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

first published this on - UK Free TV
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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, 6 December 2015
J
js
sentiment_satisfiedGold

8:42 PM

Richard Sutton: It seems pretty clear from that, and your first message, that ITV1 is the only service to be found on the UHF29.multiplex.

I did search for info on this, but found no indication that the multiplex is anything other than a normal D3&4. I would need a sample of the transport stream to know exactly what is happening here. This is what's so annoying about DTT - lack of access and information. On satellite, everyone sees every part of the network.

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js's 822 posts GB flag
Monday, 7 December 2015
J
jb38
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

12:07 AM

Richard Sutton : The readings taken from your Sony TV would appear to be perfectly OK, Post Verbi 0 indicating that the errors on the incoming signal have been corrected in the TV's processing circuitry.

Purely out of curiosity, as your Humax PVR is of the latest variety capable of being connected into the internet via Wi-Fi, is the coax feeding the Freeview signal into the Humax / TV positioned well away from the router or any ethernet cables connected into same?, likewise the HDMI cable connecting your Humax into the TV being well away from the coax?.

Another thing I was wondering about being, are you using a powered signal splitter?


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jb38's 7,179 posts GB flag
R
Richard Sutton
9:27 AM
Evesham

jb38:

Thanks for the feedback on those Sony figures.

I'm using the Humax over ethernet so the wifi is not enabled. The Humax is below the Sony Smart TV and both the Humax and the TV use ethernet. The BT wifi router used for our laptops and smart-phones is not nearby. The various ethernet and coax cables are quite close but that's inevitable as, for example, the Humax is only a small box and the ethernet and coax inputs are only a couple of inches apart. However none of the cables run parallel to each other and are not cable-tied together.

The mains-powered booster / splitter in the loft space is fed by the coax which goes up to the arial on the roof which is on a very high pole. This is a bad signal area and without the booster we stuggle to get a watchable picture from any transmitter. Over the years I've tried Sutton Coldfield, Lark Stoke and Ridge Hill but settled on Ridge Hill a few years ago because the various on-line guides suggest it will be best for WR11 4HQ even though we don't have line of sight to any transmitter. I'm tempted to get Mark, the aerial man, back again to align us back to Sutton Coldfield which is a "simpler" transmitter although at 50 a time it's not something I like to do very often!

Having said all that, I don't think the cabling etc is the problem because the Toshiba Smart TV is at the other end of the house and does use the wifi but shows exactly the same issue with C29 and no problem with any of the other muxes. It is connected to the same booster in the loft so I'll have a go at removing the booster and using the straight signal down the coax which goes to the Toshiba. I'll leave the Sony and Humax disconnected in the loft to maximise the signal to the Toshiba. I don't think the picture will be very good but I will be able to see if it picks up all the C29 stations or not.

Once again, thanks for persevering with this!

Richard

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Richard Sutton's 13 posts GB flag
Richard's: mapR's Freeview map terrainR's terrain plot wavesR's frequency data R's Freeview Detailed Coverage
R
Richard Sutton
10:56 AM

Briantist:

Many thanks Brian. That shows that something significant appears to have happened to C29 on Ridge Hill but I can't understand what.

If you read my posts you will see that the Freeview technical person says that C29 is still broadcasting the same channels as C25 i.e. ITV, Ch4, Ch5 etc but I think they are wrong and they have switched off everything except ITV on C29 and have someone re-directed or de-powered C25 so that my reception is now poorer on C25 but I can't use the improved C29 other than for ITV.

There must be someone senior within Freeview who can actually give me the truth about this. Do you have an email address or phone number by any chance?

If my analysis is correct I will revert back to Sutton Coldfield after 4 or 5 years on Ridge Hill.

Richard

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Richard Sutton's 13 posts GB flag
Tuesday, 8 December 2015
J
jb38
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

5:46 PM

Richard Sutton: Sorry for slight delay in replying, but many thanks for the update, the detailed content of having clarified the situation regarding your installation. However on the subject of coax cable spacing where its connected into the box, its really the distance that the coax is kept apart from other cables before it reaches the box that's important, as the screening around the coax is at its most effective close to (within 6" or so) or at the boxes input socket by it being grounded onto the boxes chassis.

However, although I may have enquired about cabling, there is an element of the academic attached to this where your particular problem is concerned, basically because of it also affecting Freeview equipment located in another room, as crosstalk between HDMI / Ethernet and a coax cable only affects the device that the coax is feeding into and not a Freeview device located elsewhere, especially so if said device is fed from a different output on a powered splitter located in another area altogether.

By the way, UK digital's reception predictor certainly rates Lark Stoke as being able to provide the best signal in your area, or in my opinion "possibly in theory", the undermentioned link being to the site in question.

I will certainly be interested on the outcome of your test in the loft!

UK digital TV reception predictor


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jb38's 7,179 posts GB flag
Saturday, 2 January 2016
R
Richard Sutton
5:44 PM

Richard Sutton:

OK - after the long delay for Christmas and New Year I've finally pinned this issue down, I think, as follows.

