menuMENU    UK Free TV logo Freeview

 

 

Click to see updates

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 25/03/2024 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
_______

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),

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 Drama, 21 5USA, 29 ITV2 +1, 32 5STAR, 33 5Action, 38 Channel 5 +1, 41 Legend, 42 GREAT! action, 57 Dave ja vu, 58 ITVBe +1, 59 ITV3 +1, 64 Blaze, 67 TRUE CRIME, 68 TRUE CRIME XTRA, 78 TCC, 81 Blaze +1, 83 Together TV, 89 ITV4 +1, 91 WildEarth, 209 Ketchup TV, 210 Ketchup Too, 211 YAAAS!, 267 Al Jazeera English, plus 30 others

COM5
ArqA
 H max
C33 (570.0MHz)591mDTG-8100,000W
Channel icons
11 Sky Mix, 17 Really, 19 Dave, 31 E4 Extra, 36 Sky Arts, 40 Quest Red, 43 Food Network, 47 Film4 +1, 48 Challenge, 49 4seven, 60 Drama +1, 65 That's TV 2, 70 Quest +1, 74 Yesterday +1, 75 That's 90s, 233 Sky News, plus 11 others

COM6
ArqB
 H max
C36 (594.0MHz)591mDTG-8100,000W
Channel icons
12 Quest, 25 W, 27 Yesterday, 34 GREAT! movies, 39 DMAX, 44 HGTV, 52 GREAT! romance, 56 That's TV (UK), 61 GREAT! movies extra, 63 GREAT! romance mix, 71 That’s 60s, 73 HobbyMaker, 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
Wednesday, 26 December 2012
J
jb38
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

9:51 PM

K.Barrett: I had also meant to add, that as Chiseldon is located so close to your area of residence then I wouldnt really bother too much about what band of aerial you are using as it doesnt really matter, but though its the fact that you also experience problems with Chiseldon that is the main thing to look into, and along the lines of ensuring that the relay is not just repeating a problem inherited from Mendip.

By the way, although no transmitter engineering should be taking place over the Christmas period faults can still occur on the transmission (relay) side that may not be instantly known about, and so it should not be automatically assumed that the station has a clean bill of health, so to say.

link to this comment
jb38's 7,179 posts GB flag
K
K.Barrett
10:16 PM

Question: if I do consider upgrading the aerial what should I buy? The upgrade path for Mendip as the 800MHZ band is cleared isn't obvious.
Will the powers that be really force those of us in fringe areas through an upgrade path possibly involving multiple aerials, filters and diplexing or will a new aerial be designed that focuses on channels 21 - 59 and not tuned for the 800MHZ range?

link to this comment
K.Barrett's 17 posts GB flag
K
K.Barrett
11:41 PM

If, as I expect, my neighbours are experiencing the same problems (Mendip and Chiseldon relay freezing on BBC) who do I report it to?

link to this comment
K.Barrett's 17 posts GB flag
Thursday, 27 December 2012
J
jb38
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

12:01 AM

K.Barrett: These are lots of myths around about aerials used for DTT reception and if one is required to cover the channels mentioned then it has to be a wideband version, but though NOT one of the high gain varieties in your situation as high gain (or so called) aerials rely on being precisely focused on the signal source, this being something that cannot really be achieved in circumstances such as yours and so using one of these types will give a slightly inferior performance (glitch wise) over that a wider acceptance angle type coupled to a booster of around 15db or so minimum.

Taking this into account I would recommend using a log 40 in conjunction with a variable booster of around the rating referred to, as should less than satisfactory reception be evident with this combination then I can say with a level of confidence that nothing will improve the situation, and with this basically being because that the problem is outwith your control.

This is a link to the type of aerial referred to.

Online TV FM DAB Aerial sales


link to this comment
jb38's 7,179 posts GB flag
K
K.Barrett
12:01 AM

Further thoughts on interference.
If it is local RF interference (however caused) it only affects the following channels (frequencies):-
Chiseldon = 27 (522MHZ)
Mendip = 61 (794MHZ)
With all other Channels (frequencies) on both transmitters being rock solid it must surely be a problem between Mendip and Chiseldon transmitter.
Wouldn't local interference be too much of a coincidence to affect only two frequencies and both those to be the ones transmitting or relaying BBCA and some 270MHZ apart without affecting anything in between.
If it is local interference then I think it is time to call the experts as looking at it like this I am certain my neighbours will confirm they have the same problems.

link to this comment
K.Barrett's 17 posts GB flag
K
K.Barrett
12:19 AM

jb38: Thank you for the advice. We do suffer very windy conditions here as it is high and very exposed will this rear fix aerial safely mount - I guess I rely on my installer for advice.
Will the very directional nature prevent use of the XB22WB and why is it so hard to get it perfectly aligned?
While Mendip is obscured if my aerial was 15m above ground level then it would have line of sight so that obscuring is only slight. (Checked on megalithia.com)
Some aerials here do point at Oxford and that is far more obscured than Mendip.

link to this comment
K.Barrett's 17 posts GB flag
J
jb38
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

12:49 AM

K.Barrett: Well I wouldn't rely too much on these terrain predictors as they take no account whatsoever of anything other than ground level, and so a person could be located behind such Sherwood Forrest or a number of tower blocks and yet it would still indicate a clear line of site.

As far as the XB22WB is concerned, all I can say is to give it a try, but though when a person is located in a difficult reception area then the secret is to try and have an aerial with as wide an acceptance angle of pick up as possible to compensate for the inevitable deviations in the angle that the signal is received at, then make up for the slight less gain by using a booster of the rating referred to.

After all it has to be appreciated that the only reason an aerial can be classed as high gain is because that the multitude of director elements located along the boom focuses the signal on the only active part of the aerial that exists, this being the element immediately in front of the reflector, whereas with log aerials all elements are active and thats why their response across the bands is so even when compared to other types of aerials.


link to this comment
jb38's 7,179 posts GB flag
J
jb38
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

8:18 AM

K.Barrett: I was just reading through your various postings again and in particular the one made at 11.41pm, should it transpire that your neighbours are also suffering from similar problems to yourself then if at all possible try and check at some location outwith your immediate area, maybe even a shop or store that sells TV's and such likes, but the main point is to be able to verify if the problem only exists in your immediate locality.

That said though, as far as interference is concerned if the problem is definitely only affecting the BBC transmissions then I very much doubt if its anything connected to local interference, as in my opinion (as an engineer) I feel that it would be a bit too coincidental (although not completely impossible!) for the BBC to be involved in both cases when two separate frequencies are involved, unless that is it was actually them at fault! because I remember a case some time ago in a Northern area of Scotland where an intermittent fault existed on a relays HD transmitter for nearly a week, this being because that the problem hadn't been noticed by the fact that it wasn't a complete breakdown in transmission.


link to this comment
jb38's 7,179 posts GB flag
Thursday, 3 January 2013
J
Jon
sentiment_satisfiedBronze

7:39 PM
Swindon

We seem to have lost BBC1 HD.

link to this comment
Jon's 65 posts GB flag
Jon's: mapJ's Freeview map terrainJ's terrain plot wavesJ's frequency data J's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Friday, 4 January 2013
Select more comments

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.

UK Free TV is here to help people. If you are rude or disrespectful all of your posts will be deleted and you will be banned.








Privacy policy: UK Free Privacy policy.