always been a black spot for radio. I can't see how 99.5 was ever going to make reception in the town any better as it was simply Radio Bristol before the move to BBC Somerset. The AM reception is not much better!
If you live in Swindon BBC Somerset hs really good reception! Handy that.
Is really is time Kiss, BBC Somerset and the national DAB networks were available in the town with a reliable reception.
Signal seems a little weaker now (no idea why!)
I beleive that Swansea is in its official coverage area but not Llanelli
I get BBC Somerset loud and clear around Gloucester in the car, and going a bit north on the M5.
Wenvoe would be even worse in Yeovil, Eastern areas of Somerset, would struggle in parts of Bristol, would probably not hit Bath at all, and probably wouldn't be as good for as much of Wiltshire as Mendip is.
Mendip, despite only sending as little as 400W in that direction, still hits Devizes. I'm not sure Wenvoe could.
No, nothing's changed.
Orchard FM/Heart Somerset have FM relays for Yeovil and Taunton, surprised Galaxy/Vibe/Kiss 101.0 never did due to the hills.
Kiss 101's aerials are near the top of a gigantic mast on one of the largest hills in southern England. While a bit more than 400W might well be possible, 40kW would probably cause a few complaints...
Nope.
(And if there wasn't a pirate on 100, which there often was!)
When the Radio Authority issued the licence to broadcast to Waltes and the West to Galaxy, it specified Mendip as the transmitter site. The station lobbied the Radio Authority for permissioin to also broadcast from Wenvoe, but that request was turned down.
The idea behind the request was to match HTV's broadcast split and broadcast separate commercials in England and Wales. Whether it would have led to separate programmes for England and Wales I doubt.
Simon