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Old 09-01-2015, 09:02
Orangy
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The Government have published the plan to roll out 182 new transmitters and modify 49 other sites over the next 18 months (March 2015 to September 2016). This will improve local DAB multiplex coverage significantly.

https://www.gov.uk/government/upload..._12_14__1_.pdf
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Old 09-01-2015, 09:08
Orangy
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I'm disappointed to see the following have been omitted from the plan despite being in Ofcom's buildout plans for the past few years:

Reigate - Modification of London I, II, III not listed.
Woldingham - Surrey only, not London multiplexes.
East Grinstead - Sussex omitted despite being in plans (although hopefully Crawley, Heathfield etc will help).
Midhurst - no expansion of Surrey (to cover the far south west of the county).

I wonder if these have been forgotten, omitted or felt unnecessary. They don't seem to be in Step 2 either.

I wonder why Dorking has been added for Surrey. Seems pretty solid outdoors now Stoke D'Abernon has gone live, perhaps indoors is a problem there.

Otherwise, great news. Good to see Kent and Sussex significantly expanding.
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Old 09-01-2015, 09:27
Robert Williams
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I'm disappointed to see the following have been omitted from the plan despite being in Ofcom's buildout plans for the past few years:

Reigate - Modification of London I, II, III not listed.
Woldingham - Surrey only, not London multiplexes.
East Grinstead - Sussex omitted despite being in plans (although hopefully Crawley, Heathfield etc will help).
Midhurst - no expansion of Surrey (to cover the far south west of the county).

I wonder if these have been forgotten, omitted or felt unnecessary. They don't seem to be in Step 2 either.

I wonder why Dorking has been added for Surrey. Seems pretty solid outdoors now Stoke D'Abernon has gone live, perhaps indoors is a problem there.

Otherwise, great news. Good to see Kent and Sussex significantly expanding.

I think the plan to use Midhurst for the Surrey mux was from the days when it was intended to cover a much larger chunk of Sussex? As the Sussex mux is being expanded instead, they're using it for that. Perhaps a transmitter at Haslemere might be sufficient to fill in the gaps in South West Surrey - unfortunately not in the plans, though.

What modification was needed for the London muxes at Reigate?
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Old 09-01-2015, 09:43
satman17
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But nothing about the suffolk local dab from what i can see?
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Old 09-01-2015, 09:51
hanssolo
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But nothing about the suffolk local dab from what i can see?
It has the new sites listed, as discussed in another thread that will either be a new local mux advertisement or extension of the Norfolk mux with BBC Suffolk added, probably before Heart FM's licence expires later in 2015 so it gets automatic renewal?

What's missing is Cumbria, Channel islands and Isle of Man?
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Old 09-01-2015, 10:00
Adam792
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Interesting that they're going to use Staffordshire Fire HQ (I'm guessing on the existing large mast) to better cover Stone for the Stoke multiplex rather than the previously planned North Pire Hill Farm site.
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Old 09-01-2015, 10:06
Orangy
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I think the plan to use Midhurst for the Surrey mux was from the days when it was intended to cover a much larger chunk of Sussex? As the Sussex mux is being expanded instead, they're using it for that. Perhaps a transmitter at Haslemere might be sufficient to fill in the gaps in South West Surrey - unfortunately not in the plans, though.

What modification was needed for the London muxes at Reigate?
Indeed, The original plan didn't include CP. However, there are still gaps to the south, where the hills get in the way of the TXs which are all to the north:
http://www.muxco.com/wp-content/uplo...urrey-5-TX.jpg

Which Haslemere and or Midhurst would resolve:
http://www.ofcom.org.uk/static/radio...aps/Surrey.pdf

Although with Sussex being added to Midhurst, perhaps the point is a bit 'mute'.


London II and III from Reigate are quite directional, away from the S and SE. The plan was to modify these to provide more robust coverage.

That said, with Sussex and London III not sharing the same block any more, I'm sure London III will be tweaked to match the coverage of I and II.

I think some changes to London haven't been listed. I thought the BT tower site was going to be made more powerful to then remove some of the very small sites in the city which would be made unnecessary. Perhaps this is only for D1 and the BT Movio sites.
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Old 09-01-2015, 10:07
Orangy
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And lets hope that the new government doesn't halt the funding for this plan, which could happen!

