It is perhaps one of the limitations of over the air broadcasting, there is only so much bandwidth available and 4K would hog the spectrum so that there would be no space for most or all of the multi-channels?
2 Likes
Got a leaflet from my local Federal MP today advising that âup to 3â new digital TV towers would be built in my electorate (Shortland) as funded in the Federal Budget that was recently handed down.
Will be VERY interested to see where they will go!
4 Likes
If Labor goes ahead with the Coalitionâs policy of selling off Band 5 UHF to the telcos the number of frequencies will be reduced further from 5 to 3 per site. ABC / SBS sharing one frequency and multiplex and the commercials sharing two frequencies and multiplexes.
There will be no spectrum for 4K tv.
One positive is that everything will move to MPEG-4, and there wonât be spectrum to run SD MPEG-2 simulcasts of the main channels.
Michelle Rowland was apposed to this policy previously so it may not happen for a while.
4 Likes
Theres just no way theyâll be able to achieve this without moving to DVB-T2, so I imagine we still have many years before that happens.
2 Likes
Probably more Government spin than anything else.
Eleebana, has a bad spot off & around Wyndham Way towards the Croudace Bay sporting complex, the good old antenna installers knew how to solve this though, using the right antenna for the job & locating it on the property in the correct location, a translator on top of the hill next to the water tank would solve this, but NBN looked at & engineered one for there, when the other local translators were built, but decided Belmont North & Warners Bay/Munibung Hill would be better suited for larger coverage.
There was one planned many years ago for Caves Beach, but that got canned for I think lack of funds & not essentially needed, I canât really think of anywhere else that might need a DTV translator in the electorate?
That bit above about mobile phone coverage, thereâs multiple mobile phone towers from all carriers along Kalaroo Rd Redhead, if people canât get phone reception in Redhead & Jewells, they have a problem with their phone, not network coverage.
3 Likes
Yes, I was thinking Caves Beach too given some residents need VAST.
The other spot I had in mind was at the northern end of the Central Coast to cover Bluehaven - Wallarah - Hamlyn Terrace where the Wyong TX canât be easily received.
2 Likes
I can think of Holgate and Matcham as areas where all three Central Coast translators fail to cover adequately, but these areas are sparsely populated. Also areas of Lisarow to Tiuggerah are also not covered well by Gosford.
Maybe another low powered translator on Mt Kangy Angy could fix this black spot if it could be incorporated into the Central Coast SFN.
Isnât Hamlyn Terrace covered ok by Sugarloaf?
3 Likes
It is, but should be serviced by Central Coast, itâs not considered part of Newcastle for any other reason.
The other locations you mentioned are not in my electorate, they are in Dobell, the next one down. Iâm not sure if there are plans to fix blackspots by their MP, but youâre right Lisarow-Ourimbah is another one that has to rely on Newcastle or VAST.
2 Likes
So that only leaves Channels 6 to 12 and 28 to 34? How is that sustainable?
1 Like
I think that plan also assumes a transition to DVB-T2 which also achieves spectrum efficiency over and above what we get in going from MPEG2 to MPEG4.
4 Likes
With names like Kangy Angy, Tumbi Umbi and Wangi Wangi, all those Central Coast places deserve a translator.
5 Likes
Lol, one for SBS at least!
Wangi Wangi is Lake Macquarie though.
3 Likes
The plan is 6-12, 28-38 for DTV
39-69 for 4-5G mobile services
2 Likes
All of those areas are covered by Mt Sugarloaf, always has been, the Northern NSW TV1 LAP is covered by whatever is needed, & the Northern NSW TV1 LAP goes to the Hawskbury River.
There is no Central Coast market area, itâs either what was the old Sydney or Newcastle TV market, the Central Coast only needs to be serviced from Sydney (Artarmon/Gore Hill) or Newcastle (Mt Sugarloaf), theyâre lucky they have the current 3 translators & even luckier they can have both Sydney & Newcastle market stations, theyâre extremely lucky that NBN decided to have the Central Coast with a different program stream to Newcastle, giving them local News & adverts.
4 Likes
Itâs a region of 300,000 people, it deserves to have its own feed, but agree that it doesnât need Sydney as well. Obviously why NBN seems to struggle on the Coast, most nights local news is 1 local report, sometimes 2.
3 Likes
Stopping at Channel 36 provides for the 5 blocks of spectrum, just with 3 channels each 6-8, 10-12, 28-30, 31-33, 34-36. That provides the complete 600MHz band for auction, and itâd be more or less the same block planning, just in half the space.
I think however itâs more likely to be on the basis of some spectrum handbacks - so instead of a uniform 3 channels per market, youâd see the metros using up 5, and some regional areas or translators being a single baseline service with fewer multichannels.
The economics of television transmission will fall in rough line with when the 5G spectrum will be again worth big bucks to bother with the restack process again.
3 Likes
Moving one block from UHF to VHF will mean some viewers will need to buy new antennas, that is not going to be popular.
1 Like
The FTV article I read said 6-38, possibly to allow additional spectrum for markets such as the Gold and Central Coast that has both metro and regionals.
1 Like
The talk has been about freeing up 12 UHF channels so it would surely be 28-39 for TV and 40-51 for 5G. Then you would only need three VHF channels so the other three could be used for DAB+.
4 Likes
Thatâs if DAB is going to last⌠It hasnât set the world on fire since being launched in 2009.
.
1 Like