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UK Broadcast Transmission |
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THE TRANSMISSION GALLERY
| Photos by (information via Robert Shufflebotham and Dan Glover) | Page last updated: 2016-01-09 |
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| Information released by Ofcom at various stages includes the following details: This self-help scheme (number 468) is located at NGR SP155820 - within the Land Rover plant at Solihull In analogue days a transposer operating on channels 22/67/25/32 at 10 W ERP and serving 400 households (other than BBC2 these were the same channels used at Allesley Park) This is now licenced as a digital self-help, a six-multiplex transposer using channels 21/22/24/25/27/28 at 1 W ERP Dan: "I spent a while driving round the area sometime in September 2010. I had some vague understanding the self-help was connected with the Land Rover plant but saw no evidence of aerials pointing anywhere other than Sutton Coldfield and went off to visit other more straightforward targets on the Hit List at the time" Rob: (using the information in the FOI response) "I went to the site, and found you couldn't get anywhere near somewhere you could see anything. I've not been able to find any pictures either [...] the relay is on top of the paint shop" It seems unlikely to be possible to photograph the relay without permission and access to the Land Rover site, so this page has been compiled using the other information available There are, in general, two main reasons for self-help schemes: either to serve an isolated community which is not otherwise covered or where some local factor disrupts reception in a place which ought to be within the service area of a main station (or relay). In the case of Solihull we are within 12 miles of Sutton Coldfield and although there are a number of small relays in and around central Birmingham there doesn't seem to be any great need for a relay at Solihull Now we know the location, the following plot (thank you, Megalithia) seems to confirm there are no "natural" obstacles between the relay site and the main station |
| The detail of the self-help however gives us some hints as to its purpose...Ofcom released the following coverage map |
| The dotted line indicates the direction of Sutton Coldfield and it's apparent that a large part of the planned service area is actually between the relay and the main station! It seems the "new" paint plant was expected to block reception of Sutton Coldfield in the area just to the south east, but also to create reflections impacting reception in the area just to the north west - perhaps an "analogue only" problem yet the self-help is one of very few to have been re-licenced as a digital transposer The Google Street View embedded below starts in Mayswood Road, looking down Cophams Close in the direction of the Land Rover plant. It seems there are horizontally polarised aerials facing the plant as well as towards Sutton Coldfield - so it looks like the self-help is, or was, well-used and is horizontally polarised |
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