• Helicopter coverage of coffin journey

    From Tweed@21:1/5 to All on Sun Sep 11 17:13:34 2022
    The coffin journey from Balmoral to Edinburgh was covered by helicopter for much of the journey. I had assumed the pictures would be backhauled via satellite, but maybe not. (Thinking about it, an upwards view through the rotors might not be possible?) There were lots of periods of degrading to
    fuzzy vision, especially around Edinburgh. Were they relying on cellular
    links?

    Things also went badly wrong when the cortège exited Balmoral, with the
    live feed from the static camera degrading to lots of grey squares. Picked
    up again on the subsequent camera.

    Just curious about how it’s done.

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  • From Brian Gaff@21:1/5 to Tweed on Mon Sep 12 09:43:52 2022
    I think they use ground based stations to do it, since there is very little delay, I'm told.
    Brian

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    "Tweed" <usenet.tweed@gmail.com> wrote in message news:tfl4vu$20b9t$1@dont-email.me...
    The coffin journey from Balmoral to Edinburgh was covered by helicopter
    for
    much of the journey. I had assumed the pictures would be backhauled via satellite, but maybe not. (Thinking about it, an upwards view through the rotors might not be possible?) There were lots of periods of degrading to fuzzy vision, especially around Edinburgh. Were they relying on cellular links?

    Things also went badly wrong when the cortège exited Balmoral, with the
    live feed from the static camera degrading to lots of grey squares. Picked
    up again on the subsequent camera.

    Just curious about how it's done.


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  • From Mark Carver@21:1/5 to Tweed on Tue Sep 13 13:14:33 2022
    On 11/09/2022 18:13, Tweed wrote:
    The coffin journey from Balmoral to Edinburgh was covered by helicopter for much of the journey. I had assumed the pictures would be backhauled via satellite, but maybe not. (Thinking about it, an upwards view through the rotors might not be possible?) There were lots of periods of degrading to fuzzy vision, especially around Edinburgh. Were they relying on cellular links?

    Things also went badly wrong when the cortège exited Balmoral, with the
    live feed from the static camera degrading to lots of grey squares. Picked
    up again on the subsequent camera.

    Just curious about how it’s done.

    Normally there are rx points for it, and it uses diversity reception
    techniques (at stream level I think ?)

    There are Rx points in SE England, further north fewer. I know the
    Sunley (or whatever it's called now) building in Manchester is an Rx point.

    BBC and Sky's OB news vans can also receive it, and relay back to London
    by that method. I suspect that's how they did the Balmoral to EDH run ?

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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  • From joe bloggs@21:1/5 to Mark Carver on Tue Sep 13 05:43:20 2022
    On Tuesday, September 13, 2022 at 1:14:36 PM UTC+1, Mark Carver wrote:
    On 11/09/2022 18:13, Tweed wrote:
    The coffin journey from Balmoral to Edinburgh was covered by helicopter for
    much of the journey. I had assumed the pictures would be backhauled via satellite, but maybe not. (Thinking about it, an upwards view through the rotors might not be possible?) There were lots of periods of degrading to fuzzy vision, especially around Edinburgh. Were they relying on cellular links?

    Things also went badly wrong when the cortège exited Balmoral, with the live feed from the static camera degrading to lots of grey squares. Picked up again on the subsequent camera.

    Just curious about how it’s done.

    Normally there are rx points for it, and it uses diversity reception techniques (at stream level I think ?)

    There are Rx points in SE England, further north fewer. I know the
    Sunley (or whatever it's called now) building in Manchester is an Rx point.

    BBC and Sky's OB news vans can also receive it, and relay back to London
    by that method. I suspect that's how they did the Balmoral to EDH run ?

    I've had contact with directors involved in the coverage, although they did not know for certain they believe it was a digital transmitter slung underneath the helicopter being picked up by various phone masts along the route. Tends to suggest LiveU I
    think? And the mast coverage being what it is likely to be in NE Scotland would likely explain the somewhat indifferent reception and pictures at times? Maybe also telephone masts tending to be looking for horizontal coverage rather than upwards not
    helping matters? Certainly not links vans on this occasion - there are simply not enough to go round, and there aren't enough OB vans around either given that football is still on over the weekend.

