Full Freeview on the Bilsdale (North Yorkshire, England) transmitter
 | Google Streetview |  | Google map |  | Bing map |  | Google Earth |  | 54.358,-1.151 or 54°21'30"N 1°9'2"W |  | TS9 7JS |
The symbol shows the location of the Bilsdale (North Yorkshire, England) transmitter which serves 570,000 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.
This transmitter has no current reported problems
The BBC and Digital UK report there are no faults or engineering work on the Bilsdale (North Yorkshire, England) transmitter._______
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 Bilsdale 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 Bilsdale transmitter?
BBC Look North (Newcastle) 1.6m homes 6.0%
from Newcastle NE99 2NE, 74km north-northwest (336°)
to BBC North East and Cumbria region - 70 masts.
ITV Tyne Tees News 1.4m homes 5.4%
from Gateshead NE11 9SZ, 75km north-northwest (333°)
to ITV Tyne Tees region - 47 masts.
All of lunch, weekend and 50% evening news is shared with Border
Are there any self-help relays?
| Garsdale (pin Fold) | Transposer | 63 homes (coverage together with SH34) | |
| Hawsker Bottom | Active deflector | 150 caravans | |
| Langthwaite | Active deflector | 30 homes |
How will the Bilsdale (North Yorkshire, England) transmission frequencies change over time?
| 1984-97 | 1997-98 | 1998-2012 | 2012-13 | 13 Nov 2019 | |||||
| A K T | A K T | A K T | K T | W T | |||||
| C21 | BBCB | ||||||||
| C23 | C4waves | C4waves | C4waves | BBCB | |||||
| C24 | _local | D3+4 | |||||||
| C26 | BBC2waves | BBC2waves | BBC2waves | BBCA | |||||
| C27 | BBCA | ||||||||
| C29 | ITVwaves | ITVwaves | ITVwaves | D3+4 | |||||
| C30 | _local | ||||||||
| C31 | com7 | ||||||||
| C33 | BBC1waves | BBC1waves | BBC1waves | ||||||
| C35 | C5waves | C5waves | |||||||
| C37 | com8 | ||||||||
| C40 | ArqB | ArqB | |||||||
| C43 | SDN | SDN | |||||||
| C46 | ArqA | ArqA | |||||||
| 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 12 Sep 12 and 26 Sep 12.
How do the old analogue and currrent digital signal levels compare?
| Analogue 1-5 | 500kW | |
| BBCA, D3+4, BBCB | (-7dB) 100kW | |
| SDN, ARQA, ARQB | (-10dB) 50kW | |
| com7 | (-14.3dB) 18.5kW | |
| com8 | (-14.4dB) 18.1kW | |
| Mux 2*, Mux A*, Mux B*, Mux C* | (-19.2dB) 6kW | |
| Mux 1* | (-20.2dB) 4.8kW | |
| Mux D* | (-24.9dB) 1.6kW |
Local transmitter maps
Bilsdale Freeview Bilsdale DAB Bilsdale AM/FM Bilsdale TV region BBC North East and Cumbria Tyne TeesWhich companies have run the Channel 3 services in the Bilsdale transmitter area
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Is the transmitter output the same in all directions?
Radiation patterns withheldWednesday, 9 January 2013
J
Jon7:55 PM
Bedale
Hi,
Is there any reason that I would be able to receive just PSB2 (itv mux) and no others?
I've just moved into a property that has 2 old contract style aerials on the roof mounted horizontally. Every other house in the village has vertical aerials to pick up the nearby relay as bilsdale is not line of sight here.
I've no idea why the 2 aerials are horizontal as as far as I know the relay was there when the house was built. I didn't expect to pick anything up, but I receive the PSB2 mux at 40% strength 100% quality (no breakups), the other mux's have no signal whatsoever.
I'd rather get freeview from bilsdale as the relay is just freeview light, would a better aerial drag in the others?
Any advice appreciated.
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Jon's: mapJ's Freeview map terrainJ's terrain plot wavesJ's frequency data J's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Jon: It's not possible to say with total and utter certainty, but I think that technically you are pushing your luck to receive anything other than the PSB (Public Service) channels, whether that be from West Burton relay or direct from Bilsdale.
From Bilsdale the COM channels are at half power to the PSBs. They also use a less robust mode so that they can cram in more services (more shopping channels).
So if you are struggling to get Bilsdale's PSBs, then you ain't gonna get its COMs.
That said, contract aerials are cheap crap:
Aerials, TV Aerial and Digital Aerial
Have you tried manually tuning in the other multiplexes? If you do, once you enter the UHF channel number, but before you press the button to scan, wait and see whether it gives any indication as to quality and strength.
----
Looking at the terrain plot, the difficulty is Penhill:
Terrain between ( m a.g.l.) and (antenna m a.g.l.) - Optimising UK DTT Freeview and Radio aerial location
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Thursday, 10 January 2013
J
Jon10:07 AM
Bedale
Thanks for the quick reply Dave,
I didn't expect to receive anything, I already thought I'd need to get a new aerial for the local relay (as I think the existing one will be grouped, so just turning vertical wont help).
The TV is tuned already because I've moved from the top of the dale so had good Bilsdale coverage before.
