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Full Freeview on the Pontop Pike (County Durham, England) transmitter

first published this on - UK Free TV
sa_streetviewGoogle Streetviewsa_gmapsGoogle mapsa_bingBing mapsa_gearthGoogle Earthsa_gps54.868,-1.771 or 54°52'5"N 1°46'15"Wsa_postcodeDH9 9AT

 

The symbol shows the location of the Pontop Pike (County Durham, England) transmitter which serves 700,000 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 Pontop Pike (County Durham, England) mast?

Pontop Pike transmitter - Pontop Pike 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 Pontop Pike 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
C39 (618.0MHz)447mDTG-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
C42 (642.0MHz)447mDTG-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
C45 (666.0MHz)447mDTG-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
C32 (562.0MHz)447mDTG-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
C34 (578.0MHz)447mDTG-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
C35 (586.0MHz)447mDTG-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

LNE
 H -13dB
C33 (570.0MHz)447mDTG-125,000W
Channel icons
from 22nd September 2014: 7 Made in Tyne and Wear,

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 Pontop Pike transmitter?

regional news image
BBC Look North (Newcastle) 1.6m homes 6.0%
from Newcastle NE99 2NE, 15km northeast (42°)
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, 12km north-northeast (29°)
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?

Kieldor DamActive deflector6 homes Holiday complex
Low HaberActive deflectorWest Allen Dale, 18 kn SW Hexham caravan site
North HartlepoolTransposer84 homes

How will the Pontop Pike (County Durham, England) transmission frequencies change over time?

1950s-80s1984-971997-981998-20122012-1313 Nov 2019
VHFC/D EC/D EC/D EC/D E TW T
C5BBCtvwaves
C32SDN
C33com7
C34com8
C35ArqB
C39BBCA
C42D3+4
C45BBCB
C49tv_offBBCB
C50tv_offSDN
C54tv_offC4wavesC4wavesC4wavesD3+4
C55tv_offArqBcom7tv_off
C56tv_offLNE
C58tv_offBBC1wavesBBC1wavesBBC1wavesBBCA
C59tv_offArqA
C61ITVwavesITVwavesITVwaves
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 12 Sep 12 and 26 Sep 12.

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

Analogue 1-4 500kW
BBCA, D3+4, BBCB(-7dB) 100kW
SDN, ARQA, ARQB(-10dB) 50kW
com8(-11.6dB) 34.6kW
com7(-11.7dB) 33.8kW
Mux 1*, Mux 2*, Mux A*, Mux B*, Mux C*, Mux D*(-17dB) 10kW
LNE(-20dB) 5kW

Which companies have run the Channel 3 services in the Pontop Pike transmitter area

Jan 1959-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. Pontop Pike 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
Monday, 12 December 2022
A
Anthony Brown
6:14 PM
Redcar

I get very poor reception for GB News channel 236
Are tuned to Pontac Pike
Live ! Marske by Sea TS11 6BZ
Can someone advise

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Anthony Brown's 3 posts GB flag
Anthony's: mapA's Freeview map terrainA's terrain plot wavesA's frequency data A's Freeview Detailed Coverage
C
Chris.SE
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

10:40 PM

Anthony Brown:

Before the 700MHz Clearance, Pontop Pike channels were within a CD Aerial group. Since then a Group K aerial would be required (a Group[ T or Wideband may suffice).. Some Group CD aerials will continue to give satisfactory reception but that is very dependent on the particular aerial and more so on location. If the installation is quite old it may have deteriorated and be suffering water ingress.

Did you have an aerial change/upgrade either just before or since the final clearances on 12 September/13 November 2019?
If not, this could be the primary reason for your poor reception.
GB News is carried on the ArqB/COM6 multiplex UHF C35 at Pontop Pike. TalkTV is carried on the SDN/COM4 multiplex UHF C32 which you may also struggle with, as well as ArqA/COM5 on UHF C34 and also the Local multiplex (Newcastle) on C33. There are of course other TV channels carried on those multiplexes.

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

If you need an aerial upgrade, make sure your downlead is replaced with high quality double screened coax such as CT100 or similar.. I'd suggest you consider a high gain Group K Log Periodic aerial.

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Chris.SE's 4,102 posts GB flag
C
Chris.SE
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

11:16 PM

Anthony Brown:

In addition to the above, I should have asked/commented on whether you used to get signals from Bilsdale before the fire in August 2021?
Was your aerial re-orientated for Pontop Pike and was it replaced at that time (or previously)?

If your aerial did originally point at Bilsdale, unfortunately you aren't predicted to get reception from the temporary Bilsdale Tower and at present, the new Bilsdale mast is not expected to be up and running until the middle of 2023 (although construction work is well under way).

Your are only 7km from the temporary Eston Nab transmitter, but predicted reception from that is very dependent on where you are in the postcode and a Local Engineer may have a better idea. Which transmitter(s) are your neighbours using/roughly which way/compass bearing are their aerials pointing?

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Chris.SE's 4,102 posts GB flag
Friday, 3 March 2023
J
Jackie Finlay
4:30 PM
Newcastle Upon Tyne

Hi we dont seem to have a picture through our aerial. Is there a problem in this area. It just says no signal. We live in Blakelaw ne5 3qj. Thanks

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Jackie Finlay's 2 posts GB flag
Jackie's: ...
J
Jackie Finlay
5:01 PM

Debbie : Hi I messaged before. My husband had knocked the aerial out. Thanks

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Jackie Finlay's 2 posts GB flag
C
Chris.SE
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

8:00 PM

Jackie Finlay:

Glad you resolved it.

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Chris.SE's 4,102 posts GB flag
Tuesday, 2 May 2023
Transmitter engineering
sentiment_very_satisfiedOwner

10:08 AM

Pontop Pike transmitter - Pontop Pike transmitter: Possible effect on TV reception week commencing 01/05/2023 Pixelation or flickering on some or all channels [DUK]

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Transmitter engineering's 149,799 posts GB flag
Friday, 28 July 2023
Transmitter engineering
sentiment_very_satisfiedOwner

12:18 PM

Pontop Pike transmitter - Pontop Pike transmitter: Possible effect on TV reception week commencing 24/07/2023 Pixelation or flickering on some or all channels [DUK]

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Transmitter engineering's 149,799 posts GB flag
Monday, 31 July 2023
Transmitter engineering
sentiment_very_satisfiedOwner

5:09 AM

Pontop Pike transmitter - Pontop Pike transmitter: Possible effect on TV reception week commencing 31/07/2023 Pixelation or flickering on some or all channels [DUK]

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Transmitter engineering's 149,799 posts GB flag
Friday, 25 August 2023
Transmitter engineering
sentiment_very_satisfiedOwner

1:48 PM

Pontop Pike transmitter - Pontop Pike transmitter: Possible effect on TV reception week commencing 21/08/2023 Pixelation or flickering on some or all channels [DUK]

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Transmitter engineering's 149,799 posts GB flag
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