Full Freeview on the Darvel (East Ayrshire, Scotland) transmitter
 | Google Streetview |  | Google map |  | Bing map |  | Google Earth |  | 55.579,-4.291 or 55°34'45"N 4°17'26"W |  | KA16 9LS |
The symbol shows the location of the Darvel (East Ayrshire, Scotland) transmitter which serves 150,000 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 Darvel (East Ayrshire, Scotland) mast?
Darvel transmitter - Darvel transmitter: Possible effect on TV reception week commencing 11/11/2024 Screen may go black 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 Darvel 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 Darvel transmitter?
BBC Reporting Scotland 2.4m homes 9.2%
from Glasgow G51 1DA, 31km north (1°)
to BBC Scotland region - 230 masts.
STV News 1.3m homes 4.8%
from Glasgow G51 1PQ, 31km north (2°)
to STV Central (Glasgow) region - 94 masts.
Are there any self-help relays?
| Craigie Gardens | Transposer | 1 homes 90 caravans | |
| Inversnaid | Active deflector | 35 km N Dumbarton | 8 homes Hotel caravan park |
How will the Darvel (East Ayrshire, Scotland) transmission frequencies change over time?
| 1984-97 | 1997-98 | 1998-2011 | 2011-13 | 5 Sep 2018 | |||||
| A K T | A K T | A K T | A K T | W T | |||||
| C22 | -BBCA | BBCA | |||||||
| C23 | ITVwaves | ITVwaves | ITVwaves | SDN | |||||
| C25 | D3+4 | D3+4 | |||||||
| C26 | BBC2waves | BBC2waves | BBC2waves | ArqA | |||||
| C28 | BBCB | BBCB | |||||||
| C29 | C4waves | C4waves | C4waves | ArqB | |||||
| C30 | _local | ||||||||
| C31 | com7 | ||||||||
| C32 | SDN | ||||||||
| C33 | BBC1waves | BBC1waves | BBC1waves | ||||||
| C34 | ArqA | ||||||||
| C35 | C5waves | C5waves | ArqB | ||||||
| C37 | com8 | ||||||||
| C55tv_off | com7tv_off | ||||||||
| C56tv_off | COM8tv_off |
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 11 May 11 and 25 May 11.
How do the old analogue and currrent digital signal levels compare?
| Analogue 1-5 | 100kW | |
| BBCA, D3+4, BBCB | (-7dB) 20kW | |
| SDN, ARQA, ARQB | (-10dB) 10kW | |
| com8 | (-10.9dB) 8.19kW | |
| com7 | (-11.2dB) 7.5kW | |
| Mux 1*, Mux 2*, Mux A*, Mux B* | (-14dB) 4kW | |
| Mux C*, Mux D* | (-17dB) 2kW |
Local transmitter maps
Darvel Freeview Darvel DAB Darvel AM/FM Darvel TV region BBC Scotland STV Central (Glasgow micro region)Which companies have run the Channel 3 services in the Darvel transmitter area
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Is the transmitter output the same in all directions?
Radiation patterns withheldWednesday, 7 December 2011
Lorraine: Please see Freeview signals: too much of a good thing is bad for you | ukfree.tv - independent free digital TV advice for a list of things to check.
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Tuesday, 25 September 2012
W
William8:14 PM
why do I not receive the same channels as most of the UK ? I live in Ayrshire and am dissapointed at the meagre amount of channels, as usual for this area we are forgotten about, I pay my TV licence so why do I not get the same as everyone else?
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William: The Commercial (COM) channels cover 90% of the population, as against the Public Service (PSB) channels which are available to 98.5%.
The Commercial broadcasters achieve their 90% covergage by transmitting from 81 of the largest transmitters (largest by viewer population). A small fraction of viewers who use one of these transmitters will not be able to receive the COMs.
In the case of Darvel, the COM channels are broadcasting at lower power than the PSBs.
Crucially though, there are over 1,000 small "filler-in" relay transmitters. The cost to the Commercial broadcasters to transmit from these sites is roughly equal to that of the 81 sites they use. As they operate purely for profit by showing advertisements to as many people as possible which they wish to acquire at lowest possible cost, they have decided not to double their cost of transmission to increase their potential viewer-bases by about 10%.
The Licence Fee does not guarantee reception of any signal. In any case, it funds only the BBC and as a Public Service Broadcaster, you have access to the BBC.
