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Full Freeview on the Darvel (East Ayrshire, Scotland) transmitter

first published this on - UK Free TV
sa_streetviewGoogle Streetviewsa_gmapsGoogle mapsa_bingBing mapsa_gearthGoogle Earthsa_gps55.579,-4.291 or 55°34'45"N 4°17'26"Wsa_postcodeKA16 9LS

 

The symbol shows the location of the Darvel (East Ayrshire, Scotland) transmitter which serves 150,000 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 Darvel (East Ayrshire, Scotland) mast?

Darvel transmitter - Darvel 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 Darvel 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
C22- (481.8MHz)446mDTG-20,000W
Channel icons
1 BBC One (SD) Scotland, 2 BBC Two Scotland, 7 BBC Alba HD, 23 BBC Three, 24 BBC Four (Scotland SD), 201 CBBC, 202 CBeebies, 231 BBC News, 232 BBC Parliament, plus 13 others

PSB2
D3+4
 H max
C25 (506.0MHz)446mDTG-20,000W
Channel icons
3 STV (SD) (STV Central (Glasgow micro region)), 4 Channel 4 (SD) Scotland ads, 5 Channel 5, 6 ITV 2, 10 ITV3, 13 E4, 14 Film4, 15 Channel 4 +1 Scotland ads, 18 More4, 26 ITV4, 28 ITVBe, 30 E4 +1, 35 ITV1 +1 (STV Edinburgh), 35 STV+1 (STV Edinburgh),

PSB3
BBCB
 H max
C28 (530.0MHz)446mDTG-20,000W
Channel icons
46 5SELECT, 101 BBC One HD Scotland, 102 BBC Two HD Scotland, 103 ITV 1 HD (STV West), 103 STV HD (STV West), 104 Channel 4 HD Scotland ads, 105 Channel 5 HD, 106 BBC Four HD, 108 BBC Scotland HD, 204 CBBC HD, 205 CBeebies HD, plus 1 others

COM4
SDN
 H -3dB
C32 (562.0MHz)446mDTG-810,000W
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
C34 (578.0MHz)446mDTG-810,000W
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
C35 (586.0MHz)446mDTG-810,000W
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 Darvel transmitter?

regional news image
BBC Reporting Scotland 2.4m homes 9.2%
from Glasgow G51 1DA, 31km north (1°)
to BBC Scotland region - 230 masts.
regional news image
STV News 1.3m homes 4.8%
from Glasgow G51 1PQ, 31km north (2°)
to STV Central (Glasgow) region - 94 masts.

Are there any self-help relays?

Craigie GardensTransposer1 homes 90 caravans
InversnaidActive deflector35 km N Dumbarton8 homes Hotel caravan park

How will the Darvel (East Ayrshire, Scotland) transmission frequencies change over time?

1984-971997-981998-20112011-135 Sep 2018
A K TA K TA K TA K TW T
C22-BBCABBCA
C23ITVwavesITVwavesITVwavesSDN
C25D3+4D3+4
C26BBC2wavesBBC2wavesBBC2wavesArqA
C28BBCBBBCB
C29C4wavesC4wavesC4wavesArqB
C30_local
C31com7
C32SDN
C33BBC1wavesBBC1wavesBBC1waves
C34ArqA
C35C5wavesC5wavesArqB
C37com8
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 11 May 11 and 25 May 11.

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

Analogue 1-5 100kW
BBCA, D3+4, BBCB(-7dB) 20kW
SDN, ARQA, ARQB(-10dB) 10kW
com8(-10.9dB) 8.19kW
com7(-11.2dB) 7.5kW
Mux 1*, Mux 2*, Mux A*, Mux B*(-14dB) 4kW
Mux C*, Mux D*(-17dB) 2kW

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

Aug 1957-Jun 1997Scottish Television
Jun 1997-Dec 2014STV plc
Feb 1983-Dec 1992TV-am•
Jan 1993-Sep 2010GMTV•
Sep 2010-Dec 2014ITV Daybreak•
• Breakfast ◊ Weekends ♦ Friday night and weekends † Weekdays only. Darvel 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
Wednesday, 8 June 2022
G
Grant
7:03 PM
Kilmarnock

Help, I've just started to lose signal on most of the channels. I believe its the trees in the distance filling out with leaves in the summer. Where I live is a low area surrounded by hills. The direct path to the Darvel transmitter has trees on the horizon. KA3 5JL

It's been getting worse each year. Do I have to just give up on terrestrial tv and switch to satellite?

I have bought a high gain Group A aerial and a longer pole to put it on I already have a mast head amp on the current wideband aerial.

My question is am I just wasting money or can i improve it enough.

