Full Freeview on the Mendip (Somerset, England) transmitter
Brian Butterworth first published this on - UK Free TV
Google Streetview | Google map | Bing map | Google Earth | 51.237,-2.626 or 51°14'12"N 2°37'33"W | BA5 3LB |
The symbol shows the location of the Mendip (Somerset, England) transmitter which serves 720,000 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.
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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
DTG-12 QSPK 8K 3/4 8.0Mb/s DVB-T MPEG2
H/V: aerial position (horizontal or vertical)
Which Freeview channels does the Mendip 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
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 Mendip transmitter?
ITV West Country News (East) 0.9m homes 3.4%
from Bristol BS4 3HG, 23km north (11°)
to ITV West region - 61 masts.
All of lunch, weekend and 50% evening news is shared with West Country (West)
Are there any self-help relays?
Cheddar | Transposer | 15 km E Weston-super-Mare | 1674 homes |
Luccombe | Active deflector | 6 km w Minehead | 38 homes |
How will the Mendip (Somerset, England) transmission frequencies change over time?
1984-97 | 1997-98 | 1998-2010 | 2010-13 | 2013-18 | 2013-17 | 27 Feb 2018 | |||
C/D E | E | E | C/D E | C/D E T | W T | W T | |||
C30 | _local | ||||||||
C32 | BBCA | ||||||||
C33 | com7 | com7 | |||||||
C34 | D3+4 | ||||||||
C35 | com8 | com8 | |||||||
C36 | ArqB | ||||||||
C37 | C5waves | C5waves | |||||||
C48 | SDN | SDN | SDN | SDN | |||||
C49tv_off | BBCA | BBCA | |||||||
C51tv_off | LBS | LBS | |||||||
C52tv_off | ArqB | ArqB | ArqB | ||||||
C54tv_off | C4waves | C4waves | C4waves | D3+4 | D3+4 | D3+4 | |||
C55tv_off | com7tv_off | ||||||||
C56tv_off | ArqA | ArqA | ArqA | COM8tv_off | |||||
C58tv_off | BBC1waves | BBC1waves | BBC1waves | BBCB | BBCB | BBCB | |||
C61 | ITVwaves | ITVwaves | ITVwaves | BBCA | |||||
C64 | BBC2waves | BBC2waves | BBC2waves |
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 | 500kW | |
Analogue 5 | (-6dB) 126kW | |
SDN, ARQA, ARQB, BBCA, D3+4, BBCB | (-7dB) 100kW | |
com7 | (-8.4dB) 72.4kW | |
com8 | (-8.6dB) 69.1kW | |
Mux 1*, Mux 2*, Mux A*, Mux B*, Mux C*, Mux D*, LBS | (-17dB) 10kW |
Which companies have run the Channel 3 services in the Mendip transmitter area
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Saturday, 5 May 2012
J
jb382:13 PM
Ben Ward: I was having a look at your series of back postings concerning your difficulties and have a test that I would like you to try on the Humax (and only!) as the tuners fitted in these devices have more of a consistency in performance and so are best to use for checking / comparing strengths etc.
What I would like to know is what the signal / quality is seen indicated as when on BBC (Ch61) and then ITV (Ch54) when connected to the aerial used by upstairs, and then the same test carried out on the aerial used for downstairs as I believe that you use two different aerials, but make sure that the test is with the aerial connected directly into the Humax and not having been looped through anything.
Maybe you could also indicate the model of Humax that you have, although it would be of assistance to know the actual model numbers of the Toshiba TV as well as the Sony box, as many of these well known brands can have problems with transmission modes etc and so its always of benefit to know what a person is using.
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Tuesday, 8 May 2012
B
Bob Freshwater11:09 PM
Hi
Since the Mendip upgrade BBC channels have been pixelating at around 23.00 every evening and are unwatchable. I live in the Forest of Dean so am on the limit. The signal strength is also virtually zero. Before the upgrade I always got good BBC channels and it was the others that would pixelate. Is there a reason for this? At present I am unable to even tune in any BBC on PSB1. The BBC help site was a waste of time!
