According to the uk.tech.broadcast group, the annual BBC RBS tests will take place on Wednesday 9th January, from 02:30-03:30 on BBC TWO and 04:30-05:30 on BBC ONE.
There's also some interesting discussion there about what will happen regarding the RBS tests as the UK starts the digital switch over.
Indeed it is, and it would be good to see digital take part in these tests this year too.
The current DTT system doesn't work in the same way, there is less redundancy and certainly no Rebroadcast System.
When the permanent (post-switchover) network is up and running there will almost certainly be some sort of backup but whether it will resemble the current RBS setup I don't know (if it is possible to have such a thing on digital). I'd have thought that a satellite based system like that used for BBC DAB would be more likely.
All there is at the moment is a single relay transmitter (converted to be a main transmitter) and 3 of its dependents.... there's nothing to test. Digital will have to get involved once the first main transmitters in the Border area switchover
Indeed it is, and it would be good to see digital take part in these tests this year too.
The current DTT system doesn't work in the same way, there is less redundancy and certainly no Rebroadcast System.
When the permanent (post-switchover) network is up and running there will almost certainly be some sort of backup but whether it will resemble the current RBS setup I don't know (if it is possible to have such a thing on digital). I'd have thought that a satellite based system like that used for BBC DAB would be more likely.
All there is at the moment is a single relay transmitter (converted to be a main transmitter) and 3 of its dependents.... there's nothing to test. Digital will have to get involved once the first main transmitters in the Border area switchover
Yep - very interesting question.
Presumably any satellite distribution would need to be from two separate satellites to avoid sun-outage? ISTR that Five feed their analogue transmitters via satellite - but have transponders on two satellites in different orbital positions to avoid this - and feed Croydon by fibre ever since heavy rain took London's five broadcasts off-air a few years ago. (Though presumably the Beeb haven't done this for the Channel Islands - who are the only other region who get their analogue TV via satellite - this time from BBC One Channel Islands on DSat)
All the main DTT transmitters are currently fed fibre, and have local data insertion on top of the network feeds, so that they carry the correct transmitter ID etc.
Rebroadcasting them without decoding could be an issue - and if we ever move to single frequency networks simple rebroadcasting / relaying becomes impossible AIUI. (The transmitters have to be in-sync - as per DAB which also uses SFNs - for them to work)
