Freeview Light on the Seaham (County Durham, England) transmitter
 | Google map |  | Bing map |  | Google Earth |  | 54.830,-1.376 or 54°49'47"N 1°22'33"W |  | SR7 8LB |
The symbol shows the location of the Seaham (County Durham, England) transmitter which serves 6,700 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.
This transmitter has no current reported problems
The BBC and Digital UK report there are no faults or engineering work on the Seaham (County Durham, England) transmitter._______
Digital television services are broadcast on a multiplexes (or Mux) where many stations occupy a single broadcast frequency, as shown below.
H/V: aerial position (horizontal or vertical)
The Seaham (County Durham, England) mast is a public service broadcasting (PSB) transmitter, it does not provide these commercial (COM) channels: U&Yesterday, 4seven, 5Action, 5STAR, 5USA, Al Jazeera Eng, Al Jazeera English, Blaze, Blaze +1, Challenge, Channel 5 +1, DMAX, E4 Extra, YAAAS!, Film4 +1, Food Network, FRANCE 24 (in English), GREAT! action, GREAT! christmas, GREAT! movies, GREAT! romance mix, HGTV, HobbyMaker, ITV2 +1, ITV3 +1, ITV4 +1, ITVBe +1, Legend, PBS America, Quest +1, Quest Red, Really, Sky Mix, Sky News, Talking Pictures TV, That's 90s, That's TV 2, Together TV, TRUE CRIME, TRUE CRIME XTRA, U&Dave, U&Dave ja vu, U&Drama +1, U&W.
If you want to watch these channels, your aerial must point to one of the 80 Full service Freeview transmitters. For more information see the will there ever be more services on the Freeview Light transmitters? page.
Which Freeview channels does the Seaham 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.
| Mux | H/V | Frequency | Height | Mode | Watts |
| PSB1 BBCA | V max | C41 (634.0MHz) | 150m | DTG- | 100W |
 1 BBC One (SD) North East and Cumbria, 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 | V max | C44 (658.0MHz) | 150m | DTG- | 100W |
 3 ITV 1 (SD) (Tyne Tees), 4 Channel 4 (SD) North ads, 5 Channel 5, 6 ITV 2, 10 ITV3, 13 E4, 14 Film4, 15 Channel 4 +1 North ads, 18 More4, 26 ITV4, 28 ITVBe, 30 E4 +1, 35 ITV1 +1 (Tyne Tees), 71 That’s 60s, | |||||
| PSB3 BBCB | V max | C47 (682.0MHz) | 150m | DTG- | 100W |
 46 5SELECT, 101 BBC One HD North East and Cumbria, 102 BBC Two HD England, 103 ITV 1 HD (ITV Granada), 104 Channel 4 HD North ads, 105 Channel 5 HD, 106 BBC Four HD, 107 BBC Three HD, 204 CBBC HD, 205 CBeebies HD, plus 1 others | |||||
Are you trying to watch these 44 Freeview channels?
The Seaham (County Durham, England) mast is a public service broadcasting (PSB) transmitter, it does not provide these commercial (COM) channels: U&Yesterday, 4seven, 5Action, 5STAR, 5USA, Al Jazeera Eng, Al Jazeera English, Blaze, Blaze +1, Challenge, Channel 5 +1, DMAX, E4 Extra, YAAAS!, Film4 +1, Food Network, FRANCE 24 (in English), GREAT! action, GREAT! christmas, GREAT! movies, GREAT! romance mix, HGTV, HobbyMaker, ITV2 +1, ITV3 +1, ITV4 +1, ITVBe +1, Legend, PBS America, Quest +1, Quest Red, Really, Sky Mix, Sky News, Talking Pictures TV, That's 90s, That's TV 2, Together TV, TRUE CRIME, TRUE CRIME XTRA, U&Dave, U&Dave ja vu, U&Drama +1, U&W.
If you want to watch these channels, your aerial must point to one of the 80 Full service Freeview transmitters. For more information see the will there ever be more services on the Freeview Light transmitters? page.
Which BBC and ITV regional news can I watch from the Seaham transmitter?
BBC Look North (Newcastle) 1.6m homes 6.0%
from Newcastle NE99 2NE, 22km northwest (315°)
to BBC North East and Cumbria region - 70 masts.
ITV Tyne Tees News 1.4m homes 5.4%
from Gateshead NE11 9SZ, 24km northwest (308°)
to ITV Tyne Tees region - 47 masts.
All of lunch, weekend and 50% evening news is shared with Border
How will the Seaham (County Durham, England) transmission frequencies change over time?
| 1984-97 | 1997-98 | 1998-2012 | 2012-13 | 13 Nov 2019 | |||||
| B E T | B E T | B E T | B E K T | B E K T | |||||
| C41 | ITVwaves | ITVwaves | ITVwaves | BBCB | BBCA | ||||
| C44 | BBC2waves | BBC2waves | BBC2waves | BBCA | D3+4 | ||||
| C47 | C4waves | C4waves | C4waves | D3+4 | BBCB | ||||
| C51tv_off | BBC1waves | BBC1waves | BBC1waves |
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 12 Sep 12 and 26 Sep 12.