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Friday, 11 May 2012
T
The Wakefield3:15 AM
Has anyone else noticed that the Signal Strengths for Channels 56 & 61 have had a noticeable increase since the very early hours of Thursday or am I virtually alone again? ^_^;
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B
Ben Ward3:15 PM
jb38 thank you for your reply.
The Humax (downstairs) tells me the following:
Ch61 AND 54 - strength and quality signals are both 100%. I can't even tune into 61 or 54 on any other sets.
Our aerial system uses a 4 way signal splitter in the attic, so in fact the same signal arrives downstairs as well as up. (I will have to clamber into the attic this weekend to confirm this, but I am sure thats what we had installed).
Only 3 of the 4 outputs of the splitter are used. There is no loop through on any of them.
Humax: PVR-9150T
Sony Freeview: VTX-D800U
Toshiba TV: 37XV555D
Panasonic TV: TX-L19C20B
Many thanks,
Ben
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Sunday, 13 May 2012
B
Ben Ward10:38 AM
Melksham
Ben Ward: I have no idea why my last post seems to have come out bold. Sorry folks...
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Ben's: mapB's Freeview map terrainB's terrain plot wavesB's frequency data B's Freeview Detailed Coverage
J
jb384:30 PM
Ben Ward: Thanks for the info requested, however if the Humax is indeed indicating 100% strength then you will have to take measures to reduce this to about 90% or so, as the problem with a full scale reading is that you have no way of knowing if its possibly running on the verges of being over the top in strength and which of course it might actually already be doing, this possibly being why you cannot manage to tune the other equipment in as an overly strong signal can completely block a tuners input circuitry, Humax tuners being of generally better quality being able to hold out longer than other types before being swamped by the signal.
If you do not have any form of booster in line such as a mast head amplifier etc then it might be difficult to reduce the level of signal, except that is by either turning your aerial around exactly 180 degrees or trying to get hold of an in line attenuator of about 6 - 10db or so, but indications seen on a Humax are more inclined to represent the true state of affairs as far as signal levels are concerned, and so an indication of 100% on a box of this type is a little too high for comfort and has to be reduced before a further assessment can be made.
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Tuesday, 15 May 2012
B
Ben Ward3:05 PM
jb38 thanks.
I bought this attenuator: Adjustable 0-20dB attenuator, coaxial connector version: Amazon.co.uk: Electronics
I will try it on the Humax and report back. Do you know, will it attenuate simply by connecting my aerial, or do I need to twiddle with the red control? (there are no instructions). Doing so didn't affect the quality of my upstairs set, a newer Panasonic TV w. Freeview.
In the last few days, I have had lots more channels had spontaneously appeared on the Panasonic (including the missing BBC ones yesterday.) But they have been there only during the day and are gone again come the evening.
Regards,
Ben (SN126BF)
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Sunday, 20 May 2012
T
Tracy Gill5:44 PM
Well ALL of the BBC freeview channels are playing up yet again. All are completely unviewable, frequently there is no signal whatsoever. All of the other channels are ok so why is this happening, I am paying a licence fee for a service I can not get.
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Tuesday, 22 May 2012
L
Lordgeous8:19 PM
Why does this site constantly say 'no reported problems' when for the last few weeks there have been and still are serious problems with many of the commercial freeview channels? I'm in Bath, using the Mendip transmitter up until recently with no problems. Now though the ITV channels, Cha 4 etc are often badly pixellated or not showing at all. Examining signal strength indictors at these times the signal is minimal while BBC channels are 100% (this goes for PVRs as well as a number of TVs.
My neighbours have same problems as have friends on the opposite side of the city, as well as friends in Bristol. So this has to be an intermittent transmitter problem. Who should one contact. Anyone else with similar problems?
Thanks
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B
Ben Ward9:15 PM
Melksham
It gets more intriguing; most of my channels (except all the Channel 4 ones) are back after having all been messed up for weeks. Wonder how long they will remain working normally though?
I am as frustrated by all this as Lordgeous (like you I'm in Bath) and Tracey Gill - no-one at Freeview to contact really and the only help the other helpful users on this site.
I never either a) asked for or b) wanted all these digital channels and all their extra services anyway myself; given that, what was so wrong with the previous analogue system?
link to this comment |
Ben's: mapB's Freeview map terrainB's terrain plot wavesB's frequency data B's Freeview Detailed Coverage
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