Full Freeview on the Carmel (Carmarthenshire, Wales) transmitter
 | Google Streetview |  | Google map |  | Bing map |  | Google Earth |  | 51.818,-4.067 or 51°49'5"N 4°4'3"W |  | SA14 7NA |
The symbol shows the location of the Carmel (Carmarthenshire, Wales) transmitter which serves 72,000 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 Carmel (Carmarthenshire, Wales) mast?
Carmel transmitter - Carmel transmitter: Possible effect on TV reception week commencing 18/11/2024 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)
The Carmel (Carmarthenshire, Wales) mast is a public service broadcasting (PSB) transmitter, it does not provide these commercial (COM) channels: .
If you want to watch these channels, your aerial must point to one of the 80 Full service Freeview transmitters. For more information see the will there ever be more services on the Freeview Light transmitters? page.
Which Freeview channels does the Carmel 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)
The Carmel (Carmarthenshire, Wales) mast is a public service broadcasting (PSB) transmitter, it does not provide these commercial (COM) channels: .
If you want to watch these channels, your aerial must point to one of the 80 Full service Freeview transmitters. For more information see the will there ever be more services on the Freeview Light transmitters? page.
Which BBC and ITV regional news can I watch from the Carmel transmitter?
BBC Wales Today 1.2m homes 4.7%
from Cardiff CF5 2YQ, 68km east-southeast (122°)
to BBC Wales region - 206 masts.
ITV Cymru Wales 1.2m homes 4.7%
from Cardiff CF5 6XJ, 68km southeast (127°)
to ITV Wales region - 206 masts.
Are there any self-help relays?
| Abergorlech | Active deflector | Dyfed | 5 homes |
| Cwmere | Active deflector | 11 km NE Aberystwyth | 10 homes |
How will the Carmel (Carmarthenshire, Wales) transmission frequencies change over time?
| 1984-97 | 1997-98 | 1998-2009 | 2009-13 | 2013-18 | 2013-17 | 17 Jul 2019 | |||
| C/D E | C/D E | C/D E | C/D E | C/D E T | C/D E T | W T | |||
| C23 | BBCA | ||||||||
| C26 | D3+4 | ||||||||
| C29 | BBCB | ||||||||
| C33 | SDN | ||||||||
| C36 | ArqA | ||||||||
| C48 | ArqB | ||||||||
| C49tv_off | ArqB | ArqB | |||||||
| C53tv_off | C4waves | C4waves | C4waves | D3+4 | D3+4 | D3+4 | |||
| C54tv_off | SDN | SDN | SDN | ||||||
| C55tv_off | _local | _local | _local | _local | |||||
| C57tv_off | BBC1waves | BBC1waves | BBC1waves | BBCB | BBCB | BBCB | |||
| C58tv_off | ArqA | ArqA | ArqA | ||||||
| C60tv_off | ITVwaves | ITVwaves | ITVwaves | -BBCA | -BBCA | ||||
| C61 | ArqB | ||||||||
| C63 | BBC2waves | BBC2waves | BBC2waves |
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 26 Aug 09 and 23 Sep 09.
How do the old analogue and currrent digital signal levels compare?
| Analogue 1-4 | 100kW | |
| BBCA, D3+4, BBCB | (-7dB) 20kW | |
| SDN, ARQA, ARQB | (-10dB) 10kW | |
| Mux A* | (-13dB) 5kW | |
| Mux 1*, Mux 2*, Mux B* | (-16dB) 2.5kW | |
| Mux C*, Mux D* | (-20dB) 1000W |
Which companies have run the Channel 3 services in the Carmel transmitter area
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Is the transmitter output the same in all directions?
Radiation patterns withheldFriday, 19 July 2019
11:32 PM
Roger Mellie:
"If you are rude or disrespectful all of your posts will be deleted and you will be banned."
Well I guess you'll know a way round that as you're making out you are more clever than Derek Brabrook who may be well qualified and experienced but is only human and can make mistakes or accidentally omit to mention something relevant. Do you have better qualifications? Are you actually receiving COM6 from Carmel, if so, what's you postcode as Chris.SE asked, as you could be in a different direction from Derek? Maybe you work for Arqiva and have been out to check for yourself - funny Derek's neighbour can't receive COM6 either!
As you're so well qualified, knowledgeable and experienced, perhaps you could make a more constructive and helpful post to help Derek find something he might have missed.
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M
Michael11:37 PM
Following the Carmel re-tune on 17 July, on a log-periodic antenna
muxes on channels 23,26,29,33 and 36 are received on the North Devon coast,
but not the mux on the higher frequency of ch 48.
The Ilfracombe relay "shares" channels 33,36 and 48 with Carmel.
Ilfracombe HD is on ch 48, so HD co-channel might be a problem.
