Full Freeview on the Tacolneston (Norfolk, England) transmitter
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The symbol shows the location of the Tacolneston (Norfolk, England) transmitter which serves 330,000 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 Tacolneston (Norfolk, England) transmitter._______
Digital television services are broadcast on a multiplexes (or Mux) where many stations occupy a single broadcast frequency, as shown below.
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 Freeview channels does the Tacolneston 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.
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 Tacolneston transmitter?
BBC Look East (East) 0.8m homes 3.2%
from Norwich NR2 1BH, 16km northeast (37°)
to BBC East region - 27 masts.
70% of BBC East (East) and BBC East (West) is shared output
ITV Anglia News 0.8m homes 3.2%
from NORWICH NR1 3JG, 16km northeast (38°)
to ITV Anglia (East) region - 26 masts.
All of lunch, weekend and 80% evening news is shared with Anglia (West)
Are there any self-help relays?
| Gt Yarmouth | Transposer | 1 km S town centre | 30 homes |
| Lowestoft (2) | Transposer | Rotterdam Rd | 125 homes |
How will the Tacolneston (Norfolk, England) transmission frequencies change over time?
| 1950s-80s | 1984-97 | 1997-98 | 1998-2011 | 2011-13 | 2013-18 | 2013-17 | 17 Jul 2018 | ||
| VHF | C/D E | C/D E | C/D E | E | E T | W T | W T | ||
| C3 | BBCtvwaves | ||||||||
| C31 | com7 | com7 | |||||||
| C32 | _local | ||||||||
| C37 | com8 | com8 | |||||||
| C39 | +ArqB | +ArqB | ArqB | ||||||
| C40 | BBCA | ||||||||
| C42 | SDN | SDN | SDN | SDN | |||||
| C43 | D3+4 | ||||||||
| C45 | ArqA | ArqA | ArqA | ArqA | |||||
| C46 | BBCB | ||||||||
| C50tv_off | BBCB | BBCB | |||||||
| C52tv_off | C5waves | C5waves | |||||||
| C55tv_off | BBC2waves | BBC2waves | BBC2waves | -BBCA | -BBCA | -BBCA | com7tv_off | ||
| C56tv_off | COM8tv_off | ||||||||
| C57tv_off | LNR | LNR | |||||||
| C59tv_off | ITVwaves | ITVwaves | ITVwaves | -D3+4 | -D3+4 | -D3+4 | |||
| C62 | BBC1waves | BBC1waves | BBC1waves | BBCB | |||||
| C65 | C4waves | C4waves | C4waves |
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 9 Nov 11 and 23 Nov 11.
How do the old analogue and currrent digital signal levels compare?
| Analogue 1-4 | 250kW | |
| SDN, ARQA, ARQB, BBCA, D3+4, BBCB | (-4dB) 100kW | |
| com7 | (-9.6dB) 27.4kW | |
| com8 | (-10.2dB) 24kW | |
| Mux 1*, Mux 2*, LNR | (-14dB) 10kW | |
| Mux A*, Mux B*, Mux C*, Mux D* | (-17dB) 5kW | |
| Analogue 5 | (-18dB) 4kW |
Local transmitter maps
Tacolneston Freeview Tacolneston DAB Tacolneston TV region BBC East Anglia (East micro region)Which companies have run the Channel 3 services in the Tacolneston transmitter area
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Monday, 24 October 2016
C
Chris5:19 PM
Saxmundham
I'm on the edge of the Tacolneston service area (IP17 1NP) and although most of the multiplexes are OK COM7 and COM8 are too weak even with a DAT45 + MRD. Any suggestions? Will this improve after 2019?
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Chris's: mapC's Freeview map terrainC's terrain plot wavesC's frequency data C's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Wednesday, 26 October 2016
R
Richard Cooper12:24 PM
Chris: How high is your DAT45 mounted? Obviously the higher the better. Com 7 & Com 8 will no longer exist after DSO2, sometime between 2017 and 2020. If I were you, I'd put the DAT45 on a taller mast pole and ensure my masthead amplifier had at least 26 decibels gain. Hope this helps, Richard in Norwich.
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Richard's: mapR's Freeview map terrainR's terrain plot wavesR's frequency data R's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Friday, 4 November 2016
There is interference from the Sandy Heath transmitter when resetting channels in the Watton, Thetford area of Norfolk. You need to a specific manual load first of the frequencies from Tacolneston.
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Monday, 14 November 2016
T
Terry Hall 5:53 PM
Recently my signal strength on CH50 from the Tacolneston transmitter varies between weak and absent. All 5 of the other channels register almost 100%. Today I have had a new Labgear LAB450T high gain aerial fitted on a mast clamped to the chimney breast. I live at one of the highest points in Lowestoft, where reception is generally very good. My aerial is fed directly to a TVonics DTR HD-500 PVR. This is connected to the TV via high quality HDMI cable. I don't have any devices that output a UHF signal. I have manually tuned the receiver to avoid picking up any channels from thenearby local transmitter at Lowestoft College. The new aerial has 4G filtering so this rules out any issues there. I don't know what more I can do. Is anyone else having the same problem or know of any reason for this.
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J
jb388:50 PM
Terry Hall : The HD reception problem referred to could possibly be caused by one of two reasons, as HD reception is far more vulnerable to being interfered with over that of SD.
1: The HDMI lead referred to being positioned too close to the aerial cable, as radiation from an HDMI lead can interfere with digital reception, said interference being of a selective nature by blocking one single Mux whilst others are unaffected, best keep a minimum of about six inches clearance between HDMI and coax cables.
