Full Freeview on the Mendip (Somerset, England) transmitter
Brian Butterworth first published this on - UK Free TV
Google Streetview | Google map | Bing map | Google Earth | 51.237,-2.626 or 51°14'12"N 2°37'33"W | BA5 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.
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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
DTG-12 QSPK 8K 3/4 8.0Mb/s DVB-T MPEG2
H/V: aerial position (horizontal or vertical)
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.
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?
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?
Cheddar | Transposer | 15 km E Weston-super-Mare | 1674 homes |
Luccombe | Active deflector | 6 km w Minehead | 38 homes |
How will the Mendip (Somerset, England) transmission frequencies change over time?
1984-97 | 1997-98 | 1998-2010 | 2010-13 | 2013-18 | 2013-17 | 27 Feb 2018 | |||
C/D E | E | E | C/D E | C/D E T | W T | W T | |||
C30 | _local | ||||||||
C32 | BBCA | ||||||||
C33 | com7 | com7 | |||||||
C34 | D3+4 | ||||||||
C35 | com8 | com8 | |||||||
C36 | ArqB | ||||||||
C37 | C5waves | C5waves | |||||||
C48 | SDN | SDN | SDN | SDN | |||||
C49tv_off | BBCA | BBCA | |||||||
C51tv_off | LBS | LBS | |||||||
C52tv_off | ArqB | ArqB | ArqB | ||||||
C54tv_off | C4waves | C4waves | C4waves | D3+4 | D3+4 | D3+4 | |||
C55tv_off | com7tv_off | ||||||||
C56tv_off | ArqA | ArqA | ArqA | COM8tv_off | |||||
C58tv_off | BBC1waves | BBC1waves | BBC1waves | BBCB | BBCB | BBCB | |||
C61 | ITVwaves | ITVwaves | ITVwaves | BBCA | |||||
C64 | BBC2waves | BBC2waves | BBC2waves |
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
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Wednesday, 3 April 2013
K
KMJ,Derby8:44 PM
Michael Perry: If the suggested plan is implemented all UHF TV transmitters will be either group A or group K, Mendip being the latter if C40/43/46 is adopted for the PSB muxes. Wideband aerials, especially those in use on transmitters that use vertical polarisation might also need replacing as one of the measures to reduce reception of unwanted 4G (or 5G) signals.
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Michael Perry
8:47 PM
8:47 PM
To Mazbar
Signal reception of wanted channels is excelent strength and quality and I have checked the aerial system all the way to the aerial sockets myself (I do know how to do that). Huntshaw Cross has always been visible in the background but at a very much lower signal strength. That shares 3 channels with Mendip (Chs 48, 52 and 56) but not the signals on Ch49 where the affected services are located (Mux PSB1-BBCA), so not that either especially as one receiver is fine and the other not. Same aerial, active splitter, tried swapping to no effect.
Problem is strongly believed to be how the Hauppauge is responding to the moved channels.
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Michael Perry
8:54 PM
8:54 PM
To KMJ, Derby
Good point, but not worth changing aerials too soon as the plan is not finalised yet, or so OfCom say. Mendip is a main transmitter for this area so if horizontal polarisation currently and has been since it was built. But the future changes planned will mean a change from C/D aerial and it may be that a WB will not be suitable either (it has reception in the 800MHz+ region where 4G will be).
It all seems badly thought through to me with so many 'retunes' being needed so often. Didn't have that anywhere near as much with analogue.
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M
Mazbar8:58 PM
Michael Perry: when you checked the aerial what is the signal strength in dbuv this can help to know
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Thursday, 4 April 2013
J
Jaz W12:24 AM
We have lost all signal from 7pm on all channels over the last 3 or 4 nights. I have tried retuning at least a dozen times - with aerial lead out before channel 48 to avoid the transmitter from Wales and with the aerial lead in.
The signal seems find in the morning and during the daytime. I have checked the map for the Mendip transmitter and see that we have NO coverage (we live in Lower Zeals (between Mere and Zeals in Wiltshire).
It driving me nuts!
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R
Ron12:05 PM
Thanks to the very helpful engineer at Double M's in Warminster I now have the BBC channels back. He simply retuned my freeview box on his ariel at his shop location. On setting up the box at home the channels were there and after fiddling with the ariel position and all cable connections the channels are now all working.
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Michael Perry
12:29 PM
12:29 PM
Success! I have now solved the mystery of no BBCA channels on my Hauppauge WinTV stick. The software stores a database of your channel settings and that 'forces' it to think BBC is on a different Mux so doesn't decode them. I cleared the channel database (on this system that is in the Start>All Programs>Hauppauge WinTV>Advanmced Options> Clear Channel Database and then do a FULL retune. Now have BBC back.
I suspect that all who have lost BBC perhaps should follow the user manual and do a full reset (back to original factory settings) and then to a full retune (as they would have done on original installation), and then let us know how they get on.
Perhaps they could also let us know what make and model equipment they are using as I have a suspicion that some designs are affected as others are not.
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Michael Perry
12:32 PM
12:32 PM
Are you getting the wrong BBC services? BBC1 West Country instead of BBC1 West?
Perhaps try restricting the channel search only to those relevant to Mendip (or your local transmitter). That should exclude Huntshaw Cross and others. Check your User Manual to see how to do that, but not all equipment has that facility I believe.
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Michael Perry
12:35 PM
12:35 PM
Mazbar
As you will see above the issue is one of software and not hardware, as I had always suspected but the user manual does not mention! As the scanning system tests showed the signal strength is more than adequate on all relevant channels. (I can't check the HD Mux as that is not available to my hardware/software.).
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Mike
1:13 PM
Cinderford
1:13 PM
Cinderford
Using Elgato Eyetv on a Mac - now tuned okay for 24 hours. I threw away the Locations folder in ... EyeTV/Library/Application Support/Eyetv and did an exhaustive scan
BUT
My neighbour with her old Ferguson TV (not that old - it has a Free-view tuner built in. Cannot get anything now. So it is either a fault with the cable or aerial which has just got so bad there is a insufficient signal or . . . what?
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Mike's: mapM's Freeview map terrainM's terrain plot wavesM's frequency data M's Freeview Detailed Coverage
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