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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
Friday, 22 May 2015
J
jb38
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

10:11 AM

Tommy Dobson: Your problem is possibly down to the planned engineering work being carried out at Pontop Pike this week, as a "possible weak signal" notification has been in force since the 18th.

You should try carrying out a standard retune in the evenings and check if this resolves the situation, although it may not dependant on the reason for it having to be temporarily reduced in the first place.

However, a better way to determine if the signal has returned to normal without upsetting programme channels already stored, is "if" your TV/box offers a manual tuning facility? if it does, then carry out a "manual" scan on the PSB Mux C49 (BBC / ITV etc HD) the two other HD Muxes being COM7 / C33 and COM8 / C34.

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jb38's 7,179 posts GB flag
M
MikeB
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

9:23 PM

Tommy Dobson: Check your signal strength. It might be that your SD channels are low but viable, but the HD ones are out. Most likely explaination? Your system has a problem - perhaps a loose connection, etc. Check each bit.

link to this comment
MikeB's 2,579 posts GB flag
Wednesday, 3 June 2015
K
Keith T.
5:48 PM

Hi. I have a Humax and 2 Talk Talk Youview box's. The Humax box gives me all channels. The talk talk box''s seem to miss the channels on com 7 BBC news channel Hd etc. I have 2 ariels and have tried the talk talk box's on both without succes. This is picking signals from Pontop Pike. Is there a known problem for this?

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Keith T.'s 2 posts GB flag
Dave Lindsay
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

6:21 PM

Keith T.: A couple of ideas:

1. Does manual tuning give any clues, if available? Go to the manual tune screen and enter/select UHF channel 33 and then wait and see if it gives a reading of strength and quality. (Select DVB-T2 rather than DVB-T if such an option is available.)

2. Some receivers have been found to have issues picking up more than one DVB-T2 (HD) multiplex. When running the automatic tuning scan, have the aerial unplugged for PSB3 on C49 in order to see if you can tune COM7 but not PSB3.

link to this comment
Dave Lindsay's 5,724 posts GB flag
K
Keith T.
8:34 PM

Keith T.: I have tried several things no manual search on Youview box's but noticed the taking out of aerial when scanning and they now pick up com8 2 items. But nothing about com7 items. Giving up now think I will just have to forego the he channels on TalkTalk box's as the Humax is my main box and is used the most.

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Keith T.'s 2 posts GB flag
Thursday, 4 June 2015
G
GP
9:02 AM

My HD channels on PSB3 (C49) have 'gone' each night this week from about 6.30 pm showing weak signal but have returned after about 3 hours. This is true on 2 Humax PVRs and a Samsung TV. Any idea what could be the cause of this ?

link to this comment
GP's 1 post US flag
M
MikeB
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

6:28 PM

GP: If its common to all TV's, loogically it must either be the transmitter, or your system (or something making it go wonky).

Since its very unlikely that the trasmitter suddenly goes weak for several hours each night at peak time, it must be you. If your signal strength was steadily or suddenly much weaker, then that would point to your system - perhaps a failing wire, or dodgy distribution system, etc. Whats strange is that the same thing seems to happen at the same time each night. Thats the sort of thing you get when there is single source interference (just google it on this site).

Check to see if there is anything in your house (or close by) which works on a timer - its might be leaky and killing the signal. Something like a thermostat might fit the bill. JB38 has excellent advice on how to find the source via an AM radio.

The other thing to do is to improve your cabling. A better cable, with shielding, makes interfence less likely. ATV Sheffield has some on their website, which look very good value for about four pouns plus postage. And of course if your using another box, such as a PVR, make sure that a decent cable goes between that and the TV.

Be interesting to find out exactly what it is!

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MikeB's 2,579 posts GB flag
Wednesday, 22 July 2015
T
Tony Cook
8:36 AM

All itv channels and film4 are pixilating. We've reset the channels but that hasn't helped.

link to this comment
Tony Cook's 1 post GB flag
Monday, 27 July 2015
J
Jason
9:16 AM

Hi,
I used to have many issues picking up on pick, e4, quest, tru tv due to low signal but since yesterday i have FULL signal strength on the problem channels. Great news. Im based in the Eston area
Has there been upgrades ?

Thanks
Jason

link to this comment
Jason's 1 post GB flag
M
MikeP
sentiment_satisfiedSilver

11:38 PM

Jason

Without a post code we have no idea how close to the relevant transmitter you are, the code allowing several checks to be made.

link to this comment
MikeP's 215 posts GB flag
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