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Ofcom moves to protect Freeview interference from 4G mobile devices

Don't worry - Ofcom will ensure that everyone effected by 4G interference will still be able to watch digital television, and at no cost to the affected viewers.

Don't worry - Ofcom will ensure that everyone effected by 4G in
published on UK Free TV

Ofcom has estimated it will cost £100m to deal with Freeview users who are located near to the transmitters for the next generation of mobile broadband services, which will use the frequencies (791 to 862 MHz) previously used for analogue television.

Once switchover is complete, over 10 million homes in the UK will use Freeview for their only television reception, and almost all of the remaining 17 million homes will use the terrestrial digital television service on their secondary TV sets.

The signals are provided from two types of transmitter. First there are around 80 high power transmitters located on hills that serve very large areas, such as the Crystal Palace transmitter (4.5 million homes in London), Winter Hill (2.7 million homes in the North West of England) and Sutton Coldfield (1.8 million homes in Birmingham). In addition there will be over 1,000 fill-in Freeview light transmitters, such as Boddam, which serves just 600 homes.

In contrast, the new 4G mobile services will use around 9,000 smaller transmitters located near where the services are required, which follows the current model for mobile phone networks.

4G transmitter interference location

In places where the 4G transmitter is located close to homes receiving Freeview, it is likely that Freeview viewers will experience to forms of interference:

Signal overload - when a Freeview receiver is overloaded because the total input signal level is more than a certain level, the whole receiver will stop working and all television services will be lost.

Signal-Interference Noise Ratio degradation: this is where reception breaks down because the receiver can no longer decode the digital information in the transmission. This could affect a single multiplex or could take out all services.

The "overload zone" will occur for Freeview viewers located close to the 4G transmitter, with the "degradation zone" will affect those slightly further from the 4G transmitter:



Interference factors

Not all 4G transmitters will cause problems for Freeview reception, the other factors are:

The types of Freeview installation, with single unamplified aerials to a single set have the best resilience, with communal and systems with amplifiers more likely to suffer. The 4G transmissions are capable of overloading most types of TV amplifier.

The frequencies used for the DTT services being received, with those on the adjacent C60 being worst, C52 to C59 second worst and those on lower frequencies having the best chance of avoiding interference.

The strength of the Freeview signal received is another factor, with those with weaker signals due to being distant from the Freeview transmitter, having the most potential for 4G interference.

Not all 4G transmitters will use the same frequency, those that happen to use the lower frequency allocation having the most potential to cause Freeview interference, and those that transmit at higher power levels having more effect than low power 4G transmitters.

Homes affected by 4G interference without intervention

Ofcom calculate that:

Of the 16.3 million UK homes with a standard (unamplified, unshared) Freeview reception, 110,000 (0.67%) would be effected.

Of the 5.2 million homes using communal aerials systems, 550,000 (10.6%) will have problems.

Of the 5.6 million homes using amplified Freeview reception, 100,000 (1.8%) will experience problems.

Prevention and mitigation

There are several ways to deal with these 760,000 homes that will have problems.

Signal filters

Use of signal filters for the Freeview reception combined with Fitting of filters at 4G transmitters.

Ofcom's modelling finds that this is the most effective way of dealing with the 4G interference problems. Of the 110,000 standard Freeview installation homes, 87,000 will have their reception restored this way, almost 100% of the 550,000 homes with communal systems will be mitigated with filtering and 93% of the 100,000 domestic installations with amplifiers.

The total cost will be £20m for the Freeview filters and £33m for fitting of the filters in homes. Also, for the domestic filtering to be effective, the 4G providers will also have to spend around £11 fitting filters at the 4G transmitters when they are being installed.

Freeview equipment adjustment

After the provision of filters, there will still be 23,000 homes with unamplified and 7,000 homes with amplified Freeview reception equipment that are unable to receive their services.

Some of these homes will simply need a new Freeview box for each TV set. Whilst these boxes cost around £15, the requirement to fit these and provide for each set could come to as much as £200.

Another option, for at least 20% of homes, is to receive the Freeview services from an alternative transmitter. However, this could lead to the provision of the 'wrong' version of BBC One, BBC Two, ITV1 and Channel 4/S4C to the home. Ofcom is unsure if this will be an effective mitigation.

On Channel Repeaters

The use of On Channel Repeters (OCR) to rebroadcast the Freeview signals at higher power levels in the interference area was considered by Ofcom, but the high cost and unknown effectiveness has caused them to be distrgarded as a viable option.

