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Full Freeview on the Bluebell Hill (Medway, England) transmitter

first published this on - UK Free TV
sa_streetviewGoogle Streetviewsa_gmapsGoogle mapsa_bingBing mapsa_gearthGoogle Earthsa_gps51.324,0.520 or 51°19'25"N 0°31'13"Esa_postcodeME5 9RD

 

The symbol shows the location of the Bluebell Hill (Medway, England) transmitter which serves 200,000 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 Bluebell Hill (Medway, 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 Bluebell 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
C32 (562.0MHz)242mDTG-20,000W
Channel icons
1 BBC One (SD) South East, 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
C34 (578.0MHz)242mDTG-20,000W
Channel icons
3 ITV 1 (SD) (Meridian (East 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
 H max
C45+ (666.2MHz)242mDTG-20,000W
Channel icons
46 5SELECT, 101 BBC One HD South East, 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

COM4
SDN
 H max
C40 (626.0MHz)242mDTG-820,000W
Channel icons
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 max
C43+ (650.2MHz)245mDTG-820,000W
Channel icons
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 max
C46 (674.0MHz)245mDTG-820,000W
Channel icons
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

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 Bluebell Hill transmitter?

regional news image
BBC South East Today 0.8m homes 3.2%
from Tunbridge Wells TN1 1QQ, 28km southwest (218°)
to BBC South East region - 45 masts.
regional news image
ITV Meridian News 0.7m homes 2.7%
from Maidstone ME14 5NZ, 5km south-southeast (155°)
to ITV Meridian (East) region - 36 masts.
All of lunch, weekend and 50% evening news is shared with all of Meridian plus Oxford

How will the Bluebell Hill (Medway, England) transmission frequencies change over time?

1984-971997-981998-20122012-1319 Jul 2018
EEEW TW T
C21_local
C28_local
C32com7
C34com8
C39+ArqA
C40BBC1wavesBBC1wavesBBC1waves+BBCBSDN
C43ITVwavesITVwavesITVwavesD3+4ArqA
C45SDNBBCB
C46BBC2wavesBBC2wavesBBC2wavesBBCAArqB
C54tv_offArqB
C55tv_offcom7tv_off
C56tv_offCOM8tv_off
C65C4wavesC4wavesC4waves

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 13 Jun 12 and 27 Jun 12.

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

Analogue 1-4 30kW
SDN, ARQA, ARQB, BBCA, D3+4, BBCB(-1.8dB) 20kW
com8(-7.8dB) 5kW
com7(-8.1dB) 4.7kW
Mux 1*, Mux B*, Mux C*, Mux D*(-10dB) 3kW
Mux 2*, Mux A*(-11.8dB) 2kW

Which companies have run the Channel 3 services in the Bluebell Hill transmitter area

Sep 1955-Jul 1968Associated-Rediffusion†
Sep 1955-Jul 1968Associated TeleVision◊
Jul 1968-Dec 1981Thames†
Jul 1968-Dec 1981London Weekend Television♦
Jan 1982-Dec 1992Television South (TVS)
Jan 1993-Feb 2004Meridian
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. Bluebell Hill 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
Sunday, 9 October 2016
R
Richard Cooper
sentiment_satisfiedGold

5:06 PM

Neil: Hi, Neil. On Sunday 9th. Octber at 5:04 p.m, there are no reported problems on Bluebell Hill, which means that the transmitter is functioning properly in full working order with no engineering works going on. Richard in Norwich.

link to this comment
Richard Cooper's 471 posts GB flag
Richard's: mapR's Freeview map terrainR's terrain plot wavesR's frequency data R's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Saturday, 15 October 2016
C
Colin Smith
10:36 AM
Sittingbourne

