Full Freeview on the Rowridge (Isle Of Wight, England) transmitter

Brian Butterworth first published this on 1st May 2004 at 08:20 - UK Free TV

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50.676,-1.369 or 50°40'35"N 1°22'7"W

PO30 4HT

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.

Choose from three options: ■ List by multiplex ■ List by channel number ■ List by channel name

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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.

Mux	H/V	Frequency	Height	Mode	Watts
PSB1 BBCA	V max H max	C24 (498.0MHz)	320m	DTG-	200,000W 200,000W
	1 BBC One (SD) South, 2 BBC Two England, 9 BBC Four, 23 BBC Three, 201 CBBC, 202 CBeebies, 231 BBC News, 232 BBC Parliament, plus 17 others
PSB2 D3+4	V max H max	C27 (522.0MHz)	320m	DTG-	200,000W 200,000W
	3 ITV 1 (SD) (Meridian (South Coast micro region)), 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 (Meridian south coast), 71 That’s 60s,
PSB3 BBCB	V max H max	C21+ (474.2MHz)	320m	DTG-	200,000W 200,000W
	46 5SELECT, 101 BBC One HD South, 102 BBC Two HD England, 103 ITV 1 HD (ITV Meridian Southampton), 104 Channel 4 HD South ads, 105 Channel 5 HD, 106 BBC Four HD, 107 BBC Three HD, 204 CBBC HD, 205 CBeebies HD, plus 1 others 66 TBN UK,
COM4 SDN	H -6dB V -6dB	C25 (506.0MHz)	299m	DTG-8	50,000W 50,000W
	20 U&Drama, 21 5USA, 29 ITV2 +1, 32 5STAR, 33 5Action, 38 Channel 5 +1, 41 Legend, 42 GREAT! action, 57 U&Dave ja vu, 58 ITV3 +1, 59 ITV4 +1, 64 Blaze, 67 TRUE CRIME, 68 TRUE CRIME XTRA, 81 Blaze +1, 83 Together TV, 91 WildEarth, 93 ITVBe +1, 209 Ketchup TV, 210 Ketchup Too, 211 YAAAS!, 251 Al Jazeera English, 255 FRANCE 24 (in English), 265 Rok Sky +1, plus 29 others
COM5 ArqA	H -6dB V -6dB	C22+ (482.2MHz)	302m	DTG-8	50,000W 50,000W
	11 Sky Mix, 17 Really, 19 U&Dave, 31 E4 Extra, 36 Sky Arts, 40 Quest Red, 43 Food Network, 47 Film4 +1, 48 Challenge, 49 4seven, 60 U&Drama +1, 65 That's TV 2, 70 Quest +1, 74 &UYesterday +1, 76 That's TV 2 MCR, 233 Sky News, plus 13 others
COM6 ArqB	H -6dB V -6dB	C28 (530.0MHz)	302m	DTG-8	50,000W 50,000W
	12 Quest, 25 U&W, 27 U&Yesterday, 34 GREAT! movies, 39 DMAX, 44 HGTV, 52 GREAT! christmas, 56 That's TV (UK), 63 GREAT! romance mix, 73 HobbyMaker, 75 That's 90s, 82 Talking Pictures TV, 84 PBS America, 235 Al Jazeera Eng, plus 18 others
LSO	H -13dB	C37 (602.0MHz)	299m	DTG-12	10,000W
	from 22nd December 2014: 7 That's Solent,

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 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	BBCtv_waves
C21		C4_waves	C4_waves	C4_waves	+BBCB	BBCB
C22					+ArqA	ArqA
C24		BBC2_waves	BBC2_waves	BBC2_waves	BBCA	BBCA
C25					SDN	SDN
C27		ITV_waves	ITV_waves	ITV_waves	D3+4	D3+4
C28					ArqB	ArqB
C29						LSO
C31		BBC1_waves	BBC1_waves	BBC1_waves		com7
C37						com8
C55_{tv_off}						com7_{tv_off}
C56_{tv_off}						COM8_{tv_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

Aug 1958-Jan 1992	Southern Television
Jan 1982-Dec 1992	Television South (TVS)
Jan 1993-Feb 2004	Meridian
Feb 2004-Dec 2014	ITV plc

Feb 1983-Dec 1992	TV-am•
Jan 1993-Sep 2010	GMTV•
Sep 2010-Dec 2014	ITV Daybreak•

• Breakfast ◊ Weekends ♦ Friday night and weekends † Weekdays only. Rowridge 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.

Is the transmitter output the same in all directions?

Brian Gregory

_{sentiment_satisfied}Bronze

5:23 PM
Reading

@brian jones
I bet it's just because these have the highest bit rates and some TVs can only just cope.
One of our SD TVs at home sometimes becomes unresponsive to the remote for a few seconds on the highest bitrate SD channels (BBC mainly).

