Full Freeview on the Pontop Pike (County Durham, England) transmitter
 | Google Streetview |  | Google map |  | Bing map |  | Google Earth |  | 54.868,-1.771 or 54°52'5"N 1°46'15"W |  | DH9 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 04/11/2024 Pixelation or flickering on some or all channels 
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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 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.
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?
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.
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 Dam | Active deflector | 6 homes Holiday complex | |
| Low Haber | Active deflector | West Allen Dale, 18 kn SW Hexham | caravan site |
| North Hartlepool | Transposer | 84 homes |
How will the Pontop Pike (County Durham, England) transmission frequencies change over time?
| 1950s-80s | 1984-97 | 1997-98 | 1998-2012 | 2012-13 | 13 Nov 2019 | ||||
| VHF | C/D E | C/D E | C/D E | C/D E T | W T | ||||
| C5 | BBCtvwaves | ||||||||
| C32 | SDN | ||||||||
| C33 | com7 | ||||||||
| C34 | com8 | ||||||||
| C35 | ArqB | ||||||||
| C39 | BBCA | ||||||||
| C42 | D3+4 | ||||||||
| C45 | BBCB | ||||||||
| C49tv_off | BBCB | ||||||||
| C50tv_off | SDN | ||||||||
| C54tv_off | C4waves | C4waves | C4waves | D3+4 | |||||
| C55tv_off | ArqB | com7tv_off | |||||||
| C56tv_off | LNE | ||||||||
| C58tv_off | BBC1waves | BBC1waves | BBC1waves | BBCA | |||||
| C59tv_off | ArqA | ||||||||
| C61 | ITVwaves | ITVwaves | ITVwaves | ||||||
| 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 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 |
Local transmitter maps
Pontop Pike Freeview Pontop Pike TV region BBC North East and Cumbria Tyne TeesWhich companies have run the Channel 3 services in the Pontop Pike transmitter area
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Friday, 21 March 2014
D
David10:10 PM
Is there any plans to convert all the dtt multiplexes to dvb-t2 256qam 32ke 2/3?
With a bandwidth of 40.2Mbps there would be room for between 13 to 20 SD channels per mux. That would be upto 100 SD channels over 5 dvb-t2 muxes plus 18 HD channels.
Any technical reason why this can't be done?
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Sunday, 11 May 2014
D
Dave Hagen9:20 PM
Hi Brian following on from my question this morning regarding poor reception on channel 49 from Pontop Pike I meant channel 59 carrying the food network & movies for men etc. Doing a signal test on a Panasonic pvr & my Toshiba tv the signal strength is very poor. Any ideas, thanks in anticipation.........Dave.
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Monday, 19 May 2014
S
Scott10:21 PM
I live in NE29 and like Dave I have had little or no signal since Saturday morning; even the BBC channels are breaking up to the point that they're unwatchable. Is there ongoing engineering work or something else that you're aware of that is interfering with the signal? Looks like I'll be watching DVDs until things improve! Thanks in advance. Scott.
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M
MikeB11:03 PM
Scott: Check your system - is the strength too high or low? If its too low, then your aerial system is at fault.
You can check yourself the state of transmitters etc by putting in your postcode to the my UK free.tv settings. This will bring up lots of info.
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Tuesday, 20 May 2014
S
Scott7:58 PM
North Shields
Thanks for your prompt response Mike. I've experienced signal problems on and off since before the digital switchover. I can go for months with a decent (but not perfect) signal and then receive little or no signal for a week or two before things go back to "normal". I could understand it if the problems were persistent rather than sporadic.
According to the transmitter map, there are six mobile telephone masts within a 1.5km radius of my home; could this be affecting the signal intermittently?
Thanks again for your assistance.
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Scott's: mapS's Freeview map terrainS's terrain plot wavesS's frequency data S's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Wednesday, 21 May 2014
P
Paul11:40 AM
North Shields
Scott,
I am in the NE30 part of North Shields and get no problems, so I just wonder if it is an aerial/tuner problem.
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Paul's: mapP's Freeview map terrainP's terrain plot wavesP's frequency data P's Freeview Detailed Coverage
S
Scott5:19 PM
Hi Paul. I wondered that too but given the intermittent nature of the problem I'm not certain. I retuned my tv earlier and appear to have "lost" majority of channels and even BBC1 is deadful. Signal strength is around 60 (usually around the 80 mark) but signal quality is very low, varying between 17 & 36 on the best channel (quality is usually around the 70 mark. The reception has on occasions been poor during particulalry inclement weather but it hasn't been this bad since just prior to the switchover when there were ongoing transmitter works.
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M
MikeB10:07 PM
Scott: Looking at where you are, you are pretty close to Pontop and there is nothing in the way. So there shouldn't be a problem, and yet....
Could you check to see what transmitter you are are actually tuned into? If you look on the Digital Tradeview link, Pontop is at 232 degrees. Although Bilsdale and Chatton are way off, its not impossible your tuned to them instead, especially since Pontop Pike is on channel 58, and pretty much everything else is lower down.
If you are on Pontop Pike, then Paul has a point. As you point out, 'inclement weather' causes problems. It could be that your cabling/connections has a break which allows water to get in. Its not great at the best of times, but when moisture gets in, the signal gets killed totally.
I'd go through each possible cause, and sort out each one. It may be you've got more than one problem, but at least you'll find out what they are.
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Thursday, 22 May 2014
S
Scott12:38 AM
Definitely on Pontop Pike. Retuned again tonight; BBC1 is unwatchable (signal strength 60, signal quality around 20) & I only have 30 channels in total. The best signal is ITV3, bizzarely, which is perfect (signal strength 80, signal quality 100).
The odd thing is that the TV has been fine all winter; the problems have occurred during the last week when it's been warm and largely dry.
I appreciate your help; I'll get up into the roof and check the cabling and connections but I know other people on the estate have problems and have resorted to Sky TV (which I'm loath to do).
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Thursday, 29 May 2014
R
Robert8:21 PM
seems that channel 49 has gone from pontop pike.... bbc1/2 plus HD channels and others all OK...
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