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Full Freeview on the Caradon Hill (Cornwall, England) transmitter

first published this on - UK Free TV
sa_streetviewGoogle Streetviewsa_gmapsGoogle mapsa_bingBing mapsa_gearthGoogle Earthsa_gps50.511,-4.437 or 50°30'38"N 4°26'14"Wsa_postcodePL14 5LT

 

The symbol shows the location of the Caradon Hill (Cornwall, England) transmitter which serves 180,000 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 Caradon Hill (Cornwall, England) mast?

Caradon Hill transmitter - Caradon Hill transmitter: Possible effect on TV reception week commencing 11/11/2024 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 Caradon 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.

MuxH/VFrequencyHeightModeWatts
PSB1
BBCA
 H max
C28+ (530.2MHz)602mDTG-100,000W
Channel icons
1 BBC One (SD) South 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
C25+ (506.2MHz)602mDTG-100,000W
Channel icons
3 ITV 1 (SD) (West Country), 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 Country), 71 That’s 60s,

PSB3
BBCB
 H max
C22+ (482.2MHz)602mDTG-100,000W
Channel icons
46 5SELECT, 101 BBC One HD South 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 -3dB
C21+ (474.2MHz)579mDTG-850,000W
Channel icons
20 U&Drama, 21 5USA, 29 ITV2 +1, 32 5STAR, 33 5Action, 38 Channel 5 +1, 41 Legend, 42 GREAT! action, 57 U&Dave ja vu, 58 ITV3 +1, 59 ITV4 +1, 64 Blaze, 67 TRUE CRIME, 68 TRUE CRIME XTRA, 81 Blaze +1, 83 Together TV, 91 WildEarth, 93 ITVBe +1, 209 Ketchup TV, 210 Ketchup Too, 211 YAAAS!, 251 Al Jazeera English, 255 FRANCE 24 (in English), 265 Rok Sky +1, plus 29 others

COM5
ArqA
 H -3dB
C24- (497.8MHz)579mDTG-850,000W
Channel icons
11 Sky Mix, 17 Really, 19 U&Dave, 31 E4 Extra, 36 Sky Arts, 40 Quest Red, 43 Food Network, 47 Film4 +1, 48 Challenge, 49 4seven, 60 U&Drama +1, 65 That's TV 2, 70 Quest +1, 74 &UYesterday +1, 76 That's TV 2 MCR, 233 Sky News, plus 13 others

COM6
ArqB
 H -3dB
C27- (521.8MHz)579mDTG-850,000W
Channel icons
12 Quest, 25 U&W, 27 U&Yesterday, 34 GREAT! movies, 39 DMAX, 44 HGTV, 52 GREAT! christmas, 56 That's TV (UK), 63 GREAT! romance mix, 73 HobbyMaker, 75 That's 90s, 82 Talking Pictures TV, 84 PBS America, 235 Al Jazeera Eng, plus 18 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 Caradon Hill transmitter?

regional news image
BBC Spotlight 0.8m homes 2.9%
from Plymouth PL3 5BD, 26km east-southeast (123°)
to BBC South West region - 107 masts.
regional news image
ITV West Country News (West) 0.8m homes 2.9%
from Plymouth PL7 5BQ, 32km east-southeast (116°)
to ITV West Country region - 107 masts.
All of lunch, weekend and 50% evening news is shared with West Country (East)

Are there any self-help relays?

BarleycombeActive deflector25 km E Plymouth3 homes
ParracombeTransposer17 km NE Barnstaple80 homes

How will the Caradon Hill (Cornwall, England) transmission frequencies change over time?

1961-80s1984-971997-981998-20092009-1327 Mar 2019
VHFA K TA K TA K TA K TA K T
C12ITVwaves
C21+SDNSDN
C22BBC1wavesBBC1wavesBBC1waves+BBCBBBCB
C24-ArqAArqA
C25ITVwavesITVwavesITVwaves+D3+4D3+4
C27-ArqBArqB
C28BBC2wavesBBC2wavesBBC2waves+BBCABBCA
C30_local_local
C31com7
C32C4wavesC4wavesC4waves
C37com8

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 12 Aug 09 and 9 Sep 09.

