[cma-l] Preparation

Sat Dec 20 12:45:29 GMT 2014

Peter et al

This is a very very very interesting one indeed and I would like to add my
three-pennith in on this if I may. I have covered this point before, but it
does keep rearing its ugly head.

I can only speak from our own personal experiences and circumstances but
most certainly worth noting.

Everything that Peter writes is correct, however (yes there's that magical
word again - however)    from the outset regardless what the CMA may tell me
or Ofcom or the DCMS some Stations were running blind, some were being led
up the garden path (not necessarily deliberately) and some didn't know the
rules because the rules were :-

1) Mish mash
2) Contradictory
3) Completely incorrect in some matters
4) Some were being treated differently to others

Let me explain :-

a) In relation to us, areas that we wanted to cover which at the end of the
day were our '''Community'''  we carved out.  I have always stated that it
is the Radio Station and the Staff/Volunteers who know what their Community
is and not Ofcom or the DCMS .....   SO    how did this manifest itself .....
well firstly 25 watts DOES NOT FIT ALL and yet we were told 'officially'
that it did

b) We discover that the 5km rule (which I always said from the outset was a
farce) isn't a RULE but merely a GUIDELINE .... unless people understand
this, the initial outlay for transmission equipment / site / coverage etc is
bound to end up a complete and utter horlicks !
We're based in Bollington which is determined as the centre point of our
transmission area ... if you travel 2 miles North / South / East / West out
of Bollington you find Hills, Fields, Sheep, Badgers, Skylarks, Cows,
Hedgerows, Robins, Cowpats, Tractors, Sheep dips etc    at the edge of this
area if you do your maths, you will find that deducting this from the 5km
remit, leaves you with a smidgeon either side .....    the fields and foxes
can not in my opinion be classed as a valid listenership (unless I have
missed something)   this area simply can't be included in the broadcast area
re:- distance, but in our case it is !?

c) Consideration IS NOT taken into account the fact that further down the
line other Stations may come on-air on the same frequency and may tickle at
ones output ... in our case Real in Wales on 102.8fm    God knows what power
they are on ???   they broadcast out of Welshpool for pete's sake !  within
our tiny official MCA, they come over the top of us ... certainly in
Kerridge. If we had known 102.8 was going to be used by this Station we
would have put our transmitter in Kerridge ... but we didn't and in their
defence nor did Ofcom ... so the situation is an accident. It can however be
mended very easily.

d) It is a complete debacle for the authorities to say that they might not
be able to tweak things if everyone concerned has gotten things a little
wrong .... surely life in itself is about improving things for everyone in
an amicable way so we are all happy bunnies ... not saying '';ah well  tough
luck !''

I'm not saying Ofcom have said this, but we do have a very tricky situation
and we are going around in the proverbial circle.

1) We have to get Macclesfield in our official output map .. at the moment
we only have the North tip ... we have always wanted Macclesfield from the
outset, it is crucial to our (business) as Peter says ..... we ask for a
little move (maybe only a mile)    take Kettleshulme out (which is pointless
anyway) and pop Macc in .... why ?   because before we get to asking about
the move, we keep getting told that Macc isn't in our remit ... yes we know
that, hence why we need to change it and then move on from there.
We didn't get Macc because we were OFFICIALLY TOLD that because of
restrictions and difficulties due to silk fm, going for Macc could prove a
problem ... so we had to take what I suppose we can only call    second
best.
2) Some Stations are situated where they are because they started off on a
shoe-string ... some are still on a shoe-string, but those who ain't should
be allowed to have a little bit of a room for improvement. Circumstances
change and we all need to change with that. This remember isn't change for
changes sake.

We fully accept that the spectrum is full, and that those on-air are perhaps
lucky ... nonetheless, where improvements can be made, they ought to be.

Basically I do not buy into this ''you've made your bed you lie in it''
certainly if you take into account these points. Our example is a shining
example, and our rather poor signal in this area which loses us listeners
and business is actually none of our making, it is a result of

Poor communication
Not clear ruling
And inexperience on Community Radio not just from us, but the authorities as
well.
This has been a learning curve for all of us, the things we thought would
run true, some haven't and some we thought wouldn't = have !      Having the
guts and conviction to stand up and say ''well we missed that one chaps
didn't we?'' is not a crime, so can we please stop harking on about who said
what and who did what and why we CAN'T do something ... let's talk about
about what we CAN DO and we can do it easily, it isn't difficult.

In otherwords and to sum it all up, those Stations currently on-air who need
an ickle tweak ought to be treated the same as the ones coming on-air .. in
my opinion they are not (well, we seem to be not)    remember also that
those new Stations may have a better start than we have had, as they have
the knowledge learned by the mistakes from us    ie:- us namely the Guinea
Pigs

All the best for Christmas

Regards

Nick

-----Original Message-----
From: cma-l-bounces at mailman.commedia.org.uk
[mailto:cma-l-bounces at mailman.commedia.org.uk] On Behalf Of Peter
Sent: 18 December 2014 11:47
To: Ian Hickling
Cc: cma-l
Subject: Re: [cma-l] Preparation

I would like to add to that. In my experience IT knowledge is a must (I
would go as far as saying having a Cisco CCENT as minimum), especially for
installing IP based mixing desks and other IP based studio equipment. It
does make my life a lot easier...

PeteOn 18 Dec 2014 10:48, Ian Hickling <transplanfm at hotmail.com> wrote:
>
> With all the new Applications having gone in this week - and Post RTPG
letters notifying clearance appearing regularly, can we offer some sincere
advice based on having to deal regularly with problems which should not
occur:
> Don't assume that the studio packages on offer are going to be right for
your own requirements. Our 15 years' experience tells us that there is no
such thing as a "standard" studio. Get at least three quotes. Bone fide
suppliers will provide these promptly and free of charge if they want your
business.
> Don't assume that you can install studio equipment yourself - or that a
tame engineer with other skills will be able to do it. It's a highly complex
job and one wrong solder joint in the many thousands required can produce
huge problems and take ages to find and fix.
> Get advice on how best to cover your target audience. Detailed coverage
predictions are easy to obtain but must be prepared by someone with expert
knowledge of the terrain, of antenna design and of Ofcom's many and complex
requirements. Most suppliers and consultants will make a charge for this.
> Don't assume that sticking an aerial on your roof - or the location you
used for RSLs - will provide good signal coverage. It's vital to the success
of your project that you get this right before you commit to a design.
> Make sure you know how much power you will need and tell Ofcom at the
outset. Ofcom will listen to a well-constructed argument and will generally
meet your requirements.
> Don't assume that you can change your transmission system once you're on
air if it isn't performing as you would like. Doing it later will definitely
be a long painful process.
> Ofcom will almost certainly award mixed polarity. Currently only 17% of
the 225 CR transmitters currently on air are using balanced mixed polarity
propagation. The rest are wasting some or all of the extra power they could
be using.
> Do all these things before you submit your final transmission format to
Ofcom. 
> If you're not providing a coverage service good enough for your listeners
then your business will suffer.
> Ofcom is not in a position to tell you whether what you have proposed in
your Application will work in practice - only that it complies with some
very general guidelines
> OK - we provide all of the above services so to an extent I'm pushing our
business.
> We do an awful lot of that without charge - because that way we believe
 Clients will come back to us when they are ready to invest.
> But there are a lot of other good suppliers/installers out there too - so
you do have quite a wide choice.
> I just hate to see honest conscientious people spending their hard-earned
money on systems and equipment that are simply not right for this very
specialised job - for the sake of asking a few questions to people who have
current first-hand experience.
> Ian
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