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Full Freeview on the Divis (Northern Ireland) transmitter

first published this on - UK Free TV
sa_streetviewGoogle Streetviewsa_gmapsGoogle mapsa_bingBing mapsa_gearthGoogle Earthsa_gps54.607,-6.009 or 54°36'24"N 6°0'34"Wsa_postcodeBT17 0NG

 

The symbol shows the location of the Divis (Northern Ireland) transmitter which serves 440,000 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 Divis (Northern Ireland) mast?

Divis transmitter - Divis 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 Divis 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
C27 (522.0MHz)551mDTG-100,000W
Channel icons
1 BBC One (SD) Northern Ireland, 2 BBC Two Northern Ireland, 9 BBC Four, 23 BBC Three, 201 CBBC, 202 CBeebies, 231 BBC News, 232 BBC Parliament, plus 14 others

PSB2
D3+4
 H max
C21+ (474.2MHz)551mDTG-100,000W
Channel icons
3 UTV (SD) (UTV), 4 Channel 4 (SD) NI ads, 5 Channel 5, 6 ITV 2, 10 ITV3, 13 E4, 14 Film4, 15 Channel 4 +1 NI ads, 18 More4, 26 ITV4, 28 ITVBe, 30 E4 +1, 35 UTV +1 (UTV),

PSB3
BBCB
 H max
C24 (498.0MHz)551mDTG-100,000W
Channel icons
46 5SELECT, 101 BBC One HD Northern Ireland, 102 BBC Two HD Northern Ireland, 103 UTV HD (UTV), 104 Channel 4 HD NI 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
C23 (490.0MHz)551mDTG-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
C26 (514.0MHz)528mDTG-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
C30 (546.0MHz)528mDTG-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

LBT
 H -13dB
C36 (594.0MHz)528mDTG-125,000W
Channel icons
from 29th September 2014: 7 NvTv,

NIMM
 H -40dB
C48 (690.0MHz)551mDTG-10W
Channel icons
from 4th September 2019: 53 TG4, 54 RTÉ One, 55 RTÉ Two,

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 Divis transmitter?

regional news image
BBC Newsline 0.6m homes 2.5%
from Belfast BT2 8HQ, 1,044km northeast (51°)
to BBC Northern Ireland region - 46 masts.
regional news image
UTV Live 0.6m homes 2.5%
from Belfast BT7 1EB, 1,044km northeast (51°)
to UTV region - 46 masts.

Are there any self-help relays?

Chapel FieldsTransposerCentral Belfast61 homes

How will the Divis (Northern Ireland) transmission frequencies change over time?

1950s-80s1984-971997-981998-20122012-134 Mar 2020
VHFA K TA K TA K TK TW T
C1BBCtvwaves
C21C4wavesC4wavesC4waves+D3+4D3+4
C23SDNSDN
C24ITVwavesITVwavesITVwavesBBCBBBCB
C26ArqAArqA
C27BBC2wavesBBC2wavesBBC2wavesBBCABBCA
C29ArqB
C30LBT
C31BBC1wavesBBC1wavesBBC1waves
C33com7
C34com8
C36_local
C48NIMMNIMM
C55tv_offcom7tv_off
C56tv_offCOM8tv_off

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 10 Oct 12 and 24 Oct 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(-16dB) 12.7kW
com7(-16.1dB) 12.4kW
LBT(-20dB) 5kW
Mux 1*, Mux 2*, Mux A*, Mux B*(-23.4dB) 2.3kW
Mux C*(-24dB) 2kW
Mux D*(-24.9dB) 1.6kW
NIMM(-47dB) 10W

Which companies have run the Channel 3 services in the Divis transmitter area

Oct 1959-May 2006Ulster Television
May 2006-Dec 2014UTV plc
Feb 1983-Dec 1992TV-am•
Jan 1993-Sep 2010GMTV•
Sep 2010-Dec 2014ITV Daybreak•
• Breakfast ◊ Weekends ♦ Friday night and weekends † Weekdays only. Divis 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, 11 October 2019
MikeP
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

11:07 PM

nobody:

But a poor connection introduced frequency selective impedances that are unwanted.



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MikeP's 3,056 posts GB flag
Saturday, 12 October 2019
D
Denis
sentiment_satisfiedBronze

9:55 AM
Downpatrick

nobody: Very good point!. The capacitive reactance (a few pF??) reactance may well be quite low at UHF, but I use flyleads for VHF and HF as well. Even unsoldered you'd probably get a good electrical connection,
but I think it is good practice, but I guess such ideas are also old-fashioned!

