Full Freeview on the Tunbridge Wells (Kent, England) transmitter
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The symbol shows the location of the Tunbridge Wells (Kent, England) transmitter which serves 53,000 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.
This transmitter has no current reported problems
The BBC and Digital UK report there are no faults or engineering work on the Tunbridge Wells (Kent, England) transmitter._______
Digital television services are broadcast on a multiplexes (or Mux) where many stations occupy a single broadcast frequency, as shown below.
64QAM 8K 3/4 27.1Mb/s DVB-T MPEG2
H/V: aerial position (horizontal or vertical)
The Tunbridge Wells (Kent, England) mast is a public service broadcasting (PSB) transmitter, it does not provide these commercial (COM) channels: .
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 Tunbridge Wells 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.
64QAM 8K 3/4 27.1Mb/s DVB-T MPEG2
H/V: aerial position (horizontal or vertical)
The Tunbridge Wells (Kent, England) mast is a public service broadcasting (PSB) transmitter, it does not provide these commercial (COM) channels: .
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 Tunbridge Wells transmitter?
BBC South East Today 0.8m homes 3.2%
from Tunbridge Wells TN1 1QQ, 5km south-southwest (205°)
to BBC South East region - 45 masts.
ITV Meridian News 0.7m homes 2.7%
from Maidstone ME14 5NZ, 21km northeast (53°)
to ITV Meridian (East) region - 36 masts.
All of lunch, weekend and 50% evening news is shared with all of Meridian plus Oxford
How will the Tunbridge Wells (Kent, England) transmission frequencies change over time?
| 1984-97 | 1997-98 | 1998-2012 | 2012-13 | 2013-18 | 2013-17 | 19 Jul 2018 | |||
| B E T | B E T | B E T | B E T | B E T | B E T | K T | |||
| C29 | SDN | ||||||||
| C31 | ArqA | ||||||||
| C37 | C5waves | C5waves | ArqB | ||||||
| C39 | _local | ||||||||
| C41 | ITVwaves | ITVwaves | ITVwaves | ArqB | ArqB | ArqB | BBCA | ||
| C42 | SDN | +SDN | +SDN | ||||||
| C44 | BBC2waves | BBC2waves | BBC2waves | ArqA | ArqA | ArqA | D3+4 | ||
| C47 | C4waves | C4waves | C4waves | BBCB | BBCB | BBCB | BBCB | ||
| C49tv_off | D3+4 | D3+4 | D3+4 | ||||||
| C51tv_off | BBC1waves | BBC1waves | BBC1waves | _local | _local | _local | |||
| C52tv_off | BBCA | BBCA | BBCA |
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 30 May 12 and 13 Jun 12.
How do the old analogue and currrent digital signal levels compare?
| Analogue 1-4 | 10kW | |
| Analogue 5, SDN, ARQA, ARQB, BBCA, D3+4, BBCB | (-4dB) 4kW | |
| Mux 1*, Mux 2*, Mux A*, Mux B*, Mux C*, Mux D* | (-20dB) 100W |
Which companies have run the Channel 3 services in the Tunbridge Wells transmitter area
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Is the transmitter output the same in all directions?
Radiation patterns withheldMonday, 24 February 2025
C
Chris.SE3:10 AM
Richard:
It'll depend upon your precise postcode. Some locations in the area will have a choice of Meridian from Tunbridge Wells or London from Crystal Palace or Reigate. The likely differences could be how well you will get the 3 COM multiplexes.
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C
Chris.SE3:20 AM
Richard:
To be a little more pedantic, whether any trees are on the line-of-sight, and it might be just minor differences in reception of only one of the COM multiplexes.
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S
Steve Donaldson5:18 PM
Tunbridge Wells operated as an SFN with Heathfield for all six multiplexes from DSO. This changed at 700MHz Clearance when it became only the PSBs which are SFN. I will return to SFNs, there being a number of them in the Meridian region.
The Tunbridge Wells COMs are not SFN with any other transmitter. However, COM4 on C29 is co-channel with Midhurst's COM4, this latter being at 10kW which is half-power to the PSBs. Prior to 700MHz Clearance, Midhurst and Tunbridge Wells did not share any channels.
Where transmitters form an SFN, the Ofcom 700MHz Clearance Plan spreadsheet[1] mentions it. It does not say that Midhurst and Tunbridge Wells form an SFN for COM4. Thus, while they are opposite polarity, there could be the potential for CCI in some places (assuming that they are indeed not SFN).
Post 700MHz Clearance, the Meridian region has the following SFNs (according to the Ofcom spreadsheet[1]):
Heathfield [H] and Tunbridge Wells [V] - PSBs: 41, 44, 47
Bluebell Hill [H], Gillingham MOT* [H] and Sittingbourne Stockers Hill* [H] - PSBs: 32, 34, 45
Bluebell Hill [H], Sittingbourne Stockers Hill* [H] and Heathfield [H] - COMs: 40, 43, 46
Dover [H], Ashford* [H] and Margate** [V] - PSBs and COMs: 33, 35, 36, 39, 42, 48
Midhurst [H] and Haslemere** [V] - PSBs and COMs: 48, 35, 36, 29, 34, 33
* = New transmitter
** = COMs added at 700MHz Clearance
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[1] Digital television transmitter details, Ofcom: Digital television transmitter details - Ofcom
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Tuesday, 25 February 2025
C
Chris.SE4:43 AM
Richard:
A very thorough analysis by Steve (as usual). It's worth saying though, the predicted Freeview reception (by DUK) is highly likely to take into account any potential for CCI and it is indeed COM4/SDN from Tunbridge Wells where the general predicted reception for the postcode is worse than the other 2 COMs, though in practise it may depend on your exact location within the postcode and local issues such as trees, tall buildings etc.
Also to be somewhat more precise about your local news regions, Meridian has 4, and Tunbridge Wells is Meridian East. The BBC has 2, and the Region is BBC South East.
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