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Full Freeview on the Wenvoe (Cardiff, Wales) transmitter

first published this on - UK Free TV
sa_streetviewGoogle Streetviewsa_gmapsGoogle mapsa_bingBing mapsa_gearthGoogle Earthsa_gps51.460,-3.282 or 51°27'35"N 3°16'57"Wsa_postcodeCF5 6SA

 

The symbol shows the location of the Wenvoe (Cardiff, Wales) transmitter which serves 360,000 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 Wenvoe (Cardiff, Wales) mast?

Wenvoe transmitter - Wenvoe transmitter: Possible effect on TV reception week commencing 18/11/2024 Screen may go black 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 Wenvoe 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
C41+ (634.2MHz)384mDTG-100,000W
Channel icons
1 BBC One (SD) Wales, 2 BBC Two Wales, 9 BBC Four, 23 BBC Three, 201 CBBC, 202 CBeebies, 231 BBC News, 232 BBC Parliament, plus 14 others

PSB2
D3+4
 H max
C44 (658.0MHz)384mDTG-100,000W
Channel icons
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 (Wales), 71 That’s 60s,

PSB3
BBCB
 H max
C47 (682.0MHz)384mDTG-100,000W
Channel icons
46 5SELECT, 101 BBC One HD Wales, 102 BBC Two HD Wales, 104 Channel 4 HD South ads, 105 Channel 5 HD, 106 BBC Four HD, 110 Channel 4 HD (Wales), 204 CBBC HD, 205 CBeebies HD, plus 1 others

COM4
SDN
 H -3dB
C42+ (642.2MHz)384mDTG-850,000W
Channel icons
 E4 (Wales), 20 U&Drama, 21 5USA, 29 ITV2 +1, 32 5STAR, 33 5Action, 38 Channel 5 +1, 41 Legend, 42 GREAT! action, 57 U&Dave ja vu, 58 ITV3 +1, 59 ITV4 +1, 64 Blaze, 67 TRUE CRIME, 68 TRUE CRIME XTRA, 81 Blaze +1, 91 WildEarth, 93 ITVBe +1, 209 Ketchup TV, 210 Ketchup Too, 211 YAAAS!, 251 Al Jazeera English, 255 FRANCE 24 (in English), 265 Rok Sky +1, plus 29 others

COM5
ArqA
 H -3dB
C45+ (666.2MHz)384mDTG-850,000W
Channel icons
11 Sky Mix, 17 Really, 19 U&Dave, 31 E4 Extra, 36 Sky Arts, 40 Quest Red, 43 Food Network, 47 Film4 +1, 48 Challenge, 49 4seven, 60 U&Drama +1, 65 That's TV 2, 70 Quest +1, 74 &UYesterday +1, 76 That's TV 2 MCR, 233 Sky News, plus 13 others

COM6
ArqB
 H -3dB
C39+ (618.2MHz)384mDTG-850,000W
Channel icons
12 Quest, 25 U&W, 27 U&Yesterday, 34 GREAT! movies, 39 DMAX, 44 HGTV, 52 GREAT! christmas, 56 That's TV (UK), 63 GREAT! romance mix, 73 HobbyMaker, 75 That's 90s, 82 Talking Pictures TV, 84 PBS America, 235 Al Jazeera Eng, plus 18 others

LCF
 H -10dB
C37 (602.0MHz)384mDTG-1210,000W
Channel icons
from 22nd September 2014: 8 Made in Cardiff,

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 Wenvoe transmitter?

regional news image
BBC Wales Today 1.2m homes 4.7%
from Cardiff CF5 2YQ, 6km northeast (42°)
to BBC Wales region - 206 masts.
regional news image
ITV Cymru Wales 1.2m homes 4.7%
from Cardiff CF5 6XJ, 1km east-northeast (74°)
to ITV Wales region - 206 masts.

Are there any self-help relays?

AbergwesynActive deflector7 km N Llanwrtyd Wells20 homes
BarryTransposer10 km SW city centre300 homes
Celtic ManorTransposer5 km E Newport80 homes
PentrebachTransposer3 km S Merthyr Tydfil100 homes
YstradfellteActive deflector30 km NE Port Talbot20 homes

How will the Wenvoe (Cardiff, Wales) transmission frequencies change over time?

1950s-80s1984-971997-981998-20102010-132013-182013-1715 May 2019
VHFB E TB E TB E TB E TB E K TW TW T
C5BBCtvwaves
C30LOCAL2
C31com7com7
C37com8com8
C39 +ArqB+ArqBArqB
C41ITVwavesITVwavesITVwaves+BBCA+BBCA+BBCABBCA
C42+SDN+SDN+SDNSDN
C44BBC1wavesBBC1wavesBBC1wavesD3+4D3+4D3+4D3+4
C45+ArqA+ArqA+ArqAArqA
C47C4wavesC4wavesC4wavesBBCBBBCBBBCBBBCB
C49tv_off+ArqB
C51tv_offBBC2wavesBBC2wavesBBC2wavesLCFLCF
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 3 Mar 10 and 31 Mar 10.