I have recently moved to a house in Rodmersham 1.5 miles from Sittingbourne ME9 0LR,the antenna is in the roof and is ok but signal tests suggest a weaker than normal signal it is pointing east,according to the maps the nearest Transmitter is in Maidstone to the west,I am not able to figure this out as the other houses are pointing both east and west,there appears to be very little signal when pointing west to the Bluebell hill transmitter,any thoughts?

link to this comment
Colin Smith's 1 post GB flag
Colin's: mapC's Freeview map terrainC's terrain plot wavesC's frequency data C's Freeview Detailed Coverage
MikeP
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

12:53 PM

Colin Smith:

Looking at the information accessed via the blue boxes below your posting, it is clear that Bluebell Hill is the best option. Your are only 16 km away and your aerial would need to point due west. However, when you retuned after moving it is likely that your equipment picked up Crystal Palace instead of Bluebell Hill, they are almost in the same direction. Crystal Palace signals are in Group A so appear before those from Bluebell Hill which are in Group B. The digitaluk trade information shows which channels you should be using. I suggest you firstly check that your aerial is a Group B type, or better still a log-periodic one, and is aimed due west at 270 degrees. Then unplug the aerial from the equipment and do a full retune to clear out the unwanted settings. Then start another retune but plug the aerial back in when it reaches Channel 31. That should mean it get the services from Bluebell Hill. If there are any problems, then a manual tune of each multiplex may be required, using the channel data shown in that digitaluk trade information.

BTW, there is no TV transmitter in Maidstone shown on any of the location data available.

The only other transmitter possible is at Dover, which is south east of your location but is shown as giving very poor reception. It is a Group C service so an aerial for that will not be very good for Crystal Palace and not ideal for Bluebell Hill.

Hope that helps?



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MikeP's 3,056 posts GB flag
MikeP
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

12:56 PM

Colin Smith:

Sorry, also meant to mention that as you are relatively close to Bluebell Hill you should ensure that the signal strengths shown for each multiplex is not too strong. A strength between 65% and 85% is best, more than that usually results in pictures breaking up and often sound problems. You will not need any form of booster or amplification.



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MikeP's 3,056 posts GB flag
Saturday, 24 December 2016
M
mark
9:38 PM

Since the work yesterday at bluebell hill I have no free view channels at all please advise

link to this comment
mark's 1 post GB flag
M
mark
9:43 PM

I live in seasalter Kent and have NO free view channels at all can you tell me why please

link to this comment
mark's 1 post GB flag
Sunday, 25 December 2016
MikeP
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

5:06 PM

Mark:

According to the Transmitter Engineering entries, Bluebell Hill is on weak signals at present. Hence some may have reception problems. DO NOT retune.



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MikeP's 3,056 posts GB flag
Thursday, 29 December 2016
K
Ken Reaveley
12:10 AM

Once again BBC4's signal is lost tonight, trying to watch James May's re-assembler about 4472 Flying Scotsman at 21;00. Will it be working tomorrow at 21:00 when 60103 (AKA 4472) Flying Scotsman on the SVR?
BBC 4 part of the Channel 32 Group @ 562.00MHz Channels 107 BBC News HD 108, 109,110, 113 124, 56, 67,71,77,81,82, 86 & 87 at least all displaying no signal. Kept retuning including London, nothing. So according to you post Bluebell Hill is experiencing weak signals, don't retune!
At least with analogue, you could still see a picture, even if it was a bit noisy.
So why are we fiddling with the equipment over Christmas Holidays, - just like the trains. We can't go anywhere and if we stay at home our Freeview signal is un-reliable. Great planning.

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Ken Reaveley's 11 posts GB flag
D
Donna hills
5:22 PM

Why have i got no singal from blue bell hill had nothing all day is there a problem

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Donna hills's 1 post GB flag
John Buchanan
10:14 PM

I have noticed interference on com7, particularly CBeebies HD and BBC NEWS HD. This channel seems to be lower power than the others. Atmospheric pressure very high, contributes to interference.

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John Buchanan's 12 posts GB flag
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