I did think about switching to the blackhill transmitter 45Km away. But that seemed ludicrous.

Any help appreciated

link to this comment
Grant's 7 posts GB flag
Grant's: mapG's Freeview map terrainG's terrain plot wavesG's frequency data G's Freeview Detailed Coverage
S
StevensOnln1
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

10:37 PM

Grant: Darvel is coming up as the only transmitter predicted to cover your postcode, so I wouldn't expect much success with Black Hill. The Group A aerial on a longer pole may well improve things, but chances are the trees will cause the same problem again in the long run. You may well be better off installing Freesat, perhaps consider having a dish installed at the same time if you go ahead with replacing your existing aerial.

link to this comment
StevensOnln1's 3,605 posts GB flag
C
Chris.SE
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

11:29 PM

Grant :

Just firstly to mention, if you got a fatal error message when trying to post then ignore it, there's a bug in the site software, just wait several minutes to check if your post appears - they normally do.

Your locale is generally predicted to get good reception from Darvel. There are some spots that may get some sort of signal from Black Hill but it's likely to be unreliable, variable at best for the PSBs and poor for the COM multiplexes, so as mentioned by StepvensOnln1 I wouldn't expect success.

You mention reception has been getting worse each year, but no mention of how old your wideband aerial installation is. As you say that these trees are on the "horizon" so I'd be surprised if they were having that much of an impact. Any degradation of your existing aerial installation - water getting into the aerial connector or coax, masthead amp etc. to have a far greater impact. It's also possible the masthead amp may have degraded.

What sort of signal strength and quality figures (or BER/Error figures) are you getting in your TV tuning section for each UHF channel multiplex?

A Group A aerial is likely to perform better for you, but their gain will vary from make to make and model. You should make sure you replace all your coax with high quality double screened coax cable (eg.WF100 or equivalent).


link to this comment
Chris.SE's 4,101 posts GB flag
Thursday, 16 June 2022
G
Grant
1:54 PM

All,
Thanks for the help I've gone for a YAGI 18 A band. on a longer pole replacing the cable outside while I fit. I will do this next week and see if this makes any difference. On the coverage map above it shows green all around a grey spot where my house is. I think therefore its possibly freesat for me if this fails.

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Grant's 7 posts GB flag
C
Chris.SE
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

7:25 PM

Grant:

Thanks for the update, if you need further help, do post back.

link to this comment
Chris.SE's 4,101 posts GB flag
Tuesday, 21 June 2022
G
Grant
2:27 PM

Well, Thats the A group Aerial up and working 70% signal and 100% quality for most channels with the exception of COM 7 all the channels on Com 7 have gone. I've obviously misread that com 7 and 8 were moving to Channels 31 and 37. And Com 7 is still on Channel 55. Is it likely to move or will I just give up?

link to this comment
Grant's 7 posts GB flag
S
StevensOnln1
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

4:10 PM

Grant: COM7 moved to UHF channel 55 as part of the 700MHz clearance, however it will be closing on 30th June when it's licence expires, so don't waste any time or effort on it. COM8 closed nearly two years ago, both were only ever intended to be temporary services.

link to this comment
StevensOnln1's 3,605 posts GB flag
Sunday, 17 July 2022
G
Grant Blackwood
8:25 PM

Thanks for the info. Only channel ill miss is Quest HD. As you say its now gone anyway even if i still had the wideband.

Thank for the help. Its really usefull when trying to fathom freeview out. It would look like terestrial tv is being whittled down bit by bit.

Thank you
Grant

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Grant Blackwood's 7 posts GB flag
Thursday, 1 December 2022
D
David
6:06 PM

Has Quest been removed from the EPG? Service became at some point today earlier and, on retuning, channel 12 has disappeared entirely.

link to this comment
David's 1 post GB flag
Friday, 2 December 2022
C
Chris.SE
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

8:02 AM

David:

Quest has not been removed and is still broadcasting.
It is never advised to retune if you were correctly tuned and having reception difficulties. Retuning will never fix a reception problem. If you retune when you have no signal or pixelllated pictures it usually just clears your correct tuning. You will no doubt find that you are also missing other channels on the same multiplex (SDN/COM4).

Your problems with reception were most likely due to current weather conditions causing some "Tropospheric Ducting" resulting in Interference coming from distant transmitters (in Europe or the UK) which is currently affecting some parts of the west of the UK.

You will need to retune again when your signals are normal. As you don't know when that will be, you may have to try several times.

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Chris.SE's 4,101 posts GB flag
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Your comment please
Please post a question, answer or commentIf you have Freeview reception problems before posting a question your must first do this Freeview reset procedure then see: Freeview reception has changed, Single frequency interference, and Freeview intermittent interference.

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