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

Analogue 1-4 500kW
BBCA, D3+4, BBCB(-7dB) 100kW
SDN, ARQA, ARQB(-10dB) 50kW
com7(-16.3dB) 11.6kW
Mux 1*(-20dB) 5kW
Mux 2*, Mux A*, Mux B*, Mux C*, Mux D*(-21dB) 4kW
com8(-24.2dB) 1.9kW

Which companies have run the Channel 3 services in the Caradon Hill transmitter area

Apr 1961-Dec 1981Westward Television
Jan 1982-Dec 1992Television South West (TSW)
Jan 1993-Feb 2004Westcountry 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.

Comments
Tuesday, 12 June 2012
Briantist
sentiment_very_satisfiedOwner

7:04 AM

michael: It's not *state* secret, but it is a commercial one.

If you become a member of the DTG - Joining the DTG - you get all the details.

However, I don't have a spare ten thousand pounds...

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Briantist's 38,915 posts GB flag
Monday, 2 July 2012
D
Dave Atkins
6:03 PM
Holsworthy

I regularly experience poor quality reception which has been ongoing for months. I'm going to upgrade my roof mounted aerial.
Can you tell me if it would be best to go for a gorup A or wideband aerial for Caradon Hill? (Loaction Holsworthy).

link to this comment
Dave Atkins's 1 post GB flag
Dave's: mapD's Freeview map terrainD's terrain plot wavesD's frequency data D's Freeview Detailed Coverage
M
Mark Fletcher
sentiment_satisfiedGold

6:49 PM
Halifax

Dave Atkins.Holsworthy,EX22 6JB.As Caradon Hill is an all group A transmitter located almost 20 miles from your abode to mast,your best bet is to go for a group A (red tipped) aerial or a group K (grey tipped) semi-wideband aerial but only if you decide not to persue the group A aerial itself.
However a group W wideband aerial (tipped black) on the other hand is by and large rather useless on an all group A mast such as Caradon Hill in a poor/marginal reception area.If you decide to buy a new group A (preferred) or group K aerial (as a last resort),then simultaneously buy new superior copper-copper black coloured (sometimes darkest navy blue it appears) co-ax cable,and importantly new brass co-ax aerial plugs,not alloy or worse plastic plugs as they're useless.
I would strongly look up the ATV Aerials and Television of Sheffield website for proper advice in buying new aerial and accessories and belive me they are the No1 in my honest opinion in the UK today.Forget the rest ATV of Sheffield are the best.

link to this comment
Mark Fletcher's 673 posts GB flag
Mark's: mapM's Freeview map terrainM's terrain plot wavesM's frequency data M's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Thursday, 5 July 2012
R
Richard Laurence
3:57 PM

Does the whole of Bodmin get its TV from Caradon Hill, or are there any repeaters as well? I have been asked whether it would be feasible to broadcast a local TV service for the town and this would only be commercially viable if a single transmitter site (possibly not at CaradonHill but in line with it) would do the job.

link to this comment
Richard Laurence's 1 post GB flag
Saturday, 8 September 2012
J
Jim McDonald
7:20 PM

7th 8th Sept all Tv reception on Freeview unavailable. website reports Caradon Hill AOK. Please investigate / fix.

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Jim McDonald's 1 post GB flag
Monday, 10 September 2012
C
Chris Woodcock
2:17 PM

Black Torrington.
We receive our Freeview from Caradon Hill... or we would normally. For the last 3 days we, and a number of our neighbors have experienced extremely weak signal or no signal what-so-ever. Our living room TV is rigged up to Freesat, so we have been able to watch one TV at least. There was a mention on a Spotlight weather report on Saturday afternoon of strange atmospherics due to the high pressure sat over the country... though there has been little other mention beyond that.
This website has been saying that Caradon Hill is working, though I cannot help but wonder if their diagnostic/monitoring equipment may be on the blink.
On behalf of my neighbors, myself and anyone suffering from similar issues, I request that an engineer perform a detailed manual inspection of the transmitter, or that someone be sent out with the necessary tech to determine if we have some kind of localised interference here in Black Torrington... who knows, perhaps some inconsiderate so-and-so is playing around with field-generators nearby, lol.

