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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 04/11/2024 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 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), 71 That’s 60s,

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 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 max
C33 (570.0MHz)591mDTG-8100,000W
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 max
C36 (594.0MHz)591mDTG-8100,000W
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

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
Saturday, 7 July 2012
J
jb38
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

8:11 PM

Ben Ward: If auto-setup is selected on a TV the channels always start scanning from Ch21 upwards, but though once channels are stored on the and you wish to carry out a signal check on the channel you are viewing, if you go into the DVB tuning menu / signal condition its only then that the mux channel number associated with the programme number your are viewing will instantly be seen.

But though, even if you do not have any channels stored you can still check the signal strength of a particular channel and its maybe best if you try things this way, so press: menu - set up - DVB tuning - manual tuning - and you will see a screen bar indicating a channel number on the right hand side, using the up / down facility via the large round button on the remote control inch the channels up or down "one at a time" until you get to either 54 or 61 when if your TV / aerial is OK the signal strength / quality indication of that particular mux channel should immediately appear and which are ITV1 & BBC1 from Mendip, and giving an update on what's seen.

Matter of fact, it would not do any harm if you went though all five multiplexes (HD n/a on that model) from Mendip one at a time using this procedure, (61 - 54 - 48 - 56 - 52) and likewise making a note of the "pseudo" percentages seen, pseudo as they aren't actually marked as percentages as such but just positions along the bar and so an element of judgment will be necessary, but much more importantly note what colour is seen on the quality bar as it should really be green, although touching on yellow now and again is permissible.

I would like to emphasise that everything I am asking you to check is based on you having reported a high level of signal on the Humax, and as aforementioned in a previous posting that if you use the same aerial lead in the Panasonic it should also produce a picture, but if you do not see anything indicated on either 54 or 61 using the manual test then leave the TV sitting on the manual test screen on either channel and pull out the aerial connection, then replace this with a short length of wire of about 18" minimum pushed into the aerial socket and note if this results in anything being indicated, because if not then that points to a fault on the TV.

By the way I haven't forgotten about your Sony box but this test has to be carried out first, as the only other way you can verify if the TV is OK or not is by trying it out on someone else's aerial system.

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jb38's 7,179 posts GB flag
J
jb38
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

8:40 PM
Bristol

Chris.SE: Well I didnt actually see / read your posting as I access the site via the twitter link which has been down since the 5th and likewise do not instantly see the lists of latest postings, and have asked Brian(tist) if he could check this out as the same thing had happened about a month ago.

With regards to Charles Stuarts HD signal strength I wasn't actually suggesting that it was too strong, but only acknowledging his report of a strong signal being indicated on his DVD device and informing him of the easy way for anyone to know if their HD problem was being caused by an excessive level of signal.

I do realise that you managed to work out the approximate post code via the coordinates obtained from the terrain predictor, but its a somewhat long winded process and so its much to explain the correct procedure to use when entering a post code into the site settings.

By the way, I likewise have entered Charles's post code into my details for a check.



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jb38's 7,179 posts GB flag
jb38's: mapJ's Freeview map terrainJ's terrain plot wavesJ's frequency data J's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Friday, 13 July 2012
B
Ben Ward
sentiment_satisfiedBronze

2:21 PM

jb38, the process of switching off the mains power supply to my 4 way splitter has been proving a bit of a task as its all in the attic, and I'm not as young as I was so scrambling around up there is difficult! So I am asking a friends son to help out with tracing exactly what cable system/splitter and so on I have in the attic and will report from that point. Perhaps some issue with the splitter is the cause of my problems? We'll see...

As far as the other things you've suggested, using the same aerial cable that gives me normal 90-100% strength/quality on the Humax, but plugged into the Panasonic, only gives me signal strength of between roughly 10% and 30% at best (though with signal quality of 100% each time) when manually checking channels 61 - 54 - 48 - 56 - 52. So rather than green occasionally flickering into yellow, its red occasionally flickering into yellow. I've not yet had time to try the 18inch length of wire you mentioned; could I not get the same effect by using a different aerial cable from the one I know works? (btw I tried a second cable, and no signal appeared at all.)

Thanks.

