UK Digital Switchover

Yeah ok but their is a definate age group of those who are elderly and those who are in their 20's that don't give a sh*t about it. This was also highlighted in the Breakfast report on it this morning.

Is it really so unreasonable to expect people to be prepared? Freeview boxes are available from as little as about £20. Considering a TV Licence is £130+ then it's not a great deal to ask someone to save up during the 2 or so years this has been talked about for Whitehaven.

Some people may need a new ariel, but they must surely be in the minority and they would still be able to get some services with their existing ariel if they can receive analogue now.

No doubt some people will see this as an excuse to get the state to buy them something the rest of us have bought ourselves.

The elderley are catered for under the "assistance" plans, and those over 75 get a cheap TV licence anyway. Those in their 20s who don't care won't miss it anyway!

Remember, not everyone actually has a TV. My Dad got rid of his years ago because he was never at home to watch it (the dirty stop-out!). He'll be part of the percentage that doesn't know or care about DSO.

It's the aerial situation which I think is the biggest point of confusion.

Some people think even if they get Freeview now, they'll need a new aerial - and there are the aerial installers out there willing to con people.


My understanding, which admittedly might be incorrect, is that once the analogue signal is turned off the need for a digital aerial will actually decrease as the biggest problem currently with the digital signal is inference caused by the analogue channels.

Speaking of BBC2, how are they going to resolve the Welsh issue? When the Carmarthenshire trial switchoff happened in March 2005, BBC2 analogue was retained because it is the only source of network programmes in the evening when 2W is on.

2 years on, I've not heard a peep from the BBC about how they intend to get around this problem once analogue BBC2 is no longer available. When Wales goes digital will 2W end or will Welsh viewers simply not have network programmes in the evening any more? Neither situation seems very acceptable.

There were rumours a few weeks back 2W would soon cease.


In reality we'll be left with the situation we've always had - a Welshversion of BBC2 with some programming shown at other times.


If they schedule things properly it shouldn't be too much of a problem - using the 7-8pm slots and the 10pm slot is best as programming on BBC2 in those times is either easier to move about or just repeats, only using the 9pm slot when required.


To be honest though they'd be best off going back to using BBC Three for the additional output as they did in the BBC Choice days - I'm sure they could sacrifice the occassional episode of Little Britain and Two Pints of Lager.

I would be surprised if it isn't one of these three things that happen:
1. 2W closes down
2. It uses the overnight "Pages from Ceefax" slot, aimed at viewers with PVRs
3. The multiplex carries both BBC 2 Wales and then 2W as a seperate channel on for a few hours each evening.

There is also the issue of what's happening with S4C and S4C~2. A seperate BBC 2W could quite feasibly timeshare with S4C~2, or the Planed Plant channel if that materialises. It's still unclear though what's happening with Five and S4C, which are on Mux A.

Officially Mux A for some reason isn't being classed as a public service mux, and hence isn't guaranteed national coverage - with most reports suggesting that Five and S4C would move to Mux B, sharing space with BBC4/CBeebies, BBC Parliament and the three BBCi streams.

There are two main reasons why someone might need to upgrade their aerial to receive DTT at the moment. The first being that the digital signals are considerably weaker, so in fringe areas, higher gain aerials are often needed.

The second reason, is that traditional aerials were designed to receive a specific part of the UHF spectrum in which the local transmitter broadcasts its channels. In some areas it hasn't been possible to broadcast the DTT signals in this same band of the spectrum, and so a wideband aerial is required.

Come DSO, all DTT signals will move into the space previously occupied by the analogue channels, and the broadcast power will increase significantly. This should mean that any old 'banded' aerial previously used for analogue should work fine (providing of course it's in good condition, etc.).

Excuse my ignorance, but how exactly are aerials designed to receive only certain parts of the spectrum? Surely all an aerial is, is a big chunk of metal? Afterall, in some areas even just an RF cable is enough to get reception when plugged into a TV.

The wavelength that an aerial is designed to recieve is determined by the length of the aerial itself.

See this page for more explanation
http://www.sub-tv.co.uk/antennatheory.asp

Note that TV aerials are made up of a recieving dipole and a number of directors and reflectors. It's not the length of the aerial that changes depending on group, it's the width of the dipole and spacing of the reflectors that determines what frequency it covers. The length of the aerial itslef determines tha gain

I'm no physicist but my understanding is that the spacing of the elements on the aerial determines which band of the spectrum it's designed for. I assume the width of the spacing must match the wavelength. If you look at a wideband aerial, you'll find the spacing of the elements varies along the length of the boom.

As for picking up signals on an RF cable, coathanger, or whatever, I guess if the signal is strong enough it'll get picked up no matter what, but you're unlikely to get as good a picture.

I'm sure someone like noggin can explain better.

The current layout of MUXs - MUX1,2,A,B,C,D is disappearing at switchover.

There will be 3 Public Services MUXs with full coverage (well matching coverage to analgoue now) - these will carry BBC, ITV, C4, S4C and five

And there will be 3 Commercial MUXs with all the other channels on - these will only be transmitted from the 80 transmitters that have DTT currently

http://tx.mb21.co.uk/dso/index.asp