Freeview Light on the Backwell (North Somerset, England) transmitter
 | Google map |  | Bing map |  | Google Earth |  | 51.441,-2.724 or 51°26'28"N 2°43'25"W |  | BS48 1NY |
The symbol shows the location of the Backwell (North Somerset, England) transmitter which serves 4,600 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.
This transmitter has no current reported problems
The BBC and Digital UK report there are no faults or engineering work on the Backwell (North Somerset, England) transmitter._______
Digital television services are broadcast on a multiplexes (or Mux) where many stations occupy a single broadcast frequency, as shown below.
H/V: aerial position (horizontal or vertical)
The Backwell (North Somerset, England) mast is a public service broadcasting (PSB) transmitter, it does not provide these commercial (COM) channels: U&Yesterday, 4seven, 5Action, 5STAR, 5USA, Al Jazeera Eng, Al Jazeera English, Blaze, Blaze +1, Challenge, Channel 5 +1, DMAX, E4 Extra, YAAAS!, Film4 +1, Food Network, FRANCE 24 (in English), GREAT! action, GREAT! christmas, GREAT! movies, GREAT! romance mix, HGTV, HobbyMaker, ITV2 +1, ITV3 +1, ITV4 +1, ITVBe +1, Legend, PBS America, Quest +1, Quest Red, Really, Sky Mix, Sky News, Talking Pictures TV, That's 90s, That's TV 2, Together TV, TRUE CRIME, TRUE CRIME XTRA, U&Dave, U&Dave ja vu, U&Drama +1, U&W.
If you want to watch these channels, your aerial must point to one of the 80 Full service Freeview transmitters. For more information see the will there ever be more services on the Freeview Light transmitters? page.
Which Freeview channels does the Backwell 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.
| Mux | H/V | Frequency | Height | Mode | Watts |
| PSB1 BBCA | V max | C25 (506.0MHz) | 125m | DTG- | 19W |
 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 | V max | C28 (530.0MHz) | 125m | DTG- | 19W |
 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), 71 That’s 60s, | |||||
| PSB3 BBCB | V max | C22 (482.0MHz) | 125m | DTG- | 19W |
 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 | |||||
Are you trying to watch these 44 Freeview channels?
The Backwell (North Somerset, England) mast is a public service broadcasting (PSB) transmitter, it does not provide these commercial (COM) channels: U&Yesterday, 4seven, 5Action, 5STAR, 5USA, Al Jazeera Eng, Al Jazeera English, Blaze, Blaze +1, Challenge, Channel 5 +1, DMAX, E4 Extra, YAAAS!, Film4 +1, Food Network, FRANCE 24 (in English), GREAT! action, GREAT! christmas, GREAT! movies, GREAT! romance mix, HGTV, HobbyMaker, ITV2 +1, ITV3 +1, ITV4 +1, ITVBe +1, Legend, PBS America, Quest +1, Quest Red, Really, Sky Mix, Sky News, Talking Pictures TV, That's 90s, That's TV 2, Together TV, TRUE CRIME, TRUE CRIME XTRA, U&Dave, U&Dave ja vu, U&Drama +1, U&W.
If you want to watch these channels, your aerial must point to one of the 80 Full service Freeview transmitters. For more information see the will there ever be more services on the Freeview Light transmitters? page.
Which BBC and ITV regional news can I watch from the Backwell transmitter?
BBC Points West 0.9m homes 3.4%
from Bristol BS8 2LR, 8km east-northeast (75°)
to BBC West region - 60 masts.
ITV West Country News (East) 0.9m homes 3.4%
from Bristol BS4 3HG, 11km east (90°)
to ITV West region - 61 masts.
All of lunch, weekend and 50% evening news is shared with West Country (West)
How will the Backwell (North Somerset, England) transmission frequencies change over time?
| 1984-97 | 1997-98 | 1998-2010 | 2010-13 | 5 Jun 2019 | |||||
| A K T | A K T | A K T | A K T | A K T | |||||
| C22 | BBC1waves | BBC1waves | BBC1waves | BBCB | BBCB | ||||
| C25 | ITVwaves | ITVwaves | ITVwaves | BBCA | BBCA | ||||
| C28 | BBC2waves | BBC2waves | BBC2waves | D3+4 | D3+4 | ||||
| C32 | C4waves | C4waves | C4waves |
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 | 94W | |
| BBCA, D3+4, BBCB | (-6.9dB) 19W |
Which companies have run the Channel 3 services in the Mendip transmitter area
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Tuesday, 9 April 2024
C
Chris.SE10:32 PM
Paul Dursley:
Hi Paul. Well there's still no fault reports that have appeared for Backwell !
That said, things do not seem right. Quality on all multiplexes shoudt be 10/10 (or 100%) depending how your set reports it.
As mentioned before, do check your coax connections for corrosion and/or water. Start with where your downlead terminates, be it wall plate or coax plug. Check any flyleads interconnecting the aerial to the set or other equipment. These can go intermittent etc.
How old is you aerial (roughly)? Is it accessible (without risking your safety)?
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Wednesday, 10 April 2024
S
Steve Donaldson12:32 PM
Paul Dursley: That C22 still has lower quality appears might perhaps imply the issue is still present, just not as bad as it was. With that in mind, it will be interesting to fit the filter and see if the quality for C22 goes up to 10/10 with it fitted and down to its current reading without.
