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Full Freeview on the Ridge Hill (County of Herefordshire, England) transmitter

first published this on - UK Free TV
sa_streetviewGoogle Streetviewsa_gmapsGoogle mapsa_bingBing mapsa_gearthGoogle Earthsa_gps51.997,-2.540 or 51°59'49"N 2°32'25"Wsa_postcodeHR8 2PG

 

The symbol shows the location of the Ridge Hill (County of Herefordshire, England) transmitter which serves 270,000 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 Ridge Hill (County of Herefordshire, England) mast?

Ridge Hill transmitter - Ridge Hill 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 Ridge Hill 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
C28 (530.0MHz)363mDTG-20,000W
Channel icons
1 BBC One (SD) West Midlands, 2 BBC Two England, 9 BBC Four, 23 BBC Three, 201 CBBC, 202 CBeebies, 231 BBC News, 232 BBC Parliament, plus 19 others

PSB2
D3+4
 H max
C25 (506.0MHz)363mDTG-20,000W
Channel icons
3 ITV 1 (SD) (Central (West 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),

PSB3
BBCB
 H max
C22+ (482.2MHz)363mDTG-20,000W
Channel icons
46 5SELECT, 101 BBC One HD West 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
C21+ (474.2MHz)361mDTG-810,000W
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
C24 (498.0MHz)366mDTG-810,000W
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
C27 (522.0MHz)361mDTG-810,000W
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

PSB2
D3+4west
 H max
C29 (538.0MHz)352mDTG-20,000W
Channel icons
3 ITV 1 (SD) (West), 4 Channel 4 (SD) South ads, 5 Channel 5, 6 ITV 2, 10 ITV3, 13 E4, 14 Film4, 15 Channel 4 +1 South ads, 18 More4, 26 ITV4, 28 ITVBe, 30 E4 +1, 35 ITV1 +1 (West),

DTG-8 64QAM 8K 3/4 27.1Mb/s DVB-T MPEG2
H/V: aerial position (horizontal or vertical)

Which BBC and ITV regional news can I watch from the Ridge Hill transmitter?

regional news image
BBC Midlands Today 2.9m homes 10.9%
from Birmingham B1 1RF, 69km northeast (39°)
to BBC West Midlands region - 66 masts.
regional news image
ITV Central News 2.9m homes 10.9%
from Birmingham B1 2JT, 69km northeast (39°)
to ITV Central (West) region - 65 masts.
All of lunch, weekend and 80% evening news is shared with Central (East)

Are there any self-help relays?

WhittonTransposer35 km NW Hereford40 homes

How will the Ridge Hill (County of Herefordshire, England) transmission frequencies change over time?

1968-80s1984-971997-981998-20112011-131 Mar 2018
VHFA K TA K TA K TW TW T
C6ITVwaves
C21+SDNSDN
C22BBC1wavesBBC1wavesBBC1waves+BBCBBBCB
C24ArqAArqA
C25ITVwavesITVwavesITVwavesD3+4D3+4
C27ArqBArqB
C28BBC2wavesBBC2wavesBBC2wavesBBCABBCA
C29D3+4
C30_local
C32C4wavesC4wavesC4wavescom7
C34com8
C35C5wavesC5waves
C51tv_off_local_local
C55tv_offcom7tv_off
C56tv_offCOM8tv_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 6 Apr 11 and 20 Apr 11.

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

Analogue 1-5 100kW
BBCA, D3+4, PSB2 iw, BBCB(-7dB) 20kW
com7(-9.8dB) 10.5kW
SDN, ARQA, ARQB(-10dB) 10kW
com8(-10.1dB) 9.8kW
Mux 1*, Mux 2*, Mux A*, Mux B*, Mux C*, Mux D*(-17dB) 2kW

Which companies have run the Channel 3 services in the Ridge Hill 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.

Is the transmitter output the same in all directions?

Radiation patterns withheld

Comments
Sunday, 7 June 2015
K
keith Blackham
11:47 PM

Thank you for your interest. There are 3 CTVS affected. The CTV I am sat in front of is self tuned to channel 26 - West Midlands signal strength 29% quality 1%. The aerial is pointing 220 degress ie 180 degrees from Sutton Coldfield - West Mids. All neighbours aerials have always pointed towards 220 degrees. In the past however have sometimes been supplied with programmes and news from Bristol or London??? However signal has always been good in this locality. Bromsgrove transmitter - a repeater is 1 mile across the fields but not regarded as an option for my address. Have always used a signal booster in the loft taking a feed from an external aerial with a horizontal V shaped reflector. Do you have any helpful thoughts?

King regards

Keith Blackham

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keith Blackham's 3 posts GB flag
Monday, 8 June 2015
J
jb38
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

10:42 AM

keith Blackham : If, as you have said, others in your area are also experiencing similar problems with reception then the reason for is obviously outwith your control, that is unless an alternative station is found as providing a more stable signal.

