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Full Freeview on the Wenvoe (Cardiff, Wales) transmitter

first published this on - UK Free TV
sa_streetviewGoogle Streetviewsa_gmapsGoogle mapsa_bingBing mapsa_gearthGoogle Earthsa_gps51.460,-3.282 or 51°27'35"N 3°16'57"Wsa_postcodeCF5 6SA

 

The symbol shows the location of the Wenvoe (Cardiff, Wales) transmitter which serves 360,000 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 Wenvoe (Cardiff, Wales) mast?

Wenvoe transmitter - Wenvoe 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
_______

Which Freeview channels does the Wenvoe 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
C41+ (634.2MHz)384mDTG-100,000W
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
C44 (658.0MHz)384mDTG-100,000W
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),

PSB3
BBCB
 H max
C47 (682.0MHz)384mDTG-100,000W
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
C42+ (642.2MHz)384mDTG-850,000W
Channel icons
 E4 (Wales), 20 Drama, 21 5USA, 29 ITV2 +1, 32 5STAR, 33 5Action, 38 Channel 5 +1, 41 Legend, 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
C45+ (666.2MHz)384mDTG-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
C39+ (618.2MHz)384mDTG-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

LCF
 H -10dB
C37 (602.0MHz)384mDTG-1210,000W
Channel icons
from 22nd September 2014: 8 Made in Cardiff,

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 Wenvoe transmitter?

regional news image
BBC Wales Today 1.2m homes 4.7%
from Cardiff CF5 2YQ, 6km northeast (42°)
to BBC Wales region - 206 masts.
regional news image
ITV Cymru Wales 1.2m homes 4.7%
from Cardiff CF5 6XJ, 1km east-northeast (74°)
to ITV Wales region - 206 masts.

Are there any self-help relays?

AbergwesynActive deflector7 km N Llanwrtyd Wells20 homes
BarryTransposer10 km SW city centre300 homes
Celtic ManorTransposer5 km E Newport80 homes
PentrebachTransposer3 km S Merthyr Tydfil100 homes
YstradfellteActive deflector30 km NE Port Talbot20 homes

How will the Wenvoe (Cardiff, Wales) transmission frequencies change over time?

1950s-80s1984-971997-981998-20102010-132013-182013-1715 May 2019
VHFB E TB E TB E TB E TB E K TW TW T
C5BBCtvwaves
C30LOCAL2
C31com7com7
C37com8com8
C39 +ArqB+ArqBArqB
C41ITVwavesITVwavesITVwaves+BBCA+BBCA+BBCABBCA
C42+SDN+SDN+SDNSDN
C44BBC1wavesBBC1wavesBBC1wavesD3+4D3+4D3+4D3+4
C45+ArqA+ArqA+ArqAArqA
C47C4wavesC4wavesC4wavesBBCBBBCBBBCBBBCB
C49tv_off+ArqB
C51tv_offBBC2wavesBBC2wavesBBC2wavesLCFLCF
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 3 Mar 10 and 31 Mar 10.

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

Analogue 1-4 500kW
BBCA, D3+4, BBCB(-7dB) 100kW
com8(-9.7dB) 53.2kW
SDN, ARQA, ARQB(-10dB) 50kW
com7(-10.3dB) 47kW
Mux 1*, LCF(-17dB) 10kW
Mux 2*, Mux A*, Mux B*, Mux C*, Mux D*(-20dB) 5kW

Which companies have run the Channel 3 services in the Wenvoe 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. Wenvoe 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
Wednesday, 18 December 2019
MikeP
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

8:32 PM

Tim Phipps:

The listings here are not currently being maintained as the site owner is unabkle to do so at present.



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MikeP's 3,056 posts GB flag
Thursday, 19 December 2019
C
Chris.SE
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

8:37 AM

Tim Phipps:

Whilst the listings here haven't been maintained as MikeP has mentioned, up-to-date and (usually) correct information can be obtained from Freeview | All your favourite TV shows, all in one place and all for free
BBC1 HD etc is on the BBCB/PSB3 multiplex which is transmitted by all transmitters, but BBC4 HD is on the COM8 multiplex (see Freeview | All your favourite TV shows, all in one place and all for free corporate/platform-management/channel-listings ) That mux is not transmitted by all transmitters, but it is by Wenvoe if it is Wenvoe you are receiving. To help/assist you with why not/or if you can get the COMs7&8 multiplexes, we will need a full postcode.

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Chris.SE's 4,101 posts GB flag
Monday, 30 December 2019
H
Hywel clatworthy
7:22 PM
Abertillery

Is anyone else having problemswith wenvoe tv reception in NP13 2AY ?
Its been up and down this afternoon, a retune has not helped

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Hywel clatworthy's 2 posts GB flag
Hywel's: mapH's Freeview map terrainH's terrain plot wavesH's frequency data H's Freeview Detailed Coverage
C
Chris.SE
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

10:49 PM

Hywel clatworthy:

There are unusually high levels of "Tropospheric propagation" at present, often associated with High Pressure weather systems.
These levels of propagation are unusual at this time of year - they cause signals from more distant transmitters to travel a lot further than normal. It is currently affecting different parts of the country by varying degrees and signals can change by the second or remain stable for much longer periods.
In the old "analogue" days there was a lot of talk about "continental" interference often in the summer months, but the interference can come from transmitters anywhere in the UK or Europe and even further afield. At the moment some people are getting DAB radio from the Netherlands and FM Radio from France as well as the interference to DTV.