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

Analogue 1-4 500kW
BBCA, D3+4, BBCB(-7dB) 100kW
com8(-9.7dB) 53.2kW
SDN, ARQA, ARQB(-10dB) 50kW
com7(-10.3dB) 47kW
Mux 1*, LCF(-17dB) 10kW
Mux 2*, Mux A*, Mux B*, Mux C*, Mux D*(-20dB) 5kW

Which companies have run the Channel 3 services in the Wenvoe 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. Wenvoe 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
Saturday, 4 November 2023
S
Steve Donaldson
sentiment_satisfiedSilver

4:30 PM

Tony1234: I am wondering whether something has changed along the signal path, within a short distance from your property.

You have said you can see the top of the mast but not the lower part. This terrain plot suggests that anything up to around mile out could be in the first Fresnel zone:


Terrain between ( m a.g.l.) and (antenna m a.g.l.) - Optimising UK DTT Freeview and Radio aerial location


There is the line-of-sight and the Fresnel zone, the area around the line-of-sight in which objects could "potentially" affect reception. This is indicated on the plot with the purple line, line-of-sight being the yellow line. So being able to see the transmitter isn't necessarily a guarantee of good reception. This isn't to say anything in the area "will" affect reception, just that it could potentially do.

With the plot we can see that up to around a mile out, the line-of-sight and first Fresnel are close to the ground and therefore anything on the ground could be in the Fresnel zone. Furthermore, the distance I have said is to around one mile out, this according to the plot. The plot samples ground heights at intervals and may therefore not be exactly accurate.

Additionally, I tried a few points along Trepit Road, finding that the terrain isn't flat and that the distance out from the location which the terrain may be within the Fresnel zone (i.e. line-of-sight close to the ground) varies.

With this in mind, I was wondering whether something has been built or changed somewhere along the line between you and the transmitter, up to about a mile, but in particular closer to you. I haven't been able to find anything definite. On looking at the satellite image, my eye was drawn to the houses on St. James Road as they appeared new, although examination of the local planning registry suggests to me that these may be in the region of five or so years old, the original planning application dated December 2014.

That said, particularly if you are to the north of Trepit Road then they do look to be on the signal path (the line between you and the transmitter). I can't help but wonder whether they could be causing some level of degradation in reception, being that they may be in the Fresnel zone for Dryslwyn House and neighbouring properties, particularly on that side of the road.

link to this comment
Steve Donaldson's 258 posts GB flag
Sunday, 5 November 2023
C
Chris.SE
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

10:37 PM

Steve Donaldson:

Thanks for that excellent detailed analysis Steve. I was contemplating taking a closer look but thought I'd wait and see what Tony1234 said in response to my queries.

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Chris.SE's 4,364 posts GB flag
Monday, 7 October 2024
Transmitter engineering
sentiment_satisfiedGold

10:47 AM

Wenvoe transmitter - Wenvoe transmitter: Possible effect on TV reception week commencing 07/10/2024 Pixelation or flickering on some or all channels [DUK]

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Transmitter engineering's 1,825 posts GB flag
Monday, 14 October 2024
Transmitter engineering
sentiment_satisfiedGold

5:11 AM

Wenvoe transmitter - Wenvoe transmitter: Possible effect on TV reception week commencing 14/10/2024 Pixelation or flickering on some or all channels [DUK]

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Transmitter engineering's 1,825 posts GB flag
Transmitter engineering
sentiment_satisfiedGold

5:11 AM

Wenvoe transmitter - Wenvoe transmitter: Possible effect on TV reception week commencing 14/10/2024 Pixelation or flickering on some or all channels [DUK]

link to this comment
Transmitter engineering's 1,825 posts GB flag
Monday, 21 October 2024
Transmitter engineering
sentiment_satisfiedGold

5:09 AM

Wenvoe transmitter - Wenvoe transmitter: Possible effect on TV reception week commencing 21/10/2024 Pixelation or flickering on some or all channels [DUK]

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Transmitter engineering's 1,825 posts GB flag
Monday, 28 October 2024
Transmitter engineering
sentiment_satisfiedGold

10:48 AM

Wenvoe transmitter - Wenvoe transmitter: Possible effect on TV reception week commencing 28/10/2024 Pixelation or flickering on some or all channels [DUK]

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Transmitter engineering's 1,825 posts GB flag
Monday, 4 November 2024
Transmitter engineering
sentiment_satisfiedGold

5:09 AM

Wenvoe transmitter - Wenvoe transmitter: Possible effect on TV reception week commencing 04/11/2024 Pixelation or flickering on some or all channels [DUK]

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Transmitter engineering's 1,825 posts GB flag
Monday, 11 November 2024
Transmitter engineering
sentiment_satisfiedGold

10:48 AM

Wenvoe transmitter - Wenvoe transmitter: Possible effect on TV reception week commencing 11/11/2024 Loss of Redundancy [DUK]

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Transmitter engineering's 1,825 posts GB flag
Tuesday, 12 November 2024
Transmitter engineering
sentiment_satisfiedGold

1:49 PM

Wenvoe transmitter - Wenvoe transmitter: Possible effect on TV reception week commencing 11/11/2024 Pixelation or flickering on some or all channels [DUK]

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Transmitter engineering's 1,825 posts GB flag
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