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Full Freeview on the Pontop Pike (County Durham, England) transmitter

first published this on - UK Free TV
sa_streetviewGoogle Streetviewsa_gmapsGoogle mapsa_bingBing mapsa_gearthGoogle Earthsa_gps54.868,-1.771 or 54°52'5"N 1°46'15"Wsa_postcodeDH9 9AT

 

The symbol shows the location of the Pontop Pike (County Durham, England) transmitter which serves 700,000 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 Pontop Pike (County Durham, England) mast?

Pontop Pike transmitter - Pontop Pike 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 Pontop Pike 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
C39 (618.0MHz)447mDTG-100,000W
Channel icons
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
 H max
C42 (642.0MHz)447mDTG-100,000W
Channel icons
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),

PSB3
BBCB
 H max
C45 (666.0MHz)447mDTG-100,000W
Channel icons
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

COM4
SDN
 H -3dB
C32 (562.0MHz)447mDTG-850,000W
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 -3dB
C34 (578.0MHz)447mDTG-850,000W
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 -3dB
C35 (586.0MHz)447mDTG-850,000W
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

LNE
 H -13dB
C33 (570.0MHz)447mDTG-125,000W
Channel icons
from 22nd September 2014: 7 Made in Tyne and Wear,

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 Pontop Pike transmitter?

regional news image
BBC Look North (Newcastle) 1.6m homes 6.0%
from Newcastle NE99 2NE, 15km northeast (42°)
to BBC North East and Cumbria region - 70 masts.
regional news image
ITV Tyne Tees News 1.4m homes 5.4%
from Gateshead NE11 9SZ, 12km north-northeast (29°)
to ITV Tyne Tees region - 47 masts.
All of lunch, weekend and 50% evening news is shared with Border

Are there any self-help relays?

Kieldor DamActive deflector6 homes Holiday complex
Low HaberActive deflectorWest Allen Dale, 18 kn SW Hexham caravan site
North HartlepoolTransposer84 homes

How will the Pontop Pike (County Durham, England) transmission frequencies change over time?

1950s-80s1984-971997-981998-20122012-1313 Nov 2019
VHFC/D EC/D EC/D EC/D E TW T
C5BBCtvwaves
C32SDN
C33com7
C34com8
C35ArqB
C39BBCA
C42D3+4
C45BBCB
C49tv_offBBCB
C50tv_offSDN
C54tv_offC4wavesC4wavesC4wavesD3+4
C55tv_offArqBcom7tv_off
C56tv_offLNE
C58tv_offBBC1wavesBBC1wavesBBC1wavesBBCA
C59tv_offArqA
C61ITVwavesITVwavesITVwaves
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 12 Sep 12 and 26 Sep 12.

How do the old analogue and currrent digital signal levels compare?

Analogue 1-4 500kW
BBCA, D3+4, BBCB(-7dB) 100kW
SDN, ARQA, ARQB(-10dB) 50kW
com8(-11.6dB) 34.6kW
com7(-11.7dB) 33.8kW
Mux 1*, Mux 2*, Mux A*, Mux B*, Mux C*, Mux D*(-17dB) 10kW
LNE(-20dB) 5kW

Which companies have run the Channel 3 services in the Pontop Pike transmitter area

Jan 1959-Feb 2004Tyne Tees 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. Pontop Pike 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, 14 July 2013
Dave Lindsay
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

9:41 PM

Debbie : There is transmitter work on-going so it could be on low power which, evidently, isn't powerful enough for your set-up.

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Dave Lindsay's 5,724 posts GB flag
Monday, 22 July 2013
R
robert
10:10 PM

Anyone missing film, itv4 (channel56 I guess). Its a Sony recorder so don't know if it affected by their issues.... retune didn't work, but the TV (lg) doesn't seem to be affected. Just had 2nd aerial cable fitted to aerial, could that be the problem?

