[cma-l] DCMS consultation meetings on amendments to communityradio law
Office - ccr-fm
office at ccr-fm.co.uk
Mon Oct 17 21:46:21 BST 2011
Dear All
Where is the Bay ? hells bells ! if it is in the
North West and on the highest building on the highest hill with 100 watts
power we're gonna' get swamped ! Canalside is also on 102.8fm :-)
The issue for me is the defence against Commercial Radio and not Community.
My idea has always been that we have enough power for what we NEED and not
what we want for a bit of luxury.
We have got a radio station in this area ..... we believe it to be Key 103
who come over us and crackle crackle hiss hiss crackle us at various spots
in Macclesfield .... Regardless what the DCMS say or what Ofcom say (and
they can argue til the Cows come home) Macclesfield is OUR Community,
not Key 103's or an imaginary 5km line drawn on a map.
I have always said the way to do it is quite simple .... not hard ... but
simple. One doesn't have to have a degree in mini screwdrivers and aerials.
You place one Herbert at the spot marked 'X' and you place another
Herbert at the transmitter. The Herbert at the transmitter is all the while
on a mobile phone to another technical Herbert at Ofcom. All three of us
then tweak the power up by 1 watt at a time ...... When we reach the point
whereby Mr Crackle and Mrs Hiss have left the building then we make one more
phone call to another Herbert at the Community Station near to us (for us it
is Chorley) and see if it has affected their output.
There is a chance that it may have done slightly, so, they tweak theirs up
by the same amount.
The ironical thing about all of this is we may have gone from 25 watts to 32
watts ?? !! that may be all it takes.
At least at the point where us & them start havin' a scrap on the
airwaves will not have shifted, but both of us at least won't have the
Commercial Herberts coming over the top of us from TWO Digits away.
This could all be done in two days ..... Job done, shut up, goodnight Vienna
----- get on with what we are supposed to be doing which is providing good
community radio for OUR Community ...... unfortunately, all those people in
OUR Community in the hotspots of Macclesfield can't listen to us so they
listen to the BBC or the Commercials because they have had something taken
away from them ! it's called DEMOCRATIC CHOICE !
So, to conclude, the very foundations that Community Radio was built on
which are Fairness, Equality, Opportunity, Accessibility, Choice and
Democracy, if you throw into the mix the other restrictions, the whole thing
basically went tits-up for us in 2008 as we started full-time, it remained
tits-up for three years, and it's still tits-up now.
Everyone can see it, everyone knows it and yet the powers that be refuse to
listen.
Consultations are a waste of time if those in the meeting don't want to
listen. How many times do we have to keep regurgitating the same old
arguments and points.
And so it goes on, and so do we, and so do I ...... on & on & on & on & on
this will continue to be the case until all this nonsense is brought to an
end, not forgetting trying to find ways around, up and over which is now in
our manifesto.
Regards
Nick
_____
From: cma-l-bounces at mailman.commedia.org.uk
[mailto:cma-l-bounces at mailman.commedia.org.uk] On Behalf Of Alan Coote
Sent: 17 October 2011 18:17
To: ian at transplan.uk.com; 'cma-l'
Subject: Re: [cma-l] DCMS consultation meetings on amendments to
communityradio law
Hi Ian, Jaqui et al,
Here's my evidence that Ofcom are not willing to help CR stations cover
their intended area.
It clearly state a 'general policy' with respect to output power and multi
frequency.
The response below was received following the submission of an Arqiva
researched report into covering our existing designated area. Needless to
say we were not impressed, given that the technical report was comprehensive
and evidenced.
FYI The Bay 102.8 TX is located on the highest building (30m AGL) on the
highest hill (62m ASL) in the centre of our area - there is no better site!
Yet - Read for yourself.
"Dear Alan,
I am writing with regard to your request of 11 November, acknowledged on 17
November. [2010 - this shows how long we had this issue]
The contents of your report are noted. You asked us to consider increasing
your transmitter power to 100 Watts e.r.p., and for an additional frequency
for a "fill-in" transmitter. These requests have now been considered and I
am sorry, but we are not able to agree to either of them.
The usual maximum effective radiated power (e.r.p.) for community radio
services is 25 Watts in the vertical plane with an additional 25 Watts in
the horizontal plane, if required. Your request for a power increase to 100
Watts e.r.p. is outside this general policy, and for that reason we are not
able to agree to it.
With regard to a second frequency, as stated below, our general policy with
regards to FM frequencies for community radio services is that we will
allocate one frequency per service, and we are therefore not able to agree
to your request for an additional frequency for your service.
Regards,
:: Soo Williams
Manager, Community Radio and RSLs
Direct line: 020 7783 4319
<mailto:susan.williams at ofcom.org.uk> susan.williams at ofcom.org.uk
:: Ofcom
Riverside House
2a Southwark Bridge Road
London SE1 9HA
020 7981 3000
<http://www.ofcom.org.uk> www.ofcom.org.uk
"
From: cma-l-bounces at mailman.commedia.org.uk
[mailto:cma-l-bounces at mailman.commedia.org.uk] On Behalf Of Ian Hickling
Sent: 15 October 2011 10:22 AM
To: cma-l
Subject: [cma-l] DCMS consultation meetings on amendments to community radio
law
Sorry - the "restriction" is not abritrary.
Unless you can of course show me where it is enshrined in Law, conveyed by
Ofcom in writing, or expressed as such by Ofcom to any Applicant or
Licensee.
I've never seen any of these instances, but I'm happy to be corrected.
In technical terms of course, you can't stop radio signals from travelling
more than any specified distance.
The way is could be expressed - but isn't - is by saying that there must be
no signal at a specific strength receivable under specific conditions at any
point further than 5km from the transmitter.
Again, I have never seen this stipulated by Ofcom nor by the Radio Authority
in 15 years as a general restriction - only in very specific cases where a
licensee is required to protect the MCA of an existing broadcaster.
Please - let's deal in hard facts - not in conjecture or hearsay.
------------------------------------
Ian Hickling
Partner
transplan UK
_____
From: cma-l at commedia.org.uk
Date: Fri, 14 Oct 2011 17:35:27 +0100
To: cma-l at commedia.org.uk
Subject: Re: [cma-l] DCMS consultation meetings on amendments to community
radio law
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Gary Jackson <gary.jackson at skylinegold.co.uk>
To: CMA-L <cma-l at commedia.org.uk>
Date: Fri, 14 Oct 2011 16:17:23 +0100
On 14/10/2011 15:34, Alan Coote wrote:
Hi Ian et al,
In simple terms, Ofcom says "Tell us the Community you wish to cover - and
how you propose doing it.
If you look on Ofcom's published "TX Params", you'll see the stations that
have asked for and got much higher powers and sites.
My direct experience is that this simply not true!
Ofcom hide behind what they have called a 'Policy' to limit CR to 25 Watts
ERP. The restriction is real and affects many stations outside of remote
parts of Wales and Scotland. There are 21 stations which have great than 25W
ERP.
For the rest of us, the 5km limit is arbitrary and a nonsense. It should be
removed.
++
Our experience is the same as Alan's. We had two people living well within
the 5km radius. Both wrote to support our application to Ofcom to increase
our signal because neither could receive us.
Our application was turned down flat
Gary
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