Radio Devon now on 720 from Redruth (Cornwall!!)

BBC Devon has appeared on Caradon Hill, with BBC Bristol/Solent also in the NIT. Wonder how long/if Radio Cornwall will make an appearance?

And Tacolneston.

Are these services on directional beams from main transmitters ie BBC Manchester focussing purely on the areas they serve OR are they omnidirectionally across a whole transmitters' coverage region that they serve i.e Winter Hill across North West England for example?

They are transmitted in the same multiplexes as other BBC services, so will have the exact same coverage area as say BBC One has today.

So BBC Manchester on Winter Hill will have the same coverage area as BBC One NW.

They must be enjoying it for the first time today on the Isle of Man

It is indeed quite a coverage extension for BBC Radio Manchester. I wonder if there will be restrictions to the sports coverage they can put out on the DTT feed.

Although I think you can already pick it up on 95.1 on the IOM.

What happen if this was the case? An automated opt-out of music, and loop announcements saying why the games are not available every so many tracks or a pre-recorded voice loop saying "due to broadcasting rights restrictions BBC Radio Manchester football coverage isn't available on Freeview channel 719, please go online to www.bbc.co.uk/manchester, or tune to 95.1 Mhz FM Stereo or listen on DAB digital radio in the Gtr Manchester area to hear the football coverage"?

Same as the internet feed I'd expect, prerecorded loop. Hopefully not needed, will have to remember to listen tomorrow night.

Got it here on ch719 but not in stereo

That's how they're cramming new stations onto Freeview. By reducing the quality.

Interesting that Radios Norfolk and Cambridgeshire are both being carried on all three transmitter groups across the East region, rather than being split between the eastern and western halves of the region as per the Look East split. (If the same is true for the South region, this means the Oxford transmitter may be carrying Radio Solent?) This increases the total number of stations in the East to six (Norfolk, Cambs, Suffolk, Essex, 3CR and Northants), the same as in the west Midlands. So while the range of LCNs that LR stations have so far appeared in does indicate a maximum of four stations per region, there needs to be space for up to six otherwise I think there will be some grumbling going on in some areas. The numbering of the newly added stations also seems to spell an end to the theory that they will be listed in alphabetical order on the EPG in each area.


The version of BBC London on DTT is the same as the DAB feed, with all the extra sports coverage that comes with it, and there don't seem to be any restrictions. I was rather hoping it would be the 94.9 FM feed which I can't pick up as clearly as DAB.

I am also getting BBC Kent to.
As my youview box seems to work best with Dover TX.

You could say the same for Radio Devon on the Isles of Scilly

(I'm assuming the Channel Islands' mux doesn't have it because it has to be separate for the Spotlight opt out)

I assume that they're not going to leave out Radio Merseyside for long, havign Lancashire & Merseyside further across the North West & North Wales is good due to the Alan Beswick phone-in. Any satellite plans also?

Hopefully they get around to adding other regions (especially in regions where there are only really two local stations of merit anyway) as capacity permits.

Satellite might not happen, the advantage of going on DTT is that it is more or less free as it requires minimal capacity in an existing multiplex, but satellite would need somewhat more as you'd need to uplink all of the stations, and therefore they may need to lease additional capacity from the satellite operators

At 96kbps mono you'd need 3.75Mbps of capacity - that's a good TV channel if not more... Not a huge amount and something that should be squeezable on there existing transponders?

BBC Leeds has appeared on Emley Moor and Sheffield and BBC Newcastle on Bilsdale, all on 719.

Odd having Radio Devon in the far west of Cornwall (Redruth transmitter) and not Radio Cornwall. Strange decision.

This was covered in post #1, seems pointless explaining again when a516 did such a good job, so I suggest you take another look.

It's because, as others have said, the transmissions are the same for the whole of the south west TV region (so Devon/Cornwall and tiny bits of Somerset/Dorset), they can't replace Devon with Cornwall from the Cornish transmitters without a huge amount of investment (and if they did, it'd result in places like Plymouth and Dartmoor getting Radio Cornwall because their TV comes from a relay of Caradon Hill)

But hopefully they can find room to put both on. A lot of people in Cornwall can already get Radio Devon on DAB or FM anyway, so it's not a new thing

I am surprised Bilsdale is not carrying BBC Tees or BBC York on Freeview as this is the two areas the transmitter covers.

As per above, Bilsdale has to follow what Pontop Pike, Chatton, and Caldbeck are doing, and carry a carbon copy of their output. It seems (apart from the East region) only the largest BBC LR in a given TV region is being carried

Thank you for being so polite. I only said that it was odd not anything about the technical details.