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robert's 7 posts GB flag
Tuesday, 23 July 2013
H
Harley
10:43 PM

Since Digital UK where working on the transmitter at Pontip pike last week I have intermittent break up of picture and sound throughout the day and evening. I have had to retune this several times a day and often the TV just lists 'selected programme not tuned'. I assumed this would resolve itself once the work had been completed but 10 days later I am still having the same issue. Nothing in my set-up has changed and I used to get 113 channels, now I just have the BBC ones I have done an automatic retune and a manual one (removing arial etc) and nothing is working. Suggestions anyone?

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Harley's 1 post GB flag
Saturday, 28 September 2013
P
Paul Taylor
10:15 AM

I receive my Freeview TV from Pontop Pike. This morning each of three TV's in the house would not receive any channels on the BBCA Mux, but all others were working perfectly. Performing a full re-tune on each TV restored the channels. My aerial is in the loft and distributes the signal via a masthead amplifier. Normally our signal is full strength.What might the cause be?

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Paul Taylor's 2 posts GB flag
A
andy
12:23 PM
Morpeth

Lost lots of freeview channels,,,,,,, gone ??? Amble links holiday homes ,,ne65 0sd???

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andy's 1 post GB flag
andy's: ...
Monday, 2 December 2013
I
Iain
8:49 PM
Chester Le Street

Local TV for Newcastle has been delayed apparently but MadeTV work on the policy of silence until they can give a launch date according to an e-mail from David McCormack I received after enquiring when the newcastle station was launching as no update on their website

It also seems to being controlled from Leeds rather than Newcastle

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Iain's 6 posts EU flag
Iain's: mapI's Freeview map terrainI's terrain plot wavesI's frequency data I's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Tuesday, 17 December 2013
Dave Lindsay
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

1:58 AM

Gary Burgham: Pontop Pike's new HD multiplex, which will carry BBC Four HD among others, will come on air some time in 2014. No date is given by Digital UK, and the same applies for Bilsdale.

However, I am somewhat doubtful as to whether you will be able to receive the new multiplex from Pontop Pike. The short answer is that you might require a replacement aerial irrespective of transmitter used and that it might be best directed to Bilsdale.

The longer answer is that the new HD multiplex is on lower power than the other multiplexes.

Also, if you have not had your Group C/D aerial replaced with a wideband one then it might need doing so in order to receive C33 which is on a lower frequency than your aerial works best at. See:

Aerials, TV Aerial and Digital Aerial

The new HD mux from Bilsdale is also lower power than its other channels. However, you would appear to have clear line-of-sight to it at 34.6 miles:


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


But, the high ground under and around Woodland, 4 miles away, are blocking your view of Pontop Pike:


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


Because the line-of-sight to Pontop Pike is obstructed, doubt is cast on whether you might be able to pick up the new HD multiplex. The apparent clear line-of-sight to Bilsdale Moor transmitter makes me wonder whether that might be the better bet.

I looked at your postcode on Streetview (photos taken August 2009) and one of the houses has an aerial facing Bilsdale. If this property previously used Pontop Pike then the Bilsdale aerial might have been installed in order to pick up pre-switchover digital from Bilsdale.

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Dave Lindsay's 5,724 posts GB flag
Monday, 6 January 2014
Transmitter engineering
sentiment_very_satisfiedOwner

7:23 PM

PONTOP PIKE transmitter - DAB: BBC National DAB Radio Weak Signal from 12:03 yesterday to 12:56 yesterday. FM: Radio 3 FM Weak Signal from 12:03 yesterday to 12:56 yesterday, Radio 3 FM Weak Signal from 12:56 yesterday to 13:38 yesterday. [BBC]

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Transmitter engineering's 149,799 posts xx flag
Tuesday, 7 January 2014
Transmitter engineering
sentiment_very_satisfiedOwner

4:23 AM

PONTOP PIKE transmitter - DAB: BBC National DAB Radio Weak Signal from 12:03 on 05 Jan to 12:56 on 05 Jan. FM: Radio 3 FM Weak Signal from 12:03 on 05 Jan to 12:56 on 05 Jan, Radio 3 FM Weak Signal from 12:56 on 05 Jan to 13:38 on 05 Jan. [BBC]

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Transmitter engineering's 149,799 posts xx flag
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