Full Freeview on the Bluebell Hill (Medway, England) transmitter
 | Google Streetview |  | Google map |  | Bing map |  | Google Earth |  | 51.324,0.520 or 51°19'25"N 0°31'13"E |  | ME5 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.
Are there any planned engineering works or unexpected transmitter faults on the Bluebell Hill (Medway, England) mast?
Bluebell Hill transmitter - Bluebell Hill transmitter: Possible effect on TV reception week commencing 15/04/2024 Pixelation or flickering on some or all channels 
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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
H/V: aerial position (horizontal or vertical)
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.
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?
BBC South East Today 0.8m homes 3.2%
from Tunbridge Wells TN1 1QQ, 28km southwest (218°)
to BBC South East region - 45 masts.
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?
| 1984-97 | 1997-98 | 1998-2012 | 2012-13 | 19 Jul 2018 | |||||
| E | E | E | W T | W T | |||||
| C21 | _local | ||||||||
| C28 | _local | ||||||||
| C32 | com7 | ||||||||
| C34 | com8 | ||||||||
| C39 | +ArqA | ||||||||
| C40 | BBC1waves | BBC1waves | BBC1waves | +BBCB | SDN | ||||
| C43 | ITVwaves | ITVwaves | ITVwaves | D3+4 | ArqA | ||||
| C45 | SDN | BBCB | |||||||
| C46 | BBC2waves | BBC2waves | BBC2waves | BBCA | ArqB | ||||
| C54tv_off | ArqB | ||||||||
| C55tv_off | com7tv_off | ||||||||
| C56tv_off | COM8tv_off | ||||||||
| 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 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 |
Local transmitter maps
Bluebell Hill Freeview Bluebell Hill DAB Bluebell Hill TV region BBC South East Meridian (East micro region)Which companies have run the Channel 3 services in the Bluebell Hill transmitter area
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Wednesday, 25 July 2018
MikeP
3:36 PM
3:36 PM
Sophie, Lauren and David:
If your recorders are Panasonic, please reboot them. That means switching off the mains supply to them, waiting several minutes (at least 3) and then re3starting them. That has resolved the issue for several owners, but not all.
If you wish to ensure you are receiving the correct multiplexes, please put your post code into the Digital UK Coverage Checker at Digital UK - Coverage checker Then scroll down to see the transmitter you are using. The listing will tell you what channels the various multiplexes are being broadcast on. If necessary, perform a manual tune to get them all correct.
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Thursday, 26 July 2018
D
David10:17 AM
Thank you Mike for the suggestion as to how to be able to record the HD channels. I followed your guidance and allowed 20 mins with unit unplugged. Unhappily, nothing has changed.
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B
Bertmay4:03 PM
I emailed Freeview & got this back from "Dave"
"Thank you for your email dated 23 July regarding recording problems.
I am very sorry to learn that you are experiencing difficulties with your Freeview recording function. We are aware that some Freeview equipment is experiencing difficulty recording certain channels and we are working with the manufacturers to identify a cause for this issue.
We will be back in touch when we have resolved this issue, in the meantime can you please confirm the following (if you have not already done so) which will help us in our investigations:
Postcode and house number
Software version
Additional information can be found on our website at www.freeview.co.uk or if you would rather speak to one of our advisors please phone 03456 50 50 50.
Kind Regards,
Dave"
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B
Bertmay4:08 PM
I responded with the info that was requested & below is the reply.
By the way my software (firmware) version is 1.14 on a DMR-PWT420, no newer version available
"Dear Mr. May,
Thank you for your reply email dated 25 July regarding recording problems.
Thank you for supplying all the relevant information we require to continue our investigation.
These issues do appear from time to time and previous issues do disappear after a number of weeks. However we are continuing to investigate these reports and are working with broadcasters and manufacturers to identify a cause for this issue and to avoid this occurring in the future.
We will be back in touch when we have resolved this issue and we thank you for your patience during this investigation.
Kind Regards,
Dave"
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Friday, 27 July 2018
D
David8:07 AM
Dave at Freeview is a very helpful contact and it seems that he may have solved the problem. I have no issues with my Panasonic DMRBWT720 recorder this morning and recording the once "missing channels". I checked early yesterday evening and still had the problem of not being able to record so it seems the problem has been solved in the last 12 hours or so.
Thanks to everyone on the Forum and others who helped to get a result this time around
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L
Lauren10:49 PM
Thanks for posting this David. Just tested my Panasonic recorder and I can now record all HD channels :)
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Saturday, 28 July 2018
C
Chris10:32 AM
My Panasonic DMR-HWT130 is now working correctly. The HD timer recordings have been successful since Thursday evening. Well done everyone for reporting the problem and well done Freeview for a quick resolution.
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Monday, 30 July 2018
John Buchanan
11:42 AM
11:42 AM
This site needs updating to reflect the retune event on Bluebell Hill on 19th July
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MikeP
4:31 PM
4:31 PM
John Buchanan:
We contributors are aware of that but only the site owner, Brian Butterworth (Briantist). can do that updating. Meantime, please use the Digital UK Coverage Checker at Digital UK - Coverage checker for a listing of the available transmitters at any entered post code.
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Wednesday, 1 August 2018
Hello
Up to last April /May 2018 we could receive a good signal from Bluebell Hill on UHF channels 43 and 46 to receive BBC south east programmes at 6.30pm and ITV Meridian. It was a weak signal but generally did not pixelate unless there was tropospheric ducting interference in which case we could not get anything. We have received this programme since DSO.
Now we cannot get anything. I have checked everything - the aerial connections, head amp., power to the head amp and so on. I have checked for a signal many times when the tropospheric ducting is not present, but nothing. Also I have checked local tree growth,
Admittedly we are in a fringe area but I managed to find a spot in the front garden at about 6 feet above ground level where the signal was good, as the signal seems to funnel along Old London Road, Knockholt from the east. Regards, Ray, retired BBC engineer
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