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Full Freeview on the Waltham (Leicestershire, England) transmitter

first published this on - UK Free TV
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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.

Are there any planned engineering works or unexpected transmitter faults on the Waltham (Leicestershire, England) mast?

Waltham transmitter - Waltham transmitter: Possible effect on TV reception week commencing 04/11/2024 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 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.

MuxH/VFrequencyHeightModeWatts
PSB1
BBCA
 H max
C32 (562.0MHz)442mDTG-50,000W
Channel icons
1 BBC One (SD) East Midlands, 2 BBC Two England, 9 BBC Four, 23 BBC Three, 201 CBBC, 202 CBeebies, 231 BBC News, 232 BBC Parliament, plus 17 others

PSB2
D3+4
 H max
C34 (578.0MHz)442mDTG-50,000W
Channel icons
3 ITV 1 (SD) (Central (East micro region)), 4 Channel 4 (SD) Midlands ads, 5 Channel 5, 6 ITV 2, 10 ITV3, 13 E4, 14 Film4, 15 Channel 4 +1 Midlands ads, 18 More4, 26 ITV4, 28 ITVBe, 30 E4 +1, 35 ITV1 +1 (Central west), 71 That’s 60s,

PSB3
BBCB
 H max
C35 (586.0MHz)442mDTG-50,000W
Channel icons
46 5SELECT, 101 BBC One HD East Midlands, 102 BBC Two HD England, 103 ITV 1 HD (ITV Central West), 104 Channel 4 HD Midlands 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 -3dB
C29 (538.0MHz)442mDTG-825,000W
Channel icons
20 U&Drama, 21 5USA, 29 ITV2 +1, 32 5STAR, 33 5Action, 38 Channel 5 +1, 41 Legend, 42 GREAT! action, 57 U&Dave ja vu, 58 ITV3 +1, 59 ITV4 +1, 64 Blaze, 67 TRUE CRIME, 68 TRUE CRIME XTRA, 81 Blaze +1, 83 Together TV, 91 WildEarth, 93 ITVBe +1, 209 Ketchup TV, 210 Ketchup Too, 211 YAAAS!, 251 Al Jazeera English, 255 FRANCE 24 (in English), 265 Rok Sky +1, plus 29 others

COM5
ArqA
 H -3dB
C37 (602.0MHz)449mDTG-825,000W
Channel icons
11 Sky Mix, 17 Really, 19 U&Dave, 31 E4 Extra, 36 Sky Arts, 40 Quest Red, 43 Food Network, 47 Film4 +1, 48 Challenge, 49 4seven, 60 U&Drama +1, 65 That's TV 2, 70 Quest +1, 74 &UYesterday +1, 76 That's TV 2 MCR, 233 Sky News, plus 13 others

COM6
ArqB
 H -3dB
C31 (554.0MHz)449mDTG-825,000W
Channel icons
12 Quest, 25 U&W, 27 U&Yesterday, 34 GREAT! movies, 39 DMAX, 44 HGTV, 52 GREAT! christmas, 56 That's TV (UK), 63 GREAT! romance mix, 73 HobbyMaker, 75 That's 90s, 82 Talking Pictures TV, 84 PBS America, 235 Al Jazeera Eng, plus 18 others

LNG
 H -10dB
C41 (634.0MHz)442mDTG-125,000W
Channel icons
from 27th May 2014: 7 Notts TV,

DTG-8 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?

regional news image
BBC East Midlands Today 0.9m homes 3.4%
from Nottingham NG2 4UU, 28km northwest (306°)
to BBC East Midlands region - 17 masts.
regional news image
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?

BraunstoneTransposer5 km SW Leicester city centre170 homes

How will the Waltham (Leicestershire, England) transmission frequencies change over time?

1984-971997-981998-20112011-132013-182013-174 Mar 2020
C/D EEEWW TW TW T
C26LNGLNG
C29SDNSDNSDNSDN
C31com7com7
C32BBCA
C34D3+4
C35C5wavesC5wavesBBCB
C37com8com8
C41_local
C49tv_off BBCABBCA
C54tv_offC4wavesC4wavesC4wavesD3+4D3+4D3+4
C55tv_offcom7tv_off
C56tv_offArqAArqAArqACOM8tv_off
C57tv_offArqBArqBArqB
C58tv_offBBC1wavesBBC1wavesBBC1wavesBBCBBBCBBBCB
C61ITVwavesITVwavesITVwavesBBCA
C64BBC2wavesBBC2wavesBBC2waves

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

Which companies have run the Channel 3 services in the Waltham transmitter area

Feb 1956-Jul 1968Associated TeleVision†
Feb 1956-Jul 1968Associated British Corporation◊
Jul 1968-Dec 1981Associated TeleVision
Jan 1982-Feb 2004Central Independent Television
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. Waltham 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
Sunday, 21 July 2013
Dave Lindsay
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

3:09 PM

jb38: When I found it working a few hours ago it was after I'd found a use for an old VHS video recorder. I set the modulator to C53 and fed the aerial through it and then into the Sony. This successfully prevented it from tuning in COM5 on C52.

