Freeview reception at SP7 8PL
List is for aerial group type: ■ wideband ■ group A ■ group B ■ group C/D ■ group E ■ group K
| ch | name | signal strength | direction | transmitter | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| C22- | multiplex Arqiva-A (COM5) | w-sw 252° | Stockland Hill | H | |
| C23+ | multiplex D3+4 England West Country | H | |||
| C25- | multiplex SDN England (COM4) | H | |||
| C26+ | multiplex BBCA England South West | H | |||
| C28- | multiplex Arqiva-B (COM6) | H | |||
| C29+ | Freeview HD multiplex BBCB (PSB3) National | H | |||
| C32 | multiplex BBCA England West | northwest 310° | Mendip | H | |
| C33 | multiplex Arqiva-A (COM5) | H | |||
| C34 | Freeview HD multiplex Arqiva-D (com8) | e-ne 63° | Hannington | H | |
| C34 | multiplex D3+4 England West | northwest 310° | Mendip | H | |
| C35 | Freeview HD multiplex Arqiva-D (com8) | H | |||
| C36 | multiplex Arqiva-B (COM6) | H | |||
| C39+ | Freeview HD multiplex BBCB (PSB3) National | e-ne 63° | Hannington | H | |
| C40 | Freeview HD multiplex BBCB (PSB3) National | south 190° | Winterborne Stickland | V | |
| C40 | multiplex SDN England (COM4) | e-ne 63° | Hannington | H | |
| C41 | multiplex D3+4 England Meridian (South Coast micro region) | east 94° | Donhead | V | |
| C42 | multiplex D3+4 England Meridian/Central (Thames Valley micro region) | e-ne 63° | Hannington | H | |
| C43 | multiplex D3+4 England Meridian (South Coast micro region) | south 190° | Winterborne Stickland | V | |
| C43 | multiplex Arqiva-A (COM5) | e-ne 63° | Hannington | H | |
| C44 | multiplex BBCA England South | east 94° | Donhead | V | |
| C45 | multiplex BBCA England South | e-ne 63° | Hannington | H | |
| C46 | multiplex BBCA England South | south 190° | Winterborne Stickland | V | |
| C46 | multiplex Arqiva-B (COM6) | e-ne 63° | Hannington | H | |
| C47 | Freeview HD multiplex BBCB (PSB3) National | east 94° | Donhead | V | |
| C48 | multiplex SDN England (COM4) | northwest 310° | Mendip | H | |
| C51 | Comux Local TV multiplex LBS | H | |||
| C55 | Freeview HD multiplex Arqiva-C (com7) | e-ne 63° | Hannington | H | |
| C55 | Freeview HD multiplex Arqiva-C (com7) | northwest 310° | Mendip | H |
List is for aerial group type: ■ wideband ■ group A ■ group B ■ group C/D ■ group E ■ group K
Distance to transmitters:
- Stockland Hill - 68.2km 42.4 miles
- Mendip - 39.7km 24.7 miles
- Hannington - 73.9km 45.9 miles
- Winterborne Stickland - 18.4km 11.5 miles
- Donhead - 3.9km 2.4 miles
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Saturday, 11 July 2020
C
Chris.SE6:03 AM
Jonathan Ellis:
I can't find any listing of any recent/current faults at Rowridge and it's not currently listed for Planned Engineering.
Obvious things you can do is check your leads and connections. You should be getting multiplex signals on UHF channels C27 and C28 and maybe the temporary HD mux COM7 on UHF C55 and the Local mux on C37 but the latter in particular will depend upon location and we'd need a full postcode to see what your predicted reception is likely to be.
If your connections/leads are ok and the aerial is in precisely the same location as it was before. check that there hasn't been any other changes, new (metal) objects or other things nearby but especially in the "line-of-sight" to the transmitter, tree growth outside, new buildings or scaffolding being put up etc.
If there are "new" things possibly affecting reception, all you can do is try repositioning the aerial, having the rods vertical may improve reception of the 6 main multiplexes as they are also transmitted with vertical polarisation at Rowridge but you won't get COM7 or the Local mux as the are only horizontally polarised.
