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Full Freeview on the Bilsdale (North Yorkshire, England) transmitter

first published this on - UK Free TV
sa_streetviewGoogle Streetviewsa_gmapsGoogle mapsa_bingBing mapsa_gearthGoogle Earthsa_gps54.358,-1.151 or 54°21'30"N 1°9'2"Wsa_postcodeTS9 7JS

 

The symbol shows the location of the Bilsdale (North Yorkshire, England) transmitter which serves 570,000 homes. The bright green areas shown where the signal from this transmitter is strong, dark green areas are poorer signals. Those parts shown in yellow may have interference on the same frequency from other masts.

Are there any planned engineering works or unexpected transmitter faults on the Bilsdale (North Yorkshire, England) mast?

Bilsdale transmitter - Bilsdale transmitter: Possible effect on TV reception week commencing 25/03/2024 Pixelation or flickering on some or all channels Digital tick


Choose from three options: ■ List by multiplex ■ List by channel number ■ List by channel name
_______

Which Freeview channels does the Bilsdale transmitter broadcast?

If you have any kind of Freeview fault, follow this Freeview reset procedure first.

Digital television services are broadcast on a multiplexes (or Mux) where many stations occupy a single broadcast frequency, as shown below.

MuxH/VFrequencyHeightModeWatts
PSB1
BBCA
 H max
C27 (522.0MHz)676mDTG-100,000W
Channel icons
1 BBC One (SD) North East and Cumbria, 2 BBC Two England, 9 BBC Four, 23 BBC Three, 201 CBBC, 202 CBeebies, 231 BBC News, 232 BBC Parliament, plus 16 others

PSB2
D3+4
 H max
C24 (498.0MHz)676mDTG-100,000W
Channel icons
3 ITV 1 (SD) (Tyne Tees), 4 Channel 4 (SD) North ads, 5 Channel 5, 6 ITV 2, 10 ITV3, 13 E4, 14 Film4, 15 Channel 4 +1 North ads, 18 More4, 26 ITV4, 28 ITVBe, 30 E4 +1, 35 ITV1 +1 (Tyne Tees),

PSB3
BBCB
 H max
C21 (474.0MHz)676mDTG-100,000W
Channel icons
46 5SELECT, 101 BBC One HD North East and Cumbria, 102 BBC Two HD England, 103 ITV 1 HD (ITV Granada), 104 Channel 4 HD North ads, 105 Channel 5 HD, 106 BBC Four HD, 107 BBC Three HD, 204 CBBC HD, 205 CBeebies HD, plus 1 others

COM4
SDN
 H -3dB
C43 (650.0MHz)676mDTG-850,000W
Channel icons
20 Drama, 21 5USA, 29 ITV2 +1, 32 5STAR, 33 5Action, 38 Channel 5 +1, 41 Legend, 42 GREAT! action, 57 Dave ja vu, 58 ITVBe +1, 59 ITV3 +1, 64 Blaze, 67 TRUE CRIME, 68 TRUE CRIME XTRA, 78 TCC, 81 Blaze +1, 83 Together TV, 89 ITV4 +1, 91 WildEarth, 209 Ketchup TV, 210 Ketchup Too, 211 YAAAS!, 267 Al Jazeera English, plus 30 others

COM5
ArqA
 H -3dB
C46 (674.0MHz)681mDTG-850,000W
Channel icons
11 Sky Mix, 17 Really, 19 Dave, 31 E4 Extra, 36 Sky Arts, 40 Quest Red, 43 Food Network, 47 Film4 +1, 48 Challenge, 49 4seven, 60 Drama +1, 65 That's TV 2, 70 Quest +1, 74 Yesterday +1, 75 That's 90s, 233 Sky News, plus 11 others

COM6
ArqB
 H -3dB
C40 (626.0MHz)681mDTG-850,000W
Channel icons
12 Quest, 25 W, 27 Yesterday, 34 GREAT! movies, 39 DMAX, 44 HGTV, 52 GREAT! romance, 56 That's TV (UK), 61 GREAT! movies extra, 63 GREAT! romance mix, 71 That’s 60s, 73 HobbyMaker, 82 Talking Pictures TV, 84 PBS America, 235 Al Jazeera Eng, plus 18 others