However, on noting that the colour scheme had changed back I wondered if the issue had been resolved and so turned off the video and tuned in C52 to find it working OK.


Re: The Humaxs: Does this mean that if the broadcast schedule changes that they might not become 'aware' until it's too late (where a programme is brought forward)?

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Dave Lindsay's 5,724 posts GB flag
D
Dominic Payer
3:49 PM

Sony UK acknowledge a problem with HXD units updated to firmware 1.70 on Friday.

See BBC News - Freeview failure hits Sony recorder owners

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Dominic Payer's 20 posts GB flag
M
Mike Kearey
4:39 PM

Dominic Payer:
The "hidden software" update 1.70 only applies to certain models and was done by disc in 2010 for those that chose to do it and no later versions have been issued.
The "hidden software" update number for other models was different but the date and method was the same.
I think that people are posting and reading a version of chinese whispers and the BBC picked up on it without being able to have the full facts. The updated recorders have been running without problems until ~18:00 Friday 19th.
I have seen on the Sony information that Arqiva made some changes to the EPG at that time which is the reason for the problems.
Why the changes conflicted with the software is unknown but all is back to normal for the time being. I'm sure we will find out the reason and the action eventually.
Mike

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Mike Kearey's 3 posts GB flag
B
BEJ Smith
6:06 PM

I haven't read all the postings but my problem is with the epg of my SONY RDR-HXD895 failing on 19 July 2013. Is it a sony software problem, freeview or wha....?

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BEJ Smith's 1 post GB flag
Dave Lindsay
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

6:18 PM

BEJ Smith: I don't believe so.

It is more likely that the issue was one of what was transmitted contained error(s). It just so happened that these devices were "choked" on being fed this bad information. The point is that they (and all other devices) shouldn't have been given it in the first place.

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

6:21 PM

BEJ Smith: What is the problem with the EPG?

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Dave Lindsay's 5,724 posts GB flag
J
jb38
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

6:31 PM

Dave Lindsay: Well, that certainly put the old video recorder to good use! and indeed quite a good way of getting over the problem caused by the Sony's uncontrollable channel updating procedure being carried every few hours, but though was C53 a typo for C52? or did you find that the swamping effect of the VCR's modulator on C53 took the edge off Emley's COM5 whereby it wasn't recorded? e.g: the 4G effect!

As far as the Humax is concerned, yes! that can be a problem with these models if constantly kept in standby mode until actually required such as applies in the case of my two models, although I do have to say that on taking the device out of standby the channel required plus the one following it is nearly always seen in the guide, the problem mostly arises when you want to record a programme that's a few hours away or even on the next day, as this is when real patience is required as sometimes the remaining part of the guide can take at least 3 or 4 minutes to populate, of course this is a known problem with these type of Humax boxes, slow processors!

That said though, I generally do not miss the start of anything as I have both models adjusted to start 3 minutes in advance of the programme start time, this taking the recorder out of the mode whereby its being controlled by a broadcast signal, however should a programme be cancelled altogether then this cannot be catered for and usually resulting in me landing up recording some unwanted programme.

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jb38's 7,179 posts GB flag
Briantist
sentiment_very_satisfiedOwner

7:19 PM

Mike Kearey: Sorry to take issue, but the D-Book is quite clear about the EPG updates

"22.1.3.5.2 EPG Updating
When the user accesses the EPG, it shall be displayed regardless of the state of the receiver;s schedule database (for example, database is partially populated in the minutes after power-on). In normal operation, the receiver shall maintain the full EPG up to date and be able to display the full EPG within 10 seconds of selection. The receiver shall display EPG information as soon as it is received without requiring user interaction to update the display."

I also take issue with the suggestion that "Arqiva made some changes to the EPG" because it is Digital UK (who merged with DMOL) that operates the EPG.

They have very clear rules that changes happen on Wednesday, so that full support can be offered.

The fault is very clearly with a single manufacturer who wrote some code incorrectly. Sounds like a classic "time bomb" to me (and my decades of relevant experience).



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Briantist's 38,915 posts GB flag
Dave Lindsay
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

7:53 PM

jb38: No, C53 was intentional, this being because COM4 is on C51 and having the modulator on C52 prevented reception of it.

Whilst I'm not a fan of it (and in particular its fan) running every few hours I can see that this has the advantage of keeping the EPG populated up-to-date. It is a pity that these devices don't let the user decide which approach to take.

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Dave Lindsay's 5,724 posts GB flag
V
vic
9:00 PM

Briantist: we have tried to re set our sony dvd as you have suggested but still cannot down load any channels do you have any suggestions we live in lichfield staffs

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vic's 1 post GB flag
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