Or is Carmel Arqiva-B on a frequency other than the announced ch 48 (690MHz),
which is surprisingly much higher than the others ?
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Saturday, 20 July 2019
C
Chris.SE12:02 AM
Michael:
That's a very interesting bit of news about reception on the N.Devon coast. As far as C48 for ArqB is concerned that is correct see Coverage Checker - Detailed View
There a similar sort of situation at Mendip with SDN on C48 somewhat higher than the other muxes.
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R
Roger mellie 9:45 AM
Selby
a human: am I better qualified? Yes, my real name is on the blue book...
Am I receiving com6 from carmel? Yes
Where am I? None of yours mate. But, I've driven with a receiver through the complaint postcode...
Do I work for them? No. I'm an Independent engineer but do contracts for the aerial industry
Do I give a monkies about what you think? No
Oh, and apart from the 'new' estate which don't have rooftop aerials, everyone around that area use Preseli... I wonder why....
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Roger's: mapR's Freeview map terrainR's terrain plot wavesR's frequency data R's Freeview Detailed Coverage
R
Roger mellie 11:17 AM
a human: ok then, a more "constructive" post -
1. Carmel might well be closer, but it is not the preferred station for the area, that would be Preseli, which the OP was originally tuned to. Go back to Preseli!
2. Regardless of what your distribution filter saws, arrange for the incoming signal strength from the aerial to be nno more than 80 to 85% anything highter will lead to overloading and corruption.
3. Check the aerial, cable, connectors for any signs of water ingress or damage - rain getting in can attenuate a ssingle mux yet leave the others fine.
4. Do away with the Johnson unit entirely! It's simply not needed and is only complicating the system
A normal active distribution amp is more than enough
5. Make sure the only amplification is just enough to over come the loss in the cables. Do not try to increase overall signal strength using an amp. If it's not strong enough, fit a better antenna
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P
Pete11:38 AM
My mother lives in SA18, since midweek retune, C36 multiplex can only be found by manual scanning, even then reception is very poor often cannot be decoded. A friend a few miles away from her has same problem.
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N
nobody5:03 PM
Roger mellie : 80 to 85% of what exactly; the manufacturer's totally meaningless arbitrary scale?
Isn't it nice to hear from a real, qualified, expert on here again!
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C
Chris.SE6:50 PM
Carmarthen
Roger mellie:
I'm afraid I agree with nobody & a human. BTW there's lots of Blue books, you don't seem willing to give much detail yet willing to criticise all and sundry and it comes as no surprise that you don't give a monkies about what any of us think.
Not that I agree with various bits of information that's on the Digitaluk Coverage checker BUT it's usually right when it says what the most likely transmitter is, but you seem to want to disagree with them for the SA31 3NL postcode where it clearly gives Carmel as the most likely transmitter and predicted reception is also better from Carmel especially the COM muxes, so how do you figure that Preseli is the "preferred" transmitter? I think you are just here causing trouble, so far your "comments" haven't really been constructive and what you claim to be constructive advise isn't really either.
Derek isn't the only one complaining about reception problems, now either Arqiva have changed the radiation pattern since the retune event - which doesn't seem to agree with their predicted reception, or there's some mysterious as yet to be identified fault. I think the latter, and I also agree that "advice" & "information" from Freeview that has been sought about this is as usless as a "chocolate teapot". They are dishing out standard "boiler-plate" responses about retuning advice, oh and I heard similar regarding Mendip when people contacted them about a new aerial where there are supposed to provide assistance.
Derek Brabrook: & Michael:
Is the situation still the same, you and neighbours not getting COM6?
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Chris.SE's: mapC's Freeview map terrainC's terrain plot wavesC's frequency data C's Freeview Detailed Coverage
C
Chris.SE7:00 PM
Pete:
At the moment several of us think that there's an issue at the transmitter probably with the antenna. If you are still having a problem, ring the Freeview advice line on 0808 100 0288 and complain that you have followed the retuning advice and still have a problem and also there seem to be a number of people complaining about reception problems from Carmel especially in a general Southerly & Westerly direction.
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Sunday, 21 July 2019
M
Michael11:07 AM
Sunday 21 July, midday : On the North Devon coast, Carmel channel 48 received. Weak signal, but without pixelation. Reception here is affected by the high tidal range in the Bristol Channel affecting the signal to varying degrees. So the Carmel transmitter is operating as scheduled. Both Arqiva-A and Arqiva-B are weaker transmitters, so can be the first to "wobble" in adverse propagation conditions. If others are not receving Carmel ch 48 overland (ie in South Wales) it just might be that the radiation pattern has been modified by Arqiva to address possible interference with the Ilfracombe relay.
I look forward to further reception updates from South Wales!
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