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
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.

link to this comment
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.

link to this comment
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.

link to this comment
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.

link to this comment
Bizman's 20 posts GB flag
Friday, 12 April 2013
B
Bob
7:15 PM

For those wanting to contact Arqiva, you can email the "Head of Communication and Reputation", Natalie Field, from the Crawley Court office in Hampshire at this address:
your.feedback@arqiva.com


link to this comment
Bob's 1 post GB flag
J
Jonny
8:10 PM

Hi, I am wondering why I am unable to pick up Film4? I have a Freeview Digital TV and live in central Stroud. Has it got something to do with the power of my ariel or does the Stroud area have limited frequencies? I have tried retuning.

Many thanks for anyone's help?!

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

8:23 PM

Jonny: If you are receiving from the Stroud relay, or "filler-in" transmitter, then you will not have the Commercial (COM) channels; it only carries Public Service (PSB) channels.

For a list of which services are carried on which multiplex (i.e. which are PSB and which are COM), see:

DTG :: DTT Services by Multiplex

The COM channels only broadcast from the largest transmitters as their prmiary objective is profit and they have no "Public Service" obligation. See here:

Londonderry (Northern Ireland) digital TV transmitter | ukfree.tv - 10 years of independent, free digital TV advice

If you are receiving from Stroud then you may be able to receive the full service from another transmitter such as Mendip or Wenvoe. The latter carries Welsh regional programming and you may be able to use a separate receiver for it (or use Wenvoe as your main transmitter and Stroud via a separate set-top box for regional programming).

link to this comment
Dave Lindsay's 5,724 posts GB flag
Dave Lindsay
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

8:31 PM

Jonny: I would suggest that you're not likely to be able to receive from Mendip and that you're only option in the centre of Stroud might be to receive all channels from Wenvoe and regional PSB channels from Stroud. Unfortunately due to the channels (frequencies) used by these two transmitters being interleaved, you won't be able to have the two feeds (from each aerial) combined so as to feed it into one receiver.

link to this comment
Dave Lindsay's 5,724 posts GB flag
E
EL
sentiment_satisfiedBronze

8:31 PM
Bristol

Jonny: probably best to check your postcode on this website to see what your forecast coverage is likely to be.

Depending on where in Stroud you are, I would imagine the hills surrounding the Five Valleys may get in the way of the main signal from Mendip. In that case, you may be getting your signal from a local public service relay. For example, Stroud has its own relay (https://ukfree.tv/shutdowndetail.php?tx=SO836077), which you may be getting if your main BBC1 channel comes in on UHF 40 (on Mendip it comes in on UHF 49).

If it's only relaying public service ("Freeview Lite"), then I think you'll only get PSB1, PSB2 and PSB3. Since Film 4 is on COM6, a commercial set of channels, you may not be able to get it at all.

Are you also missing channels such as ITV4 and Yesterday? Can you get Dave or ITV3? These are all on commercial UHF channels which the Stroud transmitter is not relaying.

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
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.