... but Points West are at it again. London news at 0625 and 0655.
That's twice this month, and we're only at the 9th.

Seriously though, does it take more than flipping a switch at the right
time? I would truly like to know what exactly the problem is.

BTW, Dorset is supposed to get its signal from Southern, but I know no
one who does. Maybe if you can see the Isle of Wight from your bedroom
window ...

Hugh (aka Frustrated of Dorset)

-- 

Hugh Newbury

Running Linux Suse 10.1 in deepest Dorset

"Hugh Newbury"  wrote in message 
news:68ia39F2spkcvU1@mid.individual.net...
<snip>
> BTW, Dorset is supposed to get its signal from Southern, but I know 
> no
> one who does. Maybe if you can see the Isle of Wight from your 
> bedroom
> window ...
>

Or own a Time Machine!...

Hugh Newbury wrote:

<snip>

> BTW, Dorset is supposed to get its signal from Southern, but I know
> no one who does.

Don't think so. Cerne Abbas is a relay of Mendip.

André Coutanche

André Coutanche wrote:
> Hugh Newbury wrote:
> 
> <snip>
> 
>> BTW, Dorset is supposed to get its signal from Southern, but I know
>> no one who does.
> 
> Don't think so. Cerne Abbas is a relay of Mendip.

That's puzzling. If you go to the BBC website, find "Access" and click
on the Dorset bit of the map, it takes you to the Dorchester website
where you can get BBC Southern radio and BBC South newscasts. I've just
listened and looked at a report about a body being found in Basingstoke.
Nothing about Bristol, but perhaps something about Dorset if I
listened/looked long enough. Maybe we should all watch TV on the web.

So what are they doing giving us a relay from Mendip in an area where
the "official" local news comes from Soton.

Hugh

-- 

Hugh Newbury

Running Linux Suse 10.1 in deepest Dorset

In article , Hugh Newbury 
 writes
>... but Points West are at it again. London news at 0625 and 0655.
>That's twice this month, and we're only at the 9th.
>
>Seriously though, does it take more than flipping a switch at the right
>time? I would truly like to know what exactly the problem is.
>
>BTW, Dorset is supposed to get its signal from Southern, but I know no
>one who does. Maybe if you can see the Isle of Wight from your bedroom
>window ...

If what you perceive was regional, there would be quite a fuss. In my 
experience, very few stations are unconcerned that their output isn't.

I'd start by checking what you should be using. Someone else posted the 
URL of a superb tool yesterday:

  <http://www.megalithia.com/elect/terrain.html>


The main TX and larger repeaters are in the drop-down list, but you can 
find the data for the other ones and input it directly, so you can run 
the thing for almost any transmitter with a bit of care. It's a good 
starting point.

Get an _accurate_ NGR from Streetmap (it's in the instructions on the 
page) and guess a conservative aerial height, and it will tell you if 
you can actually see the transmitter you're after. I tried my own, but 
had to iterate it (cross-checking against Multimap) to get an accurate 
NGR. I'll dig the paper OS map out later, to see which was right. 
Anyway, it picked up what I already knew: we have diffraction issues 
from the brow of a local hill, and that mast height is critical
(+/- 10 metres makes all the difference). It seems to be a great tool, 
and does in seconds what takes ages with paper maps.

Failing that, there's always the Toady programme in the mornings. I find 
not having pictures stops me pouring milk into my lap (that and only 
having toast).

Never could see the point of TV before the evening...


Regards,

Simonm.

-- 
simonm|at|muircom|dot|demon|.|c|oh|dot|u|kay
SIMON MUIR, BRISTOL UK
EUROPEANS AGAINST THE EU                   http://www.eurofaq.freeuk.com/
GT250A'76  R80/RT'86  110CSW TDi'88  www.kc3ltd.co.uk/profile/eurofollie/

Hugh Newbury wrote:
> André Coutanche wrote:
>> Hugh Newbury wrote:
>>
>> <snip>
>>
>>> BTW, Dorset is supposed to get its signal from Southern, but I know
>>> no one who does.
>> Don't think so. Cerne Abbas is a relay of Mendip.
> 
> That's puzzling. If you go to the BBC website, find "Access" and click
> on the Dorset bit of the map, it takes you to the Dorchester website
> where you can get BBC Southern radio and BBC South newscasts. I've just
> listened and looked at a report about a body being found in Basingstoke.
> Nothing about Bristol, but perhaps something about Dorset if I
> listened/looked long enough. Maybe we should all watch TV on the web.

