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Full Freeview on the Pontop Pike (County Durham, England) transmitter

first published this on - UK Free TV
sa_streetviewGoogle Streetviewsa_gmapsGoogle mapsa_bingBing mapsa_gearthGoogle Earthsa_gps54.868,-1.771 or 54°52'5"N 1°46'15"Wsa_postcodeDH9 9AT

 

The symbol shows the location of the Pontop Pike (County Durham, England) transmitter which serves 700,000 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 Pontop Pike (County Durham, England) mast?

Pontop Pike transmitter - Pontop Pike transmitter: Possible effect on TV reception week commencing 25/03/2024 Pixelation or flickering on some or all channels Digital tick


Choose from three options: ■ List by multiplex ■ List by channel number ■ List by channel name
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Which Freeview channels does the Pontop Pike 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
C39 (618.0MHz)447mDTG-100,000W
Channel icons
1 BBC One (SD) North East and Cumbria, 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
C42 (642.0MHz)447mDTG-100,000W
Channel icons
3 ITV 1 (SD) (Tyne Tees), 4 Channel 4 (SD) North ads, 5 Channel 5, 6 ITV 2, 10 ITV3, 13 E4, 14 Film4, 15 Channel 4 +1 North ads, 18 More4, 26 ITV4, 28 ITVBe, 30 E4 +1, 35 ITV1 +1 (Tyne Tees),

PSB3
BBCB
 H max
C45 (666.0MHz)447mDTG-100,000W
Channel icons
46 5SELECT, 101 BBC One HD North East and Cumbria, 102 BBC Two HD England, 103 ITV 1 HD (ITV Granada), 104 Channel 4 HD North 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 -3dB
C32 (562.0MHz)447mDTG-850,000W
Channel icons
20 Drama, 21 5USA, 29 ITV2 +1, 32 5STAR, 33 5Action, 38 Channel 5 +1, 41 Legend, 42 GREAT! action, 57 Dave ja vu, 58 ITVBe +1, 59 ITV3 +1, 64 Blaze, 67 TRUE CRIME, 68 TRUE CRIME XTRA, 78 TCC, 81 Blaze +1, 83 Together TV, 89 ITV4 +1, 91 WildEarth, 209 Ketchup TV, 210 Ketchup Too, 211 YAAAS!, 267 Al Jazeera English, plus 30 others

COM5
ArqA
 H -3dB
C34 (578.0MHz)447mDTG-850,000W
Channel icons
11 Sky Mix, 17 Really, 19 Dave, 31 E4 Extra, 36 Sky Arts, 40 Quest Red, 43 Food Network, 47 Film4 +1, 48 Challenge, 49 4seven, 60 Drama +1, 65 That's TV 2, 70 Quest +1, 74 Yesterday +1, 75 That's 90s, 233 Sky News, plus 11 others

COM6
ArqB
 H -3dB
C35 (586.0MHz)447mDTG-850,000W
Channel icons
12 Quest, 25 W, 27 Yesterday, 34 GREAT! movies, 39 DMAX, 44 HGTV, 52 GREAT! romance, 56 That's TV (UK), 61 GREAT! movies extra, 63 GREAT! romance mix, 71 That’s 60s, 73 HobbyMaker, 82 Talking Pictures TV, 84 PBS America, 235 Al Jazeera Eng, plus 18 others

LNE
 H -13dB
C33 (570.0MHz)447mDTG-125,000W
Channel icons
from 22nd September 2014: 7 Made in Tyne and Wear,

DTG-8 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 Pontop Pike transmitter?

regional news image
BBC Look North (Newcastle) 1.6m homes 6.0%
from Newcastle NE99 2NE, 15km northeast (42°)
to BBC North East and Cumbria region - 70 masts.
regional news image
ITV Tyne Tees News 1.4m homes 5.4%
from Gateshead NE11 9SZ, 12km north-northeast (29°)
to ITV Tyne Tees region - 47 masts.
All of lunch, weekend and 50% evening news is shared with Border

Are there any self-help relays?

Kieldor DamActive deflector6 homes Holiday complex
Low HaberActive deflectorWest Allen Dale, 18 kn SW Hexham caravan site
North HartlepoolTransposer84 homes

How will the Pontop Pike (County Durham, England) transmission frequencies change over time?

1950s-80s1984-971997-981998-20122012-1313 Nov 2019
VHFC/D EC/D EC/D EC/D E TW T
C5BBCtvwaves
C32SDN
C33com7
C34com8
C35ArqB
C39BBCA
C42D3+4
C45BBCB
C49tv_offBBCB
C50tv_offSDN
C54tv_offC4wavesC4wavesC4wavesD3+4
C55tv_offArqBcom7tv_off
C56tv_offLNE
C58tv_offBBC1wavesBBC1wavesBBC1wavesBBCA
C59tv_offArqA
C61ITVwavesITVwavesITVwaves
C64BBC2wavesBBC2wavesBBC2waves

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 12 Sep 12 and 26 Sep 12.

