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Full Freeview on the Carmel (Carmarthenshire, Wales) transmitter

first published this on - UK Free TV
sa_streetviewGoogle Streetviewsa_gmapsGoogle mapsa_bingBing mapsa_gearthGoogle Earthsa_gps51.818,-4.067 or 51°49'5"N 4°4'3"Wsa_postcodeSA14 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.

This transmitter has no current reported problems

The BBC and Digital UK report there are no faults or engineering work on the Carmel (Carmarthenshire, Wales) 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 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.

MuxH/VFrequencyHeightModeWatts
PSB1
BBCA
 H max
C23- (489.8MHz)411mDTG-20,000W
Channel icons
1 BBC One (SD) Wales, 2 BBC Two Wales, 9 BBC Four, 23 BBC Three, 201 CBBC, 202 CBeebies, 231 BBC News, 232 BBC Parliament, plus 14 others

PSB2
D3+4
 H max
C26 (514.0MHz)411mDTG-20,000W
Channel icons
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 (Wales), 71 That’s 60s,

PSB3
BBCB
 H max
C29 (538.0MHz)411mDTG-20,000W
Channel icons
46 5SELECT, 101 BBC One HD Wales, 102 BBC Two HD Wales, 104 Channel 4 HD South ads, 105 Channel 5 HD, 106 BBC Four HD, 110 Channel 4 HD (Wales), 204 CBBC HD, 205 CBeebies HD, plus 1 others

COM4
SDN
 H -3dB
C33 (570.0MHz)411mDTG-810,000W
Channel icons
 E4 (Wales), 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, 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 -3dB
C36 (594.0MHz)411mDTG-810,000W
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 -3dB
C48 (690.0MHz)411mDTG-810,000W
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)

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?

regional news image
BBC Wales Today 1.2m homes 4.7%
from Cardiff CF5 2YQ, 68km east-southeast (122°)
to BBC Wales region - 206 masts.
regional news image
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?

AbergorlechActive deflectorDyfed5 homes
CwmereActive deflector11 km NE Aberystwyth10 homes

How will the Carmel (Carmarthenshire, Wales) transmission frequencies change over time?

1984-971997-981998-20092009-132013-182013-1717 Jul 2019
C/D EC/D EC/D EC/D EC/D E TC/D E TW T
C23BBCA
C26D3+4
C29BBCB
C33SDN
C36ArqA
C48ArqB
C49tv_off ArqBArqB
C53tv_offC4wavesC4wavesC4wavesD3+4D3+4D3+4
C54tv_offSDNSDNSDN
C55tv_off_local_local_local_local
C57tv_offBBC1wavesBBC1wavesBBC1wavesBBCBBBCBBBCB
C58tv_offArqAArqAArqA
C60tv_offITVwavesITVwavesITVwaves -BBCA-BBCA
C61ArqB
C63BBC2wavesBBC2wavesBBC2waves

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

Jan 1958-Jul 1968Television Wales and the West
Jul 1968-Feb 2004Harlech Television
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. Carmel 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?

Radiation patterns withheld

Comments
Friday, 19 July 2019
a human
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.

link to this comment
a human's 1 post GB flag
M
Michael
sentiment_satisfiedGold

11:37 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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Michael's 872 posts GB flag
Saturday, 20 July 2019
C
Chris.SE
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

12:02 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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Chris.SE's 4,404 posts GB flag
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....

link to this comment
Roger mellie's 1 post GB flag
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


link to this comment
Roger mellie's 1 post GB flag
P
Pete
11:38 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.





link to this comment
Pete's 1 post RO flag
N
nobody
sentiment_satisfiedBronze

5:03 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!



link to this comment
nobody's 51 posts SE flag
C
Chris.SE
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

6:50 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 4,404 posts GB flag
Chris.SE's: mapC's Freeview map terrainC's terrain plot wavesC's frequency data C's Freeview Detailed Coverage
C
Chris.SE
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

7:00 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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Chris.SE's 4,404 posts GB flag
Sunday, 21 July 2019
M
Michael
sentiment_satisfiedGold

11:07 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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Michael's 872 posts GB flag
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