Full Freeview on the Waltham (Leicestershire, England) transmitter
Brian Butterworth first published this on - UK Free TV
Google Streetview | Google map | Bing map | Google Earth | 52.801,-0.801 or 52°48'4"N 0°48'5"W | LE14 4AJ |
The symbol shows the location of the Waltham (Leicestershire, England) transmitter which serves 770,000 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.
_______
Digital television services are broadcast on a multiplexes (or Mux) where many stations occupy a single broadcast frequency, as shown below.
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 Freeview channels does the Waltham 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.
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 Waltham transmitter?
BBC East Midlands Today 0.9m homes 3.4%
from Nottingham NG2 4UU, 28km northwest (306°)
to BBC East Midlands region - 17 masts.
ITV Central News 0.9m homes 3.4%
from Birmingham B1 2JT, 83km west-southwest (244°)
to ITV Central (East) region - 17 masts.
All of lunch, weekend and 80% evening news is shared with Central (West)
Are there any self-help relays?
Braunstone | Transposer | 5 km SW Leicester city centre | 170 homes |
How will the Waltham (Leicestershire, England) transmission frequencies change over time?
1984-97 | 1997-98 | 1998-2011 | 2011-13 | 2013-18 | 2013-17 | 4 Mar 2020 | |||
C/D E | E | E | W | W T | W T | W T | |||
C26 | LNG | LNG | |||||||
C29 | SDN | SDN | SDN | SDN | |||||
C31 | com7 | com7 | |||||||
C32 | BBCA | ||||||||
C34 | D3+4 | ||||||||
C35 | C5waves | C5waves | BBCB | ||||||
C37 | com8 | com8 | |||||||
C41 | _local | ||||||||
C49tv_off | BBCA | BBCA | |||||||
C54tv_off | C4waves | C4waves | C4waves | D3+4 | D3+4 | D3+4 | |||
C55tv_off | com7tv_off | ||||||||
C56tv_off | ArqA | ArqA | ArqA | COM8tv_off | |||||
C57tv_off | ArqB | ArqB | ArqB | ||||||
C58tv_off | BBC1waves | BBC1waves | BBC1waves | BBCB | BBCB | BBCB | |||
C61 | ITVwaves | ITVwaves | ITVwaves | BBCA | |||||
C64 | BBC2waves | BBC2waves | BBC2waves |
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 17 Aug 11 and 31 Aug 11.
How do the old analogue and currrent digital signal levels compare?
Analogue 1-5 | 250kW | |
BBCA, D3+4, BBCB | (-7dB) 50kW | |
SDN, ARQA, ARQB | (-10dB) 25kW | |
com8 | (-12.7dB) 13.4kW | |
com7 | (-13.9dB) 10.2kW | |
Mux 1* | (-14dB) 10kW | |
Mux 2*, Mux A*, Mux B* | (-14.9dB) 8kW | |
Mux C*, Mux D*, LNG | (-17dB) 5kW |
Local transmitter maps
Waltham Freeview Waltham DAB Waltham AM/FM Waltham TV region BBC East Midlands Central (East micro region)Which companies have run the Channel 3 services in the Waltham transmitter area
|
|
Tuesday, 9 July 2013
J
John Pilkington11:36 AM
John: I have emailed as you suggested, with the stream info from my post of 24 June. I've had an auto-reply.
link to this comment |
S
Stuart11:22 PM
Loughborough
Dominic, you can't be the only compliant because I followed the links you gave to complain too. /the swift response amounted to get lost and take it up with microsoft (its their software that is not freeview compliant). I had already logged an issue with microsoft who told me since it was a frequency change that caused the issue that the broadcaster is at fault.
This is really annoying because I can now get itv1 on HD but not on SD and HD is not compatible with our extenders! also we cannot get Five at all.
If someone out there has an answer or work around please post it. If the broadcasters or Microsoft is listening please fix the situation. Either party must be able to remedy the issue because everything worked flawlessly before the retune was required.
Here's hoping this get resolved swiftly.
link to this comment |
Stuart's: mapS's Freeview map terrainS's terrain plot wavesS's frequency data S's Freeview Detailed Coverage
J
jb3811:40 PM
John: I have been following this WMC / tuning stick saga right from the very start and noting all that has been said, but though the one main thing that really stands out is the absence of any reception tests having being made from another station that also operates with one of its multiplex channels transmitting on a negative offset frequency such as in the case of Waltham's PSB2, as although this transmitter is being singled out by WMC users as somehow being defective its certainly not as a far as Freeview branded devices are concerned as witnessed by no complaints whatsoever have been made from any viewers of Waltham's ITV1 on mux Ch54 irrespective of what type of Freeview TV or box is being used, and indeed I even coupled up an old Vestel chassis PVR that's known to be highly critical of negative offset channels and yet no adverse results were observed on it after having been retuned.