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Ben Ward's 28 posts GB flag
J
jb38
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

9:26 PM

Ben Ward: I fully appreciate the difficulty that you mention if as you say the power supply is only accessible from the loft, but the reason that I suggested this test is because that any device of a signal booster variety (no matter how small) automatically becomes an attenuator if un-powered, and in areas of genuinely high signal strength this can be put to good use as far as this being a useful way of verifying (or not) if an excessive level of signal is applying in an installation, because if reception suddenly improves (signal indications rise) by switching off the booster / splitter then it is. (qualifications always applying)

Everything really hinges on what you have reported regarding the signal strength seen on the Humax as it takes quite a signal to indicate that level on this type of box, and although a Humax is a sensitive device its still capable holding out longer than most other equipment before suffering from overload blocking by an excessively high levels of signal.

The Panasonic on the other hand although being equally as sensitive as the Humax "will" start to suffer from excessively high levels of signal over what the Humax can cope with, and the massive difference in levels seen on the Panasonic's signal check screen when using the ex Humax's aerial can suggest this is indeed applying, and likewise could be causing partial instability in the Panasonic's tuner resulting in totally inaccurate readings, with these (and without exception) always being low

This is about the only thing that can be causing the Panasonic's problems, although if not then the actual TV is defective, this being why the issue of a possible excessive signal has to be verified one way or the other.



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jb38's 7,179 posts GB flag
Sunday, 15 July 2012
T
Tracy Gill
6:30 PM
Shepton Mallet

Well still unable to get any of the BBC channels. Husband really annoyed as the Olympics are coming up. People keep on suggesting changing the aerial but he's not keen on paying out for something especially if it ends up not solving the problem. Any suggestions?

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Tracy Gill's 17 posts GB flag
Tracy's: mapT's Freeview map terrainT's terrain plot wavesT's frequency data T's Freeview Detailed Coverage
J
jb38
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

8:59 PM

Tracy Gill: I was reading the somewhat lengthy saga concerning your reception problems including "some" of the replies as they likewise can be time consuming to wade through, however what I wondered about was if at any time you had checked with anyone close by to find out if they experience similar reception problems to yourself?

The reason I ask, is because on a Google earth check I see that most aerials seem to be perched on top of high mounting poles, and with the property next to the mini roundabout sign having an aerial that's quite inappropriate for the situation that its in whereby its facing into trees, "inappropriate" by the fact of it being a high gain and likewise sharper pick up device whereas aerials of a much lower gain and likewise having a broader pick up pattern are usually far more effective in these type of situations, and with them not necessary being mounted high up unless by doing so clears the top of the trees, as if it doesn't then the aerial is effectively facing into a higher density parts of the tree vegetation.

Have you at any time purely for test purposes tried a set top aerial to verify or not if anything could be received at lower levels, although the impediment (as I see it) with trying this sort of thing in your type of situation is that the signal would be travelling through the gable end of the property, and so its not exactly a fair test.



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jb38's 7,179 posts GB flag
Thursday, 19 July 2012
T
Tracy Gill
6:01 PM
Shepton Mallet

My aerial is mounted on my chimney stack, and my house is the middle one in a terrace. Unfortunately most of my neighbours use Sky. Also I don't know if this could be affecting the signal but a few years ago a load of trees were planted on the side of the hill between us and the mast.

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Tracy Gill's 17 posts GB flag
Tracy's: mapT's Freeview map terrainT's terrain plot wavesT's frequency data T's Freeview Detailed Coverage
K
KMJ,Derby
sentiment_satisfiedGold

6:37 PM

Tracy Gill: Have you ever tried to receive a signal from Stockland Hill? S/H is SW of your location, would that avoid the trees? You would get the wrong regional news, of course, but that would be better than no BBC channels at all.

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KMJ,Derby's 1,811 posts GB flag
Sunday, 22 July 2012
T
Tracy Gill
8:10 PM
Shepton Mallet

Have finally decided enough is enough and have given in to my husband and kids and signed up to sky.

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Tracy Gill's 17 posts GB flag
Tracy's: mapT's Freeview map terrainT's terrain plot wavesT's frequency data T's Freeview Detailed Coverage
J
jb38
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

8:44 PM

Tracy Gill: Well satellite reception virtually guarantees glitch free reception for 99.9% of the time 24/7 all the year round as nothing can really affect it, except that is sometimes during a really heavy thundery downpour when the signal might drop out for a minute or so, but though in cases like yours where reception is being spoiled by something out with your control i.e: trees, a satellite system is the only answer whether it be Sky or Freesat.

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