link to this comment
Chris Woodcock's 1 post GB flag
M
michael
sentiment_satisfiedGold

9:14 PM

Under atmospheric high-pressure, distant transmissions (from France or the UK) can break through and interefere with the signal you want - Caradon in this instance. If things are back to normal now we have a low, this would be the most likely explanation. If the problem persisits, you might wish to check whether you can get a signal from Huntshaw Cross on a CD aerial.

link to this comment
michael's 872 posts GB flag
M
michael
sentiment_satisfiedGold

9:48 PM

Dave Fletcher: Mark's advice is sound. However, you may find that a log-periodic aerial serves you well. I receive Caradon
at 50miles on a log from ATV :-) If Caradon is weak at your location, the group A aerial recommended by Mark would be best, but, being longer, needs a sturdy mount. A log is robust and wideband and normally should give you a good signal at 20miles. It would also allow you to try other transmitters in the Southwest if you were interested in experimenting.

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michael's 872 posts GB flag
Friday, 1 March 2013
P
Paul
11:31 AM
Liskeard

My signal comes from Caradon Hill. I have a one year old TV with integrated Freeview. The aerial is in my attic, not exposed to the elements. I have never had a reception problem. But since the past three days approximately, I have had "no signal" on all the ArqA multiplex channels (aerial group C24). I tried doing a Freeview reset, and that resulted in all the ArqA channels disappearing from the EPG. I do not have a digibox, VCR, PVR or games console or any other analogue video equipment. Also, we do have any new electric equipment that we have plugged in in the past few days. I tried to manually tune in C24, but my TV digital setup showed on C24 signal quality of 0 and signal strength ranging between 0 and 7 out of 100, so the TV could or would not tune in C24. Any ideas?

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Paul's 1 post GB flag
Paul's: mapP's Freeview map terrainP's terrain plot wavesP's frequency data P's Freeview Detailed Coverage
J
jb38
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

1:07 PM

Paul: At 5 miles away from the transmitter and with only a minor obstruction being seen on the signal path (about 0.25 mls from you) is liable to suggest that some problem "might" exist with your aerial system albeit I do acknowledge the fact of you having said that its located in the loft.

As you haven't actually mentioned what the other channels are indicating, what you should do is go into the tuning menu / manual tune and enter Ch21 (ITV3 etc) but do NOT press search or scan, because on practically all devices with a manual tune facility after you have entered the channel number the level of the signal will be seen, make a note of whatever it is then carry out exactly the same procedure again but this time enter Ch27 (Film 4 etc), once again noting the level, then finally repeat as before but use Ch24 then compare this with the levels that's been seen across the other two commercial mux channels, and which by the way all radiate on 50Kw compared to the PSB's on 100Kw.

Its quite common for levels to change over the year through atmospheric reasons, but not with the magnitude such as you are reporting.

It might transpire that you will require to move your aerial about 12" or so either side of where its presently positioned, this done while leaving your TV on the manual tuning procedure as mentioned as its tuner acts like a signal meter when used that way, but further advice is dependant on the results of your test.

By the way, work was going on at Carradon Hill yesterday connected to DAB radio but not according to info the TV services.

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jb38's 7,179 posts GB flag
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Your comment please
Please post a question, answer or commentIf you have Freeview reception problems before posting a question your must first do this Freeview reset procedure then see: Freeview reception has changed, Single frequency interference, and Freeview intermittent interference.

If you have no satellite signal, see Sky Digibox says 'No Signal' or 'Technical fault'

If you have other problems, please provide a full (not partial) postcode (or preferably enter it in box at the top right) and indicate where if aerial is on the roof, in the loft or elsewhere.

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