    But I did not get a definitive answer to the heli stuff so maybe my info is duff.

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  • From Tweed@21:1/5 to joe bloggs on Tue Sep 13 14:08:26 2022
    joe bloggs <reel.sounds.of.the.seventies@gmail.com> wrote:
    On Tuesday, September 13, 2022 at 1:14:36 PM UTC+1, Mark Carver wrote:
    On 11/09/2022 18:13, Tweed wrote:
    The coffin journey from Balmoral to Edinburgh was covered by helicopter for >>> much of the journey. I had assumed the pictures would be backhauled via
    satellite, but maybe not. (Thinking about it, an upwards view through the >>> rotors might not be possible?) There were lots of periods of degrading to >>> fuzzy vision, especially around Edinburgh. Were they relying on cellular >>> links?

    Things also went badly wrong when the cortège exited Balmoral, with the >>> live feed from the static camera degrading to lots of grey squares. Picked >>> up again on the subsequent camera.

    Just curious about how it’s done.

    Normally there are rx points for it, and it uses diversity reception
    techniques (at stream level I think ?)

    There are Rx points in SE England, further north fewer. I know the
    Sunley (or whatever it's called now) building in Manchester is an Rx point. >>
    BBC and Sky's OB news vans can also receive it, and relay back to London
    by that method. I suspect that's how they did the Balmoral to EDH run ?

    I've had contact with directors involved in the coverage, although they
    did not know for certain they believe it was a digital transmitter slung underneath the helicopter being picked up by various phone masts along
    the route. Tends to suggest LiveU I think? And the mast coverage being
    what it is likely to be in NE Scotland would likely explain the somewhat indifferent reception and pictures at times? Maybe also telephone masts tending to be looking for horizontal coverage rather than upwards not
    helping matters? Certainly not links vans on this occasion - there are
    simply not enough to go round, and there aren't enough OB vans around
    either given that football is still on over the weekend.

    But I did not get a definitive answer to the heli stuff so maybe my info is duff.


    Thought the football had been cancelled? The coverage quality got worse
    towards Edinburgh, but I guess the phone cells were getting overloaded by
    the crowds. Up in the open country it held up well.

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  • From Tweed@21:1/5 to Mark Carver on Tue Sep 13 14:48:34 2022
    Mark Carver <mark.carver@invalid.invalid> wrote:
    On 13/09/2022 15:08, Tweed wrote:

    Thought the football had been cancelled? The coverage quality got worse
    towards Edinburgh, but I guess the phone cells were getting overloaded by
    the crowds. Up in the open country it held up well.

    They discovered that at London 2012, and the cycling race through
    Surrey. The IOC etc had arranged for stage results to be transmitted
    back to London via 3/4G.
    Worked fine in tests, however on the day itself it fell apart due to the crowds using loads of data to upload photos etc


    I see a job opening for my self as an rf consultant of the bleedin’ obvious…..

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  • From Mark Carver@21:1/5 to Tweed on Tue Sep 13 15:16:38 2022
    On 13/09/2022 15:08, Tweed wrote:

    Thought the football had been cancelled? The coverage quality got worse towards Edinburgh, but I guess the phone cells were getting overloaded by
    the crowds. Up in the open country it held up well.

    They discovered that at London 2012, and the cycling race through
    Surrey. The IOC etc had arranged for stage results to be transmitted
    back to London via 3/4G.
    Worked fine in tests, however on the day itself it fell apart due to the
    crowds using loads of data to upload photos etc

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From sport@1985.tv@21:1/5 to Tweed on Tue Sep 13 12:59:52 2022
    On Tuesday, September 13, 2022 at 3:08:28 PM UTC+1, Tweed wrote:
    joe bloggs
    On Tuesday, September 13, 2022 at 1:14:36 PM UTC+1, Mark Carver wrote:
    On 11/09/2022 18:13, Tweed wrote:
    The coffin journey from Balmoral to Edinburgh was covered by helicopter for
    much of the journey. I had assumed the pictures would be backhauled via >>> satellite, but maybe not. (Thinking about it, an upwards view through the
    rotors might not be possible?) There were lots of periods of degrading to
    fuzzy vision, especially around Edinburgh. Were they relying on cellular >>> links?