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Monday, 20 July 2020
P
Philip Davies2:59 PM
Borth
All Blaenplwyf Channel 25 programs are now permanently pixillated ('flying lego blocks',) and sound scrambled (squelching,, squawking, hiccuping, crunching, gulping, sneezing, squeaking noises) with a good strong signal yet only low-average to poor signal quality indicated. Also programs are appearing on different numbers after different tuning attempts (eg Horror, usually 70, can appear on 13, or even on BOTH at the same time, OR on 800; and CCTX can appear on 70 and sometimes on 13). There was work on Blaenplwyf transmitter - correct for SY24 5BT my location) a couple of weeks ago, when Channel 25 [is that multiplex 25 ?] started breaking up, and the Website warned of weak signal and possible picture breakup. However, this problem has been recurring for years now, and increasingly often, being now permanently unviewable. The 'Quality' meter on my freeview box goes up and down from average - with interference - to poor - with picture obliteration and sometimes disappearance of signal altogether (with signal strength indicating 'good' even when no picture or sound are produced !). All other Channels and programs have, and have always had, excellent signal quality and strength, with no variation, so obviously my equipment and aerial are not the source of interference, and it is the signal emanating from Blaenplwyf which is defective - yet elsewhere in the region there is no such interference ! This leads me to suspect that somewhere in the neighbourhood there may be a source of powerful electrical interference; a new Sky dish did go up next door, but only recently and the problem pre-dates that by several years. I'm told the new mobile phones can destroy freeview reception, but wouldn't that affect ALL programs ? What could possibly affect one channel, and leave all others from the same transmitter, and through the same equipment, unaffected ? And how can a strong signal be degraded on only one channel ? Any help would be appreciated.
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Philip's: mapP's Freeview map terrainP's terrain plot wavesP's frequency data P's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Tuesday, 21 July 2020
C
Chris.SE4:13 AM
Philip Davies:
Hmm, you shouldn't have any reception problems with all multiplexes from Blaenplwyf, reception is predicted to be good, although the COM multiplexes aren't so high power as the PSBs.
There shouldn't be any mobile masts close enough to give you any problems, unless there's a new one sprung up and can you see it and even then it's unlikely to just affect C25.
C25 is the COM4/SDN multiplex.
It sounds as though your set's memory could do with clearing and a manual tune carried out.
Unplug the aerial and carry out an automatic tune. This should clear all previous tuning as nothing should be found. Plug the aerial back in and do a manual tune -
The UHF channels are C27, C24, C21, C25, C22, C28 that's in the order PSBs1-3, COMs4-6.
For which channels are on which multiplexes see Channel listings | Freeview
If you don't have an HD/T2 tuner you can ignore PSB3/BBCB HD C21.
It might be worth you checking that your aerial seems intact and pointing in the correct direction and that your downlead looks undamaged (especially if it is old). Also check all your coax plugs, connections, flyleads etc, unplug connectors check for corrosion or other problems and reconnect them. Flyleads are a common problem, try swapping/changing them. See what signal strengths and quality you are getting for the multiplexes (groups of channels) shown in your TV's tuning section. It should be pretty much the same for all the PSBs and maybe only fractionally less for the COMs.
Problematic connections, water ingress etc. can seem to affect reception of just an individual or several multiplexes.
Also make sure you don't have any HDMI leads near unscreened/poorly screened flyleads/aerial leads as that can cause interference.
If you have any amplifier/splitter, does it have a variable gain control? If so, turn it down a touch, too much signal can also cause the sort of problems you've seen. Be aware that when there is too much signal it is possible for the strength reading to show less - it doesn't mean the signal is less!! Problems can of course occur with certain weather conditions, interference from distant transmitters - tropospheric ducting - https://www.bbc.co.uk/rec….jpg see also Effect of tropospheric ducting on Freeview | RTIS
Let us know how you get on.
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Tuesday, 28 July 2020
P
Philip Davies12:54 PM
Borth
Chris.SE: Thanks for your detailed and interesting response to my problem with mux 25 (that's Com 4 I think), on Blaenplwyf. All you say is to the point and valid. However, I have eliminated the possibility that it is my local situation - reception, equipment, local interference - which is the source of the problem: I can say this definitively because a friend 4 miles up the road with only Freeview has the exact same interference on all the mux 25 programs ! So it can only be a problem at the propagation end of the signal, i.e. the Blaenplwyf mast itself. I have done a full factory reset and retune also - no difference. I fear they have messed up this mux good-and-proper by taking bandwidth from Freeview to make way for mobile phone services in future. Of course nobody I write to or phone for help wants to admit this because Freeview is very much the 'poor relation' where broadcasting is concerned, it seems to me. Anyway, it seems mux 25 is a write-off and nobody in authority is bothered - except I got sent a 4g filter by 'at800' - which just made the picture worse and anyway then I was told there isn't any 4g or 5g coverage around here at present in any case ! No wonder almost no-one I know bothers with Freeview, but prefers to pay for cable or internet streaming.