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Denis's 24 posts GB flag
Denis's: mapD's Freeview map terrainD's terrain plot wavesD's frequency data D's Freeview Detailed Coverage
MikeP
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

12:02 PM

Denis:

I agree. I used to have to deal with television reception problems and many of them stemmed from poor flyleads. Some were not soldered nor screwed together and they were the most common causes of problems. Those that were soldered gave the least trouble unless the inner core wire(s) broke. A few were screwed together and they only gave problems if they we moved whilst under tension.
Personally, I prefer to solder the wires in, much more reliable from my lengthy experience.



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MikeP's 3,056 posts GB flag
C
Chris.SE
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

5:18 PM

nobody: & Denis:

I can vouch for the fact that MikeP is correct about frequency dependant impedances (and hence attenuation) from poor/broken connections in coax and flyleads based on my experience ;) Unless you've seen some of the "weird" effects it can have, you might not believe it!

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Chris.SE's 4,101 posts GB flag
Sunday, 20 October 2019
D
Denis
sentiment_satisfiedBronze

3:45 PM
Downpatrick

Divis Muxes.
LBT (NvTv) is listed as being on mux channel 30. I think this is a typo because Com6 is also listed as Mux 30.

LBT (TV chan 7) is actually on mux channel 36, which also hosts Sony (48), Sony Movies (50 and 60), and TinyTots (207), some of which are not listed.

Who can update these?

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Denis's 24 posts GB flag
Denis's: mapD's Freeview map terrainD's terrain plot wavesD's frequency data D's Freeview Detailed Coverage
C
Chris.SE
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

6:32 PM

Denis:

Only the site owner Briantist, and see seems rather busy to keep up with changes and errors. You are best referring to DigitalUK and Freeview websites for UK stuff.

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Chris.SE's 4,101 posts GB flag
Monday, 21 October 2019
D
Denis
sentiment_satisfiedBronze

11:39 AM
Downpatrick

Thanks Chris.
Pity, as this site has such a lot of information - which I can't find elsewhere.
Freeview and DigitalUK have little information apart from a channel listing. Their Clearance Checker shows no changes until next year, I guess that's because the previous change date 4th Sept 2019 has passed.

link to this comment
Denis's 24 posts GB flag
Denis's: mapD's Freeview map terrainD's terrain plot wavesD's frequency data D's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Tuesday, 22 October 2019
C
CP
1:19 PM

Denis:

I'm about 4 miles from the Divis transmitter. I have an old loft mounted Labgear (I think) wideband 12-element Yagi. It's about 1.3m long. It might be overkill for my location, but it provides enough signal strength for me to passively split it four ways without problem. I've never actually tried a set-top aerial here.

The USB dongle I use for SDR is a NooElec NESDR Mini 2+. It has an R820T2 tuner and cost me about 20 from eBay if I recall. Software-wise I use SDR# on Windows, Spektrum as a spectrum analyser and Gnu Radio and rtl-sdr on Raspberry Pi / Linux, along with ADS-B and DVB-T2 decoders depending on what I'm doing.

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CP's 4 posts GB flag
Wednesday, 23 October 2019
D
Denis
sentiment_satisfiedBronze

7:51 AM
Downpatrick

Thanks CP,
Raspberry Pi is beyond me, though to I use Linux on an old PC.
I am plagued by electrical noise, perhaps partly due to LED lamps, hence my interest in a spectrum analyser. The noise affects VHF FM and some HF bands.
I presently have an 8-element log periodic in the roofspace feeding 6 flats through a distribution amplifier. Getting all the Divis channels, though the weaker muxes are a bit low, though useable (NvTv, Smithsonian and Freesports).
Other units in my development have two aerials, one vertically polarised, which I assume is for RTE Soarview from Claremont Carn. RTE is also transmitted from Black Mountain, but only four channels and with some programmes blocked due to broadcasting rights. Claremont Carn broadcasts 20 channels.

I'd be interested to hear from anyone getting Saorview, as to aerial and programme-guide issues.

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Denis's 24 posts GB flag
Denis's: mapD's Freeview map terrainD's terrain plot wavesD's frequency data D's Freeview Detailed Coverage
C
Chris.SE
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

2:57 PM

Denis:

I was wondering why you think part of your noise might be primarily due to LED lamps - rather than fluorescent - compact or otherwise?
Whilst the "classic" LED lamps have SMPS, they do generate less noise than compact fluorescents. However, "Filamentary" LEDs are pretty well noise free as they have no SMPS. The most common types are "clear" lamps, but there is an increasing number of "frosted" ones available from different suppliers. You also get better all round illumination from such lamps (similar to a standard A shape bulb) as they don't have a large plastic covered body at the rear of the lamp, just a normal size BC or ES cap.
It's just a shame that the prices of these haven't come down as much as the noisy classic ones.

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Chris.SE's 4,101 posts GB flag
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