The DCMS funding along with multiplex operators and the BBC have made this possible. Without it, it's a dead duck.
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Old 09-01-2015, 10:09
fmradiotuner1
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Does this mean better signal for us at last?
Essex 12D Step 1 New Clacton 51N4813 001E0949 8 21.8 38 TM18201640 CLACTON_345
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Old 09-01-2015, 10:16
Orangy
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Does this mean better signal for us at last?
Essex 12D Step 1 New Clacton 51N4813 001E0949 8 21.8 38 TM18201640 CLACTON_345
Yes, Essex and Kent will have a massive 'boost'. Both will be added to Benfleet which will be of great help to the north Kent coast too.

Have a look at http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/bro...verage/annex-b

http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/con...nning/annex-b/

The announced sites are not identical to what is shown on the maps, but it gives you a good idea.

Could still take another 18 months from now though!
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Old 09-01-2015, 10:22
fmradiotuner1
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Glad their going to use our TX at last as the other muxs are fine but Essex does struggle here.
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Old 09-01-2015, 11:22
SouthCity
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What's missing is Cumbria, Channel islands and Isle of Man?
It's interesting that those are completely missing along with Dumfries & Galloway, the Borders & Powys. I wonder if they are on a separate list because they are not funded under the MoU.
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Old 09-01-2015, 11:55
Mike_1101
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So Blackpool will finally get a decent signal.

Just for my own information, the power of Winter Hill is shown as 34.8 dbw and Warbreck (the water tower) as 27.8 dbw.

So using this am I right in thinking that 27.8 dbw = 602 watts (Blackpool) and
Winter Hill (34.8 dbw) goes up to just over 3kw?
http://www.rapidtables.com/electric/dBW.htm
Sorry but I find dbw confuiong, maths was never my strong point
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Old 09-01-2015, 12:36
vinnielo
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There'll be quite a wait for some of the areas already mentioned in this thread, at least until next year.
I'm hoping that with some of these transmitters reaching into UKRD areas that they'll show some more interest in going digital.
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Old 09-01-2015, 12:45
Orangy
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There'll be quite a wait for some of the areas already mentioned in this thread, at least until next year.
I'm hoping that with some of these transmitters reaching into UKRD areas that they'll show some more interest in going digital.
Indeed. However, we will start to see something happening from March, although it'll be slow going. I wonder if we'll see London III and Sussex sorted this year?

The BBC rollout is fairly slow - mostly down to power and comms issues I believe, but if there's only 1 team of riggers then that doesn't make it quick by any means. (Not a criticism of the BBC rollout at all, but it's not an overnight job - so local DAB rollout could easily take a lot longer).
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Old 09-01-2015, 13:02
Mark C
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So Blackpool will finally get a decent signal.

Just for my own information, the power of Winter Hill is shown as 34.8 dbw and Warbreck (the water tower) as 27.8 dbw.

So using this am I right in thinking that 27.8 dbw = 602 watts (Blackpool) and
Winter Hill (34.8 dbw) goes up to just over 3kw?
http://www.rapidtables.com/electric/dBW.htm
Sorry but I find dbw confuiong, maths was never my strong point

Try the on line converter here

http://www.rapidtables.com/electric/dBW.htm#calculator
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Old 09-01-2015, 13:07
Resonance
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Surprised Whitby isn't on the list. Although there are some difficulties in that it's in the N.Yorks mux area, but traditionally receives BBC Tees (on FM).
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Old 09-01-2015, 13:35
jimbo
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The pdf file can be found here

https://www.gov.uk/government/upload..._12_14__1_.pdf

But this is abouyt Local muxes, not BBC National DAB. AS the BBC is involved in this will this also include BBC transmitters sites?

BBC National DAB on Wirral has poor reception but everything else meant to be heard here is from ST John's Beacon and can be got with no problems at all. BBC National is grainy, and goes off at times, and cannot re picked up in some buildings in Birkenhead town centre and elsewhere.

Can someone remind me - is St John's Beacon on the list for addition to BBC National DAB? Also, given this transmitter is to bemodified in the local plan, will this also inlude the broadcast of BBC National DAB? If anyone knows, please can you let me know.

Other muxes we get here are by chance - Manchester, Lancashire, Stoke. D1, NE Wales & Cheshire we also get via St John's and they are easy to get even inside buildings where BBC National DAB cannot be picked up easily.

Any help is appreciated.

