I’ve always wondered if Australia delayed its DTV launch, would ISDB-T be given another look?
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I pay that, but SBS were only on 0 in Sydney in Melbourne only as a temporary fix for those that did not have a UHF tuner in 1980.
28 was always the fulltime SBS (reserved 5th channel) frequency in Sydney and Melbourne and all other capital cities.
Not sure many devices can support dialing up past 0, as in 01, or 011? Plus would confuse many say you dial in 07 or 09, some devices would point to 7 or 9? is the 0 range part of the LCN table?
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If the ABC and SBS ever merge then LCN 28 suddenly becomes available for SBS. Not likely though.
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One gripe I have with the Australian LCN allocations is ABC and SBS using 2x and 3x for radio services. Do other countries put radio so close to the top of the list like that?
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Plus there’s no consistency, some are 2x/3x and others are 20x/30x.
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Generally speaking, yes. Prefectural stations often took the numbers of their network affiliate but they didn’t have to - some chose to stay on the number of their analogue VHF frequency - notably, if that was channel 1, NHK G is found on key 3 instead.
TV Asahi took the opportunity to move to key ID 5 from their previous channel 10, and TV Tokyo the same, moving to key 7 from channel 12. (see response to Moe below for why I’m not saying “LCNs” here.)
As far as I could tell, there’s only two stations left that use key 10, oddly enough one is a Nippon TV affiliate and the other is a TV Tokyo one. The Open Uni of Japan was also another in Tokyo with a high number (it actually used key 12), but it stopped broadcasting terrestrially - moving to satellite-only - in 2018.
Blame that also on Japan aligning the setup with their BS/CS satellite setup (although they have different numbers and such) which predated that and also locked in the 12-key setup. The commercial networks would rather send you to those rather than run multis.
But also, ISDB has limits on how many sub-channels you can run. Technically speaking, it has 13 “segments”, you need 12 to run a HD channel (at least in a Japanese 6 MHz channel… hence “1seg” for the mobile broadcast as that uses the 13th). A 720p service uses 8 segments, an SD service four.
There are stations - like NHK Educational, and certain independents like Tokyo MX - that do run a second channel but they have to reduce their main channel to 720p to do it.
As for LCNs… it’s confusing… there is actually a 3-digit channel number underneath the Japanese remote-key model. So for instance, for NHK ETV - a good example given it’s “remote control ID 2” everywhere - the main feed is channel 021 and the multi-channel is 023 (it used to have 022 but not anymore). The three-digit number would be typable as that’s needed for satellite - in the case of terrestrial, apparently some TVs will also handle the multi-channel by just letting you hit the “2” key again.
In the Japanese model, for someone like NHK E, they technically have all the LCNs in the 02x, 22x, 42x and 62x ranges, but anything above 200 is generally just for separate data feeds and you can’t actually have more than 3 video channels without them all being 1seg or something. 
That LCN system actually allows for 16 networks but given current TVs already had the 12 buttons for satellite and there actually aren’t enough networks on terrestial to fill that, that’s what they’ve gone with.
Worth noting that the way of handling multi-channels is still different to how BS satellite channels do it. Good example of this is private service WOWOW, which has three multi-channels (Prime, Live, Cinema) - to access WOWOW you’d switch to BS and hit the “9” key, but then switching between them is actually done using the colour keys. I understand the way the other BS stations that offer multis do it the same way, using the colour buttons. Then they have their own channel numbers too, which is used more because there are a lot more options than the “blessed” 12 11 channels. It’s an absolute mess.
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Isn’t that because there are no more places available within their two-digit allocation?
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I mean, yes, but I’m not sure whether the gripe is that they are in the two-digit range in the first place (ie. they should all be in the 2xx/3xx range).
Under the current allocation rules though, there’s nothing stopping them doing what they’re doing now.
