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Full Freeview on the Mendip (Somerset, England) transmitter

first published this on - UK Free TV
sa_streetviewGoogle Streetviewsa_gmapsGoogle mapsa_bingBing mapsa_gearthGoogle Earthsa_gps51.237,-2.626 or 51°14'12"N 2°37'33"Wsa_postcodeBA5 3LB

 

The symbol shows the location of the Mendip (Somerset, England) transmitter which serves 720,000 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 Mendip (Somerset, England) mast?

Mendip transmitter - Mendip 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
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Which Freeview channels does the Mendip 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
C32 (562.0MHz)591mDTG-100,000W
Channel icons
1 BBC One (SD) West, 2 BBC Two England, 9 BBC Four, 23 BBC Three, 201 CBBC, 202 CBeebies, 231 BBC News, 232 BBC Parliament, plus 17 others

PSB2
D3+4
 H max
C34 (578.0MHz)591mDTG-100,000W
Channel icons
3 ITV 1 (SD) (West), 4 Channel 4 (SD) South ads, 5 Channel 5, 6 ITV 2, 10 ITV3, 13 E4, 14 Film4, 15 Channel 4 +1 South ads, 18 More4, 26 ITV4, 28 ITVBe, 30 E4 +1, 35 ITV1 +1 (West),

PSB3
BBCB
 H max
C35 (586.0MHz)591mDTG-100,000W
Channel icons
46 5SELECT, 101 BBC One HD West, 102 BBC Two HD England, 103 ITV 1 HD (ITV Meridian Southampton), 104 Channel 4 HD South 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 max
C48 (690.0MHz)591mDTG-8100,000W
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 max
C33 (570.0MHz)591mDTG-8100,000W
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 max
C36 (594.0MHz)591mDTG-8100,000W
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

LBS
 H -10dB
C30 (546.0MHz)591mDTG-1210,000W
Channel icons
from 22nd September 2014: 7 Made in Bristol,

DTG-8 64QAM 8K 3/4 27.1Mb/s DVB-T MPEG2
DTG-12 QSPK 8K 3/4 8.0Mb/s DVB-T MPEG2
H/V: aerial position (horizontal or vertical)

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

regional news image
BBC Points West 0.9m homes 3.4%
from Bristol BS8 2LR, 25km north (3°)
to BBC West region - 60 masts.
regional news image
ITV West Country News (East) 0.9m homes 3.4%
from Bristol BS4 3HG, 23km north (11°)
to ITV West region - 61 masts.
All of lunch, weekend and 50% evening news is shared with West Country (West)

Are there any self-help relays?

CheddarTransposer15 km E Weston-super-Mare1674 homes
LuccombeActive deflector6 km w Minehead38 homes

How will the Mendip (Somerset, England) transmission frequencies change over time?

1984-971997-981998-20102010-132013-182013-1727 Feb 2018
C/D EEEC/D EC/D E TW TW T
C30_local
C32BBCA
C33com7com7
C34D3+4
C35com8com8
C36ArqB
C37C5wavesC5waves
C48SDNSDNSDNSDN
C49tv_off BBCABBCA
C51tv_offLBSLBS
C52tv_offArqBArqBArqB
C54tv_offC4wavesC4wavesC4wavesD3+4D3+4D3+4
C55tv_offcom7tv_off
C56tv_offArqAArqAArqACOM8tv_off
C58tv_offBBC1wavesBBC1wavesBBC1wavesBBCBBBCBBBCB
C61ITVwavesITVwavesITVwavesBBCA
C64BBC2wavesBBC2wavesBBC2waves

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 24 Mar 10 and 7 Apr 10.

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

Analogue 1-4 500kW
Analogue 5(-6dB) 126kW
SDN, ARQA, ARQB, BBCA, D3+4, BBCB(-7dB) 100kW
com7(-8.4dB) 72.4kW
com8(-8.6dB) 69.1kW
Mux 1*, Mux 2*, Mux A*, Mux B*, Mux C*, Mux D*, LBS(-17dB) 10kW

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

Jan 1958-Jul 1968Television Wales and the West
Jul 1968-Feb 2004Harlech 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. Mendip 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.

Comments
Sunday, 21 November 2021
A
Anthony Bryant
3:50 PM

Does anyone know of any reported issues with the Mendip transmitter? I have been having poor reception problems for the past week or so. Not all channels are affected. Tried deleting all channels and retuning.

link to this comment
Anthony Bryant's 1 post GB flag
Monday, 22 November 2021
C
Chris.SE
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

2:45 AM

Anthony Bryant:

If you've been having reception problems why on earth would you want to delete your correct tuning and retune, whatever the cause of your poor reception you are likely to end up with less channels tuned in if signals on some multiplexes are too weak for the receiver to decode!

Having said that, as you haven't given a full postcode we can't check the predicted reception for your locale which might be marginal on some multiplexes.