Thanks
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Old 09-01-2015, 13:40
PhilH
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Interesting to see they're putting the Bournemouth mux on Bincombe. I'd always thought a new mux would be created for Weymouth and Dorchester, but it seems not. (Maybe I missed an announcement.)

I wonder where that leaves Wessex FM.
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Old 09-01-2015, 14:02
Orangy
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The pdf file can be found here

https://www.gov.uk/government/upload..._12_14__1_.pdf

But this is abouyt Local muxes, not BBC National DAB. AS the BBC is involved in this will this also include BBC transmitters sites?

BBC National DAB on Wirral has poor reception but everything else meant to be heard here is from ST John's Beacon and can be got with no problems at all. BBC National is grainy, and goes off at times, and cannot re picked up in some buildings in Birkenhead town centre and elsewhere.

Can someone remind me - is St John's Beacon on the list for addition to BBC National DAB? Also, given this transmitter is to bemodified in the local plan, will this also inlude the broadcast of BBC National DAB? If anyone knows, please can you let me know.

Other muxes we get here are by chance - Manchester, Lancashire, Stoke. D1, NE Wales & Cheshire we also get via St John's and they are easy to get even inside buildings where BBC National DAB cannot be picked up easily.

Any help is appreciated.

Thanks
Yes, the PDF I linked to in the OP. This is for local DAB buildout. The BBC plans for Phase 4 of their current DAB buildout are here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/reception/digitalradio/expansion
and here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/abouttheb...1-695237b1f0e3

Digital One plans are here: http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/con...rage-planning/
and here: http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/bin...ge/Annex_D.pdf
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Old 09-01-2015, 14:43
Garry_Rose
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Lets hope Waltham improves Leicester multiplex for us people in Rutland
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Old 09-01-2015, 14:51
Robert Williams
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Interesting to see they're putting the Bournemouth mux on Bincombe. I'd always thought a new mux would be created for Weymouth and Dorchester, but it seems not. (Maybe I missed an announcement.)

I wonder where that leaves Wessex FM.
The extension of the Bournemouth mux effectively turns it into a Dorset county mux, which I think has been the plan for quite some time now? Good news for BBC Radio Solent for Dorset, which is currently limited on FM to the Dorchester and Weymouth area, though I think the Bournemouth mux already takes the Dorset feed of Radio Solent rather than the main version?
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Old 09-01-2015, 14:59
Mark C
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The extension of the Bournemouth mux effectively turns it into a Dorset county mux, which I think has been the plan for quite some time now? Good news for BBC Radio Solent for Dorset, which is currently limited on FM to the Dorchester and Weymouth area,
Which won't change much. No local DAB extension for west Dorset, so nothing usable in Bridport, Lyme Regis and surrounding areas. The only viable local radio FM signal in Bridport is Wessex FM's relay from the Tx there.

Having said that, isn't everywhere west of Abbotsbury considered to be the Exeter/Torbay mux area, but nothing mentioned for W Dorset for that either.
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Old 09-01-2015, 15:05
PhilipS
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I'm somewhat surprised the Gloucestershire MUX is completely absent from this listing - IIRC from the earlier maps, there were quite a few additional sites planned for the Cotswold valleys and the Forest of Dean.

Of course, those are the areas where BBC Radio Gloucestershire (uniquely I think) re-opened AM services because FM was poor, and this plan is about adopting FM equivalence...

And pity the poor inhabitants of central Powys (aka Radnor). I know there aren't many of them, but they have no local station (Hafren doesn't really cover them); only the BBC nationals on FM; no Digital One, and now no local DAB for the forseeable future. Did someone in Arqiva have a nasty experience in Llandrindod Wells at some time?
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Old 09-01-2015, 15:38
airwaves
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I'm also surprised about the lack of London mux improvements considering it was a bit more in depth than that on the first report that was published which also included coverage maps in...2011?

Having said that it did sound as though the extra transmitters and work for London were the last phase (Phase 3) which probably won't be published in a detailed listing such as this at the moment. I mean, that's enough to be getting on with there.

Regarding Kent, Essex and Sussex, the news is most welcomed. Kent alone at the moment is shocking for indoor reception and in cars when you travel into East Kent.

I can currently receive the Essex mux although only in one room from Benfleet. No Sussex at the moment but the introduction of Heathfield might change that as I can pick up 102.4 although I realize that's stronger than the DAB is going to be from there.
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