    Things also went badly wrong when the cortège exited Balmoral, with the >>> live feed from the static camera degrading to lots of grey squares. Picked
    up again on the subsequent camera.

    Just curious about how it’s done.

    Normally there are rx points for it, and it uses diversity reception
    techniques (at stream level I think ?)

    There are Rx points in SE England, further north fewer. I know the
    Sunley (or whatever it's called now) building in Manchester is an Rx point.

    BBC and Sky's OB news vans can also receive it, and relay back to London >> by that method. I suspect that's how they did the Balmoral to EDH run ?

    I've had contact with directors involved in the coverage, although they did not know for certain they believe it was a digital transmitter slung underneath the helicopter being picked up by various phone masts along
    the route. Tends to suggest LiveU I think? And the mast coverage being what it is likely to be in NE Scotland would likely explain the somewhat indifferent reception and pictures at times? Maybe also telephone masts tending to be looking for horizontal coverage rather than upwards not helping matters? Certainly not links vans on this occasion - there are simply not enough to go round, and there aren't enough OB vans around either given that football is still on over the weekend.

    But I did not get a definitive answer to the heli stuff so maybe my info is duff.

    Thought the football had been cancelled? The coverage quality got worse towards Edinburgh, but I guess the phone cells were getting overloaded by the crowds. Up in the open country it held up well.

    Footy is still on this weekend at the moment though some matches have been postponed.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From joe bloggs@21:1/5 to Tweed on Tue Sep 13 13:01:57 2022
    On Tuesday, September 13, 2022 at 3:08:28 PM UTC+1, Tweed wrote:
    joe bloggs
    On Tuesday, September 13, 2022 at 1:14:36 PM UTC+1, Mark Carver wrote:
    On 11/09/2022 18:13, Tweed wrote:
    The coffin journey from Balmoral to Edinburgh was covered by helicopter for
    much of the journey. I had assumed the pictures would be backhauled via >>> satellite, but maybe not. (Thinking about it, an upwards view through the
    rotors might not be possible?) There were lots of periods of degrading to
    fuzzy vision, especially around Edinburgh. Were they relying on cellular >>> links?

    Things also went badly wrong when the cortège exited Balmoral, with the >>> live feed from the static camera degrading to lots of grey squares. Picked
    up again on the subsequent camera.

    Just curious about how it’s done.

    Normally there are rx points for it, and it uses diversity reception
    techniques (at stream level I think ?)

    There are Rx points in SE England, further north fewer. I know the
    Sunley (or whatever it's called now) building in Manchester is an Rx point.

    BBC and Sky's OB news vans can also receive it, and relay back to London >> by that method. I suspect that's how they did the Balmoral to EDH run ?

    I've had contact with directors involved in the coverage, although they did not know for certain they believe it was a digital transmitter slung underneath the helicopter being picked up by various phone masts along
    the route. Tends to suggest LiveU I think? And the mast coverage being what it is likely to be in NE Scotland would likely explain the somewhat indifferent reception and pictures at times? Maybe also telephone masts tending to be looking for horizontal coverage rather than upwards not helping matters? Certainly not links vans on this occasion - there are simply not enough to go round, and there aren't enough OB vans around either given that football is still on over the weekend.

    But I did not get a definitive answer to the heli stuff so maybe my info is duff.

    Thought the football had been cancelled? The coverage quality got worse towards Edinburgh, but I guess the phone cells were getting overloaded by the crowds. Up in the open country it held up well.

