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Full Freeview on the Caldbeck (Cumbria, England) transmitter

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The symbol shows the location of the Caldbeck (Cumbria, England) transmitter which serves 120,000 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 Caldbeck (Cumbria, England) mast?

Caldbeck transmitter - Caldbeck 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 Caldbeck 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
C25- (505.8MHz)619mDTG-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
C28- (529.8MHz)619mDTG-100,000W
Channel icons
3 ITV 1 (SD) (Border (England)), 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 (Yorkshire Emley Moor),

PSB3
BBCB
 H max
C22- (481.8MHz)619mDTG-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
C23- (489.8MHz)598mDTG-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
C26- (513.8MHz)598mDTG-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
C30- (545.8MHz)598mDTG-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

PSB1
BBCA
 H -3dB
C27- (521.8MHz)489mDTG-50,000W
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 -3dB
C24- (497.8MHz)489mDTG-50,000W
Channel icons
3 ITV 1 (SD) (Border (England)), 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 (Yorkshire Emley Moor),

PSB3
BBCB
 H max
C22- (481.8MHz)509mDTG-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

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 Caldbeck transmitter?

regional news image
BBC Look North (Newcastle) 1.6m homes 6.0%
from Newcastle NE99 2NE, 97km east-northeast (77°)
to BBC North East and Cumbria region - 70 masts.
regional news image
ITV Lookaround 0.2m homes 0.7%
from Carlisle CA1 3NT, 17km northeast (45°)
to ITV Border England region - 33 masts.
All of lunch, weekend and 50% evening news is shared with Tyne Tees

Are there any self-help relays?

BorelandActive deflector25 km NE Dumfries22 homes School
CarsphairnTransposer35 km SE Ayr84 homes
Crosby GarrettActive deflector35 km N Dumbarton42 homes
DeepdaleActive deflector20 km SW Penrith20 homes
Eskdalemuir BActive deflector45 km NW Carlisle31 homes
KeldActive deflector30 km E Sedbergh17 homes
StaintonTransposer8km W Penrith251 homes (low lying area of housing)

How will the Caldbeck (Cumbria, England) transmission frequencies change over time?

1961-80s1984-971997-981998-20092009-1325 Mar 2020
VHFA K TW TW TW TA K T
C11ITVwaves
C22-BBCBBBCB
C23-SDNSDN
C24-D3+4
C25-BBCABBCA
C26-ArqAArqA
C27-BBCA
C28ITVwavesITVwavesITVwaves-D3+4D3+4
C29-ArqBLOCAL2
C30BBC1wavesBBC1wavesBBC1waves-BBCBArqB
C32C4wavesC4wavesC4wavescom7
C33_local
C34BBC2wavesBBC2wavesBBC2waves
C35com8
C56tv_offC5wavesC5waves_local

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 Jun 09 and 22 Jul 09.

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

Analogue 1-4 500kW
BBCA, D3+4, BBCB, PSB3 sc(-7dB) 100kW
SDN, ARQA, ARQB, PSB1 sc, PSB2 sc(-10dB) 50kW
com8(-11.5dB) 35.8kW
com7(-12dB) 31.9kW
Mux 2*, Mux A*(-15.2dB) 15kW
Analogue 5, Mux 1*(-17dB) 10kW
Mux B*(-21.9dB) 3.2kW
Mux C*, Mux D*(-24.9dB) 1.6kW

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

Sep 1961-Feb 2004Border 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.

Is the transmitter output the same in all directions?

Radiation patterns withheld

Comments
Friday, 20 April 2012
Transmitter engineering
sentiment_very_satisfiedOwner

4:29 AM

CALDBECK transmitter - Freeview BBC Digital TV Off Air from 20:27 yesterday to 20:36 yesterday [BBC]

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Transmitter engineering's 149,799 posts xx flag
Transmitter engineering
sentiment_very_satisfiedOwner

4:29 AM

CALDBECK transmitter - Freeview BBC Digital TV Off Air from 20:27 yesterday to 20:36 yesterday [BBC]

link to this comment
Transmitter engineering's 149,799 posts xx flag
Saturday, 21 April 2012
Transmitter engineering
sentiment_very_satisfiedOwner

4:29 AM

CALDBECK transmitter - Freeview BBC Digital TV Off Air from 20:27 on 19 Apr to 20:36 on 19 Apr [BBC]

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Transmitter engineering's 149,799 posts xx flag
Transmitter engineering
sentiment_very_satisfiedOwner

4:29 AM

CALDBECK transmitter - Freeview BBC Digital TV Off Air from 20:27 on 19 Apr to 20:36 on 19 Apr [BBC]

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Transmitter engineering's 149,799 posts xx flag
Tuesday, 28 August 2012
S
simon osman
12:45 PM
Annan

Hi,
Can you tell me if the Caldbeck transmitter is sometimes referred to as West Borders, because my LG tv identifies the transmitter it is tuned to as West Borders, so am wondering if my aerial is out of alignment?

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simon osman's 3 posts GB flag
simon's: mapS's Freeview map terrainS's terrain plot wavesS's frequency data S's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Dave Lindsay
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

1:14 PM

simon osman: I don't know; I've never found a list of transmitter/network identifications.

A check of Digital UK and Wolfbane suggests that you will only be able to receive from Caldbeck (certainly easily anyway).

Caldbeck broadcasts Scottish variants of the three PSB channels. I wonder whether they will identify the transmitter differently to the English ones.

The way to find out is to check the UHF channel numbers that it is tuned to. Bring up the signal strength screen on one service from each multiplex.

The COM channels (ITV3, Pick TV, Yesterday etc) are on low power until 24th October so as to protect against interference with Northern Ireland, until it completes switchover. I'm not sure that this will cause you difficulty at your location.

According to Digital UK, the COM channels are carried on "Caldbeck" (the English variant), and not "Caldbeck Scotland". If the Enlish and Scottish variants have differing identifications, then maybe you will end up with PSBs and COMs with differing identifications (assuming that you wish to tune to the Scottish regional PSB variants).

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Dave Lindsay's 5,724 posts GB flag
Wednesday, 29 August 2012
S
simon osman
7:43 PM

Hi Dave,
Thanks for the information. The reason I asked about Caldbeck being West Borders is I hav e a reception problem on ITV1. approx 2 to 3 times a night, the picture freezes then goes blank and comes back on after 2 seconds. The signal level according to the tv is 90% and quality is 100%, could this be too high?

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simon osman's 3 posts GB flag
Thursday, 27 September 2012
Dave Lindsay
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

2:18 PM

Briantist: According to Ofcom and DUK Postcode Checker, Caldbeck's COMs are at 15kW until 24th October. Presumably this is to protect against interference with Divis.

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Dave Lindsay's 5,724 posts GB flag
Sunday, 21 October 2012
D
Dave
5:16 PM
Whitehaven

Hi does caldbeck transmitter go to full power on Wednesday 24 October

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Dave's 3 posts GB flag
Dave's: mapD's Freeview map terrainD's terrain plot wavesD's frequency data D's Freeview Detailed Coverage
J
jb38
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

5:27 PM

Dave: According to DUK's trade predictor yes! but it only applies to the three commercial muxes as the BBC / BBC HD / ITV1 are already on high power, the commercials changing from 15Kw up to 50Kw.

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jb38's 7,179 posts GB flag
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