DTG-8 64QAM 8K 3/4 27.1Mb/s DVB-T MPEG2
H/V: aerial position (horizontal or vertical)

Which BBC and ITV regional news can I watch from the Bilsdale transmitter?

regional news image
BBC Look North (Newcastle) 1.6m homes 6.0%
from Newcastle NE99 2NE, 74km north-northwest (336°)
to BBC North East and Cumbria region - 70 masts.
regional news image
ITV Tyne Tees News 1.4m homes 5.4%
from Gateshead NE11 9SZ, 75km north-northwest (333°)
to ITV Tyne Tees region - 47 masts.
All of lunch, weekend and 50% evening news is shared with Border

Are there any self-help relays?

Garsdale (pin Fold)Transposer63 homes (coverage together with SH34)
Hawsker BottomActive deflector 150 caravans
LangthwaiteActive deflector30 homes

How will the Bilsdale (North Yorkshire, England) transmission frequencies change over time?

1984-971997-981998-20122012-1313 Nov 2019
A K TA K TA K TK TW T
C21BBCB
C23C4wavesC4wavesC4wavesBBCB
C24_localD3+4
C26BBC2wavesBBC2wavesBBC2wavesBBCA
C27BBCA
C29ITVwavesITVwavesITVwavesD3+4
C30_local
C31com7
C33BBC1wavesBBC1wavesBBC1waves
C35C5wavesC5waves
C37com8
C40ArqBArqB
C43SDNSDN
C46ArqAArqA
C55tv_offcom7tv_off
C56tv_offCOM8tv_off

tv_off Being removed from Freeview (for 5G use) after November 2020 / June 2022 - more
Table shows multiplexes names see this article;
green background for transmission frequencies
Notes: + and - denote 166kHz offset; aerial group are shown as A B C/D E K W T
waves denotes analogue; digital switchover was 12 Sep 12 and 26 Sep 12.

How do the old analogue and currrent digital signal levels compare?

Analogue 1-5 500kW
BBCA, D3+4, BBCB(-7dB) 100kW
SDN, ARQA, ARQB(-10dB) 50kW
com7(-14.3dB) 18.5kW
com8(-14.4dB) 18.1kW
Mux 2*, Mux A*, Mux B*, Mux C*(-19.2dB) 6kW
Mux 1*(-20.2dB) 4.8kW
Mux D*(-24.9dB) 1.6kW

Which companies have run the Channel 3 services in the Bilsdale transmitter area

May 1956-Jul 1968Granada Television†
May 1956-Jul 1968Associated British Corporation◊
Jul 1968-Jul 1974Yorkshire Television
Jul 1974-Feb 2004Tyne Tees Television
Feb 2004-Dec 2014ITV plc
Feb 1983-Dec 1992TV-am•
Jan 1993-Sep 2010GMTV•
Sep 2010-Dec 2014ITV Daybreak•
• Breakfast ◊ Weekends ♦ Friday night and weekends † Weekdays only. Bilsdale was not an original Channel 3 VHF 405-line mast: the historical information shown is the details of the company responsible for the transmitter when it began transmitting Channel 3.

Is the transmitter output the same in all directions?

Radiation patterns withheld

Comments
Saturday, 14 August 2021
A
Alan
6:48 PM
Newton Aycliffe

Alan

How do you find which is the best Freeview transmitter between Bilsdale or Pontop Pike? Postcode is DL5 6TE ?
I know they are almost opposite directions but want to know for future whether to turn the aerial one way or another?


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Alan's 4 posts GB flag
Alan's: mapA's Freeview map terrainA's terrain plot wavesA's frequency data A's Freeview Detailed Coverage
C
Chris.SE
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

9:44 PM

Alan:

The usual method is to put your postcode and ideally house name/number into a Detailed Coverage Checker such as the Freeview one. Some other checkers may give additional information.
Checkers are predictions and not always accurate but can give some idea of what may be possible.