As far as your aerials direction is concerned, a rooftop aerial check (via Google) in your area indicates aerials as being vertically mounted matching up with the polarity of the local Bromsgrove transmitter, but though, according to your post code, located at an angle of 190 degrees, the Ridge Hill transmitter being at an angle of 217 degrees but which is a horizontally polarised transmitter.

You can of course study this for yourself by opening the undermentioned link, this giving details of the various stations and the Mux channels used said stations, as this will enable you to check where a channel is being received from.

It will also be noticed that the channels used by Bromsgrove are also used by two other stations, namely Larke Stoke and The Wrekin, this under certain atmospheric conditions being something which "might" cause problems with reception.


Coverage Checker - Detailed View



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jb38's 7,179 posts GB flag
Dave Lindsay
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

11:31 AM

keith Blackham: The Digital UK Coverage Checker suggests otherwise. Ridge Hill is variable/poor whereas Bromsgrove is all good. This prediction should be used as a guide and not an exact representation of what you will find in practice.

I can't quite work out why Digital UK rates your chances of Ridge Hill so poorly. The terrain plot is here:


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


At 32.4 miles you would appear to have clear line-of-sight, albeit with the question of a peak at 21 miles out which may be in the way and corresponds to somewhere around Storridge.

All that said, looking on Streetview, the vast majority of aerials are facing Bromsgrove, them being vertically polarised. And if you're tuned to UHF channel 26 for BBC One then you're tuned to Bromsgrove! If your aerial is horizontal and pointing slightly off-beam, which it must be, then this would explain the poor reception.

You need to do a manual scan for Ridge Hill channels: 28, 25, 21, 24, 27. Go to the manual tune screen and enter/select each channel in turn, but don't press the button to scan/add services. Instead, for each one, wait and see what the strength and quality is like and whether it's pretty stable.

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

11:32 AM

jb38: Bromsgrove, The Wrekin and Lark Stone are SFNs, so might they not complement one another rather than interfere?

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Dave Lindsay's 5,724 posts GB flag
Wednesday, 10 June 2015
J
jb38
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

12:03 AM

Dave Lindsay: Sorry for the delay in replying, this being due to working in another area which involved an overnight stay. However as far as your query is concerned, yes! in the majority of cases they do, and with no problems whatsoever being experienced with reception, that is provided none of the transmitters involved are only being received via diffraction and why I had mentioned "atmospheric conditions, as signals received under these conditions can suffer from elements of data corruption, which on its own is neither here nor there, but not if the signal is part of a synchronised SFN network.

My main thoughts being centred on The Wrekin, that is even although DUK indicates that reception from this transmitter is possible in B61, as I personally have my doubts about whether or not it can actually be received in Keith's B61 location, albeit with this being well-nigh impossible to confirm without a series of mobile checks being made.

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jb38's 7,179 posts GB flag
Saturday, 13 June 2015
T
Tony
1:18 AM

I have a problem with channels on PSB3 and com7 Muxes. On my Samsung LE32C580. All channels on these muxes are subject to intermittent interference. All channels on any of the other muxes are O.K. with no interference.

When I look at the signal strength shown on the TV, the channels with problems show a signal strength of 90 but an error rate of 800 to 2000 depending on how bad the problem is. When the problem is not present, the error rate is between 400 and 600.

All other channels show a signal strength of 80 to 100 and an error rate of 0, even when the interference is occurring on the PSB3 and com7 muxes.

We are in Cheltenham GL52 area.

Is this a problem with the transmitter, or my reception system?

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Tony's 2 posts GB flag
Dave Lindsay
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

2:07 PM

Tony: Purely on the information provided, it could conceivably be that the signal strengths are high to excessive, although this would be unlikely at such distance from the transmitter. HD signals tend to be affected before SDs with excessive signal. If you have an amplifier then turn it down.

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Dave Lindsay's 5,724 posts GB flag
Sunday, 14 June 2015
T
Tony
1:52 AM

Tony:

Thank you Dave. I don't have an amplifier myself, but as the signal is coming from a communal system, I assume that has some amplification of the signal. I will get hold of an attenuator and see if that resolves the problem.

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Tony's 2 posts GB flag
Dave Lindsay
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

11:39 AM

Tony: Conceivably the amplifier could be being overloaded and all that installing an attenuator after will achieve is giving a smaller distorted signal. In such a case the amplifier needs turning down.

Then there's the point about everyone else in the block -- this doesn't help them, if you have indeed identified the problem.

The aerial system should provide suitable level signals from the wall socket in each dwelling. If it's not then the party responsible should be notified in order for it to be put right.

Also, if you don't have the two new HD multiplexes, COM7 and COM8, which give BBC Four HD, BBC News HD and QVC+1HD, then this could be because the system is filtered to only allow through the channels (frequencies) of the designated transmitter, these being two new ones. Get the engineer to enable these channels, if need be.

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Dave Lindsay's 5,724 posts GB flag
Monday, 17 August 2015
Transmitter engineering
sentiment_very_satisfiedOwner

9:09 AM

RIDGE HILL transmitter - MainPossible weak signal [DUK]

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Transmitter engineering's 149,799 posts xx flag
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