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Paul Dursley6:07 PM
Chris.SE:
Evening - C22 is still up so that's a positive.
No obvious signs of damp, degradation or corrosion at the wall socket/plug even behind it.
I've got some spare coaxial cable so I'm going to get some new end terminations and build a new cable between the the wall socket and the TV - could be an interesting comparison test.
The aerial is a basic terrestrial item fitted new 20 years so not the youngest but not totally ancient. It's located on the side of my roof chimney and is not easy for me to access (I live in a house - a bungalow I would have clambered up and taken a look).
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Paul Dursley6:14 PM
Steve Donaldson:
Evening - waiting on the filter to turn up, keen to get it fitted and see if that helps.
I agree that it's 'odd' that C22 seems to be the only multiplex affected from the Backwell transmitter. Maybe there is some local interference at around the C22 frequency - we'll see if the filter helps.
I'm going to try a new coaxial cable to the TV just as a quick check comparison with the current installation.
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Thursday, 11 April 2024
C
Chris.SE1:43 PM
Paul Dursley:
I wouldn't necessarily say that C22 is the only one affected, you did previously have lower quality on C28. Interference doesn't always affect all multiplexes, and we've found cases where not all lower channels are affected. It appears to be a bit unpredictable.
Can you see the connector box on the aerial? Is the cover still in place and looking intact?
Good idea to make up another flylead with your coax, especially if it's the double screened type.
If you have any HDMI connections try and keep those cables away from aerial leads, HDMI has been know to cause interference, bit it's usually been the higher UHF channels in the past.
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Paul Dursley8:04 PM
Chris.SE:
Evening.
The connector box on the aerial looks complete and intact through my binoculars - nothing obviously untoward.
A new coaxial cable has made no observable difference, i.e. no change to pre-existing signal strengths and quality. I'll keep the DVD HDMI cable away from the coaxial as best I can.
I do notice that C22 does seem to vary in signal quality dependant atmospheric conditions, so dull and dank gives poorer signal quality 4 to 5/10; bright and dry seems to take the quality level up to 6 to 7/10.
Looking forward to receiving an inline filter to see if this makes any difference.
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Steve Donaldson10:09 PM
Paul Dursley: Bristol Kings Weston is co-channel with Backford and it is on nearly the same bearing for you.
During the 700MHz Clearance, UHF channels 49 to 60 were cleared of TV broadcasts, with all transmitters on those channels having to move down. Consequently, with fewer broadcast channels to go around, some transmitters ended up on the same channel when previously they were not.
In your area, the change happened on 5th June 2019 (except for one of Kings Weston's channels which changed two weeks later).
Backwell used channels 22, 25 and 28 before the change. The COMs of Kings Weston and the PSBs of Ubley changed.
Bristol Kings Weston COMs: 53, 57*, 60- changed to 22, 25*, 28
Backwell: No channel changes. Power up from 18W to 37W.
Ubley: Power up from 15W to 25W. 21+, 24, 27 changed to 22, 25, 28
* Kings Weston C57 changed to C25 on 19/06/19.
Kings Weston is on a bearing of 37 degrees at 7 miles out. Backwell is on a bearing of 31 degrees at 2 miles out.
Like Backwell, Kings Weston is vertically polarised. Kings Weston is 200W, much of which is coming in your direction, the radiation pattern being generally to the south from the tower (see the page on this site for Kings Weston).
I think the power increases at Backwell and Ubley were an effort to counter co-channel interference rather than to increase coverage. Similar power increases occurred elsewhere in similar circumstances.
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Steve Donaldson10:35 PM
Paul Dursley: My apologies, I meant to say 'Backwell', not 'Backford'.
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Friday, 12 April 2024
C
Chris.SE12:48 AM
Steve Donaldson:
Whilst your theory about the increases in power is probably correct, the geography (the seven hills that surround Bristol) suggests that the signals from Kings Weston will not reach the coverage areas of Backwell or Ubley, close but not quite, in normal circumstances.
Whilst I haven't bothered to do a line of sight analysis, I would have expected the computer modelling used by the frequency planners to have addressed this ok.
Paul Dursley:
Another check that you might try, is look at as much of your coax downlead as you can, especially any parts that are exposed to direct 'heat of the day' sunshine. Look for cracks, brittleness or bits of sheath that may be missing.
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Steve Donaldson2:32 PM
Chris.SE: It would appear that, while it is fairly close distance-wise, Kings Weston is screened from the Backwell coverage area.
There is a ridge which is at least as high as the level of Kings Weston's antennas. Backwell transmitter sits on the way down from this ridge.
The height above ordnance datum of the Kings Weston antennas is 138m. Between Kings Weston and Paul, the highest point is around 160m, this 4.2 miles out from the Kings Weston transmitter and about 3 miles out from Paul. Paul's ground level is 18m.
The Kings Weston transmitter is currently 250W on the six, main channels, this according to the Freeview Coverage Checker, and Version 20 of the Ofcom Table of Digital Terrestrial Broadcasting Stations for Multiplex Licences, dated 5 February 2020. The previous version of the multiplex licence document is dated 6 June 2019, and sets out the aforementioned channel changes, but gives the power of the six multiplexes as 200W, which they had been since DSO. So it would seem that a decision was taken to increase the power sometime in the second half of 2019 or the first few weeks of 2020.
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