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Yes, it’s the mix of TV and radio in the two-digit ranges that I don’t like. It prevents them from launching any new TV services in that range. A great example of this is the recent change to SBS in Tasmania where they were unable to reallocate the SD simulcast to a new LCN beyond 35, meaning SBS HD viewers now have to use 3 instead of 30. Apparently retaining a radio simulcast is far more important than retaining their flagship TV channel on 30… 
With ABC, there is sound logic behind what they’ve done. Double J and ABC Jazz retains 200 and 201 which they’ve held for over 20 years now. I also like how ABC KIDS Listen and ABC NewsRadio are assigned 202 and 204 to better align them with the TV services on 22 and 24. But I reckon they could have compromised and used the 2xx range only so radio is completely separate from TV. For example:
200 ABC RADIO
201 ABC RN
202 ABC KIDS Listen
203 ABC Classic
204 ABC NewsRadio
205 triple j
206 triple j Unearthed
207 Double J
208 ABC Jazz
209 ABC Country
…or something along those lines.
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Whether radio and TV channels are separate depends on the TV . For example, although 25 is right after 24, pressing the channel up or channel down button on my LG TV will go through all the TV channels before going through all the radio channels, etc. So it would go 1-24, 30-35, 44-99, 25-29, 36-39, 200-307, 1, 2, etc. or reverse. There is also a TV/radio button which switches between the last viewed TV and radio channel.
Other TVs are different. For example, a particular Sony TV will go through TV channels by multiplex, e.g. 1, 10-17, 2, 20-24, 3, 30-35, etc. Not sure if the radio channels go with the TV channels in the same multiplex or separately.
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Yeah there’s no consistency at all.
VAST uses separate TV and radio bouquets. You have to press the TV/Radio button to switch between them. SBS takes advantage of this and uses 32-39 for all their radio services instead of the 3xx range. ABC on the other hand doesn’t bother with any radio between 20-29 and their 2xx allocations are different to terrestrial. Very messy.
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Have lost 7 Sydney from Artarmon on VHF-6… currently 0% signal strength, 0% quality. All other Artarmon/Gore Hill signals are 70-85% signal strength, 100% quality and perfectly watchable glitch free.
The Central Coast retransmission of 7 Sydney on UHF 42 is still working as normal and as its fed off air from Artarmon.
Have checked cables and antenna, all seems OK. Weather is mild and partly cloudy.
This is quite odd. I’m sure it will return soon.
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I’m sure you are devastated to miss today’s midday movie too…
Do you have it back yet?
They were on air from Gore Hill doing their weekly Disaster Recovery testing from just after 12pm until about 1:30pm this afternoon they’re back at Artarmon now.
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Yes it’s back now, thanks! That would explain it.
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do you get ABC Sydney okay, they are normally on air from Gore Hill, the other 4 are normally at Artarmon, maybe Gore Hill DTV signal drops you below the digital cliff edge for strength, but Artarmon is okay?
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Yes ABC Sydney VHF 12 is good here too, not much difference from Artarmon.
I had wondered whether the recovery test was done at a lower power than the usual 50kw?
Its odd that I was getting 0% signal strength when all channels are normally 75-90%, I thought if at a lower power, strength might drop to say 40%, but still be receivable, just might pixelate a bit more? Quality is usually 100% or very close since i have excellent line of sight.
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Nope, DR testing is done at full power.
For Sydney 7 go to Gore Hill on Wednesday afternoon usually just after midday for an hour or 2 for DR testing, 9 go to Gore Hill same times on a Tuesday for same reason, both weekly.
10 goes to Gore Hill on a Thursday from usually around 7:30am until 1:30 - 2pm for DR testing, they do it fortnightly & this week is their off week.
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Thanks for the info! I would have expected it to be full power too, otherwise I can imagine Seven would probably have received a few complaints.
I haven’t been watching Sydney VHF much for a while, but decided to get the VHF antenna out of the cupboard and watch it for a bit this week … and that I’m not usually watching telly around midday either.
Though I didn’t notice anything similar with Nine around the same time yesterday, and I think had the VHF antenna/TV on then too…
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