Well, speaking as a resident of Basingstoke, I switched on this morning, 
and for the third day running BBC South were reporting this landslip 
near Lyme Regis. Quite why I don't know, that area of Dorset is served 
by Stockland Hill and its relays, which are allocated to BBC Plymouth 
aka South West

> So what are they doing giving us a relay from Mendip in an area where
> the "official" local news comes from Soton.

The Cerne Abbas relay has been there 30 years, and has always been a 
Mendip relay for BBC and ITV. There are two main reasons I suspect:-

1: Mendip offers the best off air feed signal at the site.

2: Cerne Abbas operates on adjacent channel allocations to both Rowridge 
(South) and Stockland Hill (South West). That makes it difficult (read 
expensive) to rebroadcast programmes from either of those two transmitters.

Dorset is split across TV regions, because the east is served by 
Rowridge, the west by Stockland, and the north by Mendip. Unfortunately 
transmitter coverage areas do not, and cannot match political areas.

Get yourself a Freesat box and dish, and bung a Southampton postcode 
into the set up menu. Then you can have BBC South and Meridian South.

In article <eZoM+2C+qAJIFwRG@tigger.muircom.demon.co.uk>,
   SpamTrapSeeSig  wrote:
> Failing that, there's always the Toady programme in the mornings. I find 
> not having pictures stops me pouring milk into my lap (that and only 
> having toast).

> Never could see the point of TV before the evening...

Yes - I've oft wondered about why people want to see talking heads. More
so at a time when they're moving about getting ready to go to work, etc.

-- 
*People want trepanners like they want a hole in the head*

    Dave Plowman        dave@davenoise.co.uk           London SW
                  To e-mail, change noise into sound.

On Fri, 09 May 2008 10:37:31 +0100, "Dave Plowman (News)"
 wrote:

>Yes - I've oft wondered about why people want to see talking heads. More
>so at a time when they're moving about getting ready to go to work, etc.

Didn't the big growth of daytime television occur during a period of
high unemployment when there was a 'static' audience. Once there, it was
quite difficult to get rid of it.

-- 
Alan White
Mozilla Firefox and Forte Agent.
Twenty-eight miles NW of Glasgow, overlooking Lochs Long and Goil in Argyll, Scotland.
Webcam and weather:- http://windycroft.gt-britain.co.uk/weather

"Dave Plowman (News)"  wrote in message 
news:4f9cb419a4dave@davenoise.co.uk...
> In article <eZoM+2C+qAJIFwRG@tigger.muircom.demon.co.uk>,
>   SpamTrapSeeSig  wrote:
>> Failing that, there's always the Toady programme in the mornings. I 
>> find
>> not having pictures stops me pouring milk into my lap (that and 
>> only
>> having toast).
>
>> Never could see the point of TV before the evening...
>
> Yes - I've oft wondered about why people want to see talking heads. 
> More
> so at a time when they're moving about getting ready to go to work, 
> etc.
>


Especially now have much the same reports and in some cases the same 
'package' get used on both radio and TV...

On Fri, 09 May 2008 09:33:28 +0100, Mark Carver wrote:
> 
> Well, speaking as a resident of Basingstoke, I switched on this morning,
> and for the third day running BBC South were reporting this landslip
> near Lyme Regis. Quite why I don't know, that area of Dorset is served
> by Stockland Hill and its relays, which are allocated to BBC Plymouth
> aka South West

BBC 'regional' news coverage is a complete mess south of Birmingham 
unless you happen to live in Bristol, Southampton or London. They might 
as well not bother. 

Most people would actually prefer to watch London stories than trivial 
stuff from somewhere supposedly in their 'region' but actually an unknown 
place 80 miles away.

ITV regional services are little better of course, and getting worse.

