So given the power of the postcode allocation system and the fact that all the local stations are back-hauled to London for transmission on the web, why can't we ALL have our local BBC station on 0152, one wonders?
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So given the power of the postcode allocation system and the fact that all the local stations are back-hauled to London for transmission on the web, why can't we ALL have our local BBC station on 0152, one wonders?
You've hit the nail on the head on 2 of the main reasons. But it's also worth remembering that BBC London was unique in the BBC in that every one of it's rivals, from the mighty Capital FM to the tiny Spectrum Radio are avaliable on Dsat.
Also it was incredibly easy to get it onto air, it replaced the 'World Service in Pashto' and as its studios are literally just round the corner from where all the BBC radio satellite feeds are collated and sent off to the satellite
Would be great to see them all on Dsat, but it's a huge undertaking
So given the power of the postcode allocation system and the fact that all the local stations are back-hauled to London for transmission on the web, why can't we ALL have our local BBC station on 0152, one wonders?
I'm not sure that they are backhauled in the same way that the TV feeds are. Many of the web feeds are done by the regional centre in an area picking up the surrounding stations off-air on FM and encoding them locally then squirting them via the internet to the server. So Leeds does the feed for Sheffield, York, and Humberside as well as its own, Manchester does Lancs, Merseyside and for technical rather than political reasons - Stoke.
Therefore only the internet quality feed gets to London. As by definition many of these receivers are outside of the official service area of the transmitter, the quality of the feed can be ropey particularly in lift conditions - reception of Southern Counties at Solent was pretty crap for a time.
So given the power of the postcode allocation system and the fact that all the local stations are back-hauled to London for transmission on the web, why can't we ALL have our local BBC station on 0152, one wonders?
I'm not sure that they are backhauled in the same way that the TV feeds are. Many of the web feeds are done by the regional centre in an area picking up the surrounding stations off-air on FM and encoding them locally then squirting them via the internet to the server. So Leeds does the feed for Sheffield, York, and Humberside as well as its own, Manchester does Lancs, Merseyside and for technical rather than political reasons - Stoke.
Therefore only the internet quality feed gets to London. As by definition many of these receivers are outside of the official service area of the transmitter, the quality of the feed can be ropey particularly in lift conditions - reception of Southern Counties at Solent was pretty crap for a time.
Indeed, the first batch (apart from London) - Oxford, Berkshire, SCR, 3CR were all recieved off air in Maidenhead. Getting audio back to London of sufficent quality for Dsat from every local station 24/7 is a big task