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Brian Gregory's 23 posts GB flag

Brian's: B's Freeview map B's terrain plot B's frequency data B's Freeview Detailed Coverage

C

Chris Shaw
7:38 PM

Brian Gregory: I'm no expert but surely, if it was a problem with 'bitrate' the would be the first to suffer?

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Chris Shaw's 16 posts GB flag

MikeP

_{sentiment_very_satisfied}Platinum

2:53 PM
Trowbridge

Gentlemen:

Bit rate is a red herring! It is not relevant to the issues being reported/discussed.

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MikeP's 3,056 posts GB flag

MikeP's: M's Freeview map M's terrain plot M's frequency data M's Freeview Detailed Coverage

P

Paul Curtis
3:49 PM
Chichester

I had assumed that aerials to receive from the would be the conventional type with the dipoles(?) horizontal.

Someone told me that that was true until recently, but now the aerials should be mounted vertically, as the vertical transmission was ten times stronger. (I assume by 'vertically' they mean that the length of the remains horizontal, but is rotated 90 degrees).

I cannot make head nor tail of the Rowridge data. I don't understand MUxs, , or Groups. All the aerials I see around here point to Rowridge and are mounted conventionally.

I am wondering if someone who understands these things can shed some light on it for me please, and confirm this?

Thanks (East Wittering)

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Paul Curtis's 6 posts GB flag

Paul's: P's Freeview map P's terrain plot P's frequency data P's Freeview Detailed Coverage

J

jb38

_{sentiment_very_satisfied}Platinum

5:06 PM

Paul Curtis : Rowridges PSB1 - 2 - 3 transmitters have an ERP of 200Kw on both horizontal and vertical polarities but not where COM4 - 5 - 6 is involved, as 200Kw only applies to transmissions on vertical polarity, horizontal being limited to 50Kw to avoid the possibility of causing to 's COM transmissions on the same , i.e: - - .

Many viewers located at the extremities of Rowridges coverage area sometimes experience slightly erratic of the three COM , likewise choose to use vertical polarity for reception to take advantage of the higher powered signal, the downside of this being, that this action restricts reception of Rowridges newer COM7 / 8 Mux transmitters, as these only radiate on horizontal polarity at a much lower of 24.4 Kw / 25Kw respectively.

As far as your location is concerned, vertical polarity is indicated as providing a superior signal over that of horizontal on COM 4 -5 - 6, reception indicated on DUK's predictor as being variable on horizontal polarity.

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jb38's 7,179 posts GB flag

P

Paul Curtis
8:21 PM
Chichester

jb38: Many thanks for the quick reply.

So if I understand correctly, if I used vertical polarity, I would not receive from LSO, com7, or com8, and so I would not receive BBC4 HD or BBC News HD for example?

Have I understood correctly please?

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Paul Curtis's 6 posts GB flag

Paul's: P's Freeview map P's terrain plot P's frequency data P's Freeview Detailed Coverage

J

jb38

_{sentiment_very_satisfied}Platinum

9:39 PM

Paul Curtis: Well, nothing is really set in stone where RF signals are concerned, but judging by the levels indicated for your area from the H polarity 50Kw Com4/5/6 transmitters, I feel that its unlikely that you would receive anything of a workable strength from Com7 & 8 using a vertically polarised , let alone the 10kw LSO .

I will say though, that the in your area must be a tad higher than the DUK predictor would suggest, as you are not indicated as being able to receive the LSO transmitter, your location being just outside of the beamed signals coverage area.

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jb38's 7,179 posts GB flag

P

Paul Curtis
7:15 AM
Chichester

jb38: Thanks for the follow up. I think I will try a H polarisation first, and see how reliably that performs, and switch to V if needs be.

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Paul Curtis's 6 posts GB flag

Paul's: P's Freeview map P's terrain plot P's frequency data P's Freeview Detailed Coverage

J

jb38

_{sentiment_very_satisfied}Platinum

7:52 AM

Paul Curtis: Yes, that's by far your best policy, as vertical polarity is only really of any advantage in area's that suffer from "iffy" of Com4/5/6 on horizontal polarity.

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jb38's 7,179 posts GB flag

T

TIMOTHY GAUNTLETT
10:57 PM

Hello there, whilst my is very good I am not receiving all of the HD stations I should . I am unable to obtain the following :- 101 BBC1 HD, 102 BBC2 HD, 103 ITV HD, 104 C4 HD, etc. Other HD stations 106 upwards are all ok. Any advice please
Regards Tim

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TIMOTHY GAUNTLETT's 4 posts GB flag

Page 109

Please post a question, answer or commentIf you have Freeview reception problems before posting a question your must first do this Freeview reset procedure then see: Freeview reception has changed, Single frequency interference, and Freeview intermittent interference.

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