Paul

"Hugh Newbury"  wrote in message 
news:68ia39F2spkcvU1@mid.individual.net...
> ... but Points West are at it again. London news at 0625 and 0655.
> That's twice this month, and we're only at the 9th.
>
> Seriously though, does it take more than flipping a switch at the right
> time? I would truly like to know what exactly the problem is.
>
> BTW, Dorset is supposed to get its signal from Southern, but I know no
> one who does. Maybe if you can see the Isle of Wight from your bedroom
> window ...
>
> Hugh (aka Frustrated of Dorset)
>
> -- 
>
> Hugh Newbury
>
> Running Linux Suse 10.1 in deepest Dorset

Yesterday lunchtime I was in Asda at Cribbs Causeway near Bristol, they had 
about 30 large screen LCD  TVs all tuned to the same channel [National BBC 
News] at 1.30pm instead of switching to Points West it went over to the 
Southwest regional news, as which was still showing after about 5 minutes 
when I left.

In article , Ivan 
<ivan'H'older@yahoo.co.uk> writes
>
>"Hugh Newbury"  wrote in message 
>news:68ia39F2spkcvU1@mid.individual.net...
>> ... but Points West are at it again. London news at 0625 and 0655.
>> That's twice this month, and we're only at the 9th.
>>
>> Seriously though, does it take more than flipping a switch at the right
>> time? I would truly like to know what exactly the problem is.
>>
>> BTW, Dorset is supposed to get its signal from Southern, but I know no
>> one who does. Maybe if you can see the Isle of Wight from your bedroom
>> window ...
>>
>> Hugh (aka Frustrated of Dorset)
>>
>> --
>> Hugh Newbury
>>
>> Running Linux Suse 10.1 in deepest Dorset
>
>Yesterday lunchtime I was in Asda at Cribbs Causeway near Bristol, they 
>had about 30 large screen LCD  TVs all tuned to the same channel 
>[National BBC News] at 1.30pm instead of switching to Points West it 
>went over to the Southwest regional news, as which was still showing 
>after about 5 minutes when I left.

It's a dead spot (in more ways than one!).

There's a tiny repeater down the hill in Easter Compton (used to be on a 
telephone pole, IIRC), but it faces the wrong way.

For Mendip, I think Asdull is in the shadow of the Mall and/or other 
establishments in the area. Thornbury residents used to get Welly-telly 
(to their chagrin) for the same reason. The Carrefour/Asda shop is built 
in a cutting in the north west side of the hill. It's not apparent 
because the car park is so large, but at the northern end there are some 
lovely bits of curvy limestone strata (well shale, but you can see the 
bedding planes nicely).

I am slightly surprised they're doing that though. I assume it's DVB-S 
or Astra on the wrong channel and distributed.

Regards,

Simonm.

-- 
simonm|at|muircom|dot|demon|.|c|oh|dot|u|kay
SIMON MUIR, BRISTOL UK
EUROPEANS AGAINST THE EU                   http://www.eurofaq.freeuk.com/
GT250A'76  R80/RT'86  110CSW TDi'88  www.kc3ltd.co.uk/profile/eurofollie/

SpamTrapSeeSig wrote:
> In article , Ivan
> <ivan'H'older@yahoo.co.uk> writes
>>
>> "Hugh Newbury"  wrote in message
>> news:68ia39F2spkcvU1@mid.individual.net...
>>> ... but Points West are at it again. London news at 0625 and 0655.
>>> That's twice this month, and we're only at the 9th.
>>>
>>> Seriously though, does it take more than flipping a switch at the
>>> right time? I would truly like to know what exactly the problem is.
>>>
>>> BTW, Dorset is supposed to get its signal from Southern, but I know
>>> no one who does. Maybe if you can see the Isle of Wight from your
>>> bedroom window ...
>>>
>>> Hugh (aka Frustrated of Dorset)
>>>
>>> --
>>> Hugh Newbury
>>>
>>> Running Linux Suse 10.1 in deepest Dorset
>>
>> Yesterday lunchtime I was in Asda at Cribbs Causeway near Bristol,
>> they had about 30 large screen LCD  TVs all tuned to the same channel
>> [National BBC News] at 1.30pm instead of switching to Points West it
>> went over to the Southwest regional news, as which was still showing
>> after about 5 minutes when I left.
>
> It's a dead spot (in more ways than one!).
>
> There's a tiny repeater down the hill in Easter Compton (used to be
> on a telephone pole, IIRC), but it faces the wrong way.
>
> For Mendip, I think Asdull is in the shadow of the Mall and/or other
> establishments in the area. Thornbury residents used to get
> Welly-telly (to their chagrin) for the same reason. The
> Carrefour/Asda shop is built in a cutting in the north west side of
> the hill. It's not apparent because the car park is so large, but at
> the northern end there are some lovely bits of curvy limestone strata
> (well shale, but you can see the bedding planes nicely).
>
> I am slightly surprised they're doing that though. I assume it's DVB-S
> or Astra on the wrong channel and distributed.
>
> Regards,
>
> Simonm.

