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Full Freeview on the Bluebell Hill (Medway, England) transmitter

first published this on - UK Free TV
sa_streetviewGoogle Streetviewsa_gmapsGoogle mapsa_bingBing mapsa_gearthGoogle Earthsa_gps51.324,0.520 or 51°19'25"N 0°31'13"Esa_postcodeME5 9RD

 

The symbol shows the location of the Bluebell Hill (Medway, England) transmitter which serves 200,000 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 Bluebell Hill (Medway, England) mast?

Bluebell Hill transmitter - Bluebell Hill 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
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Which Freeview channels does the Bluebell Hill 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)242mDTG-20,000W
Channel icons
1 BBC One (SD) South East, 2 BBC Two England, 9 BBC Four, 23 BBC Three, 201 CBBC, 202 CBeebies, 231 BBC News, 232 BBC Parliament, plus 16 others

PSB2
D3+4
 H max
C34 (578.0MHz)242mDTG-20,000W
Channel icons
3 ITV 1 (SD) (Meridian (East micro region)), 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 (Meridian south coast),

PSB3
BBCB
 H max
C45+ (666.2MHz)242mDTG-20,000W
Channel icons
46 5SELECT, 101 BBC One HD South East, 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
C40 (626.0MHz)242mDTG-820,000W
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
C43+ (650.2MHz)245mDTG-820,000W
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
C46 (674.0MHz)245mDTG-820,000W
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

DTG-8 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 Bluebell Hill transmitter?

regional news image
BBC South East Today 0.8m homes 3.2%
from Tunbridge Wells TN1 1QQ, 28km southwest (218°)
to BBC South East region - 45 masts.
regional news image
ITV Meridian News 0.7m homes 2.7%
from Maidstone ME14 5NZ, 5km south-southeast (155°)
to ITV Meridian (East) region - 36 masts.
All of lunch, weekend and 50% evening news is shared with all of Meridian plus Oxford

How will the Bluebell Hill (Medway, England) transmission frequencies change over time?

1984-971997-981998-20122012-1319 Jul 2018
EEEW TW T
C21_local
C28_local
C32com7
C34com8
C39+ArqA
C40BBC1wavesBBC1wavesBBC1waves+BBCBSDN
C43ITVwavesITVwavesITVwavesD3+4ArqA
C45SDNBBCB
C46BBC2wavesBBC2wavesBBC2wavesBBCAArqB
C54tv_offArqB
C55tv_offcom7tv_off
C56tv_offCOM8tv_off
C65C4wavesC4wavesC4waves

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 13 Jun 12 and 27 Jun 12.

How do the old analogue and currrent digital signal levels compare?

Analogue 1-4 30kW
SDN, ARQA, ARQB, BBCA, D3+4, BBCB(-1.8dB) 20kW
com8(-7.8dB) 5kW
com7(-8.1dB) 4.7kW
Mux 1*, Mux B*, Mux C*, Mux D*(-10dB) 3kW
Mux 2*, Mux A*(-11.8dB) 2kW

Which companies have run the Channel 3 services in the Bluebell Hill transmitter area

Sep 1955-Jul 1968Associated-Rediffusion†
Sep 1955-Jul 1968Associated TeleVision◊
Jul 1968-Dec 1981Thames†
Jul 1968-Dec 1981London Weekend Television♦
Jan 1982-Dec 1992Television South (TVS)
Jan 1993-Feb 2004Meridian
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. Bluebell Hill 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
Tuesday, 22 January 2013
Dave Lindsay
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

10:50 AM

mike giggs: Knowledge of your location, preferably in the form of a postcode or nearby postcode such as a shop, would allow some prediction as to the chances of success to be made.

Judging by the map above, generally speaking, Dartford is shaded from Bluebell Hill. This doesn't mean that it won't be able to be receiver but does generally suggest that it is not the easiest place to receive and whether it can or can't be picked up might vary over the area, perhaps over short distances.