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Philip's: mapP's Freeview map terrainP's terrain plot wavesP's frequency data P's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Wednesday, 29 July 2020
C
Chris.SE2:02 AM
Philip Davies:
There's been no bandwidth "taken away" from Freeview in the way you've put it. All that's happened is that UHF channels used by some transmitters have moved to lower UHF channels. BlaenPlwyf was not affected in this way.
There've been no 700MHz clearance changes to this transmitter, no changes since 2013.
I'd suggest that we don't "give up" at this point. If someone 4 miles away has similar issues, we need to find the "common" reason for this.
Is this friend closer or further away from the transmitter?
It seems to me that there's 3 possibilities to consider. 1) A transmitter fault 2) Some widespread source of interference (yes it is possible) 3) Some problem with your installation that's similar to your friend.
(As far as transmitter problems go, there is Planned Engineering to two of the local relay transmitters listed for this week - Dolybont & Bow Street - both are relays off BlaenPlwyf both within a couple of km of you. Unfortunately the relays do not transmit the COM4/SDN multiplex, otherwise any issue would almost certainly be discovered. But if you happen to see any Arqiva vehicles around you could try asking the engineers if they could possibly check if there is an issue with COM4 at BlaenPlwyf.
To try and find out what's going on, we're going to need some more detail.
When you say your friend has "only Freeview", don't you have "only Freeview"?
You haven't mentioned whether you have any amplifier/splitter for signal to more than one set/box/device.
When you say the programmes are "permanently" pixellated, is this 24/7 or is it only occurring between certain hours? Is your friend finding exactly the same?
How old is your aerial and coax? What about your friend's aerial and coax?
Are you having any problems at all with programmes like Yesterday, Sony Movies, Talking Pictures TV or PBS America?
You said that putting in the new At800 filter caused your COM4 programmes to be worse. As there will be some "insertion loss" with the filter in circuit, this suggests the possibility that the COM4 signal may be weaker than others. Are the programmes Yesterday, Sony Movies etc affected in the same way at all?
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Chris.SE: I have had problems with my Freeview since last March when they changed all the channels for 5G. I get no local channels, HD is up and down and sometimes goes off. Signal Quality is weak. Amplifier does not work. It's just rubbish reception at the moment. I am supposed to receive BBC Yorkshire but my communal aerial now picks u more North East channels.
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C
Chris.SE10:05 AM
Stuart Swaine:
If you are on a communal aerial, you need to get on to the building management who are responsible.
From some of your more recent comments, it's unclear as to which aerial you are using. You've talked about "your own" as well as this "communal" aerial.
Which way are each of them pointing (compass bearing as accurate as you can be)?
Are the aerial rods vertical or horizontal?
Which way are other aerials in the neighbourhood pointing? Have there been any changes that you can see to other aerials since the 12th February?
In your TV's tuning section, exactly which UHF channels is it tuned to for each multiplex?
You say the HD channels are "up & down", are these numbers 101-105 in the EPG or are you talking about 106/107?
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J
John Williams10:18 PM
Saundersfoot
Many free view channels, including bbc1, become heavily pixilated with loss of sound many times a day. The aerial is on the chimney of our bungalow. There is a large house within 25ft 100deg (E) of us.
We have had no reception problems before this year. We have been here for more than 50 yrs.
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John's: mapJ's Freeview map terrainJ's terrain plot wavesJ's frequency data J's Freeview Detailed Coverage
J
John Williams10:32 PM
Saundersfoot
The aerial is set in horizontal orientation, the televisions have been re auto tuned many times in frustration with the poor reception. The aerial has been taken down and serviced with new coax cable with very little improvement.
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John's: mapJ's Freeview map terrainJ's terrain plot wavesJ's frequency data J's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Thursday, 30 July 2020
C
Chris.SE5:06 AM
John Williams:
I'm sure you don't need me to tell you that there will be quite a few spots around Saundersfoot where Freeview reception could be "troublesome". Depending on location you might be able to receive several transmitters or have a very limited choice!
So we need to know which way your aerial is pointing - the fact that it's horizontal polarisation is good information. Is it pointing at ~ bearing 76 degrees (~ENE) or nearer ~bearing 101 degrees (fractionally S of due E), or even a couple of degrees E of due N. I'm assuming you are picking up a Welsh transmitter and not an English one from Devon or elsewhere.
Also, to look at the predicted reception we need a full postcode.
If you know what aerial you have and whether it's a wideband or "grouped" (does it have a coloured bung in either end), roughly how old it is? You mention an amplifier, is it a splitter serving several rooms as well? Is it a mast-head or an internal one?
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