UK Broadcast Transmission

DIGITAL SWITCHOVER

FACTS AND FIGURES

Will you need a new receiving aerial for digital switchover?

Mostly the answer is no, but this table gives more detail. It's as simple as I can make it - not exactly "at-a-glance", but almost...

First though, a brief explanation about aerial groups: UHF television signals are broadcast on a range of channels which are numbered from 21 to 68. Aerials are manufactured which cover the whole range of channels but aerial design dictates that such wideband aerials are less efficient in terms of gain or sensitivity. Better performance can be achieved if the aerial is specifically designed for a narrower group of channels. The channels received by each such aerial group is shown in the table below.

Note that an aerial's performance deteriorates significantly beyond the range of channels it has been designed to receive, and whilst you may get lucky and receive 'out-of band' signals in favourable locations our second table shows where a change of aerial will improve reception if you find you are still missing some channels after switchover.

One factor worth pointing out is that the UHF aerials first put up for reception of BBC2 in the late 60s / early 70s will now be 40 years old, maybe older. Outdoor aerials and cables do deteriorate over time due to their exposure to the elements. If your aerial does not give you good, clear analogue reception it is quite possible that it may not give good digital reception. You may be prepared to watch a dodgy picture but a digital receiver will be less forgiving. For this reason it is possible that you may need to replace your tv aerial and cable even if the table below suggests that you may not need to. This is particularly relevant if you are watching a poor picture using an indoor or set-top aerial. You cannot expect digital tv to work in these circumstances.

Now to the main table of which shows which aerial group is required for each main station around the country.

• Column 1 lists the station name.
• Column 2 shows the aerial group which has been traditionally required to receive the four main analogue channels, BBC1, BBC2, ITV1 and Channel 4.
• Column 3 shows the aerial group required to receive the three main multiplexed signals carrying the core PSB (Public Service Broadcast) digital channels including BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5.
• Column 4 shows the aerial group required to receive all six of the multiplexed signals carrying all the digital channels including the channels broadcast on the the three COM (commercial) multiplexes.
• Columns 5 and 6 are the 'at-a-glance' columns which show whether a new aerial is required for reception of PSB channels or all channels.

You will see from this list that there is only one of the 50 high powered main stations where the PSB channels will be broadcast on channels which will not be received well using an existing/legacy aerial which was installed for the original analogue channels. That transmitter is Heathfield, which serves the East Sussex area.

A number of relays have also been included in the table where the details published by Ofcom confirm that new aerials will improve digital reception for either the PSB and/or COM channels.

In some cases we have suggested that a new aerial 'maybe' needed, where the new channel allocations are in a lower group than previously. Finally, we do suggest that you DO NOT invest in a new aerial until you are sure you need to, because you find that you have poor reception and/or missing channels.

Relay station data for the Tyne Tees, and Ulster regions will be incorporated when the information becomes available from Ofcom

With thanks to Mark Carver

Download the latest regional info from Ofcom updated 5-Jan-2011 (PDFs)

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