During the late summer of 2009 the reserve UHF aerial was installed. The problem at Oxford is that space on the mast is at a premium, and unlike at Sutton C and Wenvoe there doesn't seem to have been any desire to insert a mast extension, in spite of the fact that the ITU allocations authorised a 15 m increase in height for DTT transmissions post DSO.
So the new reserve aerial has been sited below the Band II/III stack, which is less than favourable for UHF coverage. The average height of the old main UHF array is 159m AGL wheras the reserve is at 104m AGL - quite a difference. This is why some viewers were reported to be having problems receiving good signals from the reserve aerial while the DSO work is taking place.
We now know that this decision not to extend the mast was to come back and haunt Arqiva the following summer... see the DSO 3 page in this group. |