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Local DAB Build Out |
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#1 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: West Sussex / Surrey, UK.
Posts: 861
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Local DAB Build Out
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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#2 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: West Sussex / Surrey, UK.
Posts: 861
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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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#3 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Mar 2000
Location: Surrey
Posts: 1,023
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Quote:
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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#4 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Feb 2007
Posts: 1,977
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suffolk
But nothing about the suffolk local dab from what i can see?
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#5 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: May 2004
Posts: 13,572
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Quote:
But nothing about the suffolk local dab from what i can see?
What's missing is Cumbria, Channel islands and Isle of Man? |
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#6 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: Worcester
Posts: 4,850
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Stoke-On-Trent
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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#7 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: West Sussex / Surrey, UK.
Posts: 861
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Quote:
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? 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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#8 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: West Sussex / Surrey, UK.
Posts: 861
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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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#9 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: TheEssexSunshineCoast Clacton
Posts: 15,212
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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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#10 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: West Sussex / Surrey, UK.
Posts: 861
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Quote:
Does this mean better signal for us at last?
Essex 12D Step 1 New Clacton 51N4813 001E0949 8 21.8 38 TM18201640 CLACTON_345 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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#11 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: TheEssexSunshineCoast Clacton
Posts: 15,212
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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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#12 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Sep 2010
Posts: 4,475
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Quote:
What's missing is Cumbria, Channel islands and Isle of Man? |
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#13 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: Lancs
Posts: 7,928
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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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#14 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Jan 2002
Location: South East England
Posts: 5,714
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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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#15 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: West Sussex / Surrey, UK.
Posts: 861
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Quote:
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. 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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#16 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Dec 2001
Location: Hampshire
Posts: 8,079
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Quote:
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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#17 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Jan 2010
Posts: 9,206
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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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#18 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,114
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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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#19 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Apr 2003
Posts: 1,323
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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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#20 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: West Sussex / Surrey, UK.
Posts: 861
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Quote:
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 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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#21 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Jun 2012
Posts: 72
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Lets hope Waltham improves Leicester multiplex for us people in Rutland
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#22 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Mar 2000
Location: Surrey
Posts: 1,023
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Quote:
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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#23 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Dec 2001
Location: Hampshire
Posts: 8,079
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Quote:
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,
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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#24 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: May 2003
Posts: 456
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Gloucestershire? Powys?
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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#25 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: Kent, UK
Posts: 2,711
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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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