Last Monday (21st March 2016) the Norfolk County DAB Multiplex, operated by Arqiva on behalf of Now Digital, suffered a major transmission outage for the second time this year. Although available information is limited, (the BBC Engineering Web-Site merely stated that BBC Radio Norfolk was “… Shutdown due to a fault”), we understand from our industry contacts that the problem, once again, was caused by faults in the data connectivity used to deliver programme content to the various transmitters in the Now Digital Norfolk DAB Multiplex.
The Now Digital Norfolk DAB multiplex operates on DAB Block 10B (Centre Frequency 211.648 MHz) and currently broadcasts to most of Central and East Norfolk using six transmitters located at: Stoke Holy Cross (for Norwich); West Runton (for parts of the North Norfolk Coast); North Walsham (for parts of North Norfolk); Daffy Green (for parts of Central Norfolk), Thetford MOD; Great Yarmouth; and Oulton (for the Broads and East Coast of the Country).
Details of planned improvements in coverage by this DAB multiplex can be found on the Ofcom website. Arqiva also has more information available on its website, here. An earlier version of this information can also be found here, (links open in new pages).
Technical details of the Now Digital Norfolk Multiplex (including a link to a coverage / transmitter sites map) can be found at: can be found here (opens in new page).
Services carried by Now Digital in Norfolk include BBC Radio Norfolk, Capital Radio, Gold, Heart Norfolk, Smooth Norfolk, EPG Norwich (data service) and (occasionally) Pop Up Radio. Between March 2003 and September 2015 it operated on DAB Block 11B, moving to its current allocation on the 09th of September 2015.
Services carried on FDN’s Greater Norwich DAB multiplex were unaffected and operated as normal throughout.
[Edited: Sunday 06th August 2017 – Update web-link from “localdigitalradio.co.uk” to localdigitalradio.com”, add link to the Arqiva website and correct spelling errors!]
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