Regional Analog closedown???

[gordon_s1942]

A lady I speak to in a Peer chat room told me tonight that the viewers in Whyalla, South Australia are being advised to obtain digital STB's as thier analog service is to discontinue after January 1 2009.
I have no way of confirming this as I am slightly out of the viewing range but this would be consistant with posting regarding the 2013 projected turn off of all Analog services.
After reading the posting I thought that not only would that legislation allow some areas to start switching off in the near future but also if a translator site had digital up and running and the Analog equipment suffered a mishap, could they go to the relevent authority and get permission not to restore the analog service?
In my own area a translator tower was bent in half during high winds in September 2007 and it took them over 9 months to replace it.
This was only after a number of complaints made at Federal level.
One reported claim was that there wasnt a tower suitable (a 40 foot lattice type guyed mast) available anywhere in OZ.
It will be interesting to hear if this is correct and if other areas follow suit.

[admin]

I would think it would be very unlikely.

[Fernbay]

The timetable for Whyalla shows it to be December, 2010

In my case, Newcastle has been set for 31 Dec 2012.

Type Switchover Area Major Centres Analog Switch-off Window
VIC Mildura/Sunraysia Mildura 1 January – 30 June 2010
SA Broken Hill Broken Hill 1 July – 31 December 2010
SA Riverland Renmark and Loxton 1 July – 31 December 2010
SA Mt Gambier/South East South Australia Mt Gambier, Naracoorte and Bordertown 1 July – 31 December 2010
SA Spencer Gulf Port Lincoln, Whyalla, Port Augusta 1 July – 31 December 2010
VIC Gippsland Traralgon, Bairnsdale and Mallacoota 1 January – 30 June 2011
VIC North Central Victoria Bendigo and Swan Hill 1 January – 30 June 2011
VIC South West Victoria Ballarat, Warrnambool and Horsham 1 January – 30 June 2011
VIC Goulburn Valley /Upper Murray Albury/Wodonga, Wangaratta and Shepparton 1 January – 30 June 2011
QLD Wide Bay Hervey Bay, Bundaberg and Maryborough 1 July – 31 December 2011
QLD Capricornia Rockhampton, Emerald and Yeppoon 1 July – 31 December 2011
QLD QLD Central Coast and Whitsundays Mackay, Proserpine and Bowen 1 July – 31 December 2011
QLD Darling Downs Toowoomba, Warwick and Dalby 1 July – 31 December 2011
QLD North Queensland Townsville, Ayr and Charters Towers 1 July – 31 December 2011
QLD Far North Queensland Cairns, Port Douglas and Innisfail 1 July – 31 December 2011
NSW Griffith/Murrumbidgee Irrigation Area Griffith and Hay 1 January – 30 June 2012
NSW South West Slopes and Eastern Riverina Wagga Wagga and Gundagai 1 January – 30 June 2012
NSW Illawarra and the South Coast Wollongong, Ulladulla and Eden 1 January – 30 June 2012
NSW Central Tablelands and Central Western Slopes Dubbo, Orange and Mudgee 1 January – 30 June 2012
NSW ACT and Southern Tablelands Canberra, Thredbo and Cooma 1 January – 30 June 2012
NSW North West Slopes and Plains Tamworth, Armidale and Inverell 1 July – 31 December 2012
NSW Richmond/Tweed Byron Bay, Tenterfield and Lismore 1 July – 31 December 2012
NSW Northern Rivers Coffs Harbour, Forster and Grafton 1 July – 31 December 2012
NSW Hunter Newcastle, Port Stephens 1 July – 31 December 2012
Metro Tasmania Hobart, Launceston and King Island 1 January – 30 June 2013
Metro Perth Perth 1 January – 30 June 2013
Metro Brisbane Brisbane, Gold Coast and Noosa 1 January – 30 June 2013
Metro Melbourne Melbourne 1 July – 31 December 2013
Metro Adelaide Adelaide 1 July – 31 December 2013
Metro Sydney Sydney and Gosford 1 July – 31 December 2013
Remote Regional and Remote Western Australia Kalgoorlie, Broome and Bunbury 1 July – 31 December 2013
Remote Remote Central & Eastern Australia Darwin, Alice Springs and Mt Isa 1 July – 31 December 2013

[Farmsky]

Read all about it . Details in the pdf download.

Woops. u beat me Fernbay

[Antennaman]

That is all very interesting, however I have no inclination to believe any of this until the analogue turn off actually start to happen.

I suspect that when all the dust is settled, it will be the antenna technicians, if there are any left, who will be responsible for sorting out this mess.

[gordon_s1942]

Thanks for the replies and info, at least its a guide to work on whether they stick to it or not remains to be seen.What I neglected to do when the lady told me about the advise was to ask her how she heard of it, was it on their TV, a flyer advertising DBD's or the next door neighbor??I will ask next time I speak to her.Yes Antennaman, a mess it will be unless people get more education re digital, they buy gradualy so as to allow time for problems to be found and dealt with but human nature being what it is, most likely many will wait untill the screen goes blank THEN try to get it sorted.

[Farmsky]

It's all pretty simple really.

So why would capital cities who were first to 'turn on' be last to 'turn off'?

Simply .... capital cities have many 'multi-unit dwellings with MATV systems, sadly living in the analogue era.

It's a huge upgrade task. Read about it . At least the current Minister is giving the problem due process.

Calling all informed television technicians .