The first areas to officially launch are London, South East, East East, East West and East Midlands on the 6th of June.

LCNs allocated so far are 719 to 722, 734 and 735.

More details at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/reception/news/item104

London:
LCN 719 BBC Radio Berkshire
LCN 720 BBC Three Counties Radio
LCN 721 BBC Radio London
LCN 722 BBC Surrey
LCN 734 BBC Essex

South East:
LCN 719 BBC Radio Kent
LCN 720 BBC Sussex
LCN 721 BBC Radio London
LCN 722 BBC Surrey
LCN 734 BBC Essex

East East (Tacolneston / Sudbury):
LCN 719 BBC Radio Norfolk
LCN 720 BBC Radio Suffolk
LCN 721 BBC Radio London
LCN 722 BBC Radio Cambridgeshire
LCN 734 BBC Essex

East West (Sandy Heath):
LCN 719 BBC Radio Norfolk
LCN 720 BBC Three Counties Radio
LCN 721 BBC Radio London
LCN 722 BBC Radio Cambridgeshire
LCN 734 BBC Radio Northampton

East Midlands:
LCN 720 BBC Radio Nottingham
LCN 721 BBC Radio Leicester
LCN 722 BBC Radio Lincolnshire
LCN 734 BBC Radio Northampton
LCN 735 BBC Radio Derby

Is there any reason why they can't do a national launch all at once? I assume that in almost all cases, the audio feeds are already in place, so it's just a case of getting someone to reconfigure the multiplex?

It's probably easier to resolve any problems with a phased launch. Otherwise, I would agree with you, the feeds do seem to be in place.

I wonder why channel 719 wasn't used and also why Derby got bumped to 735 when it really should have been alongside Nottingham and Leicester

Many stations will be appearing in more than one region, so, as is evident from the above list, the LCNs have been organised so that each station appears on the same channel in each region, in order to make promotion simpler. In the case of Radio Derby, it is also set to appear in parts of the West Midlands where 719 will have been taken by another station. Note that six LCNs have been reserved even though only five stations will be available in each area.

There doesn't seem to be much logic to the logical channel numbers. Although this method probably allows those who receive services from multiple transmitters to have more than 5 BBC LR stations within the radio segment of the EPG (rather than in the 800s).

That won't happen everywhere. For example, Radio Leeds is on LCN 719 in the Yorkshire region and will also be carried in the North East & Cumbria region. LCN 719 has already been allocated to Radio Newcastle in the North East & Cumbria region.


We know of 6 LCNs so far, perhaps more will be revealed as further regions go live.

also r stoke on 734

Getting about three dozen sets of coding and mux kit reconfigured with the correct regional SI and then sorting the SI out at 84 transmitter simultaneously and then the monitoring is not a simple job ...

Hence start it with a few and then resolve any issues technical procedual and operational before taking another few regions ,,,

Just a reminder... does anyone have details of the TSID used for the reconfigured BBC A multiplex carried by The Wrekin / Lark Stoke / Bromsgrove?

Similarly a case could be made for Radio Oxford to be on some adjacent transmitters but isn't on any it seems. Hannington is used by necessity for TV in many parts of Oxfordshire (even in Oxford itself) and then there is the Henley relay of CP. Limits on numbers indeed no doubt.

Looks BBC Suffolk is to go digital at last but not yet on DAB.

But isn't this done at a regional level now? Don't all transmitters in the same region get the same data stream (which is why each region is getting several BBC radio stations)? So wouldn't it be less than 84 sites?

(I'm not saying you're wrong, you're obviously an authority on this stuff, I'm just curious)

So does that mean Radio Kent might also appear in the London region? I understand some of the technical limitations but to some people it will seem daft to have Essex available but not Kent.

It is how SI is distributed and inserted at the transmitter ....

I was thinking that the range of (at least) six LCNs was probably so that, as much as possible, each station can retain the same channel number across different regions, which might not be possible with only five LCNs available.

If a sixth slot were to become available, then Radio Kent is the obvious choice for the London region, but I think BBC Essex will have been chosen over Radio Kent because a higher proportion of Essex viewers receive their signal from Crystal Palace, rather than Kent which is mostly covered by South East Today, apart from some western parts of the county.

However they arrange the stations, some viewers are going to be left out. For example, some people in Surrey receive the South region (probably more than receive South East), however BBC Surrey won't be carried here, BBC Wiltshire seemingly chosen instead, presumably to benefit viewers in Salisbury area.

Also, a large part of the north of West Sussex receives its signal from Crystal Palace, but no Radio Sussex. But that's no different really to the situation with the radio signal, where the strongest transmitter is just to the north and carries Radio Surrey.

