The first R-Books – publications covering the installation of digital television receiving systems – were written between 2001 and 2005. The ‘R’ stood for reception, although the original books also covered cabled distribution systems.
Since 2005 the television industry has undergone a technical transformation, including the migration from analogue services and the introduction of DVB-T2 transmission technology.
In parallel, demand for spectrum has increased at pace resulting in a range of new technologies and services operating at frequencies in and around those utilised by digital television, which previously has not been the case.
These developments in spectrum allocation are set to continue with the change of use of the 700 MHz band.
In order to provide guidance on how these changes could impact digital television reception, the DTG and CAI have worked in partnership to bring the R-Book up to date. As such R-Book 6 was published in 2015 with the aim to support and prepare the installation industry for future spectrum changes, including how to deal with the impact they could have on working practices.
It also contained practical advice on interference mitigation as well as advice on the latest industry guidelines.
R-Book 7 was then published in 2017 to add to version 6 with details of the Radio Equipment Directive introduction as well as information on satellite distribution using wideband and single cable solutions as used by platforms such as Sky Q.
