The move to digital is the biggest project in UK broadcasting history and we are now halfway through a region-by-region switch to digital terrestrial broadcasting for the UK's 26 million households. Near 5000 analogue transmitters on 1154 sites have to be replaced by the end of the project in 2012.
That will mean the completion of 7200 man years of work in just 5 years on the UK's entire terrestrial television transmitter infrastructure , which took 30 years to build .
The move to digital is the biggest project in UK broadcasting history and we are now halfway through a region-by-region switch to digital terrestrial broadcasting for the UK's 26 million households. Near 5000 analogue transmitters on 1154 sites have to be replaced by the end of the project in 2012.
That will mean the completion of 7200 man years of work in just 5 years on the UK's entire terrestrial television transmitter infrastructure , which took 30 years to build .
The scale of this project is enormous. Some 5000 analogue transmitters on 1154 sites have to be removed and disposed of, similarly the existing DTT system comprising 500 transmitters will be removed and replaced by 4000 transmitters to give near national coverage for the Public Service Broadcasting (PSB) multiplexes and major conurbation coverage for the commercial multiplexes.
To add to the complication there is major work to strengthen many of the tall masts (up to 350 metres tall) and five need total replacement. At the top of the masts the transmitting antennas at the major sites need replacement or at least major modifications .
The overall DSO project is a national programme in support of a UK Government mandate. The broadcast industry has adopted the 'Arqiva transition plan', which has been designed to deliver minimal disruption to the nation's TV viewers, while maximising the possibility of technical success within the Government's mandated timescales.
One of the key objectives in developing the transition plan has been to minimise the impact of this work on the other users of transmission masts. These other users include radio broadcasters, the emergency services and mobile operators as well as minimising disruption to existing digital viewers.
The task being undertaken now is to make the transition from analogue to an all-digital world. Ideally the new digital system would be rolled out and, after a suitable period of time, the analogue closed down. Unfortunately there is not enough spectrum for them to co-exist so something has to give. The strategy that has been developed is a phased withdrawal of analogue coupled with phased rollout of the new high-power DTT system over a period of four years. .
Speakers
Peter Heslop Project Director DSO Arqiva
Neal Ackroyd Principal Network Design Engineer Arqiva
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