TV Channel Changes for Australia – Stall on Buying Antennas and Investigate First

TV Channel Changes for Australia – You Should Stall on Buying Antennas and Investigate First

Hi everyone,
I am presently helping out a neighbor with TV reception problems, and I am also preparing to refurbish my own antenna system in the house, and in my campervan.

I wonder if everyone is aware that there are some TV channeling changes ahead. I am just finding out about some of the finer points of this myself.

There are two phases of TV change -
1- Switch to DTV and Switchoff of analogue TV, planned in a rolling schedule to end by Dec 2013 with Sydney area, and most people are aware of this. There are some channel changes with this, but transparent to most viewers when they initially retuned to digital.

2 - Retune to the “Restack” Channel frequencies in another rolling schedule.

Briefly, ACMA, the regulatory body, is "re-stacking" or squishing up all VHF and UHF services to reorganize the historical (and somewhat messy) channelling before sale of some channel space. Politics and revenue matters aside, there are some technical benefits to the public.
Metropolitan TV will revert to a reorganized VHF channel allocation, and other areas will retune if required, so as to remove all TV allocations from UHF channels 52-69.

In Brisbane for example, you will need a VHF antenna only, and to cover channels 6-12. SBS and CTV revert to VHF channels.
Exceptions are where people are receiving stations from more than the main site of Mt Coot-tha, and this scenario applies all across Australia in concept.
Some persons may have more than one antenna, and maybe receiving UHF and VHF from multiple sites.
Examples in the greater Brisbane area are those of Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast. You may need to keep the UHF antenna, and in some fringe cases need to get a new UHF antenna optimised for the lower UHF channels.

My advice is either to wait until after the restack and see if there is any change to your reception quality after retuning, or seek advice from an established reputable antenna installer.

The Austech Forum is also good for TV advice, as it has installers answering questions (as well as well-intentioned but ill-informed "persons").
Some of the questions are related to very difficult situations, and the answers from the installers generally are technically sound and practical.

In Brisbane, the "analog switch off" is 28 May 2013.
In Brisbane, the "restack retune" is 27 June 2013, with a simulcast time of one month in which you will have to retune your TV or STB etc.
Sydney is 18 Mar 2014, with three months simulcast time.
Some areas are a bit earlier.

The retune for most just means rescanning your TV or set top box when the time comes and hopefully we all get prior notice on TV to do so. I have yet to see this on TV in Brisbane or anywhere on the East Coast on very recent travels in our camper.

Some people in certain marginal metro areas however may need to replace their old antenna, especially if the old VHF antenna was already on the edge with receiving DTV, and you may not actually know this until your picture breaks up, after the retune.
Some existing (ie older types) antennas have poor reception on the "new" channels 6, 8 or 12.
Some retailers and manufacturers describe the newer antennas as "Digital Ready", and in most cases, these have reception optimised broadly for Ch 6-12, and the UHF.
Digital ABCTV is using Ch 12 now, if you didn't already know this.
You do not need to know a lot about channelling as your TV or STB will tune it all in for you and allocate the channels automatically, but, provided your antenna can feed it enough signal, which is related to antenna performance.

If you were considering replacing or upgrading your antenna, stall on this.
Read up for changes in your area first to see if UHF is actually still required or not, search the web for suggested antennas, or consult a reputable antenna installer.
Be aware that some antenna supplier and manufacturer websites are still recommending UHF antennas or combo (VHF+UHF) antennas for metro areas, without any mention of changes ahead.
Caution if you have two antennas diplexed together.

I am no expert on all this, but recommend that you read the info in the following web links and take it further if you have to.

Cheerio, mike

Restack
ACMA - Restack of digital television services
Retune Schedule
http://www.dbcde.gov.au/__data/asset...March_2013.pdf

Hi again,

someone asked me to enlarge on some of the implications of this.

In a domestic situation, one of the limitations of the antenna system is system loss, normally meaning the loss of signal in the cable.
The losses are also from any possible splitters, amps, taps etc.
Allied with this is antenna performance, or how well the antenna receives each channel.