I'd already used the frequency tuning, 29 (itv mux) gets 40% signal 100% quality, all others get absolutely nothing except 26 (bbc1) which intermittently gets 5-10% signal 10% quality / no signal.
I didn't expect to get anything, but I'm now more confused since get 1 mux perfectly usable and nothing else. I wondered if perhaps the itv mux was transmitted from higher on the bilsdale mast than the others?
I guess I'll have a trip to the loft to investigate the cabling next (there are 4 aerial sockets in the house, although only 1 seems to have any signal for anything.)
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Jon's: mapJ's Freeview map terrainJ's terrain plot wavesJ's frequency data J's Freeview Detailed Coverage
J
Jon10:24 AM
Bedale
Looking back at the gain curves for A Group aerials, I guess the gain profile could be the reason I get only 29 (being the highest frequency in the group).
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Jon's: mapJ's Freeview map terrainJ's terrain plot wavesJ's frequency data J's Freeview Detailed Coverage
J
Jon11:35 AM
Bedale
Bizarrely I can acutally receive the ITV mux from the local relay as well on channel 39 (even though the aerial is the wrong polarisation and groupA) although the signal is less than from bilsdale. No signal on the other frequencies though.
Guess this is due to the groupA aerials gain curve again, but now I have 2 copies of the ITV channels and nothing else from an aerial setup that should not get anything.
| link to this comment |
Jon's: mapJ's Freeview map terrainJ's terrain plot wavesJ's frequency data J's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Jon: Digital reception is pretty much an "all or nothing" system. So either the picture is "perfect" or "nothing".
I believe that the PSBs are radiated from a single antenna array.
The reason for the differences in reception is due to other variables. Different frequencies get reflected and refracted to differing degrees due to adjacent objects. Aerials, broadcasting and receiving, spread and are sensitive to frequencies to differing degrees.
The gain of an aerial is simply at the expense of greater "loss" in other directions. The less gain you have the less directional it is.
As you've seen, yagi aerials' gain curves slope downwards on lower channels. The size of the reflector on the rear is important as the lower the frequency the longer the wavelength and hence the longer the reflector needed to achieve the same level of "reflection" and hence directivity. Hence, because the reflector is the same length, the gain must be less. (Other factors may also play a part in causing this slope; I'm just considering the effects of the reflector.)
Bill Wright, a great authority on aerials, talks about "short reflector syndrome":
http://www.wrightsaerials….pdf
If you are looking at new aerial, then have a look at ATV's site for information: A.T.V (Aerials And Television) TV Aerial, DAB Aerial, FM Aerial.
If you try to achieve the full complement of channels from Bilsdale, then a Group K aerial is the best single aerial to use. Or, alternatively, a Group A aerial diplexed with a Group B one with a diplexer that "splits" at C38.
Unfortunately, "if" you find that you can receive COM channels from Bilsdale with a Gruop B aerial you will be unable to combine this with an aerial on the West Relay (for PSBs) because it also uses interleaved Group B channels. Therefore, in such circumstances you would have to receive Bilsdale's PSBs, although, as I've said, the COMs are inferior to the PSBs, so if the former are possible, then common sense suggests that the latter will be.
If you were to purchase only a Group B aerial for reception of Bilsdale's COMs and it didn't work, then you may be able to use it for reception of West Runton's PSBs. If you find that you can pull in the COMs, then you could add a Group A aerial.
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Jon: If you are conversant with going up on the roof safely, then you may find that reorientating the aerial(s) (and switching them to vertical) will work on the relay. Perhaps this will be until you get a more suitable aerial, but will provide reception until then.
It might be worth replacing the cable with double-screened coax typically used for satellite installations where the higher frequencies necessitate it:
Satellite, Television, FM, DAB, Aerial, Coaxial Cable, Plugs, Sockets, Connectors & Leads
If you do sucessfully receive from Bilsdale, then a mast-head amp to boost the signals might be necessary.
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Jon: Of course, a Group K aerial would also be suitable for the local relay. So if you tried it on Bilsdale and it won't pull in the COMs, then you could switch it to the relay instead.
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Jon: I'm not a professional and don't have any formal qualifications in this subject.
See also my posting to M S Hahn on aerials' acceptance angles which are narrower the higher the gain:
Freeview retune day - how was it for you? | About UK Free TV | ukfree.tv - 10 years of independent, free digital TV advice
Therefore, there is a trade off and higher gain might not be what you want as you don;t have a "beam" to point your aerial at because the terrain does not allow. You are trying to receive what is being refracted over the brow.
A professional on here has commented that a lower gain log periodic aerial used in conjunction with an amplifier may yield better results.
As I say, I'm not a professional, so it might be worth seeing what others on here say before buying an aerial.
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Thursday, 28 February 2013
A
Andrew9:44 PM
I have a cottage in Whitby near Baxtergate and at the moment we receive just a few freeview channels from the Whitby Transmitter. I wonder if I would be able to receive the full complement of channels from the Bilsdale transmitter If I were to fit an antenna with high gain (quoted for use in fringe areas) and also a mast head amplifier. Is it a case of try it and see or will it definitely not work?
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