Full Freeview on the Bluebell Hill (Medway, England) transmitter
 | Google Streetview |  | Google map |  | Bing map |  | Google Earth |  | 51.324,0.520 or 51°19'25"N 0°31'13"E |  | ME5 9RD |
The symbol shows the location of the Bluebell Hill (Medway, England) transmitter which serves 200,000 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 Bluebell Hill (Medway, England) mast?
Bluebell Hill transmitter - Bluebell Hill transmitter: Possible effect on TV reception week commencing 28/10/2024 Pixelation or flickering on some or all channels 
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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
H/V: aerial position (horizontal or vertical)
Which Freeview channels does the Bluebell Hill 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)
Which BBC and ITV regional news can I watch from the Bluebell Hill transmitter?
BBC South East Today 0.8m homes 3.2%
from Tunbridge Wells TN1 1QQ, 28km southwest (218°)
to BBC South East region - 45 masts.
ITV Meridian News 0.7m homes 2.7%
from Maidstone ME14 5NZ, 5km south-southeast (155°)
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 Bluebell Hill (Medway, England) transmission frequencies change over time?
| 1984-97 | 1997-98 | 1998-2012 | 2012-13 | 19 Jul 2018 | |||||
| E | E | E | W T | W T | |||||
| C21 | _local | ||||||||
| C28 | _local | ||||||||
| C32 | com7 | ||||||||
| C34 | com8 | ||||||||
| C39 | +ArqA | ||||||||
| C40 | BBC1waves | BBC1waves | BBC1waves | +BBCB | SDN | ||||
| C43 | ITVwaves | ITVwaves | ITVwaves | D3+4 | ArqA | ||||
| C45 | SDN | BBCB | |||||||
| C46 | BBC2waves | BBC2waves | BBC2waves | BBCA | ArqB | ||||
| C54tv_off | ArqB | ||||||||
| C55tv_off | com7tv_off | ||||||||
| C56tv_off | COM8tv_off | ||||||||
| C65 | C4waves | C4waves | C4waves |
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 13 Jun 12 and 27 Jun 12.
How do the old analogue and currrent digital signal levels compare?
| Analogue 1-4 | 30kW | |
| SDN, ARQA, ARQB, BBCA, D3+4, BBCB | (-1.8dB) 20kW | |
| com8 | (-7.8dB) 5kW | |
| com7 | (-8.1dB) 4.7kW | |
| Mux 1*, Mux B*, Mux C*, Mux D* | (-10dB) 3kW | |
| Mux 2*, Mux A* | (-11.8dB) 2kW |
Local transmitter maps
Bluebell Hill Freeview Bluebell Hill DAB Bluebell Hill TV region BBC South East Meridian (East micro region)Which companies have run the Channel 3 services in the Bluebell Hill transmitter area
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Tuesday, 22 May 2012
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Mike Dimmick2:44 PM
John: No fault is reported at the transmitter and no work is scheduled. This usually means it's a problem at your end. Weather conditions affect signal propogation and can cause interfering signals to travel further in some conditions than others, and the wanted signal not to travel as well as average. There doesn't appear to be particularly abnormal weather at the moment, though.
Switchover starts in slightly over three weeks, so it really isn't worth calling anyone out to look at it. You might do a visual inspection just to check that all the aerial elements are present and pointing the right way, and that the cabling is properly connected and not worn through. Check that the analogue pictures are as good as the last time you checked. If they're noticeably worse, the aerial system should be checked over.
The high-power BBC multiplex will take over BBC Two's old frequency in the early hours of 13 June, after BBC Two shuts down. If you can get good results on BBC Two now, you should be good after switchover. Check the teletext test on p284 (
Digital UK - The condition of your aerial ) on BBC One, ITV1 and BBC Two to see whether you might need the aerial system serviced.
If the signal strength on Muxes B, C and D are lower than on 2 and A, that may indicate that your aerial was actually designed for Crystal Palace and was rotated to point at Bluebell Hill. In this case you should have it replaced.
Do also be aware that a lot of equipment just stores the first version of channels that it finds. If you've retuned since 4 April, the box may be storing Crystal Palace services (received too weakly to use reliably). Check for another version of the channels somewhere else in the channel list, usually at 800 onwards. Though you did say you'd retuned manually, some equipment needs the old list to be cleared out as a separate step first.
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P
paul3:37 PM
any one have failed recordings on bbc freesat last night,21 may, dmr bs850 failed on q of sport and sounds of the 70s but taped walking dead on 5 at same time ok, the panny never let me down before
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Mick Culver7:29 PM
I live in Larkfield and cannot get any BBC channels on my freeview. I am linked to the Bluebell Hill transmitter
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Wednesday, 23 May 2012
S
Steve10:18 AM
Maidstone
All I can say is roll on 27th June :-)
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Steve's: mapS's Freeview map terrainS's terrain plot wavesS's frequency data S's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Thursday, 31 May 2012
M
Mark Barden11:26 AM
Gillingham
Our transmitter (Bluebell Hill) is due to switch in June. After the switch I am wondering whether I will need an attenuator as Digital TV requires 40-60dbuv. Realistically, have many people required attenuators in previous transmitter switchovers? If so, I will get a few ready for it! Postcode ME73QP.
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Mark's: mapM's Freeview map terrainM's terrain plot wavesM's frequency data M's Freeview Detailed Coverage
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Mike Dimmick3:08 PM
Mark Barden: My belief is that the CAI-recommended levels for digital TV were set mainly to ensure that the analogue signals didn't drive amplifiers into non-linear regions, causing intermodulation. It wasn't because 60 dBuV on digital alone would cause intermod. If your signals are currently in spec, an additional 10 dB on each is unlikely to be a problem.
You are only 5 km away from Bluebell Hill and appear to have clear line-of-sight. Plugging those figures into Field Strength Calculator suggests that even with no aerial gain and 10m of downlead it could be over 80 dBuV on C39 (ArqA mux). I'd say that you might need attenuation - it'll depend on how much the signal is attenuated by neighbouring buildings and trees.
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Monday, 4 June 2012
Derek Brice
5:28 PM
Gillingham
5:28 PM
Gillingham
When my old style TV went bang last Friday we splashed out on a new Samsung UE32ES5500 LED HD 1080p Smart TV, 32 Inch with Freeview HD. As we're on Bluebell Hill we wont experience HD until the 27th, but I would like some info about HD. According to the TV salesman in John Lewis, freeview HD is only 720p as aposed to 1080. He was quite adamant about this so I did a Google when I got home but the info is inconclusive. Can I hear the opinions of our resident experts here please.
Thanks
Derek
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Derek's: mapD's Freeview map terrainD's terrain plot wavesD's frequency data D's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Wednesday, 6 June 2012
M
Mark Barden2:12 PM
Derek, I believe Freeview HD to be at 1080i.
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Mark Barden: Freeview HD switches between 1080i, 1080p automatically. Some 720 and 576 content is used for legacy reasons at times.
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