Full Freeview on the Mendip (Somerset, England) transmitter
 | 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.
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 11/11/2024 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
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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Tuesday, 12 June 2012
B
Ben Ward10:35 PM
Melksham
Ben Ward: jb38 thank you very much for your advice and suggestions. I have done the tasks you suggested I do, as follows:
i. Ch61 on the Humax shows quality and strength both being 100%
ii. On the Panasonic, manually tuning it to Ch61 in the way that you said does result in some signal, as opposed to nothing. Nonetheless, I proceeded with the 2 bottom paras of your posting instructions. Having inserted my attenuator, I turned the knob as slowly as I could but to be honest it was very hard to tell if my twiddling was having any effect at all - quality varies from 0-20% at best; strength varies from 85-100% and both display bars flick around arbitrarily so its hard to gauge any effect, as I said.
Anyway, that's what I found. All our Freeview signals worked fine up until April, as I am sure I've previously mentioned.
Regards,
Ben Ward
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Ben's: mapB's Freeview map terrainB's terrain plot wavesB's frequency data B's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Thursday, 14 June 2012
L
Lordgeous2:26 PM
Bath
My problems seem similar to Ben Wards, as said previously, all channels working fine til about same time (April) - coincidence?. Was going to reply in detail to RG38s appreciated post but as of couple of days ago all seems to be working fine again, except occasional bad picture on borderline channels. Just for the record though my line of sight to Mendip is slightly more southerly than he imagines from postcode location. I know houses & hill with trees behind that he mentions which are off to the right. From my rooftop there are absolutely no obstructions with clear line of sight to the opposite side of the valley that Bath sits in. Anyway, fingers crossed for now. Thought digital was going to be trouble free but in 40 plus years of analogue never had ANY problems, except occasional transmitter breakdown!
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Lordgeous's: mapL's Freeview map terrainL's terrain plot wavesL's frequency data L's Freeview Detailed Coverage
J
jb386:18 PM
Ben Ward: I realise that this has been brought up before, but the test that you carried out on the Humax whereby it was indicating 100% on strength & quality "still" indicates that you are receiving a slightly over the top signal, but though! I would like you to check something by going into the Humax's installation menu / antenna power and confirm that the antenna power selector is set to off.
The reason for me wanting this confirmed is, that if you witness that reading and yet when you transfer the aerial over to the Panasonic TV-L19C20B and there is virtually no signal, then it can only be caused by either (1) the signal being too strong for the sets tuner resulting in RF blocking or (2) that the sets tuner is not compatible with technical aspects of the signal, or and the reason for the check requested, (3) that your aerial system has a preamp that's being powered by the Humax, and if an aerial amp is unpowered whilst its still in circuit it acts like an attenuator, something which would obviously be the case if the aerial lead was plugged into anything except the Humax.
This probably wont be the case but I would just like it confirmed.
Regarding the Panasonic, as I am not exactly acquaint with that particular model I decided to check out Panasonic's "non-compatible" lists but didn't find it mentioned anywhere.
Regarding that attenuator, these are basically slightly crude devices that work OK unless in a really strong signal area, as in these areas the only variation that's likely to be noticed is a minute segment at one end of the scale, fixed attenuators being far more accurate albeit its hit and miss for a person to get it right first time, as you generally require to have about three of them trying various permutations with different values by placing some in series with each other to increase the level of attenuation.
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L
Lordgeous7:11 PM
Bath
Sorry, I meant JB38, not RG38!
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Lordgeous's: mapL's Freeview map terrainL's terrain plot wavesL's frequency data L's Freeview Detailed Coverage
J
jb389:17 PM
Lordgeous: That perfectly OK! as I realised it was me you were referring to. I also noted what you had mentioned to Ben Ward regarding your location insomuch that it wasn't quite what the post code would suggest, and indeed I feel that very few ever are when allocated in built up areas and why I had initially qualified my comment by "if its truly representative" etc.
The curse with digital reception is that its success is based on receiving a signal that stays between two levels, that of always being above a level of low but not at any time exceed a certain point of high, as should at any time these two points be violated then the signal will start to break up or cut off altogether, whereas analogue was far more tolerant and with a person having instant visual feedback if their signal was varying, as indeed all signals do in most non line of sight situations, with grain / speckles starting to show on the picture if the signal level was dropping, the density level of these increasing the more the signal level was decreasing, whereas if the signal strength was verging on the excessively high then this resulted in masses of fine herring bone patterns being superimposed on the screen as well as in many cases thick wavy lines also being seen, these usually accompanied with a ripple or rasping noise being heard on the audio.
The only form of digital reception with a virtually guaranteed glitch free performance is via satellite, as nothing affects that with the exception of a really heavy thundery downpour, and even then its only few a few minutes at the very most with under a minute being more the norm.
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L
Lordgeous10:15 PM
Bath
Thanks again JB38. Yes I also have a fairly sophisticated satellite set up (large motorised dish, HD receiver, PVR etc) which I've been resorting to recently - a better picture too in my view! I work with digital audio but digital picture technology is pretty much an unknown area for me.
Can I just say what a relief it was to discover this site and be able to share information and benefit from your expertise - is it a labour of love for you? (Not my business I know).
Regarding my issues, the main mystery for me is why its all been OK until recently? I've spoken to quite a few other local residents (on Mendip) and I think without exception they all suffer from SOME reception problem. As far as I know no-one's planted a huge tree or built some obstruction between Bath & Wells! I might just ask the local TV shops if they know anything but for now I'm happy to have reasonable reception. Fingers crossed!
Thanks again.
| link to this comment |
Lordgeous's: mapL's Freeview map terrainL's terrain plot wavesL's frequency data L's Freeview Detailed Coverage
L
Lordgeous10:18 PM
Bath
PS I meant to include as a "mystery" why only certain channels are effected. BBC 1, 2, 3, 4, etc always fine, ITV1,2,cha 4, 5 etc have been intermittent.
| link to this comment |
Lordgeous's: mapL's Freeview map terrainL's terrain plot wavesL's frequency data L's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Friday, 15 June 2012
B
Bernie8:56 AM
Bristol
Hi, up until recently we have had good Freeview reception. Postcode is BS30 9PZ and we receive from Mendip. Now we get intermittent problems with channels on the BBC Mux - picture breaks and goes completely (no signal) then comes back etc. If it is weather or trees then I don't understand why other Mux channels are not affected. We have a reasonable roof aerial (albeit old). Strangely my Toshiba (upstairs) works fine just on an indoor aerial. Makes no sense to me - hope you can advise.
| link to this comment |
Bernie's: mapB's Freeview map terrainB's terrain plot wavesB's frequency data B's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Monday, 25 June 2012
C
Chris.SE8:29 AM
What sort of signal strength (& quality) does your receiver indicate for each Mux?
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Tuesday, 26 June 2012
D
Duncs9:00 PM
Sutton
Unfortunately, since the 'final' switchover, I no longer have the red button on BBC1 on my Philips 32PFL 5522D/05. My postcode is SM2 7NT and I'm tuned to 'London'. The software in the set is : IdtvZapper_HW261.256_SW2.7.77
I have tried both rescanning for new channels and a 'factory settings' reset followed by a new scan .. all to no avail.
Do I have the latest software version ? If not, how do I upgrade the software ?
TIA
PS : I also have a 'cheap and cheerful' Grundig Freeview box connected to the same aerial and the red button is present !
| link to this comment |
Duncs's: mapD's Freeview map terrainD's terrain plot wavesD's frequency data D's Freeview Detailed Coverage
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