By the way - meant to ask - can someone remind me what test BBC locals we have on The Wrekin at the moment - I think Radio Shropshire is the ONLY one missing in the whole of England - is that right?

Which one will Lark Stoke and Bromsgrove take given that all but Shropshrie are actually on Sutton Coldfield and all other transmitters in the West Midlands.

All I know so far as that these test streams will go live proper "some time in June". As changes are being made on 1 June it may be that day or any time thereafter.

Thanks

Interesting. Of course Wrekin, Lark Stoke and Bromsgrove all form an SFN, so they will have to carry R Shops too (if that's is indeed what the change is all about)

Jimbo has confirmed off-forum what I was led to believe a few weeks back, that BBC Radio Shropshire is due to replace BBC Radio Derby in the West Midlands local radio line-up from The Wrekin, Lark Stoke and Bromsgrove.

I've not had clarification over the status of Ridge Hill, that went through a technical change a while back, and should by rights have BBC Radio Gloucestershire and BBC Shropshire instead of say BBC Radio Derby and Stoke in the West Midlands local radio line-up.

I guess Oxford will have Oxford, 3cr, Berks Gloucester & CWR...?

And southeast will have Kent, Sussex, London Surrey and Essex maybe..,?

Any confirmation of these?

Ridge Hill will have Shropshire on 721 also

Oxford is currently carrying BBC Radio Oxford, 3CR, Wiltshire, Berkshire & Gloucestershire (all at 80kbps).

Well spotted.

The last time that the BBC had similar regional retunes, it related to technical changes at Ridge Hill, Sheffield/Chesterfield and Kendal/South Lakes. On that occasion, unique TSIDs were introduced for the BBC A mux at Ridge Hill and Sheffield/Chesterfield (confirmed) and possibly Kendal/South Lakes (not confirmed).

It would be interesting to see which BBC LR services are currently testing at those sites. Do the Sheffield/Chesterfield transmitters and relays carry the same tests as Emley Moor? do the Kendal/South Lakes transmitters carry the same tests as Winter Hill? and what services, if any, are currently being tested at Ridge Hill?

It's worth checking the NIT details for Sutton Coldfield after June 1st. This change is somewhat unlikely to create a new SIPSI region, so the SI data (but not actual services) for both Sutton Coldfield and The Wrekin would be duplicated across both micro-regions.

Are there any stations in England border areas that would benefit from being carried on Wales transmitters?

Several perhaps, especially if the reason for adding them is as vague as that for adding BBC Leeds to the North East & Cumbria transmitter group.

Wales is a single SIPSI region, so splitting that to serve minor overlaps with English regions would be fairly complicated. Tuning could be quite confusing, selecting Wales as the appropriate main region, then being offered bordering areas of England as sub regions.

Also be careful what you ask for, Welsh "Nations Radio" stations are 128k stereo, they would have to be reduced to 80k mono to add English LR if Wales also carried 5 services.

I've heard that the West Midlands mux will contain a lot more than just the 5 stations found on tests so far and as far as I know there's not going to be a seperate mux for part of it. Could it be that there's, say 8 stations on the West Mids mux but different transmitters have different combinations appearing on their line up?

If so if, say, you can get Sutton Coldfield and The Wrekin, whether you'll be able to get the radio services from both. There are people in Shropshire who watch TV from Sutton Coldfield

Not Northampton, then.

Is there a date when these channels are going to officially launch on the Bilsdale transmitter?

My kitchen TV is picking them up (the others aren't) and it has mucked up the channel number on the TV. All 4 are name as "Unknown service" and have taken channel numbers 3 - 7 meaning ITV, ITV2, Channel 4 and Channel 5 have all been bumped down the order.

On Hannington I can also receive
BBC Sussex
BBC Wiltshire

I'm sorry that you do not have a freeview tv your kitchen .... As it is this that is giving you the problem ( I.e. It does not comply to the Dbook)

I think the answer to when is " this summer"

Hi.

Does anyone have any info for Taccolneston, Sudbury, Fremont Point and Whitehawk Hill transmitters? Than I think we may have the entire list known.

I know what should be there but please can anyone confirm in these areas?

Thanks.

In theory you could make a case for quite a few on Oxford / Beckley if you go by what other transmitters have, suppose there is a limited. Even if you have the ones adjoining you would have Oxford plus Three Counties, Northampton, C&W, Gloucestershire, Wiltshire and Berkshire but if you have "overspill" like some other transmitters you would be adding 5 or 6 more. I would have thought Northampton and C&W should be there though but both BBC and ITV never seem to want to admit Beckley goes that far north. Funny C&W is available with ease in Oxford on the radio as I presume it's transmitted from Lark Stoke which is not very far away.

As an aside on my car Radio in Oxford I have 12 or more BBC local radio stations tuned and all come in quite well, including Leicester, Bristol and WM, The ones going south east and west are not so good because of the hills, which off course is the same as Beckley's footprint that struggles to get over the Cotswolds, Chilterns and Berkshire Downs but it tends to go a long way north.

Be interesting to know what local radio will be on the Caldbeck TX. All ready got radio Scotland and Ng on. BBC NE and Cumbria Mux starts at 800 upwards including radio Newcastle 812 ?

So is today the day?

Tried to find out about Radio Merseyside and their launch ate.

Apparently it is delayed due to problems with some of the links they are using to get the audio to the multiplex!

Not on Mendip apparently.

From today BBC CW is on freeview from today on 719, will try it at the weekend

Thanks
I'm sorry too. When we have finished spending money elsewhere in the house it will be getting replaced by a better TV, but it does the job at the moment.

I guess we'll just have to cope, at least it doesn't get used that much anyway. Only on a morning when I have my morning coffee to transform me back into human mode, and when we're cooking.

Just checked - It's not been added to the Freeview EPG via the Sutton Coldfield transmitter. It has been testing behind the scenes.

For those interested The Wrekin is transmitting. R Shrop, H&W,WM and CW just the four.