Spain and the Digital TV Changeover

It's happening everywhere. Whose idea was it? Honestly, I can see why changing from analogue to digital is a good idea. Digital signals are so much neater and smaller than analogue transmissions. They allow TV companies to experiment more. They have so much more bandwidth than with an analogue transmission. Look what going digital has done to the internet? Dial up internet was analogue. It took three weeks to download a tiny file. Now with digital, the same file can be downloaded in under half an hour.

Have a look here at what exactly are analogue and digital transmissions.

I visualise them in my head. I can see the wavy analogue bands, and the straight lines of the digital transmissions.

No-one says they are a bad idea.

However, to make best use of digital transmissions, a certain infrastructure needs to be in place.

I was shocked, and still am, to learn that people living in the campo, near me, still do not have electricity. Some have no electricity or water.

That is shocking for any 21st century country, to say the least.

This is like taking a step back in time. I'm sorry, but all my adult life I have never met people without at least the basic utilities.

I never thought of Scotland as being the centre of the universe, despite it being the centre of mine. The most out of sync part of a modern Scotland that I was aware of, was the single track roads that some highland or island communities put up with.

I wasn't aware of anyone, no matter how remote they lived, not having electricity.

No water supply isn't such a great problem in Scotland, because it rains every day and if the want is there, you need never do without.

But no water supply here, in Spain, where it really doesn't rain that much, is a major issue.

Why is this not in the news headlines?

It would be if it happened in the UK.

	A Short History of Spain Amazon Price: $10.95
	Lonely Planet Spain (Full Color Country Travel Guide) Amazon Price: $16.50 List Price: $26.99
	A Short History of Spain Amazon Price: $0.00

	Digital Television, Third Edition: Satellite, Cable, Terrestrial, IPTV, Mobile TV in the DVB Framework Amazon Price: $39.45 List Price: $54.95
	Philips PT902/37 9" Portable Digital HDTV with FM Tuner Amazon Price: $69.99 List Price: $149.99
	Digital Television, Third Edition: Satellite, Cable, Terrestrial, IPTV, Mobile TV in the DVB Framework Amazon Price: $49.95

Lack of Infrastructure

And now Spain, that didn't even have the infrastructure to ensure all its citizens have the basics of life, and that includes electricity and water, has decided to go ahead and enforce digital TV.

One important thing you need to know about receiving a digital signal is that it needs to be good. With analogue television, if a mountain or other such obstruction gets between you and the transmitting station, normally sound continues as normal, but your screen may be a bit snowy.

With digital, you really need a clear reception, because otherwise your television is unwatchable.You may receive a signal telling you that "there is no signal available" or words to that effect, or you get a picture that shrieks at you every now and then, (try ten times a minute if you feel like being annoyed) and gives you no sound apart from the shriek of course.

The trouble is that here in Spain, with a population of 46 million, and with maybe 20 million living in the countryside where mountains abound, digital TV flops big time. The vast majority of people are having to do wtihout TV, because their signal is not strong enough. There have been numerous radio discussions about it. There may well have been televised debates, but most of us missed it!

This is not good enough and something should be done about it.

As an expat, I actually like digital transmissions, when the reception is good, because I can change the language of the transmitted program. If it was originally recorded in English, as the vast majority of them are, I can change back to English and cut out the dubbed Spanish.

But this opportunity is only there if the signal is strong enough. On a weak signal, and a rain shower seems to weaken it further, the language changes back to Spanish on the first shriek and stays there!

Almost a Third World Country in Many Aspects

Spain has moved too quickly into the digital era, without having the infrastructure in place. I want then to stand back a bit and look at themselves. I mean, really look at themselves.

I am sick of being told how Spain is not a third world country, by Spaniards.

I'm sure the people don't WANT to be a third world country.

I'm pretty sure Spain has enough internal talent to modernise completely.

But I'm also sure until they put their money where their mouth is, and invest in internal infrastructure, they will remain on the peripheries of the real world.

Brucellosis, What to Look out For

Three years ago,a dear friend of mine was ill for a long time. He and his wife lived on the campo, near a sheep/goat farm and he developed the strangest symptoms that left the doctors baffled. He had debilitating aches and pains, a guaranteed fever every evening, loss of energy. He felt awful.

This man was clever. A retired teacher in his fifties and of previously good health, he knew there was something wrong, but test after test came back negative when he visited the doctor's surgery. Meanwhile his life, over a period of months, continued its downward spiral. Feeling permanently ill, he barely had the energy to get out of bed of a morning. The doctors had no answers for him, so he did the modern thing.

He looked it up on the Internet.

Hours and hours he spent googling his symptoms, but he kept coming back to the same thing.

Sign and symptoms of brucellosis

• sweating
• fever that rises in the afternoon and falls again
• muscular aches and pains
• flu-like symptoms 
• headache
• chills
• fatigue

Check.

