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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
Sunday, 7 April 2013
C
chloe
10:11 AM

As Taunton seems to be having such issues and no one is taking it seriously I'm going to have to get used to watching BBC channels on the iplayer!

link to this comment
chloe's 7 posts GB flag
Michael Perry
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

11:55 AM
Winchester

To KMJ, Derby (and Chloe). That's what I suspect as well and hence contacting BBC Reception for them to be aware of it and hopefully investigate. Arqiva only give a postal facility (Arqiva, Crawley Court, Winchester, SO21 2QA, or phone their main switchboard +44 (0)1962 823434) and no means for a viewer to contact them by email, webmail, etc!
To jb38. Aerial alignment used to be easier in analogue days as you could see the effects of reflected signals, as 'ghost' images, and align for enough signal with minimum 'ghosting' (by minimising back/side lobe reception). But that is not possible with a digital system even though the reflections may be a significant cause of poor signal quality. Hence the need first to ensure sufficient signal strength before looking at the quality of that signal, either on a professional test instrument (expensive) or the receiver's own software systems. Most TV viewers only want to watch the programmes and not be troubled by the technicalities, so one should start by following the KISS principle. Check the simplest/most obvious first then if that doesn't reveal the cause investigate further. Remember that many who post here are/were not in the business but concerned viewers who have lost the ability to watch favourite programmes due to the changes made at Mendip (and the potential for problems glossed over by the regulators) and are seeking help and guidance.


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Michael Perry's 3,056 posts GB flag
Michael's: mapM's Freeview map terrainM's terrain plot wavesM's frequency data M's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Alison
12:18 PM
Shepton Mallet

Update: Here in Shepton Mallet still waiting for communal aerial to be configured while using internal aerial - otherwise still nothing on C48 or C49.
Alison


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Alison's 5 posts GB flag
Alison's: mapA's Freeview map terrainA's terrain plot wavesA's frequency data A's Freeview Detailed Coverage
C
Chloe
2:30 PM

To Michael Perry, I have taken your advice and contacted the BBC reception, lets hope someone can at long last help us in the Taunton area.

link to this comment
Chloe's 7 posts GB flag
E
EL
sentiment_satisfiedBronze

4:28 PM
Bristol

Not sure whether this may help anyone, but I thought someone asked about reception in Bristol.

For once I've not had trouble with the latest changes, at BS4 4DN. I'm receiving the BBC channels (and CH48) with no trouble, on both LG LED HD TV (signal & quality both showing 100% for CH48 and CH49) and Panasonic DMR-EX75 (signal c. 8/10, quality 10/10 for both CH48 and CH49). This is on a wide gain roof aerial with mast-top amplifier left over from the days when Mendip was transmitting at reduced power.

Interestingly, I think the Panasonic managed to pick up PSB2 from the Barton House relay (somewhere behind the aerial!), although the LG hasn't.

link to this comment
EL's 23 posts GB flag
EL's: mapE's Freeview map terrainE's terrain plot wavesE's frequency data E's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Monday, 8 April 2013
J
John
2:35 PM

Although living well outside the service area for Mendip BBCA and D3&4 have always provided good reception here in North Herefordshire.
Since the change of BBCA channel to C49 I can no longer receive this multiplex, constant breakup and high error rate.
The D3&4 Mux on C54 also seems to have dropped off a bit as I am now starting to see higher error rates on this channel also.
I suspect the ERP has dropped off since the change.
I only had a 2dB margin on my analyser on BBCA and D3&4 so a little bit of margin above the cliff edge. I would say the results I am seeing point to a 2dB drop in power received at this location.

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John's 4 posts GB flag
J
jb38
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

9:02 PM

EL: Yes, many thanks for your report and especially when being accompanied with the P/C location being referred to, as this type of info is exceedingly handy for reference purposes.

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jb38's 7,179 posts GB flag
Thursday, 11 April 2013
R
Roger Alban
12:27 PM

I live in Penarth in a three story victorian house not far from the sea front with a high gain aerial in the loft pointing at the Mendip Transmitter. The aerial was installed in the days of the analogue service. Since the change over of channels which took place in late March 2013, I now experience poor signal strength on channels C49, C48 and C52 with good signal strength on channels C54 and C56. Will need to change this high gain aerial to receive all the channels transmitted from the Mendip transmitter?

link to this comment
Roger Alban's 1 post GB flag
Dave Lindsay
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

1:13 PM

Roger Alban: First off try rotating the aerial a bit. Or if that doesn't work, maybe try the aerial in different positions in the loft-space to see if you can find a spot where all channels are good.

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Dave Lindsay's 5,724 posts GB flag
B
Bizman
8:22 PM

@Chloe, If all else fails I would be prepared to offer assistance as I live in Taunton (TA3) and reception here is excellent. None of my neighbours have a problem with BBC, nor any friends who live in town. I have odd bits of test & diagnostic equipment that could be put to resolving the matter which seems to be very localised.

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Bizman's 20 posts GB flag
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