I'm pretty certain that from memory there is a clear line of sight view to 
the Kings Weston transmitter from the front of the mall and I wouldn't 
imagine that it would be a lot different from where the Asda store is 
situated.
As far as I'm aware all of the other sheds appears to be showing good 
analogue signals, presumably from Mendip.. I'll check it out next time I 
visit.

In article ,
   Ivan <ivan'H'older@yahoo.co.uk> wrote:

> I'm pretty certain that from memory there is a clear line of sight view
> to the Kings Weston transmitter from the front of the mall and I
> wouldn't imagine that it would be a lot different from where the Asda
> store is situated. 

remember KW uses a cardioid aerial which may well have a null the the
direction of Cribbs Causeway - I can't remember; it's  yeas since I saw the
aerial pattern.

-- 
From KT24 - in "Leafy Surrey"

Using a RISC OS computer running v5.11

>>> Yesterday lunchtime I was in Asda at Cribbs Causeway near Bristol,
>>> they had about 30 large screen LCD  TVs all tuned to the same channel
>>> [National BBC News] at 1.30pm instead of switching to Points West it
>>> went over to the Southwest regional news, as which was still showing
>>> after about 5 minutes when I left.
>>
>> It's a dead spot (in more ways than one!).
>>
>> There's a tiny repeater down the hill in Easter Compton (used to be
>> on a telephone pole, IIRC), but it faces the wrong way.
>>
>> For Mendip, I think Asdull is in the shadow of the Mall and/or other
>> establishments in the area. Thornbury residents used to get
>> Welly-telly (to their chagrin) for the same reason. The
>> Carrefour/Asda shop is built in a cutting in the north west side of
>> the hill. It's not apparent because the car park is so large, but at
>> the northern end there are some lovely bits of curvy limestone strata
>> (well shale, but you can see the bedding planes nicely).
>>
>> I am slightly surprised they're doing that though. I assume it's DVB-S
>> or Astra on the wrong channel and distributed.
>>
>> Regards,
>>
>> Simonm.
>
> I'm pretty certain that from memory there is a clear line of sight view to 
> the Kings Weston transmitter from the front of the mall and I wouldn't 
> imagine that it would be a lot different from where the Asda store is 
> situated.
> As far as I'm aware all of the other sheds appears to be showing good 
> analogue signals, presumably from Mendip.. I'll check it out next time I 
> visit.

Didn't Bill Wright comment some years ago that he struggled with a 
commercial installation at Cribbs Causeway, mainly due to the radar at 
Filton overloading the dist. amp.
ISTR he mentioned trying Wenvoe, Mendip and KWH. That wouldn't expain SW 
region TV though.

I know that some villages immediately west of the Mendip Hills rely on 
Stockland Hill and receive SW region, those villages a bit further west can 
see Mendip again.

Doctor D wrote:
>>>> Yesterday lunchtime I was in Asda at Cribbs Causeway near Bristol,
>>>> they had about 30 large screen LCD  TVs all tuned to the same
>>>> channel [National BBC News] at 1.30pm instead of switching to
>>>> Points West it went over to the Southwest regional news, as which
>>>> was still showing after about 5 minutes when I left.
>>>
>>> It's a dead spot (in more ways than one!).
>>>
>>> There's a tiny repeater down the hill in Easter Compton (used to be
>>> on a telephone pole, IIRC), but it faces the wrong way.
>>>
>>> For Mendip, I think Asdull is in the shadow of the Mall and/or other
>>> establishments in the area. Thornbury residents used to get
>>> Welly-telly (to their chagrin) for the same reason. The
>>> Carrefour/Asda shop is built in a cutting in the north west side of
>>> the hill. It's not apparent because the car park is so large, but at
>>> the northern end there are some lovely bits of curvy limestone
>>> strata (well shale, but you can see the bedding planes nicely).
>>>
>>> I am slightly surprised they're doing that though. I assume it's
>>> DVB-S or Astra on the wrong channel and distributed.
>>>
>>> Regards,
>>> the
>>> Simonm.
>>
>> I'm pretty certain that from memory there is a clear line of sight
>> view to the Kings Weston transmitter from the front of the mall and
>> I wouldn't imagine that it would be a lot different from where the
>> Asda store is situated.
>> As far as I'm aware all of the other sheds appears to be showing good
>> analogue signals, presumably from Mendip.. I'll check it out next
>> time I visit.
>
> Didn't Bill Wright comment some years ago that he struggled with a
> commercial installation at Cribbs Causeway, mainly due to the radar at
> Filton overloading the dist. amp.
> ISTR he mentioned trying Wenvoe, Mendip and KWH. That wouldn't expain
> SW region TV though.
>
> I know that some villages immediately west of the Mendip Hills rely on
> Stockland Hill and receive SW region, those villages a bit further
> west can see Mendip again.