    Still a lot of footy being played this weekend although some matches have been postponed.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Tweed@21:1/5 to joe bloggs on Tue Sep 13 20:22:52 2022
    joe bloggs <reel.sounds.of.the.seventies@gmail.com> wrote:
    On Tuesday, September 13, 2022 at 3:08:28 PM UTC+1, Tweed wrote:
    joe bloggs
    On Tuesday, September 13, 2022 at 1:14:36 PM UTC+1, Mark Carver wrote:
    On 11/09/2022 18:13, Tweed wrote:
    The coffin journey from Balmoral to Edinburgh was covered by helicopter for
    much of the journey. I had assumed the pictures would be backhauled via >>>>> satellite, but maybe not. (Thinking about it, an upwards view through the >>>>> rotors might not be possible?) There were lots of periods of degrading to >>>>> fuzzy vision, especially around Edinburgh. Were they relying on cellular >>>>> links?

    Things also went badly wrong when the cortège exited Balmoral, with the >>>>> live feed from the static camera degrading to lots of grey squares. Picked
    up again on the subsequent camera.

    Just curious about how it’s done.

    Normally there are rx points for it, and it uses diversity reception
    techniques (at stream level I think ?)

    There are Rx points in SE England, further north fewer. I know the
    Sunley (or whatever it's called now) building in Manchester is an Rx point.

    BBC and Sky's OB news vans can also receive it, and relay back to London >>>> by that method. I suspect that's how they did the Balmoral to EDH run ? >>>
    I've had contact with directors involved in the coverage, although they
    did not know for certain they believe it was a digital transmitter slung >>> underneath the helicopter being picked up by various phone masts along
    the route. Tends to suggest LiveU I think? And the mast coverage being
    what it is likely to be in NE Scotland would likely explain the somewhat >>> indifferent reception and pictures at times? Maybe also telephone masts
    tending to be looking for horizontal coverage rather than upwards not
    helping matters? Certainly not links vans on this occasion - there are
    simply not enough to go round, and there aren't enough OB vans around
    either given that football is still on over the weekend.

    But I did not get a definitive answer to the heli stuff so maybe my info is duff.

    Thought the football had been cancelled? The coverage quality got worse
    towards Edinburgh, but I guess the phone cells were getting overloaded by
    the crowds. Up in the open country it held up well.

    Still a lot of footy being played this weekend although some matches have been postponed.


    But the football wasn’t on last weekend, when the poorly linked helicopter shots were made.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From joe bloggs@21:1/5 to Tweed on Tue Sep 13 15:25:29 2022
    On Tuesday, September 13, 2022 at 9:22:54 PM UTC+1, Tweed wrote:
    joe bloggs
    On Tuesday, September 13, 2022 at 3:08:28 PM UTC+1, Tweed wrote:
    joe bloggs
    On Tuesday, September 13, 2022 at 1:14:36 PM UTC+1, Mark Carver wrote: >>>> On 11/09/2022 18:13, Tweed wrote:
    The coffin journey from Balmoral to Edinburgh was covered by helicopter for
    much of the journey. I had assumed the pictures would be backhauled via
    satellite, but maybe not. (Thinking about it, an upwards view through the
    rotors might not be possible?) There were lots of periods of degrading to
    fuzzy vision, especially around Edinburgh. Were they relying on cellular
    links?

    Things also went badly wrong when the cortège exited Balmoral, with the
    live feed from the static camera degrading to lots of grey squares. Picked
    up again on the subsequent camera.

    Just curious about how it’s done.

    Normally there are rx points for it, and it uses diversity reception >>>> techniques (at stream level I think ?)

    There are Rx points in SE England, further north fewer. I know the
    Sunley (or whatever it's called now) building in Manchester is an Rx point.

    BBC and Sky's OB news vans can also receive it, and relay back to London
    by that method. I suspect that's how they did the Balmoral to EDH run ? >>>
    I've had contact with directors involved in the coverage, although they >>> did not know for certain they believe it was a digital transmitter slung >>> underneath the helicopter being picked up by various phone masts along >>> the route. Tends to suggest LiveU I think? And the mast coverage being >>> what it is likely to be in NE Scotland would likely explain the somewhat >>> indifferent reception and pictures at times? Maybe also telephone masts >>> tending to be looking for horizontal coverage rather than upwards not >>> helping matters? Certainly not links vans on this occasion - there are >>> simply not enough to go round, and there aren't enough OB vans around >>> either given that football is still on over the weekend.

