North East local TV will be interesting next year.

I wonder if Comux will put a test card out on the multiplex now that it's powered up from Sutton Coldfield rather than that boring b&w screen. They must have something at their new National control center in Birmingham they can give us?
Come on let's have a bit of colour..
As word gets out and the dealers tune in it would be nice if you tried. Or is there some weird Ofcom regulation stopping you?

Tweeted reply from Comux uk..... Coming soon

Ive got the local tv tests on 791/2 here in Bristol.

i got nothing on ilchester crescent bristol

Im on Mendip. Although I thought Mendip was after xmas. Oddly its only one freeview box that's picked up these channels, the others have not updated even with a rescan.

I'm on Mendip too, but here in Taunton the signal barely registers and I can't get a lock on it to tune in.

But Taunton isn't getting local tv is it? They are using a narrow beam from mendip that just covers Bristol so it will not over the area like htv does.

Yeah, I realise that, but there's always someone that wants to know how far it can be received. I just looked out of curiosity.

My Humax PVR is showing a signal of 73% with 0% quality on UHF 57, the channel for Mustard TV in Norwich - however I know there's some long distance reception being reported today and I'm getting a lot more of Sudbury than I normally get. Nevertheless 73% is very high and roughly what the old pre-DSO channels were giving on the same aerial. Is anyone else in range of Tacolneston who can determine if this is a test from there or just a freak reception of something further afield?

This mux is due to go into service at the end of January.

I wonder if the big Freeview retune event due on December 10th will also bring the local TV multiplexes now testing onto the logical ch8 position on the guide from their tempory 791 position?

Channels 791 and 792 won't go to channel 8.

As shown in Lincs/E York last week, the local TV service appears on 793 before moving to channel 8.

Channels 791 and 792 are for the two additional Freeview channels that will be carried on the local TV multiplex alongside the local TV channel. The income from carrying two channels in the spare bandwidth will help fund the transmission costs of local TV stations on Freeview.

It's possible that 791/792 could go live in areas where the local TV station hasn't yet launched, but where the multiplex is already transmitting. If they started broadcasting a regular programme, then they would move into the relevant section of the Freeview EPG, but not channel 8.

Seen confirmation on Twitter that the local TV mux is testing from Tacolneston - but "empty" at the moment.

Wouldn't broadcast of video (even if colour bars) constitute the start of the licence period? Maybe something regulatory to avoid?

Not quite sure what you are saying?.. The Comux UK tests on Ch 51 from Sutton Coldfield on LCN 791 & 792 are not for City TV Birmingham and will not move onto LCN 8 at launch?

They're for the two pseudo-national stations that will broadcast alongside local TV in every location where local TV is present. That's why viewers have spotted these channels in Grimsby, Birmingham and Bristol: the three locations where the local mux has been active.

Not sure the average bloke in the street will ever find these TV channels on 791/792. They are hidden away above the Radio LCN's and next to the duplicates where most TV' park them. My opinion is these LCN's are for testing purposes only.
Would any commercial operation be happy with these positions on the Freeview guide?
As a side note as we go into the Christmas/ New year period there will be a total lockdown on all network changes and with City TV Birmingham due to launch on January 31st a place holder may appear soon on LCN 8. Anyone know what happened with the run up to Estuary launching?

You are right: channels 790-799 is a section of the EPG earmarked for test services.

Once the commercial channels went live, they would be allocated a channel number, presumably at the end of the entertainment genre on Freeview (unless any of the channels was a news channel, then at the end of the news section; adult channels are not permitted on the local mux).

In N Lincs/E Yorks this is what happened:
Mux launched with 791, 792 and 793.

793 became Estuary TV and moved to channel 8 just before launch day.

Additional info;-
The Freeview TV guide displays the following when selected,
791 Local TV Test 1.
792 Local TV Test 2.

I'm picking up a very weak signal on C29 (aerial pointing at Crystal Palace) about 10dB lower than C33 and 20dB lower than C30. I can lock onto the carrier but there doesn't appear to be a transport stream there. QPSK 8k 3/4

Good spot. Are you actually tuning with a freeview box and finding no channels? I would guess what you are seeing is a transport stream full of null packets- we'd need someone with a pc card to confirm this though. Anyone able to run a pidscan?

You were right, there is a transport stream, but nothing on it. I'm using a spectrum analyser that would display PIDs if they were there.

They are perfectly entitled to do test transmissions. A test card would definitely be ok. Channel 5 (analogue) I believe had a launch trailer in the later days (I assume the entire content of that would have been reviewed by the then ITC before broadcast).

If these channels go live before the mux launch dates in any particular area, Ofcom might take interest.

It did indeed http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gOiHGeuYK00 , IIRC it changed a few times towards launch and was operating for over a month.

Channel 4's promos were running for three months in advance of launch.