Full Freeview on the Rowridge (Isle Of Wight, England) transmitter
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The symbol shows the location of the Rowridge (Isle Of Wight, England) transmitter which serves 620,000 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.
This transmitter has no current reported problems
The BBC and Digital UK report there are no faults or engineering work on the Rowridge (Isle Of Wight, England) transmitter._______
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 Rowridge 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 Rowridge transmitter?
BBC South Today 1.3m homes 4.9%
from Southampton SO14 7PU, 26km north (354°)
to BBC South region - 39 masts.
ITV Meridian News 0.9m homes 3.6%
from Whiteley PO15 7AD, 24km north-northeast (20°)
to ITV Meridian (South Coast) region - 39 masts.
All of lunch, weekend and 50% evening news is shared with all of Meridian plus Oxford
Are there any self-help relays?
| Portsmouth Docks | Transposer | 2 km N city centre | 50 homes Estimate. Group of houses' |
How will the Rowridge (Isle Of Wight, England) transmission frequencies change over time?
| 1950s-80s | 1984-97 | 1997-98 | 1998-2012 | 2012-13 | 2 May 2018 | ||||
| VHF | A K T | A K T | A K T | A K T | W T | ||||
| C3 | BBCtvwaves | ||||||||
| C21 | C4waves | C4waves | C4waves | +BBCB | BBCB | ||||
| C22 | +ArqA | ArqA | |||||||
| C24 | BBC2waves | BBC2waves | BBC2waves | BBCA | BBCA | ||||
| C25 | SDN | SDN | |||||||
| C27 | ITVwaves | ITVwaves | ITVwaves | D3+4 | D3+4 | ||||
| C28 | ArqB | ArqB | |||||||
| C29 | LSO | ||||||||
| C31 | BBC1waves | BBC1waves | BBC1waves | com7 | |||||
| C37 | com8 | ||||||||
| C55tv_off | com7tv_off | ||||||||
| C56tv_off | COM8tv_off |
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 7 Mar 12 and 21 Mar 12.
How do the old analogue and currrent digital signal levels compare?
| Analogue 1-4 | 500kW | |
| PSB1||, PSB1≡, PSB2||, PSB2≡, PSB3||, PSB3≡ | (-4dB) 200kW | |
| COM4≡, COM4||, COM5≡, COM5||, COM6≡, COM6|| | (-10dB) 50kW | |
| com7≡ | (-13.1dB) 24.4kW | |
| Mux 1*, Mux 2*, Mux A*, Mux B*, Mux C*, Mux D* | (-14dB) 20kW | |
| com8≡ | (-14.3dB) 18.4kW | |
| LSO≡ | (-17dB) 10kW |
Local transmitter maps
Rowridge Freeview Rowridge DAB Rowridge TV region BBC South Meridian (South Coast micro region)Which companies have run the Channel 3 services in the Rowridge transmitter area
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Friday, 10 January 2014
S
Sean8:18 AM
Still no reply from enquiries@arqiva.com, three days later.
I've forwarded my previous email to their Head of Public Relations. We'll see if they'll consider replying to a mere licence fee-paying member of the public.
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Saturday, 11 January 2014
Exactly when in January 2014 are COM7 and COM8 due to start broadcasting from Rowridge?
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Tuesday, 14 January 2014
S
Sean8:58 PM
Here is the response I received from Arqiva. I don't think they'll mind me publishing it here - there's nothing private in it...
"Thank you for your email about the new HD services, specifically concerning their absence from the VP antenna at Rowridge. As Head of PR Im not the normal recipient of these enquiries but have spoken to various teams in order to send you the following information.
