back to article Ofcom: Luvvies, TV signals can share spectrum

Come the end of 2012, the Programme Makers and Special Events (PMSE) industry won't be restricted to spectrum white spaces in using their wireless microphones; Ofcom reckons wireless mikes and television signals can happily share the same frequencies. The belief, laid out in the regulator's latest statement (19-page PDF/233KB …

COMMENTS

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  1. hplasm
    WTF?

    Ofcom- as my old mum might have said-

    "Neither use nor bloody ornament."

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    "The database asks for log-on details,...

    ... but can be accessed just by hitting "cancel" every now and then."

    Isn't that therefore committing an offence under the Computer Misuse Act? Accessing a computer system without authorisation?

    Or just crap coding...

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Happy

      Nope....

      ...you are hitting cancel to stop you accidently typing in a login you don't own, therefore wishing to be redirected to a more approriate screen, surely?

  3. banjomike
    FAIL

    all TV aerials are more than 10 metres from the ground

    Not bungalows then

    1. Eponymous Cowherd

      Or....

      Indoor aerials and hills.

    2. Ken Hagan Gold badge

      Re: all TV aerials are more than 10 metres from the ground

      Nor most two storey houses.

  4. Harry

    Re "Ofcom reckons wireless microphones can happily use the whole range"

    That sounds good until you read the rest of it :

    "Ofcom reckons wireless microphones can happily use the whole range of digital television frequencies without preventing anyone from watching Dr Who."

    Which is a bit like saying "you can whisper in a pop concert without preventing others from hearing the performance". Yes, certainly. But there's no guarantee that the person you are whispering to will understand what you are saying. Ofcom would have to allow the radio equivalent of "shouting" to stand any chance of being "heard".

    Yes, the aerials may be 10m from the ground, far enough for little of the wireless mike signal not to reach the TV aerial -- but the converse isn't necessarily true. You have around 0.02 watts competing with umpteen megawatts -- only a very small fraction of a percent of which has to reach the ground to blot out a radio mike working on the same frequency.

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Down

    problem here is..

    that people using radio mics usually aren't alone, there may be several people miked up at any decent sized event (Glasto perhaps) and they need enough channels for everyone to work without interfering with each other.

  6. GruffDog
    FAIL

    JMFG?

    It's the Joint Frequencies Management Group - JFMG, not JMFG.

  7. Mage Silver badge
    Flame

    2nd worst idiot Regulators in Europe

    Irish Regulators (of any kind, as any fule noes) are worse.

    "and assumes that wireless microphones won't go outdoors and that all TV aerials are more than 10 metres from the ground."

    There are so many things wrong I don't know where to start.

    But then they think so called "ethernet" power plugs are OK (In reality wide band transmitters).

    They gave up on protecting licensed users of spectrum ages ago.

  8. Anonymous Coward
    WTF?

    Bloody OFCOM

    "and assumes that wireless microphones won't go outdoors and that all TV aerials are more than 10 metres from the ground."

    Yes as everyone knows they are no such things as single storey buildings, windows or houses on slopes.

  9. This post has been deleted by its author

  10. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Oh those clever people

    "is based on testing that Ofcom has been doing since 1998, and assumes that wireless microphones won't go outdoors and that all TV aerials are more than 10 metres from the ground"

    Well since the former is obviously nonsense and the latter ignores such things as internal aerials, bungalows, wall mounted aerials and loft mounted aerials the whole thing is pointless. So the questions are (1) who decided to do all this work based on a false premise? and (2) have they been made to pay for the whole damn thing out of their own pocket?

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