    But I did not get a definitive answer to the heli stuff so maybe my info is duff.

    Thought the football had been cancelled? The coverage quality got worse >> towards Edinburgh, but I guess the phone cells were getting overloaded by >> the crowds. Up in the open country it held up well.

    Still a lot of footy being played this weekend although some matches have been postponed.

    But the football wasn’t on last weekend, when the poorly linked helicopter shots were made.

    I think maybe we are talking about two different things? My remarks were concerning the coming weekend and the lack of additional OB and link facilities on Monday because of football this Sat/Sun. As to last weekend's poor helicopter coverage I have
    given my own thoughts on the subject - OB/Links trucks en route were never part of the plan. I have suggested it was provided via LiveU but presently I cannot confirm that. I expect a lot of technical info will be published after the event and hopefully
    useful snippets like that will turn up here. It would be nice to get clarification for those of us who are interested.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Tweed@21:1/5 to joe bloggs on Wed Sep 14 05:30:07 2022
    joe bloggs <reel.sounds.of.the.seventies@gmail.com> wrote:
    On Tuesday, September 13, 2022 at 9:22:54 PM UTC+1, Tweed wrote:
    joe bloggs
    On Tuesday, September 13, 2022 at 3:08:28 PM UTC+1, Tweed wrote:
    joe bloggs
    On Tuesday, September 13, 2022 at 1:14:36 PM UTC+1, Mark Carver wrote: >>>>>> On 11/09/2022 18:13, Tweed wrote:
    The coffin journey from Balmoral to Edinburgh was covered by helicopter for
    much of the journey. I had assumed the pictures would be backhauled via >>>>>>> satellite, but maybe not. (Thinking about it, an upwards view through the
    rotors might not be possible?) There were lots of periods of degrading to
    fuzzy vision, especially around Edinburgh. Were they relying on cellular
    links?

    Things also went badly wrong when the cortège exited Balmoral, with the
    live feed from the static camera degrading to lots of grey squares. Picked
    up again on the subsequent camera.

    Just curious about how it’s done.

    Normally there are rx points for it, and it uses diversity reception >>>>>> techniques (at stream level I think ?)

    There are Rx points in SE England, further north fewer. I know the >>>>>> Sunley (or whatever it's called now) building in Manchester is an Rx point.

    BBC and Sky's OB news vans can also receive it, and relay back to London >>>>>> by that method. I suspect that's how they did the Balmoral to EDH run ? >>>>>
    I've had contact with directors involved in the coverage, although they >>>>> did not know for certain they believe it was a digital transmitter slung >>>>> underneath the helicopter being picked up by various phone masts along >>>>> the route. Tends to suggest LiveU I think? And the mast coverage being >>>>> what it is likely to be in NE Scotland would likely explain the somewhat >>>>> indifferent reception and pictures at times? Maybe also telephone masts >>>>> tending to be looking for horizontal coverage rather than upwards not >>>>> helping matters? Certainly not links vans on this occasion - there are >>>>> simply not enough to go round, and there aren't enough OB vans around >>>>> either given that football is still on over the weekend.

    But I did not get a definitive answer to the heli stuff so maybe my info is duff.

    Thought the football had been cancelled? The coverage quality got worse >>>> towards Edinburgh, but I guess the phone cells were getting overloaded by >>>> the crowds. Up in the open country it held up well.

    Still a lot of footy being played this weekend although some matches
    have been postponed.

    But the football wasn’t on last weekend, when the poorly linked helicopter >> shots were made.

    I think maybe we are talking about two different things? My remarks were concerning the coming weekend and the lack of additional OB and link facilities on Monday because of football this Sat/Sun. As to last
    weekend's poor helicopter coverage I have given my own thoughts on the subject - OB/Links trucks en route were never part of the plan. I have suggested it was provided via LiveU but presently I cannot confirm that.
    I expect a lot of technical info will be published after the event and hopefully useful snippets like that will turn up here. It would be nice
    to get clarification for those of us who are interested.


    Yes, sorry. It would be interesting if someone can post more info once it becomes available.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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