How do the old analogue and currrent digital signal levels compare?
| BBCA, D3+4, BBCB | 100W | |
| Analogue 1-4 | (-2.3dB) 59W |
Which companies have run the Channel 3 services in the Pontop Pike transmitter area
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Sunday, 30 December 2012
D
Dave9:46 AM
Dave Lindsay: How do I know where I am picking up from??? I think I am picking up from Seaham relay although I cannot find anything saying this, just guessing as Seaham puts out PSB's and this is what I am receiving.
I am unsure where others are receiving but most people have sky etc. I have pointed my aerial in the same direction as theirs (which I know is rough direction of relay) and this is what I get. On the coverage map, Bilsdale is not green over my house, does this mean I will not receive from there?
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Dave: Receivers usually give the UHF channel number tuned to on the signal strength screen:
PSB1 (BBC One) | S=C44 | B=C26 | P=C58
PSB2 (ITV1) | S=C47 | B=C29 | P=C54
PSB3 (BBC One HD) | S=C41 | B=C23 | P=C49
COM4 (ITV3) | B=C43 | P=C50
COM5 (Pick TV) | B=C46 | P=C59
COM6 (Film4) | B=C40 | P=C55
S=Seaham, B=Bilsdale and P=Pontop Pike
Seaham uses vertical polarisation, and Bilsdale and Pontop Pike are horizontally polarised:
Aerials, TV Aerial and Digital Aerial
Coverage maps do not show areas where signals can or cannot be received; they could never be anywhere near accurate due to there being so many variables. What they show is where the signal is projected as being at or above a particular level at a particular height above ground. So where the ground is lower, hence the signal isn't as strong at the survey height above it. In any case, unless you can move your house then you have to work with what you have.
Manual tuning may be useful with some receivers being better at it than others so it might be worth looking at all the boxes and TVs you have to see which might be most helpful. Usually selecting a UHF channel but *not* pressing the button to scan will allow the receiver to be used as a signal meter; once the button to scan/tune is pressed this ability is lost.
The COM channels from Bilsdale and Pontop Pike aren't as strong as their respective PSBs, so some fringe viewers will be left PSB-only or have intermittant COMs. For that reason, I suggest that you focus on trying to receive the PSBs from one of the full-Freeview transmitters first. (If your receiver isn't a HD one then PSB3 won't apply.)
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Dave: If you have no joy getting the full service with the aerial in the loft then mounting it outside might work as obviously the roof reduces the level of the signal with it not being that great in the first place.
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D
Dave2:00 PM
Dave Lindsay: Checked with a friend a few streets away. Aerial (few yrs old) mounted on chimney, receives same channels as me, PSB only. No COM channels. Tried manual searches again on both sets only thing that comes up with signals is 41,44,47. No signal on anything else.
Have retried my aerial in all kinds of directions but to no avail.
Think I might have to live with PSB only
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Dave: The main free-to-air satellite service is Freesat. The most notable absences over full Freeview are probably Dave, Quest and Yesterday.
See here for a comparison:
Compare TV Freeview/Freesat | ukfree.tv - 10 years of independent, free digital TV advice
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Monday, 8 July 2013
P
Paul9:24 PM
Seaham
Hi, lost all Freeview channels today here in SR7. Ran through reset procedure and now have around ten German/Dutch channels instead?! Checked all connections, tried different set top box etc. Think I'm receiving from Seaham, but possibly Billsdale. How can I check?
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Paul's: mapP's Freeview map terrainP's terrain plot wavesP's frequency data P's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Tuesday, 9 July 2013
P
Paul8:05 AM
Seaham
An update to the above, all channels restored this morning. Strange. Unreported transmitter issue or interference?
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Paul's: mapP's Freeview map terrainP's terrain plot wavesP's frequency data P's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Saturday, 13 May 2023
C
Chris.SE11:24 PM
Alan Thompson:
It's current weather conditions! There's some significant "Tropospheric Ducting" affecting parts of your area at this time. Do NOT retune.
These conditions cause signals from distant transmitters in Europe or the UK to travel further and result in interference to your wanted signals. This doesn't always affect all multiplexes at the same time and may not affect all viewers. It can last seconds, minutes or for longer. There is little you can do except wait until conditions improve - or try watching online etc.
If you did retune when you had badly pixellated pictures or no signal (never advised if you were correctly tuned) this usually just clears your correct tuning. You'll then have to retune again which you may have to try several times as you won't know when signals will be normal.
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Saturday, 8 July 2023
A
Alan Thompson12:22 AM
New transmitter Burnhope is now live to replace burnt out transmitter, same problems. Today no channels since teatime and everytime there is high pressure we lose services, currently none available on freeview. Apparently Seaham (SR7) is in a shadow area and you'd have thought when a new transmitter was installed it would eradicate those shadow areas but maybe we aren't important enough to put it right.
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