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Dave Lindsay's 5,724 posts GB flag
Tuesday, 30 April 2013
M
Mandy Wallace
4:55 PM
Ashford

Have just returned freeview, arial on roof and now find Channel5 plus 1 is missing

are you able to advise. I thought I was on the Dover transmitter

link to this comment
Mandy Wallace's 2 posts GB flag
Mandy's: mapM's Freeview map terrainM's terrain plot wavesM's frequency data M's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Dave Lindsay
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

5:07 PM

Mandy Wallace: If your receiver has manual tuning then COM4 (ITV3, Channel 5+1 etc) from Bluebell Hill is C45 and from Dover it is on C55.

However, I'm a little puzzled by what you say that you "thought" you were using Dover. On looking at the Streetview photos all the aerials appear to be on Dover, which is due east rather than Bluebell Hill which is west north west.

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Dave Lindsay's 5,724 posts GB flag
Monday, 20 May 2013
K
Kate
1:41 PM
Maidstone

I have had 'no signal' since yesterday morning.What is the problem?

link to this comment
Kate's 2 posts GB flag
Kate's: mapK's Freeview map terrainK's terrain plot wavesK's frequency data K's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Dave Lindsay
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

1:49 PM

Kate: As you appear to live in a block of flats then the suspicion must be that you have alluded to the fact that this is a communal aerial system. In which case this must surely be one possibility!

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Dave Lindsay's 5,724 posts GB flag
K
Kate
2:47 PM
Maidstone

Dave: Thanks for the response,but I don't understand you point please.Yes,it's a communal aerial system. So what happened?and what do I do next?that's my question

link to this comment
Kate's 2 posts GB flag
Kate's: mapK's Freeview map terrainK's terrain plot wavesK's frequency data K's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Dave Lindsay
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

3:32 PM

Kate: I suggest that you ask nearby neighbours and see if they have the same issue. Check that they are using the terrestrial aerial system (Freeview) and not satellite (Sky or Freesat).

The aerial system will have one or more powered boosters (amplifiers) to split the signal so as to feed multiple points. Failure of one of these devices will likely result in loss of signals to the flats which they feed. This could have come about due to it going faulty or loss of electricity supply.

The reason for failure is really irrelevant though. The point is that if the communal aerial system fails, it is down to the party responsible - perhaps your landlord - to see that it is put right. If your neighbours do have the same issue and haven't yet reported it then I suggest that you do so.

Checking with neighbours is a way of ascertaining whether it is likely to be an issue with the aerial system or something to do with your own equipment and wires.

If the aerial feed of your television is connected via another box such as a Sky box or recorder then try connecting directly to the incoming wall socket. If you have one try using a different lead from the wall socket to the TV, just to discount the possibility that it is this which is at fault.

Whatever you do, don't retune as this will simply give a second problem which is that the TV/box isn't tuned.

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Dave Lindsay's 5,724 posts GB flag
Friday, 24 May 2013
S
Sarah
sentiment_satisfiedBronze

9:27 AM

Well today I have virtually no signal on ITV - I am bluebell hill transmitter is something wrong

Before this i get a little bit of pixellation every now and then but nothing like this on ITV - Siiiigh

Wish the old system would come back as have had aireal people round and they say all is fine yet - if I wanted to watch little square with squaks i would geta mouse (unfunny joke).

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Sarah's 38 posts GB flag
Tuesday, 4 June 2013
A
Adrian
1:34 PM

Hi

I live in Southend and receive good quality signal on all channels except com6/ CH 54 which I receive very occasionally.

These channels where available before the digital switchover.

Any advice appreciated.

Thanks

link to this comment
Adrian's 5 posts GB flag
K
KMJ,Derby
sentiment_satisfiedGold

2:21 PM

Adrian: Without knowledge of your location, preferably by way of a postcode for yourself or a nearby shop/public building, it is not possible to check the predicted reception anticipated by DUK, thereby being able to possibly give further advice. All I can say, is that the reception of Bluebell Hill in a number of locations around Southend is shown as variable suggesting that either the terrain is difficult in some areas, or interference from distant transmitters could be experienced.

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KMJ,Derby's 1,811 posts GB flag
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