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Full Freeview on the Mendip (Somerset, England) transmitter

first published this on - UK Free TV
sa_streetviewGoogle Streetviewsa_gmapsGoogle mapsa_bingBing mapsa_gearthGoogle Earthsa_gps51.237,-2.626 or 51°14'12"N 2°37'33"Wsa_postcodeBA5 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.

Are there any planned engineering works or unexpected transmitter faults on the Mendip (Somerset, England) mast?

Mendip transmitter - Mendip 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 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.

MuxH/VFrequencyHeightModeWatts
PSB1
BBCA
 H max
C32 (562.0MHz)591mDTG-100,000W
Channel icons
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
 H max
C34 (578.0MHz)591mDTG-100,000W
Channel icons
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),

PSB3
BBCB
 H max
C35 (586.0MHz)591mDTG-100,000W
Channel icons
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

COM4
SDN
 H max
C48 (690.0MHz)591mDTG-8100,000W
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 max
C33 (570.0MHz)591mDTG-8100,000W
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 max
C36 (594.0MHz)591mDTG-8100,000W
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

LBS
 H -10dB
C30 (546.0MHz)591mDTG-1210,000W
Channel icons
from 22nd September 2014: 7 Made in Bristol,

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 Mendip transmitter?

regional news image
BBC Points West 0.9m homes 3.4%
from Bristol BS8 2LR, 25km north (3°)
to BBC West region - 60 masts.
regional news image
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?

CheddarTransposer15 km E Weston-super-Mare1674 homes
LuccombeActive deflector6 km w Minehead38 homes

How will the Mendip (Somerset, England) transmission frequencies change over time?

1984-971997-981998-20102010-132013-182013-1727 Feb 2018
C/D EEEC/D EC/D E TW TW T
C30_local
C32BBCA
C33com7com7
C34D3+4
C35com8com8
C36ArqB
C37C5wavesC5waves
C48SDNSDNSDNSDN
C49tv_off BBCABBCA
C51tv_offLBSLBS
C52tv_offArqBArqBArqB
C54tv_offC4wavesC4wavesC4wavesD3+4D3+4D3+4
C55tv_offcom7tv_off
C56tv_offArqAArqAArqACOM8tv_off
C58tv_offBBC1wavesBBC1wavesBBC1wavesBBCBBBCBBBCB
C61ITVwavesITVwavesITVwavesBBCA
C64BBC2wavesBBC2wavesBBC2waves

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

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. Mendip 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
Tuesday, 8 May 2012
B
Bob Freshwater
11:09 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!

link to this comment
Bob Freshwater's 1 post GB flag
Friday, 11 May 2012
T
The Wakefield
3:15 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? ^_^;

link to this comment
The Wakefield's 6 posts GB flag
B
Ben Ward
sentiment_satisfiedBronze

3:15 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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Ben Ward's 28 posts GB flag
Sunday, 13 May 2012
B
Ben Ward
sentiment_satisfiedBronze

10:38 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 Ward's 28 posts GB flag
Ben's: mapB's Freeview map terrainB's terrain plot wavesB's frequency data B's Freeview Detailed Coverage
J
jb38
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

4:30 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.

link to this comment
jb38's 7,179 posts GB flag
Tuesday, 15 May 2012
B
Ben Ward
sentiment_satisfiedBronze

3:05 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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Ben Ward's 28 posts GB flag
Sunday, 20 May 2012
T
Tracy Gill
5:44 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.

link to this comment
Tracy Gill's 17 posts GB flag
Tuesday, 22 May 2012
L
Lordgeous
sentiment_satisfiedBronze

8:19 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

link to this comment
Lordgeous's 25 posts GB flag
B
Ben Ward
sentiment_satisfiedBronze

9:15 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 Ward's 28 posts GB flag
Ben's: mapB's Freeview map terrainB's terrain plot wavesB's frequency data B's Freeview Detailed Coverage
J
jb38
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

9:33 PM

Lordgeous: Without knowing your exact location you have to look at the problem another way, insomuch that part of Bath must suffer from a reception problem by being screened from the main transmitter as otherwise a local relay would not have been required.

However, if a person is not in a screened position then its possible that they could be receiving an excessively high level of signal from the Mendip 100Kw transmitter located at only 15 miles away, the misleading aspect for anyone experiencing this type of problem being that an excessively high signal can cause partial instability in a tuner whereby the signal strength / quality indications given will be totally inaccurate resulting in low readings, or even in some cases 100% strength accompanied with zero quality.

If you have any form of booster fitted then for a test bypass it, or if you have access to a set top aerial then plug that in and give your TV or box another retune, giving an update on results.

The reason for me suggesting this is that 100% strength is not an ideal level for equipment to be running at as the next stage up from 100% is instability, so levels of around 90% or so maximum is much safer as it allows for some channels having the power edge on others.

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jb38's 7,179 posts GB flag
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