This being the case, then dependant on your particular location within the Vale of Belvoir as I realise that this covers a very large area, but should you be located where Belmont can be received then purely for purposes of elimination (of thoughts on the matter) I would be most interested to know the results if you tuned in Belmont's mux Ch30 on 545.8Mhz or alternatively mux Ch60 on 785.8Mhz, both these transmitters having a negative offset on the standard frequency that's officially associated with the channel number, the offset being a variation of the norm which on modern Freeview devices is adequately catered for by the tuners automatic frequency control (AFC) range, a facility which "might" not be incorporated in the circuitry used on some of these tuner sticks albeit with this being impossible to verify this either way, and simply because detailed technical information or a schematic diagram of the tuners circuitry is not obtainable.
Another aspect I would have liked to have been able to check concerns the scanning system used by the tuner in these sticks, the reason for saying this being that just because a tuner allows you to enter the exact offset frequency its not by any means a guarantee that when the scan "is actually taking place" that the tuner is scanning the offset frequency that has been entered and has not just defaulted to the frequency that's officially listed as associated with the channel number (as happens on some devices) which if it does could explain why the notching up / down on a blank screens EPG channel then back onto the one that's required can sometimes result in a picture being seen, this being a classic symptom of a tuner not latching onto a frequency due to its AFC circuitry being on the tight side.
Still that's beside the point, as it all depends on the results obtained from scanning Belmont's Ch30 or Ch60, although it does have to be said that although these two Belmont muxes are transmitting with negative offsets of the standard frequency, they are not technically identical to Waltham's PSB2 in other respects.
link to this comment |
Wednesday, 10 July 2013
I
Ian from notts7:04 AM
Bakewell
Briantist- Although I was never confident in the advice, I was under the impression that Atmospherics wouldn't affect Digital signals?
Freeview boxes in the NG16 / DE55 region on Waltham picked up BBC London or BBC Cambs and Berks yesterday !!
link to this comment |
Ian's: mapI's Freeview map terrainI's terrain plot wavesI's frequency data I's Freeview Detailed Coverage
C
Clive Johnson10:45 AM
Leicester
Like Carl, yesterday, Tuesday 9th.July, at breakfast time, we had no Freeview signal from Waltham on any channel. This was the case with two independent receivers from two separate aerials. The night before everything was perfect. Later, mid-morning, everything was back to normal. We had not done anything to cause this.
There were "no reported problems." How come no-one else has reported this including Waltham?
link to this comment |
Clive's: mapC's Freeview map terrainC's terrain plot wavesC's frequency data C's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Ian from notts: The COFDM signals used for the digital TV are much less prone to problems caused by Tropospheric Ducting (aka "The Inversion Effect").
However, the prediction for "excellent" Freeview reception is "99%" - which still allows for 90 hours a year of problems.
Looking at the forecast - Tropospheric Ducting Forecast for VHF & UHF Radio & TV it seems quite likely that the strong signals used in the Netherlands could quite easliy make it to East Anglia, for example.
DVB-T receivers can (by use of the "guard interval") reject a weak, distant signal most of the time, but Tropospheric Ducting can sometimes (the 1%) dump strong distant signals where they are not wanted.
link to this comment |
W
Wayne Cochrane2:06 PM
The guard interval has no function in rejecting different transmissions on the same channel as your wanted one. It's only useful wrt multipath reception of the same programme, either from a single transmitter or in an SFN.
The protection from uncorrelated interference comes from the error-correction, interleaving etc.
link to this comment |
J
John Pilkington2:25 PM
Since other people were reporting loss of signal it seems likely that the distant transmissions were just being picked up instead where the aerial was suitably pointed.
link to this comment |
D
Darren Cotton8:21 PM
Anyone got a further update on WMC? My partner is getting close to killing me if I can't find away of getting it fixed.
I have emailed and spoken to operator of the mast and they're reporting no issues; however if you can see pick up signal from another mast okay, how can we be having issues with this one?
Confused.com!
link to this comment |
Thursday, 11 July 2013
S
Stuart8:21 AM
Loughborough
The WMC issue is very real, as is the likelihood of a possible two deaths as a result of it (much like Darren I am living in fear of my other half because I can't fix this).
The seems to be lots of discussion about fixes and there not being a problem but it is as simple as this in my eyes:
a) before the retune all channels working perfectly
b) post the retune itv, channel 5 etc don't exist
The very unreasonable stance taken by the broadcaster is that WMC doesn't have a freeview logo is not helpful. Should I be questioning if I should pay for my TV licence in full because many channels are not available, i think not.
The fact that I can get these channels via mediaportal is what told me that this is a wmc issue but Microsoft don't acknowledge that there is a problem either, highlighting that if it worked before then it is the broadcasters fault.
Please can someone out there do something to resolve this before both Darren and I are snuffed out by respective other halves.
link to this comment |
Stuart's: mapS's Freeview map terrainS's terrain plot wavesS's frequency data S's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Select more comments
Your comment please