Finally, deciding he definitely had the symptoms of brucellosis, he went back to the doctor yet again, ready to explain why he felt he may have this disease that is common in animals, even though there was no sign nor word of an infection present in the nearby farm. Coming as he did from the UK, he no doubt was scared stiff to be showing the signs and symptoms of a disease long since eradicated.

Doubtless though, he would have read that the disease was still prevalent in Spain, despite its eradication form many European countries.

Locum doctor

As luck would it, the day he went armed with this info, a locum was covering for the village doctor. The locum listened to what he had to say, but refused to acknowledge the possibility that he had this rare disease. She was interested enough to send him for yet more blood tests, but refused to tick the box asking the lab specifically for a test for brucellosis.

After handing him the signed form, she dismissed him, instructing him to hand the form to the surgery receptionist. On the way, he whipped out a pen and ticked the box for a brucellosis test.

OK, we know its not exactly ethical, but needs must.

brucella melitensis

Hospitalised

Next thing he knew, he was being called to attend the hospital immediately, where his confirmed diagnosis of brucellosis needed urgent treatment.

This man had to go through hospitalisation and multiple drug therapies and is still under medical care.

Everyone in authority was shocked, because brucellosis is a notifiable disease, and none had been notified.

And this is where the story gets interesting.

How He Caught it

It would seem now that yes the nearby farm knew something was wrong, and that they knew before my friend took ill, as they had decided to clean and disinfect all the bath-troughs they had at the foot of their fields which supplied their animals with food/water and my friend, being a friendly neighbour, and his wife, had mucked into help.

This was before he took ill, and probably how he picked up his infection, as the tiny brucella bacteria when present are easily transferable through a break in the skin.

His wife suffered no ill effects afterwards. Possibly she never had a skin abrasion at the time through which a transference could occur.

	Brucellosis: Webster's Timeline History, 1855 - 2007 Amazon Price: $28.95
	Advances in Brucellosis Research Amazon Price: $23.95 List Price: $39.95
	Brucellosis in the Greater Yellowstone Area Amazon Price: $17.90 List Price: $34.00
	Madkour's Brucellosis Amazon Price: $56.70 List Price: $179.00
	BACTERIA AS AGENTS OF BIOWARFARE: How to proceed when the worst is suspected Advice on what to look for and which treatment to use in the event of deployment ... or brucellosis. (Postgraduate Medicine) Amazon Price: $9.99

Notifiable Disease

The hospitals, the doctors, every medical personnel my friend had asked for help to had not suspected brucellosis because they had received no reports of an outbreak in the area, and obviously hadn't received one for a long time else it would be something they would still be looking out for.

Yet this farm had an outbreak that they chose not to report? Did they know what was wrong? Had they had a previous outbreak? The evidence seems to suggest they knew what they had on their hands, but chose not to involve the Health Inspectors who would put their animals down and leave them with nothing. There is a compensation scheme in place, which would have allowed them to start again so I have no idea why this option wasn't taken.

With a confirmed human case of brucellosis, the authorities had no choice but to inspect the farm premises, and on discovering infected animals, order and undertake their execution in order to eradicate the possibility of spread of the disease.

Living nearby, my friends were in a position to see that some animals were secreted away on the day the Health Inspectors arrived to commence their eradication program.

The Alcalde

In the months following the confirmation of my friend's diagnosis, not only did he find himself ignored by the people in the neighbouring farm (with whom previously he had had a good relationship) but he was ordered to attend a meeting with thealcalde himself. The alcalde, for those non-Spanish readers here, is the epitome of power in local politics. While alcalde literally translates as 'mayor' or 'council leader' here in Spain they have so much more autonomous power than any mayor in the UK. They have the right to give planning permission for things that in other countries would belong to a higher authority. They have the final word in everyone to do with a locality. It has often been said that becoming an alcalde (and it is a democratic vote that puts an alcalde in power) brings out the worst and the greediest of human nature, the alcalde being entitled to a percentage of all planning application costs granted.

I'm trying to avoid saying they are corrupt, but all bets are off on that score.

My friend went along to the meeting with the alcalde, only to find that not only did the alcalde shout at him in Spanish with a finger being pointed in his face (very rude in any language) but the interpreter refused to interpret!

Part of what he could understand was the alcalde demanding proof that he had in fact been diagnosed with brucellosis, and suggesting he could have picked it up elsewhere and not in his locality.

Repeat infection

Now, three years later, the farm is showing signs of a repeat infection. Vans have been arriving with men in space suits taking infected carcases away.

But there is no word in the community.

No advice on what to avoid, nor what areas walkers should stay away from.

Yet the brucella bacteria, when present, can become airborne and a human can become infected simply by breathing it in.

When Britain was infected with Foot and Mouth, we all saw TV coverage of DEFRA inspectors closing down farms, disinfecting footpaths, burning carcasses.

We saw footage of farmers crying, having lost the entire livestock that they had built up since their grandfathers day.

Foot and Mouth didn't even affect humans. Brucellosis can and does and is so much more serious. Yet this is being hushed up, no doubt to protect the pockets of a few.