At the time I wondered if they were using a bog standard satellite receiver 
and just hadn't bothered to select the correct region? The number one news 
item was the landslip near Lyme Regis.

Doctor D wrote:
>>>> Yesterday lunchtime I was in Asda at Cribbs Causeway near Bristol,
>>>> they had about 30 large screen LCD  TVs all tuned to the same
>>>> channel [National BBC News] at 1.30pm instead of switching to
>>>> Points West it went over to the Southwest regional news, as which
>>>> was still showing after about 5 minutes when I left.
>>>
>>> It's a dead spot (in more ways than one!).
>>>
>>> There's a tiny repeater down the hill in Easter Compton (used to be
>>> on a telephone pole, IIRC), but it faces the wrong way.
>>>
>>> For Mendip, I think Asdull is in the shadow of the Mall and/or other
>>> establishments in the area. Thornbury residents used to get
>>> Welly-telly (to their chagrin) for the same reason. The
>>> Carrefour/Asda shop is built in a cutting in the north west side of
>>> the hill. It's not apparent because the car park is so large, but at
>>> the northern end there are some lovely bits of curvy limestone
>>> strata (well shale, but you can see the bedding planes nicely).
>>>
>>> I am slightly surprised they're doing that though. I assume it's
>>> DVB-S or Astra on the wrong channel and distributed.
>>>
>>> Regards,
>>> the
>>> Simonm.
>>
>> I'm pretty certain that from memory there is a clear line of sight
>> view to the Kings Weston transmitter from the front of the mall and
>> I wouldn't imagine that it would be a lot different from where the
>> Asda store is situated.
>> As far as I'm aware all of the other sheds appears to be showing good
>> analogue signals, presumably from Mendip.. I'll check it out next
>> time I visit.
>
> Didn't Bill Wright comment some years ago that he struggled with a
> commercial installation at Cribbs Causeway, mainly due to the radar at
> Filton overloading the dist. amp.
> ISTR he mentioned trying Wenvoe, Mendip and KWH. That wouldn't expain
> SW region TV though.
>
> I know that some villages immediately west of the Mendip Hills rely on
> Stockland Hill and receive SW region, those villages a bit further
> west can see Mendip again.

At the time I wondered if they were using a bog standard satellite receiver
and just hadn't bothered to select the correct region?. BTW the number one 
news
item was the landslip near Lyme Regis.

On Fri, 09 May 2008 15:34:43 GMT, SpamTrapSeeSig wrote:

> I assume it's DVB-S or Astra on the wrong channel and distributed. 

That would be my guess a Freesat from Sky box with a card registered with 
to an address other than the stores.

-- 
Cheers
Dave.

Paul Sherwin wrote:

> BBC 'regional' news coverage is a complete mess south of Birmingham 
> unless you happen to live in Bristol, Southampton or London. They might 
> as well not bother. 

Nonsense. Take your sweeping statements elsewhere! The SW region is 
excellent.

-- 
mb

On Fri, 09 May 2008 07:42:51 +0100, Hugh Newbury 
wrote:

> ... but Points West are at it again. London news at 0625 and 0655.

It's true that the 0625 bulletin did not go out, but the 0655 one did, at
least on analogue. I presume you are watching on DTT, but you never specify...

> That's twice this month, and we're only at the 9th.

You have failed to respond to my challenge and name the previous regular
occurrences that you claimed happened several times a month. I wonder why?
Perhaps because there weren't any.

> Seriously though, does it take more than flipping a switch at the right
> time? I would truly like to know what exactly the problem is.

On this occasion it seems there was a production error compounded by confusion
from the studio in London over when exactly the bulletin was going to start.