The key was my Son bringing his Toshiba portable back from Uni for the holidays. He has the TV in his room with the aerial pointing towards Ridge Hill, the same as my roof aerial.

With my Son's TV C25 is clearly a stronger signal than C29 which is exactly how my roof-aerial connected TVs used to be. I am therefore wondering if my aerial has moved slightly on its mountings and is now slightly mis-aligned.

The question is ...... if an aerial is mis-aligned slightly is it possible for the relative signal strengths of the different muxes to switch around so that C25 which was stronger than C29 when the aerial was correctly aligned becomes weaker than C29 once the aerial is moved slightly. Any advice about this would be much appreciated.

The second issue concerned the stations actually being broadcast on C29. Even my Son's TV with the set-top aerial still only picks up one TV station on C29 which is ITV. So that rules out any issue with my coax cabling or signal booster.

Either C29 now only transmits ITV and the Freeview technical person is not aware of this, or ITV on Mux 29 is somehow being geographically directed differently to the other channels supposedly being broadcast on C29 so that we can only pick up the one channel. Once again, I've no idea whether idividual channels on a Mux can be directed in different directions or even given individual signal strengths but at least I know my roof-top aerial cabling and booster are not the problem.

I don't think that there is much more I can do other than ask Mark the aerial guy to come back when the weather improves and perhaps compare Ridge Hill with Sutton Coldfield or Lark Stoke.

Richard

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Richard Sutton's 13 posts GB flag
Sunday, 3 January 2016
J
jb38
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

12:52 AM

Richard Sutton: On having studied your update re the situation with regards to C29, and especially your report on that picked up by your sons Toshiba TV using an entirely different aerial from your own, I am beginning to think along the lines that irrespective of that published, ITV1 regional news services is the only programme being transmitted on that particular multiplex, and if so, possibly because of the unforeseen chaos created by programmes broadcast (previously?) by this multiplex using the same EPG numbers as C25, meaning that viewers would have to select EPG numbers in the 800 ranges in order to view certain channels. Although I do intend to further investigate this issue.

As far as programme channels on one particular mux is concerned, its impossible for them to be geographically directed, as its only the aerial system used by the multiplex transmitter that carries them that can be beamed to favour certain areas, and which dependant on your location, "might" possibly be reason why C25 is received at a higher level than C29, as both transmitters radiate on 20Kw.

However that said, can you confirm the following. That on the previous occasion when you carried out a reset on your TV or Humax box prior to manually scanning C29, that the ITV regional news service was the only programme channel received, and that nothing was listed anywhere else including the 800 channel range?








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jb38's 7,179 posts GB flag
J
jb38
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

8:19 AM

Richard Sutton : Re - my comment in previous reply..."irrespective of that published", this was said with reference to UK DTT Freeview channel list : British Isles: England: Central: Ridge Hill: Ridge Hill West as seen on link below.

Freeview HD local/regional channel list | British Isles: England: Central: Ridge Hill: Ridge Hill West




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jb38's 7,179 posts GB flag
R
Richard Sutton
9:55 AM

jb38: However that said, can you confirm the following. That on the previous occasion when you carried out a reset on your TV or Humax box prior to manually scanning C29, that the ITV regional news service was the only programme channel received, and that nothing was listed anywhere else including the 800 channel range?

Many thanks JB38. I may be getting the terms wrong here but can I just clarify that the ITV station being broadcast on Ridge Hill C29 is not just the regional news but all ITV programmes.

Before my recent problems with reception on C25, tuning the Sony TV was easy on auto because at some point during the tuning process it asks whether you are in the reception area "Midlands" or "Gloucestershire" (or something similar to those terms). I used to enter "Midlands" and I then knew that C25 would be selected rather than C29. This was how I knew that the reception problems had started a few months ago because the picture on ITV , Ch4 and Ch5 on C25 started breaking up. I get around this now by manually tuning to ITV on C29 but Ch4 and Ch5 still have to remain on C25 as they are not being broadcast on C29 so these two stations have poor picture quality.

We didn't have the Humax back then but a Windows Vista Media Centre which I built about 8 years ago. This has always struggled with the Ridge Hill transmitter although it was fine in the early days with Sutton Coldfield. The Media Centre on Ridge Hill would make a complete mess on auto-tune and there was not manual tune facility which always annoyed me. The MC would first find C25 and detect the Midlands transmission but it would then move to C29 and re-discover them so would over-write the C25 versions and leave me with it tuned in to the weaker mux. I used to avoid this by disconnecting the booster to degrade the C29 signal so it would not detect C29. When C29 became "stronger" signal earlier this year I had real problems getting a good set of stations but then Microsoft withdrew the Vista Guide Service in October so I gave up with the Media Centre and bought the Humax.

I would be interested on your opinion on whether a roof-top aerial which is slightly mis-aligned can receive the muxes in a different order of signal strength/quality to an aerial which is correctly aligned ..... or do all muxes degrade equally as the aerial is moved off-target. Bear in mind that the aerial is not actually line of sight but there is a low hill in the way if this makes any difference.

Many thanks

Richard

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