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J
jb388:55 PM
William: Ayrshire is a reasonably large area and it would have been of great assistance to anyone answering your question if you had provided your location, this being in the form of a post code or one from nearby, eg: a shop being suffice, as although Darvel is the main station transmitter for Ayrshire judging by what you have said it would appear that you are not in its coverage area. (maybe Girvan?).
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Monday, 5 November 2012
J
j Noble7:56 PM
Ballymena
Please explain the grandiose statements made in "your guide to switchover" that "..most people will be able..." to get TG4 RTE One and RTE Two either from Freeview or via Saorview. This clearly is not fact as the vast majority of relay stations do not provide RTE (although for some reason the Carnmoney Hill relay does) which demonstrates that a relay transmitter can be provisioned for RTE and this Carnmoney Hill transmitter is in an area where there is "competing" signals from Divis transmitter occupying very considerable amount of the available spectrum whereas other relay stations physically removed from Divis there is available the spectrum available for the provision of RTE.
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j's: mapJ's Freeview map terrainJ's terrain plot wavesJ's frequency data J's Freeview Detailed Coverage
j Noble: Relay transmitters by their nature cover small areas. So the fact that the "vast majority" of them don't carry the NI Mux (NIMM) does not mean that the vast majority of the population cannot receive those services.
See here:
http://consumers.ofcom.or….pdf
Ofcom estimates that around 94% of the population of Northern Ireland will be served by either overspill from the Republic's transmitters and/or the three NI Mux transmitters.
This website is an independent site here to help with advice. As identified in the Ofcom leaflet linked to above, you need to address your comments to Multiplex Broadcasting Services N. I. Limited which runs the NI Mux.
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Wednesday, 21 November 2012
J
Joe Faulkner 10:14 PM
Before 22/10/12 I received all channels from Darvel,know I only receive psb1, psb2 and psb3. Just 18 months ago I put up a high gain A group aerial etc., to give me this service. Please enlighten me why my service has deteriorated when in this age of technology It should be enhanced.
Post code: KA278SH,Balegra Farm.
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Thursday, 22 November 2012
Joe Faulkner : The COM channels don't have as good a coverage as the PSBs. 1,000 or so small relays don't broadcast them, and those that do broadcast them don't spread them as widely as they do for their PSBs. The COM channels are re-used by transmitters in closer proximity than the PSBs and this appears as if it might be the case at your location.
The COMs from Darvel, Divis and Caldbeck are all co-channel and at half-power to their respective PSBs. The Digital UK Postcode checker even "thinks" Divis is the best transmitter for you. This suggests that the possibility of reception of Darvel COMs is limited by interference rather than limited because it doesn't carry as far.
For this reason, I don't think that you will be able to receive COMs from Darvel. The PSBs of Darvel and Divis are not co-channel.
If you can receive PSBs from Girvan which is 20 miles away and are at only 50W, then you may be able to turn your high-gain Group A aerial to Divis and combine with a Girvan aerial to give you BBC Scotland/STV regional output and COMs.
The only warning I will give you is that recorders can have difficulty with timed recordings when receiving from two different transmitter regions, the reason being that the EPG information isn't shared between the two. If this turns out to be the case then you will have to decide whether to have your recorder on one or the other (i.e. Girvan PSBs only or Divis PSBs+COMs).
If you can receive from Girvan, then you will need a diplexer to combine feeds:
Online TV Splitters, Amps & Diplexers sales
Girvan uses 50, 59 and 55 so the model that "splits" at C38 will be best. This will also allow reception of Divis PSBs as all its channels are below 38.
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Thursday, 10 January 2013
J
Jimmy Jewitt10:06 AM
Ayr
Dear Sir or Madam,
since changing to digital I have found that I keep losing the signal completely for days at a time. No matter what the weather it will go off and there doesn't seem to be any apparent reason for this. Oddly my televisions will say NO SIGNAL and after a day or 2 come back on. The longest it has been off at any given time was over a week which is very annoying. Both TV's have Freeview. I was wondering if the transmitter was having repair works to it?
Please help, My postcode is KA6 6QB
Regards J.J.
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Jimmy's: mapJ's Freeview map terrainJ's terrain plot wavesJ's frequency data J's Freeview Detailed Coverage
M
Michael8:41 PM
Jimmy Jewitt: The Darvel transmitter switched over to digital in May 2011 - have you had problems ever since then? If so, then it's unlikely to be due to works at the transmitter for 18 months!
It's likely, unless all of your neighbours are also having problems, that it's something to do with your setup. Does it happen on both TVs? Which transmitter are you tuned in to? Check by either going to the signal strength screen or manual tune option, to see what UHF channel or frequency comes up.
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