Ensure 4G polarization is opposite to Freeview polarization

Because of several factors, Ofcom does not consider that this will help prevent 4G interference of Freeview reception.

4G transmitter power reduction

Ofcom have concluded that causing service reception problems for the new 4G mobile services is undesirable for the services to be successful.

Provision of Freesat or free Virgin Media services for affected homes

This leaves providing a replacement Freesat installation (including multiple sets and Freesat+ boxes) for the 30,000 homes with their Freeview reception disabled, or the funding of a basic Virgin Media package. The total cost for this is £10m.

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Comments
Thursday, 11 April 2013
C
Chris Stait
7:04 PM

I have lost bbc channels today even after retuning my tv. Have I lost these forever or is there some fix?

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Chris Stait's 1 post GB flag
Friday, 19 April 2013
I
Ian
12:51 AM

I am an independant aerial engineer and i can say that this has caused a lot of problems already by moving multiplexes 61 and 62 down to 49 and 50. Since the switch i'v been to multiple homes to do re-tunes and some models of t.v's can't be re-tuned to pick up the multiplexes the software in the tuners have crashed, others will still work but they won't pick up the new multiplexes, on the whole so far most t.v's have been ok to re-tune. A lot of freeview box's have had the same problem with not being able to pick up the new multiplexes so i'v had to advise many people on freeview boxes to buy new ones. Honestly i hate to think how much trouble this is going to cause when they put the 4G on

link to this comment
Ian's 1 post GB flag
Sunday, 26 May 2013
J
Jean-Christophe
8:56 PM

I have had issues of poor signal since end of March beginning of April. I am living in Edgbaston, rotton Park Road, and wonder if that is a result of the 4G testing? I have retuned my TV around end of April and then BBC channel were good again, but I had lost a few channels. After another retune I have got all channel back, but poor reception for BBC and ITV too. Channel 5 and others are fine.

link to this comment
Jean-Christophe's 2 posts GB flag
M
Mark Fletcher
sentiment_satisfiedGold

9:28 PM
Birmingham

Jean-Christophe.Is your full postcode B16 0LH.If so then the true pros on here will distribute further valuable info to you.

link to this comment
Mark Fletcher's 673 posts GB flag
Mark's: mapM's Freeview map terrainM's terrain plot wavesM's frequency data M's Freeview Detailed Coverage
M
Mark Fletcher
sentiment_satisfiedGold

9:34 PM
Barnsley

Correction,i reside now in Barnsley not Birmingham.Apologies for my wee error.

link to this comment
Mark Fletcher's 673 posts GB flag
Mark's: mapM's Freeview map terrainM's terrain plot wavesM's frequency data M's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Thursday, 30 May 2013
B
Barclay
5:51 PM

Hi I'm new here. I was wondering if anyone knew what the rationale is behind having two services on the same frequency. Also if there might be any way to talk to whoever is that's responsible for what seems to be crazy spectrum allocation?
Cheers
Barclay

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Barclay's 2 posts GB flag
Tuesday, 4 June 2013
J
Jean-Christophe
11:37 PM
Birmingham

Mark,

no my post6 code is B16 9JJ, not so far though...

link to this comment
Jean-Christophe's 2 posts GB flag
Jean-Christophe's: mapJ's Freeview map terrainJ's terrain plot wavesJ's frequency data J's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Wednesday, 5 June 2013
B
Barclay
5:31 PM

I should be very grateful if anyone could let me know if the topic of responsibility for the allocation of 800 meg for 4g has been discussed here. A simple yes of no would be appreciated. Thanks a lot.

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Barclay's 2 posts GB flag
Saturday, 6 July 2013
S
Sharon
6:58 PM

Hello I live in Thornton-Cleveleys just outside Blackpool, Lancashire and don't watch much TV. Within the last week I have not been able to watch any TV due to Freeview signal being of poor signal or too weak. I have BT Vision. I heard something on the radio and thought I would Google to see if it may be due to 4G ... otherwise I guess it could be my aerial? if it could be down to 4G, what do I need to do now? I am not that literate with these things. Thanks Sharon

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Sharon's 2 posts GB flag
S
Sharon
6:58 PM
Thornton-cleveleys

Sorry meant to quote my postcode - FY5 3BA

link to this comment
Sharon's 2 posts GB flag
Sharon's: mapS's Freeview map terrainS's terrain plot wavesS's frequency data S's Freeview Detailed Coverage
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