For your postcode, the Freeview one predicts good signals for the six main multiplexes from Bilsdale - but not COM7 which is poor or nothing depending on exactly where you are within your postcode.
Is your aerial currently pointing at Bilsdale (bearing 133 degrees - almost exactly SE), if so and your set has an HD tuner, do you currently get the HD and other channels on COM7?

See Channel listings for Industry Professionals | Freeview for which channels are carried on which multiplex.

The checker also prediction good signals from Pontop Pike (marginal differences from Bilsdale) BUT also includes COM7 and depending exactly where you are, maybe poor reception of the Local multiplex, bearing is 339 degrees, pretty well almost NNW.

That said, such variations are due to potential obstructions (hills etc) on the line of sight and that is very likely with Pontop Pike. At the end of the day, the only certain method is there on site with an aerial in the air and a signal meter (a possible alternative is the signal strength and quality readings in the TV's tuning section, but that can have issues if not used correctly).

If you are safely able to get to your aerial, then you could experiment, what you get will depend on aerial location as well as where you are within your postcode. The predictors assume the aerial is 10m above ground level, higher will normally (but not always) give better results.


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Chris.SE's 4,101 posts GB flag
Tuesday, 17 August 2021
S
StevensOnln1
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

4:26 PM

Arqiva have issued a further update today with two main pieces of news. Firstly, they have added the D1 and SDL National commercial DAB multiplexes to the Eston Nab transmitter, which should restore coverage of the national commercial DAB stations for much of Middlesbrough, Stockton-on-Tees and the coast to Hartlepool.

Secondly, a temporary 15m mast is being installed at Arncliffe Wood, which should be operational by this weekend and should deliver a significant improvement in TV coverage for viewers in areas including Darlington, Stockton, Catterick, Leyburn, Masham and Ripon. It has not yet been confirmed which frequencies/UHF channels will be used, or whether viewers in these areas may need to retune once the mast is in operation.

Arqiva's dedicated news/updates page can be found at the link below (reposting so that it appears on this page of comments):
https://www.arqiva.com/ne…mast

link to this comment
StevensOnln1's 3,605 posts GB flag
Wednesday, 18 August 2021
W
William Local
6:25 PM

I live in Peterlee. When will normal/some type of service return so I can watch programmes especially Ceefax.

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William Local's 2 posts GB flag
W
William Local
6:26 PM

I live in Peterlee.SR81DB When will normal/some type of service return so I can watch programmes especially Ceefax.

link to this comment
William Local's 2 posts GB flag
S
StevensOnln1
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

10:29 PM

William Local: As per my post just above yours, Arqiva have said that they intend to have a temporary mast up and running at Bilsdale by the 28th August, although at 80 meters it will be considerably shorter than the main mast and therefore won't have the same level of coverage so you may find you get a weaker signal than normal. Ceefax closed in 2012 so definitely won't be available, but if you actually mean the BBC Red Button text service, it will return at the same time as the main BBC channels.

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StevensOnln1's 3,605 posts GB flag
Saturday, 21 August 2021
Transmitter engineering
sentiment_very_satisfiedOwner

5:21 AM

BILSDALE transmitter - DAB: Off the air due to a fault from 10 Aug 13:41. . FM: Off the air due to a fault from 10 Aug 13:20. . [BBC]

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Transmitter engineering's 149,799 posts GB flag
Sunday, 22 August 2021
N
North
2:28 PM

Still no signal in dl3 area

link to this comment
North's 1 post GB flag
C
Chris.SE
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

2:46 PM

North:

It would seem that some locations still can't get a signal yet.
The latest update from Arqiva is here https://www.arqiva.com/ne…mast
There is info from Freeview at Bilsdale Freephone information line and more channels available from Eston Nab and Arncliffe Wood | Freeview
There is some technical info from Freeview (makes a change!) at Channel information for Eston Nab and Arncliffe Wood | Freeview

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Chris.SE's 4,101 posts GB flag
Tuesday, 24 August 2021
C
Chris.SE
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

1:07 AM

Should have mentioned in yesterday's post, that there is similar information on the BBC website at
Problems with Freeview reception? | Help receiving TV and radio
Click on the "Problems with television and radio services in North Yorkshire and Teesside" to expand and read the item.

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Chris.SE's 4,101 posts GB flag
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Your comment please
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