Most domestic antenna systems perform better at VHF rather than UHF, meaning that you will normally receive VHF channels better.
This difference (sometimes small) is mainly due to the cable loss increasing at UHF, and the signals becoming weaker at the TV set.
Cable loss increases with increasing frequency or channel number.

After the planned restack and retune, for Brisbane say in June 2013, SBS and QCTV will revert to VHF channels.

So, if you have trouble receiving those channels now on UHF, and you were thinking of buying a new antenna, wait until after the restack to ascertain whether you really need one. Chances are, you will receive SBS better, and may not need that new antenna or new cable.
All other Brisbane channels are already on VHF, so you probably not notice any change with these.

Other capital cities and larger metro areas may be different in channelling, so check your particular situation.
If you do decide that you must have a new antenna in the meantime (eg due to storm damage), then get advice first, you may be paying for and installing an antenna type that will not be required after the restack.

Once again, the above really only applies to a single antenna system in a domestic situation, and receiving channels from one transmitting source only.


cheerio, mike

Hi again

a fluid situation.

Looks like Brisbane SBS goes to TV channel 7 in VHF, and QCTC (Community TV Bris31, tunes in as logical channel 44) goes to the old SBS analogue TV channel of 28 on an interim basis.

The QCTV website is incorrect for "tuning in" as it is not presently on TV channel 32, rather it is on TV channel 38.


All this means that in Brisbane, after 28 May, we will have a station "Bris31" on UHF as interim, but your SBS reception may improve a bit when it goes to VHF.

Stay tuned!

mike

Attachment 262922

Just a few days to go in Brisbane.

27 May is Analog Switch Off and Retune day for Brisbane.

In the last few days, I still have not seen much about the need for retuning on local TV, although I have been overseas for the last two weeks prior to this time.

The following URLs are where it is all happening.

cheerio, mike

mySwitch

Stay tuned for the RETUNE - Home

Attachment 269333Attachment 269334

Help me out. I'm curious about your TV channel system.
Is there no satellite TV reception? I get 500+ channels.
Do you get satellite radio( Sirius or XM?)?? I get 120 channels.
Needing a new antenna sounds like mid-20th century.

That's right, when you land here they tell you to set your watch back 100 years. :wink:

Lots of satellite channels available if you want to pay for them. Not sure if the number is in the hundreds.

What's about to be decommissioned is the old analog TV system. The current digital system uses different frequencies/polarisations that may require a new antenna.
The digital channels tend to be lower power than the analog ones which may also affect reception in remote areas.

When I was in Sydney, I had an old style rabbits ears antennae on the TV and it worked fine for both analog and digital but I was quite close (line of sight) to transmitters.
I'm well ahead now I'm in Tassie, i don't have a TV at all. :)

This is all about "free to air" broadcast TV.
Free TV.
No subscriptions.
No cheater cards in a STB.
Free to air TV is popular in Australia.

We can get most international channels here also if you want them, via satellite or cable, or both, but at a cost.

And, when you get to my age, or older, as possibly some others are on this forum, you don't even worry about TV programmes except for some news and history, and maybe a few classic movies, and some music.

The point about my post was really about awareness, as there has not been much public discussion or awareness about the frequency changes, and people may upgrade their antennas, unaware of the implications.

cheerio, mike

Thank you all. The carrier frequencies for the digital signals did not change here.
All you had to do was bite the bullet and get a new digital/analog receiver.
I live in a small, back-water village of 450 in the Rockies. SatRad and SatTV is the only practical thing to do. Hello, we did not even get cell phone service here until 2007.

An update to all this, is an article in the Nov 2014 Silicon Chip magazine on page 86.

This is an excellent article, and wraps it all up, including the latest changes, and the possible impact of 4G/LTE mobile phone transmission on your TV reception.

Caution on buying new TV antennas until you know exactly what is required for your reception area.
What your supplier has in stock may not be best for you.