2: And a more frequent cause of HD reception problems, that of the signal level being excessively high for the DVB-T2 (HD) side of the tuner, as instability resulting from a slightly "over the top" signal level can either completely block HD reception, or alternatively varying levels of intermittent reception, the only way to find out if this is applicable or not in your particular case being to try installing a signal attenuator (around 6 - 9dB) in-line with the coax going into your PVR's aerial socket.
Another point to note, being that the signal strength indications cannot be relied on under the aforementioned conditions, as instability affects the measuring circuitry and with the signal quality usually either being non existent or alternatively observed to rapidly dive up and down.
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Saturday, 19 November 2016
T
Terry Hall 11:37 PM
jb38: I have now solved the issue of poor or no reception of HD channels on ch50 from Tacolneston. Hopefully this may help someone else. I first reset my HD reveiver box which forced me to retune all channels. I selected manual mode so that I could select just ch50 (HD channels). Everything was perfect with full signal strength on all HD channels. The problem returned when I also tuned the remaining channels. The offender being ch55. For some reason, Tacolneston is broadcasting some of the HD channels on ch55 as well as ch50. This may not be an issue on all receivers, but on my TVonics PVR-HDR500 it caused my HD channels on ch50 to constantly drop out. I reset the box again and retunes using only channels 31,37,39,42,45,50 & 59. By leaving out ch55, everything is perfect. If I had allowed autotune it would have included ch55. The only channels of significance that I have lost by not tuning ch55 is BBBC1 & BBC2 non HD. Which is of no loss to me.
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Sunday, 20 November 2016
J
jb3810:54 AM
Terry Hall : Good news then! At least up to a point anyway, as although its pleasing to know that you have found a way around the problem, although the method used to alleviate same can suggest that it's really being caused by varying levels of instability in the tuner, your previous report of C50 levels varying between 60% and zero being inclined to back this up. Therefore, although not wishing to say - "upset the apple cart" - I would really be interested in the result of carrying out the following test based on you having previously reported an aerial lead reading of 76dB, as although this level is generally perfectly OK on the majority of recently manufactured Freeview devices, it's possibly a tad high for your slightly older TVonics, as the "in practice" target levels are 51 - 71dB, Ofcom recommended levels being 45 - 65dB.
The test involves reinstalling the attenuator and adjusting same to give a reading of 70dB followed by carrying out a manual tune on Mux55, should this knock out C50, reduce the attenuator to 65% followed by carrying out an "auto" retune. If though none of these tests achieve the desired result, then unfortunately have no option other than to revert to retuning the box minus C55.
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T
Terry Hall 3:23 PM
jb38: Thank you for the reply and suggestions. I should have clarified that the aerial fitters reading of 76db was at the aerial not the cable end. Although the very highest grade of coax was used, I doubt it would be 76db at the cable end. After a successful retune with all channels at near max strength, I then spent some considerable time re-ordering the channel list. This is quite a lengthy and time consuming task on the DTR-HD500. I am therefore reluctant to carry out any further testing, as the only channels I have missing are BBC1 & BBC2 non-hd. My main aim has been to restore all HD channels which has now been achived. But I would like to thank you for your interest and taking the time to respond.
Kind regards
Terry Hall
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Monday, 21 November 2016
J
jb386:56 PM
Terry Hall : No problem! Fully understandable, as I did have my doubts as to whether or not you would actually welcome the idea of possibly having to repeat the admittedly time consuming task of re-installing what you have already done, especially when purely for test purposes, and of course I fully appreciate the fact of you have already expressed the view that you aren't particularly bothered about losing BBC1's SD channels.
Anyway, should at any time you ever have second thoughts on the matter use the procedure as mentioned in my previous reply but with the following change, being to select ITV (Mux 59) followed by reinstalling the attenuator then *slightly* reducing the signal level indicated on same (e.g: if 90% reduce to 85 or 80%) before manually tuning in the BBC SD mux on C55, this action required now it's known that the 76dB previously referred to was taken by the aerial installer and not by yourself. If though this procedure fails to cure the problem then abandon the test, as the whole issue is really down to a tuner or software problem.
Bye the way, regarding the 76dB aerial end signal strength, this would only be expected to have reduced by about 1.5dB or so on high grade cable run of around 30 feet, should this distance be representative of your installation.
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Tuesday, 22 November 2016
T
Terry Hall4:23 PM
jb38: Great call on the attenuator. although I was somewhat reluctant to retune again, I have now done so for a couple of reasons. Mainly because of experiencing some spurious pixelation on HD channels. Not the kind that you would normally associate with drop out due to poor signal, as the signal remained constant. And nothing I have ever experienced before. I now believe that this is due to my received signal being to strong for my Tvonics receiver as you suggested it might be. The other reason was the loss of BBC regional news coverage. So I reset the receiver and retuned to Tacolneston channels 31,37,39,42,45,50,55 & 59 after inserting a fixed 6db attenuator. Problem solved and all channels excellent. Signal strength as measured by the receiver is still very high on all channels apart from a slight drop on ch59. So sincere thanks for your suggestions and encouraging me to look at it again.
Apart from too high a signal strength, I believe I have now got to the bottom of what has been causing an issue for some time, and may be of some help to other users in some parts of Lowestoft. I live at one of the highest parts Lowestoft and my aerial points near enough west towards Tacolneston. Directly east about 1/2 mile away is the Lowestoft local transmitter on the college. When I tried to tune Tacolneston ch55, the available programs list also showed 4HD channels that I had already tuned on ch50. I stupidly beleived that these were being transmitted from Tacolneston. I now believe that these were picked up on the back end of my aerial on ch56 from the nearby Lowestoft transmitter. It would appear that the 6db attenuation is just enough to prevent this from happening and also enough to prevent the receiver overload on my HD channels. I'm sure other people in my area must be having similar issues. Especially if they allow their receivers to auto tune, which will just pick up everything. So thanks again for all your help and advice.
Kind regards
Terry Hall
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