On a few occasions recently there's been some weather related "temperature inversion/tropospheric ducting" which has caused interfering signals from distant transmitters in Europe or the UK. This type of interference does not usually affect all multiplexes, it can last for seconds, minutes, hours, sometimes longer. Some predictions are suggesting there could be some during Monday. FM/DAB radio can also be affected.

Whilst there doesn't appear to be any faults, none are listed by the BBC or Freeview and no recent outages, the Mendip transmitter is now currently listed for Planned Engineering. It was last listed 4 weeks ago.

link to this comment
Chris.SE's 4,101 posts GB flag
Transmitter engineering
sentiment_very_satisfiedOwner

6:09 AM

Mendip transmitter - Mendip transmitter: Possible effect on TV reception week commencing 22/11/2021 Screen may go black on some or all channels [DUK]

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Transmitter engineering's 149,799 posts GB flag
R
richard doughty
9:41 PM

i too have been having terrible reception especially at night, on freeview,,,,post code BA35HP

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richard doughty's 1 post GB flag
Tuesday, 23 November 2021
C
Chris.SE
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

12:13 AM

richard doughty:

You are predicted to have excellent reception from Mendip in your locale. Considering your proximity to the transmitter, I'm suspecting an issue with your installation.

Where is your aerial?
For you, it should be pointing almost due W, bearing 274 degrees with the rods (or squashed Xs) horizontal. Have you checked the aerial looks intact and is pointing correctly?
If external, check your downlead is secure, looks undamaged, and isn't flapping in the wind.

Have you changed anything in your installation since the problem started?
Check you don't have any HDMI leads close to you aerial leads or flyleads. Aerial leads and flyleads that aren't quality double screened can suffer interference from HDMI, make sure they are as far apart as possible.

How old is your aerial and downlead?

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Chris.SE's 4,101 posts GB flag
Friday, 3 December 2021
Transmitter engineering
sentiment_very_satisfiedOwner

3:13 PM

Mendip transmitter - Mendip transmitter: Possible effect on TV reception week commencing 29/11/2021 Screen may go black on some or all channels [DUK]

link to this comment
Transmitter engineering's 149,799 posts GB flag
Monday, 6 December 2021
Transmitter engineering
sentiment_very_satisfiedOwner

6:09 AM

Mendip transmitter - Mendip transmitter: Possible effect on TV reception week commencing 06/12/2021 Screen may go black on some or all channels [DUK]

link to this comment
Transmitter engineering's 149,799 posts GB flag
Saturday, 1 January 2022
J
John B
5:23 PM

Recent problems with Mendip too. BA2 5DF. Recently lost HD completely (Ch.35) for which my set was showing very low signal strength and high error rates (has subsequently come good but still sometimes glitchy). Ch. 48 also showing low strength and some errors.

I have an roof mounted aerial and am on high ground. It's connected to a suitable RF DA which all looks OK.

Am very close (<.5km) to multiple mobile masts which have recently been upgraded. Could that be relevant?

Would be most grateful for any advice!

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John B's 2 posts GB flag
John's: mapJ's Freeview map terrainJ's terrain plot wavesJ's frequency data J's Freeview Detailed Coverage
C
Chris.SE
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

10:32 PM

John B:

You are predicted to get excellent reception from Mendip in your locale. Your problems are highly unlikely to be related to any of the mobile masts that you've mentioned. If there was interference from these masts it would be a consistent problem, not one that comes and goes.
If the problems were related to yesterday (evening primarily) and possibly some this morning, then it's most likely to have been the current weather conditions. There has been some Temperature Inversion/Tropospheric Ducting which has been disrupting signals in various parts of the UK for some.

Essentially it results in interfering signals from other transmitters in the UK or Europe reaching you and so your wanted signals are disrupted. It won't necessarily affect all multiplexes or necessarily at the same time if more than one. It can last for seconds, minutes, sometimes hours or longer.
Despite the incorrect spelling, this link does work - simple technical explanation
https://www.bbc.co.uk/rec….jpg

It's always possible these conditions may affect you again during the next 24hrs according to some current predictions but if they continue after tomorrow evening when they should have cleared, then it might be wise to make some basic checks.

I would check that your aerial seems intact and pointing in the correct direction (compass bearing 234 degrees for you, that's 9 degrees W of SW), and that your downlead looks undamaged (especially if it is old) and is secure and not flapping in the wind..
Also check all your coax plugs, connections, flyleads etc, unplug connectors check for corrosion or other problems and reconnect them. Flyleads are a common problem, try swapping/changing them.
Make sure you don't have any HDMI leads near unscreened/poorly screened flyleads/aerial leads especially if those aren't double screened coax as HDMI has been known to cause interference.

One other check you could do is to connect your aerial output direct to your main TV feed eliminating the DA in case that's playing up.

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Chris.SE's 4,101 posts GB flag
C
Chris.SE
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

10:34 PM

John B:

Of course, I should have added that there's no current or recent reported faults at Mendip and it's not currently listed for Planned Engineering.

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