It is predicted to continue for a couple more days, and you are advise NOT to retune as you will likely lose the correct tuning that you had. The "propagation" can be very frequency dependent, and it can only affected one frequency or several, but it can/will be different for others.

People will however have noticed the unusually mild weather which the Met office is referring to as a "Foehn effect" but it's not helpful that it seems none of the major broadcasters are making any reference to the interference being caused to TV and Radio reception! So it's no surprise that people wonder what is going on and think there is a transmitter problem.

For those that have retuned and lost correct tuning, you will have to try again and it could be hit and miss whilst the unusual propagation continues. If you are able to do a manual tune for the correct UHF channels, you may still receive interference or the wrong programmes.

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Chris.SE's 4,101 posts GB flag
Tuesday, 31 December 2019
H
Hywel clatworthy
8:32 AM

Chris.SE: Thanks Chris, what you say does make sense, it would be nice if I could prove it by picking up a European channel ! No doubt when Brexit is done we won't get this problem again !!!!!

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Hywel clatworthy's 2 posts GB flag
C
Chris.SE
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

1:13 PM

Hywel clatworthy:

I like your wit :) You may still get something on FM or DAB but the "tropo" is currently subsiding. However it may return next week :o

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Chris.SE's 4,101 posts GB flag
Friday, 21 February 2020
R
Rob
7:58 PM
Cardiff

Hi, I am unable to pick up some BBC channels. I can get BBC 1 & 2 Wales perfectly fine. Yet BBC Four, News Channel are both very poor quality. I can also get the English (West) versions of BBC 1 & 2 in the 800s however they are also very poor quality. What I don't understand is how its possible to receive BBC 1 & 2 perfectly okay yet not the other channels when they are in the same multiplex? I am using an indoor aerial in CF24 4QD. Yes I know thats not recommended but I always thought all channels in the same multiplex share the same signal.

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Rob's 6 posts GB flag
Rob's: mapR's Freeview map terrainR's terrain plot wavesR's frequency data R's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Thursday, 4 March 2021
S
Sam Evans
4:35 PM

I live on Gower in a "green" area for Wenvoe. I have indoor amplifiers.
Over the past 6 months, more and more channels have disappeared.
Now I can only get the main BBC channels and a few others.
What happened? What changed? And will they put it back?

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Sam Evans's 1 post GB flag
D
David Williams
4:54 PM

Chris.SE:

This is really not an adequate response (although it may well be true). Its certainly not a fix.

Surely the real issue a very bad decsion to transmit some channels at one-tenth of the power.

Then blame the weather or the customers or their equipment. No! Turn the power up.

The thought process that says my gran's TV can receive some channels at 10kW transmission power, yet needs 100kW to receive the BBC is simply ludicrous. Its one TV. And one gran. Clearly all channels need to be transmitted at the same power.

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David Williams's 1 post GB flag
C
Chris.SE
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

8:03 PM

Sam Evans:

All multiplexes are still transmitted from Wenvoe, nothing has changed. There was some Planned Engineering at Wenvoe back around the beginning of February, but that would have been routine and AFAIK everything is "normal". I can't find any listing of any Faults either by Freeview or the BBC, or any current issues.

As you've been having a problem for some time, there could be a number of reasons.

First perhaps just check that all your coax plugs are properly plugged in, unplug them, check there's no corrosion etc and plug them back in.

Second perhaps to check is that you are tuned to the correct UHF channels for the Wenvoe multiplexes, it's possible you may have got tuned to other transmitters with weak signals at some point when perhaps there there was interference or even no signal from Wenvoe during maintenance or faults.
If you happened to retune (or your set did an automatic one) in such circumstances, it can also just clear the correct tuning.

If you haven't done a retune recently, then try one now, especially if you aren't sure of your technical ability to check things in your TV's tuning section which I'll detail now.

The UHF channels for Wenvoe are C41, C44, C47, C42, C45, C39, C55, C37 that's in the multiplex order BBCA/PSB1, D3&4/PSB2, BBCB HD/PSB3, SDN/COM4, ArqA/COM5, ArqB/COM6, COM7, Local.
(C means UHF channel). See Channel listings for Industry Professionals | Freeview for which programmes are carried on which multiplex.
Your location will determine which of those you can receive, particularly you may not get COM7 or the Local multiplex. Also PSB3 and COM7 are HD multiplexes for which your need a set with an HD/T2 tuner. To comment on predicted reception at your locale, a full postcode is needed.

If you look in your TV's tuning section, maybe there's an option for signal strength or manual tuning, you should be able to see the UHF channel number, Signal strength and Quality. Make a note of the figures for each UHF channel as it might help identify and problems with the aerial installation, and of course check you are tuned to the correct UHF channels.

If you are still having problems, post back with as much information as possible, where your aerial is located, whether you have any distribution amplifier/splitters, a full postcode, check your aerial is still pointing in the correct direction and seems intact, etc. It's possible your aerial installation and downlead may have deteriorated during some of the abysmal weather we've been having in recent times.

If you've changed anything in your installation over the period, moved any leads etc, post detail. Check that you don't have any HDMI leads close to any aerial or flyleads, especially if the aerial and flyleads aren't high quality double screened cable as HDMI has been known to cause interference.

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Chris.SE's 4,101 posts GB flag
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