Arqiva Services Limited was awarded the licence last year for the Television Multiplex Service utilising channels within the 600 MHz band in which the new HD services are carried. The channels licensed for the new HD services are limited to Channels 31, 32, 33, 34, 35 and 37 which is best received on a Group A or a wide band rooftop aerial. Given the limited number of channels available, many of the sites from which the new HD services will broadcast will unfortunately utilise frequency channels outside of the traditional aerial group for the area. Rowridge is still a Group A area and so many viewers should be able to receive the new HD services using a Group A or wide band HP aerial. Where an upgrade has been made to a VP aerial as a result of the installers choice , then regrettably it is unlikely that the new HD services will be received.
The infrastructure for the new HD services has not been funded by Government nor by the TV Licence Fee. The full cost of rolling out the new services has been borne by Arqiva Services Limited as a private company. Arqiva has opted to roll out the new services to the maximum number of sites permissible by Ofcom under the licence, and has exceeded the minimum coverage requirements stipulated by Ofcom in the licence of 50% national coverage, rolling the network out to circa 70% without any governmental assistance. This does include Rowridge, but only from the HP antenna. Both the VP and HP antennas at Rowridge still do give access to a broad range of Freeview services, including simulcast SD versions of all those channels currently being carried in the HD genre, as well as the HD services carried on 101 -104.
With regard to the Rowridge VP broadcasts, the cost of modifying the on-site infrastructure to radiate the new HD services in VP was considered to be excessive given the small number of homes that could be served by it, and unfortunately viewers who only access the Rowridge VP antenna will fall into the 30% of homes nationally which will not receive these new HD services.
We trust that this provides the information you are seeking. "
So there we go - we have our answer. The new channels are only for old aerials.
I can see Arqiva's point from their business point of view. But following this logic, nobody would have ever made a DVD player as DVDs didn't exist at the time. Nobody would have invented a television as there were no programmes to watch on it. Sometimes there has to be a strategy, and you need eggs to make chickens.
We now have a choice of all channels with poor signal quality or FreeviewLiteHD with decent signal quality.
I'm going to think about whether this can be taken further. All thoughts welcome.
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Sean: I think you've done well to get a reply from Arqiva, and such a comprehensive one at that. Of course, it isn't the answer you wanted but it is an answer nonetheless.
COM7, according to Digital UK Coverage Checker, is at 23.7kW whereas COM4-6 are 50kW. Is it not possible to use horizontal polarisation, perhaps with some degree of amplification?
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Sean: Thanks for posting that. I have modified the UK Free TV database to represent this information.
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Wednesday, 15 January 2014
Alan Rowe
7:45 AM
Southampton
7:45 AM
Southampton
For some people, they might end up with 2 aerials and a combiner. Most will have to be Hp for the new services.
Maybe one of the leading brands could design a Vp/Hp LTE combo, wouldn't be that hard.
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Alan's: mapA's Freeview map terrainA's terrain plot wavesA's frequency data A's Freeview Detailed Coverage
S
Steve Baker10:37 AM
Well I use VP on Rowridge as after DSO I had reception issues with the low powered COM6 on HP, and I'm not inclined to switch back to HP for yet another low powered mux, even if it is in HD.
So it looks like I'll have to re-use that old satellite dish and invest in a Freesat PVR to get the new HD channels now. At least I know they'll all be at full power and offer uninterrupted reception on satellie, and of course there's the bonus of better SD picture quality for many of the PSB spin-off channels too.
Sorry, Freeview, but the multiple retunes, variable powered muxes and HD for a certain few are enough for me to ditch this as a serious tv viewing platform.
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Steve Baker: You do get a couple of extra HD channels on Freesat, both from foreign news services (RT and NHK World).
For the best selection of free channels, you can't beat having both Freeview and Freeesat. See Detailed comparison | ukfree.tv - 11 years of independent, free digital TV advice !
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S
Steve Baker11:23 AM
Briantist: In my case it will be more than a couple of extra HD channels on Freesat as I'll be unable to get the new ones on Freeview anyway, but yes I do intend keeping my TV's internal tuner connected to the aerial for the odd few channels not available on Freesat and enjoying the best of both worlds. :-)
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