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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
Friday, 14 June 2013
S
Simon27
12:51 AM
Dartford

Hi I'm no expert and also have zero funds so no fancy boosters for me, I recently moved into a property in Dartford DA1 2TG. when i moved from my parents in Whistable and first tried the TV bbc southeast worked without a re-tune, however the signal was very poor. Would turning and fixing the existing leaning aerial from a west to a southeasterly direction work? as i prefer the south east local news.


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Simon27's 4 posts GB flag
Simon27's: mapS's Freeview map terrainS's terrain plot wavesS's frequency data S's Freeview Detailed Coverage
M
Michael
sentiment_satisfiedGold

1:24 AM

Simon27: If you haven't retuned the TV it will still be tuned in to UHF channel 46 from Bluebell Hill, which as you say is not going to give you a good signal in Dartford. This confirms the predictions of the Digital UK postcode checker and of the green areas in the map above.

You may get a slightly better SE signal by turning your aerial, but it's never going to be as good as the Crystal Palace transmitter to the west, which is what you will pick up should you retune.

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Michael's 358 posts GB flag
Dave Lindsay
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

12:30 PM

Simon27: Of the Dartford area in general, to the south east, which in the direction of Bluebell Hill, there is higher ground which prevents, or at least makes difficult, reception from it. For that reason I assume that most Dartfordians receive London programming from Crystal Palace.

You don't have line-of-sight to Bluebell Hill and to make matters worse you are at the bottom of a slope:


Terrain between ( m a.g.l.) and (antenna m a.g.l.) - Optimising UK DTT Freeview and Radio aerial location


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Dave Lindsay's 5,724 posts GB flag
Dave Lindsay
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

12:42 PM

Simon27: Crystal Palace uses Group A channels exclusively, so your aerial may be a Group A one (red tip):

Aerials, TV Aerial and Digital Aerial

Bluebell Hill uses Group B channels except C54 which is one channel out which is probably neither here nor there.

Bluebell's COM channels are reckoned to be variable to poor, although predictors are somewhat rough owing to so many variables that can't possibly taken into account. Indeed, it takes into account possible interference from other transmitters and sometimes appears to be over-egging that interference.

You may have to use manual tuning. Have a look on your different boxes and TVs to see which will be most useful to you.

On the manual tune screen, enter/select the UHF channel number, but don't press the button to scan the channel; instead see if it gives you a reading of scrength and quality as many receivers do.

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Dave Lindsay's 5,724 posts GB flag
S
Simon27
10:16 PM

Hi thanks Micheal and Dave for your advice, as for the "red tip" the only thing i can see using the camera zoom is what looks like a grey stopper on each end not sure if that's what you mean, I will have to get up there tomorrow as next-doors worried about it falling on her conservatory, I' ll swing it round to the SE and see what happens. Seems strange network planning as SE news frequently mentions Dartford yet reception is difficult another anomaly is sandy heath reception at 82km away is better than Bluebell hill at only 26km away.

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Simon27's 4 posts GB flag
Dave Lindsay
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

10:57 PM

Simon27: For lots of information and products (other retailers are available) see A.T.V (Aerials And Television) FM DAB TV Aerial, plus poles and brackets

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Dave Lindsay's 5,724 posts GB flag
Tuesday, 18 June 2013
C
Clive g
2:00 PM

Simon27 from Dartford. I have just come across your post and curious to know if your endeavors worked?? I live less than mile from you and have also moved to Dartford from down south. I would love to have my native region reinstated I currently have a virgin box and a aerial that is aligned in a westerly direction both are incapable of receiving BBC.SE.

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Clive g's 3 posts GB flag
Thursday, 20 June 2013
S
Simon27
5:10 PM
Dartford

Clive B: sorry only just seen your post. Turning the aerial worked fine the aerial had 15 identical fingers on each side plus a few others and no red tips, The picture is now good no blocking, dropouts etc, However the signal is about half of what it was at my parents despite my parents living further away from the transmitter CT5 1QS (same box) but this makes no noticeable difference in picture quality, also the wire tension bolts were corroded I am lucky my company has a small workshop so i refurbished the bracket. I've posted current received signal strengths above 15 from a HD box.DA1 2TG. hope this helps remember I'm no expert.

uhf channel 22 signal strength 78 signal quality 80
uhf channel 23 signal strength 78 signal quality 80
uhf channel 25 signal strength 78 signal quality 85
uhf channel 26 signal strength 78 signal quality 75
uhf channel 28 signal strength 78 signal quality 80
uhf channel 30 signal strength 59 signal quality 50
uhf channel 39 signal strength 40 signal quality 70
uhf channel 40 signal strength 41 signal quality 60
uhf channel 43 signal strength 38 signal quality 80
uhf channel 45 signal strength 32 signal quality 60
uhf channel 46 signal strength 36 signal quality 60
uhf channel 54 signal strength 33 signal quality 60

BTW. If I remember correctly my parents sky box had various bbc regions maybe your virgin box has SE hidden somewhere (CT5 1QS)

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Simon27's 4 posts GB flag
Simon27's: mapS's Freeview map terrainS's terrain plot wavesS's frequency data S's Freeview Detailed Coverage
C
Clive g
10:53 PM

Simon27: Thanks for that, interestingly I can receive a lot of the channel numbers you mention, I will investigate that but failing that I will have a go this summer holiday, as for virgin they say "its not technically possible for me to receive SE" despite living in Kent and paying over 75 pounds per month for services.

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Clive g's 3 posts GB flag
Sunday, 23 June 2013
S
Simon27
9:33 PM

Clive g There is a issue with some equipment in setup they only allows you to load London or Southeast on selecting southeast you load ALL the weaker SE channels however this isn't a problem for me, also the previous owner left a echostar box and loading southeast to this box is impossible the channel list just ends up in a confusing mess and no way of resolving it.

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Simon27's 4 posts GB flag
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