Oxfordshire and Oxford is very hilly in places and many places can't get Beckley. In the north of the county many aerials are pointed at Sutton Coldfield and in the north west Lark Stoke. As well as Hannington and Crystal Palace I think some in the Wheatley / Garsington area are on Sandy Heath as well. Some in the Shrivenham / Faringdon area are on Mendip. Basically if you are on the wrong side of the hill in the county / city you won't get Beckley and you can't put Oxford on every transmitter that is used in the county.

It's not as much as 84 different flavours of SI though is it ? For starters Rowridge, Hannington, Midhurst, and Salisbury all carry the same SIPSI feed. It would be advantageous if they didn't, as pointed out it would be useful for Hannington to carry R Oxford , and no point carrying Solent-Dorset or Sussex ?

It could work out better (or worse) for those of us in overlap areas - my current home TV, clearly a more sensitive tuner than the last, pulls in both Crystal Palace and Bluebell Hill signals, meaning I'll have two stations squabbling over 719 (my preference would be to keep Kent there as it's closer to me than 3CR is, but that'd likely require a manual muck-about if I'm to keep other stations on London LCNs...)

SI data is maintained centrally and the relevant SI data required for the SIP region is extracted by SIPSI equipment at the main transmitter site. There aren't 84 SIP regions or anywhere close to that amount. In layman's terms, it's probably better to refer to the regional network (the network ID / name specified in the NIT) rather than the SIP region. Currently active networks are:

12320 Cambs & Beds TSID 4173 BBC East (Cambridge)
12321 East Anglia TSID 4167 BBC East (Norwich)
12323 East Midlands TSID 4166 BBC East Midlands
12324 Oxon & Bucks TSID 4171 BBC South (Oxford)
12325 West Midlands TSID 4165 BBC West Midlands [Sutton Coldfield] + (possibly) TSID 41?? BBC West Midlands [The Wrekin]
12327 East Yorks & Lincs TSID 4175 BBC North (E Yorks & Lincolnshire)
12329 North East TSID 4169 BBC North East & Cumbria
12330 North West TSID 4168 BBC North West
12331 South Yorkshire TSID 4177 BBC North (Yorkshire) [Sheffield] carries BBC One SID 4170
12333 Yorkshire TSID 4170 BBC North (Yorkshire) [Emley Moor]
12334 West Borders TSID 4169 BBC North East & Cumbria + TSID 4220 Scotland
12336 Berks & North Hants TSID 4163 BBC South
12338 South East TSID 4172 BBC South East
12339 London TSID 4164 BBC London
12340 South TSID 4163 BBC South + TSID 4172 South East
12343 South West TSID 4162 BBC South West
12344 Gloucestershire TSID 4176 BBC West Midlands [Ridge Hill] Carries BBC One SID 4165
12346 West TSID 4161 BBC West
12352 Channel Islands TSID 4174 BBC Channel Islands
12360 Central Scotland TSID 4220 BBC Scotland
12361 East Borders TSID 4220 BBC Scotland
12362 Highlands & Islands TSID 4220 BBC Scotland
12368 Wales TSID 4222 BBC Wales
12376 Northern Ireland TSID 4221 BBC Northern Ireland
123?? Kendal/South Lakes TSID 41?? BBC North West [Kendal] Carries BBC One SID 4168

Network 12334 West Borders carries SI data for both Scottish and English transmitters in the region but the actual transport streams are only carried on the relevant transmitters.

Network 12340 South carries SI data for BBC South and BBC South East regions. Most transmitters carry the BBC South transport stream with the BBC South East transport stream being carried on the Whitehawk Hill transmitter group.

I've not seen any data for the Kendal transmitter group. as a small Freeview Light region, data isn't readily available. I've assumed that the BBC will use similar arrangements to the West Borders and South networks to accommodate the local radio variations at The Wrekin. Unfortunately, nobody has confirmed the TSID details for The Wrekin at this point in time.

Hannington is on the Berks & North Hants network, the rest are on the South network but all currently carry the BBC South TSID 4163. So that would suggest that Hannington is not in the same SIP region. (Hannington also carries a different ITV micro region.)

As you suggest, a reconfiguration and a new TSID for Hannington would allow it to carry different local radio services to the other transmitter groups.

Talking of layman's terms, what do SIPSI & TSID stand for?

SIPSI = Service Insertion Point (for) Service Information
TSID = Transport Stream ID

That's why I suggested using the network name instead. The network name is the region name you sometimes see when retuning.

I've just had a look with a set-top aerial and a DVB-T USB dongle, and managed to just lock a very ropey signal from the Wrekin/Bromsgrove/Lark Stoke SFN (There are roof aerials looking at all three of them on my road!) - the TSID is 4179.