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

Analogue 1-4 500kW
BBCA, D3+4, BBCB(-7dB) 100kW
SDN, ARQA, ARQB(-10dB) 50kW
com8(-11.6dB) 34.6kW
com7(-11.7dB) 33.8kW
Mux 1*, Mux 2*, Mux A*, Mux B*, Mux C*, Mux D*(-17dB) 10kW
LNE(-20dB) 5kW

Which companies have run the Channel 3 services in the Pontop Pike transmitter area

Jan 1959-Feb 2004Tyne Tees 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. Pontop Pike 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
Friday, 4 October 2019
Transmitter engineering
sentiment_very_satisfiedOwner

5:08 AM

PONTOP PIKE transmitter - Freeview: HD Digital TV Off Air from 12:07 yesterday to 12:08 yesterday. FM: Radio 1 FM Weak Signal from 10:03 yesterday to 15:49 yesterday, Radio 2 FM Weak Signal from 10:03 yesterday to 15:49 yesterday, Radio 3 FM Weak Signal from 10:03 yesterday to 15: [BBC]

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Transmitter engineering's 149,799 posts xx flag
Saturday, 5 October 2019
Transmitter engineering
sentiment_very_satisfiedOwner

5:08 AM

PONTOP PIKE transmitter - Freeview: HD Digital TV Off Air from 12:07 on 03 Oct to 12:08 on 03 Oct. FM: Radio 1 FM Weak Signal from 10:03 on 03 Oct to 15:49 on 03 Oct, Radio 2 FM Weak Signal from 10:03 on 03 Oct to 15:49 on 03 Oct, Radio 3 FM Weak Signal from 10:03 on 03 Oct to 15: [BBC]

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Transmitter engineering's 149,799 posts xx flag
G
Gerry Sothcott
4:33 PM
Cramlington

No BBC channels again despite retuning TV in Ne23 3SZ postcode. Other channels are fine

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Gerry Sothcott's 1 post GB flag
Gerry's: ...
C
Chris.SE
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

9:05 PM

Gerry Sothcott:

There have been several posts immediately before your from Transmitter Engineering.
There has been planned engineering work at Pontop Pike this week with "Possible weak signal" . Do NOT carry out a retune whilst you have lost signals as it will only remove the correct tuning of your correct channels. Wait until you have signal return and then carry out a retune and then leave things alone as the engineering work may not be complete.
The final retune event for Pontop Pike is not until 13th November see About us | Freeview for your location. Do not retune before then.

Additionally, there was a retune event on Thursday 12th September as part of the What is 700MHz clearance? | Freeview where the BBCA/PSB1 multiplex moved temporarily to UHF Channel 32.

In your location you MAY not have any problems with the retunes even if you have an old C/D group aerial,
If however you are having problems with the PSB1/BBCA channels since the 12th September due to an old aerial you MAY need a Group T (Wideband) aerial but that situation MAY improve with the final retune as the PSB1/BBCA mux moves to C39 BUT you could continue to then have issues with the COM4/5&6 and Local muxes.. If you continue to have problems then providing you don't have Satellite or Cable TV you can get free help by contacting the Freeview Advice line on 0808-100-0288

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Chris.SE's 4,101 posts GB flag
Monday, 28 October 2019
P
phillip k harrison
8:42 PM

do not receive any channels numbered from 90 to 100 on the regular digital frequencies I do not have HD TV just a regular Digital TV

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phillip k harrison's 1 post GB flag
C
Chris.SE
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

9:15 PM

phillip k harrison:

LCN 90 is on a Manchester Local mux, the rest are on HD multiplexes see Channel listings | Freeview

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Chris.SE's 4,101 posts GB flag
Wednesday, 6 November 2019
K
Keith Willshire
10:13 AM
Blyth

Hello, hope you can help. When I use aerial direct into TV, everything is ok. But when I use aerial into set top box and hdmi cable into TV the channels freeze, screen black but sound ok. Hdmi cable works ok for DVD box so it's not connection
Post code ne24 2qj

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Keith Willshire's 1 post GB flag
Keith's: ...
S
StevensOnln1
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

2:57 PM

Keith Willshire: Poorly screened HDMI cables are a common source of interference, so make sure the HDMI lead is kept separate, as far away as possible from the aerial cable. If you have another HDMI or aerial lead, try swapping them around to see if that makes any difference.

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StevensOnln1's 3,605 posts GB flag
C
Chris.SE
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

3:05 PM

Keith Willshire:

Normally you should have no problem with reception from Pontop Pike according to the Freeview Detailed Coverage Checker, but this week there is Planned Engineering work according to Planned engineering works | Freeview
"Tyne Tees Pontop Pike Main Possible weak signal"

It's possible that your Set Top Box doesn't have as good a sensitivity as your TV so whilst the signal is weaker you aren't getting a picture, but that might not be the case.

I would check all you coax plugs, connections, flyleads etc, unplug connectors check for corrosion or other problems and reconnect them. See what signal strengths and quality you are getting for the multiplexes shown in your TV and Set Top box's tuning sections, this might indicate potential issues with your aerial, downlead or flyleads etc. Also check that your downlead looks undamaged and that your aerial seems intact and still pointing in the correct direction.
Problematic connections, water ingress etc. can seem to affect reception of just an individual or several multiplexes.

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Chris.SE's 4,101 posts GB flag
Thursday, 14 November 2019
P
paul milne
9:42 AM

What is going on with Pontop Pike Transmitter - numerous retunes of late with BBC Channels going to 751 number on talk talk box ...then asked to do a retune yesterday (13/11/19) and half my channels are now garbled - (Sky News, Pick, Horror Channel . whatever maintenance has happened recently has made the service 90% worse...please get this fixed asap - a very unhappy customer ....

Ps the main channels 1 to 6 are fine so don't say its my aerial - they were working fine till yesterdays update...

Paul Milne

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