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Freeview Light on the Bath (Bath and North East Somerset, England) transmitter

first published this on - UK Free TV
sa_gmapsGoogle mapsa_bingBing mapsa_gearthGoogle Earthsa_gps51.387,-2.333 or 51°23'14"N 2°20'0"Wsa_postcodeBA2 6RN

 

The symbol shows the location of the Bath (Bath and North East Somerset, England) transmitter which serves 24,000 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 Bath (Bath and North East Somerset, England) 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 Bath 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
 V max
C21 (474.0MHz)228mDTG-50W
Channel icons
1 BBC One (SD) West, 2 BBC Two England, 9 BBC Four, 23 BBC Three, 201 CBBC, 202 CBeebies, 231 BBC News, 232 BBC Parliament, plus 17 others

PSB2
D3+4
 V max
C24 (498.0MHz)228mDTG-50W
Channel icons
3 ITV 1 (SD) (West), 4 Channel 4 (SD) South ads, 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 (West),

PSB3
BBCB
 V max
C27 (522.0MHz)228mDTG-50W
Channel icons
46 5SELECT, 101 BBC One HD West, 102 BBC Two HD England, 103 ITV 1 HD (ITV Meridian Southampton), 104 Channel 4 HD South ads, 105 Channel 5 HD, 106 BBC Four HD, 107 BBC Three HD, 204 CBBC HD, 205 CBeebies HD, plus 1 others

H/V: aerial position (horizontal or vertical)

Are you trying to watch these 44 Freeview channels?

the effected channels
the effected channels
the effected channels
the effected channels

The Bath (Bath and North East Somerset, England) mast is a public service broadcasting (PSB) transmitter, it does not provide these commercial (COM) channels: 4seven, 5Action, 5STAR, 5USA, Al Jazeera Eng, Al Jazeera English, Blaze, Blaze +1, Challenge, Channel 5 +1, Dave, Dave ja vu, DMAX, Drama +1, E4 Extra, YAAAS!, Film4 +1, Food Network, GREAT! action, GREAT! movies, GREAT! romance mix, GREAT! romance, HGTV, HobbyMaker, ITV2 +1, ITV3 +1, ITV4 +1, ITVBe +1, Legend, PBS America, Quest +1, Quest Red, Really, Sky Mix, Sky News, Talking Pictures TV, TCC, That's 90s, That's TV 2, Together TV, TRUE CRIME, TRUE CRIME XTRA, W, Yesterday +1.

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 Bath transmitter?

regional news image
BBC Points West 0.9m homes 3.4%
from Bristol BS8 2LR, 21km west-northwest (294°)
to BBC West region - 60 masts.
regional news image
ITV West Country News (East) 0.9m homes 3.4%
from Bristol BS4 3HG, 17km west-northwest (291°)
to ITV West region - 61 masts.
All of lunch, weekend and 50% evening news is shared with West Country (West)

Are there any self-help relays?

ClavertonActive deflector4.5 km E Bath40 homes

How will the Bath (Bath and North East Somerset, England) transmission frequencies change over time?

1968-80s1984-971997-981998-20102010-135 Jun 2019
VHFA K TA K TA K TA K TA K T
C6BBCtvwaves
C8ITVwaves
C21BBCA
C22BBC1wavesBBC1wavesBBC1wavesBBCB
C24D3+4
C25ITVwavesITVwavesITVwavesBBCA
C27BBCB
C28BBC2wavesBBC2wavesBBC2wavesD3+4
C32C4wavesC4wavesC4waves

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 24 Mar 10 and 7 Apr 10.

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

Analogue 1-4 250W
BBCA, D3+4, BBCB(-7dB) 50W

Which companies have run the Channel 3 services in the Mendip 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.

Comments
Thursday, 30 August 2012
Saturday, 8 September 2012
C
Chris
8:32 AM
Bath

Can anyone tell why Bath West does not have channel 20, really, available? We have just moved to BA1 6PB and can't get the same amount of channels we had in the north west.

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Chris's 2 posts GB flag
Chris's: mapC's Freeview map terrainC's terrain plot wavesC's frequency data C's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Dave Lindsay
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

10:47 AM

Chris: This is because the UK now has a two-tier terrestrial televsion transmitter network. There are over 1,000 small "filler-in" relay transmitters that carry only the Public Service channels. This is because the Commercial broadcasters (those that aren't available from the Bath transmitter) don't wish to pay to transmit from those sites. Those transmitters serve about 8.5% of the population and the full-service transmitters serve about 90% of the population. The cost of running the the 1,000+ sites is about the same as that of 81 full-service transmitters. As the Commercial broadcasters operate solely to generate profit, they decided that an extra 10% potential viewer-bases was not worthy of double the cost.

I guess that the difficulty you have (as far as receiving the full service from a main station such as Mendip) is that you're in a valley.

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Dave Lindsay's 5,724 posts GB flag
C
Chris
12:38 PM

Thanks Dave. So I presume there is no plan to change this in the near future. We have a great little freeview recorder, just like sky+ but the main programs we used to record are now not available. They're not on freesat as sky has them as subscriber channels and sky is just too expensive for us. What a shame.

link to this comment
Chris's 2 posts GB flag
Dave Lindsay
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

2:17 PM

Chris: That is correct; it is likely to stay as it is.

The only thing I can suggest is that you keep your eyes peeled for Mendip-facing aerials. It is extremely doubful, but never say never. Obviously it is likely that where there is a Mendip aerial (in locations where reception from Bath is much easier) that it has been installed to get the full complement of channels.

Mendip is at 226° from your location and aerials will be horizontal (elements flat) rather than vertical for Bath.

In situations such as yours where it is quite a way off line-of-sight, reception may vary in just a short space, so even if a neighbour can get it (just!), you may not be able to. Similarly, greater height doesn't always mean better reception. So if you do see a Mendip aerial, don't let it get your hopes up too high. It is, of course, always a possibility that reception from Mendip may vary over time. For this reason, it may be wise to retain the Bath aerial as a back-up should you find that you can pick-up from Mendip.

I suggest seeing if there are any Mendip aerials because it is about the only thing you can do. I can't over-emphasise how much of a long shot it might be!

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Dave Lindsay's 5,724 posts GB flag
Dave Lindsay
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

2:24 PM

Chris: One final thing; "if" you do find that you can receive from Mendip, but that reception is poor, such as when it rains or when there's snow on the ground, then it is the case that some tuners are more tolerable of poor signals than others. Where one faulters, another "may" be OK.

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Dave Lindsay's 5,724 posts GB flag
Friday, 21 September 2012
R
Ryan
1:29 PM
Bath

Hi, I've just moved into a flat at BA1 6AX.
My girlfriend really wants ITV3 but we can't seem to pick it up (or other channels on that multiplex, at first it appeared in the guide and was almost coming through but just a garbled image. Tried buying a signal booster but that just meant when I rescanned it wasn't even appearing in the guide and completely undetected. From reading on here I wonder if I should try the booster with the power off to try attenuating the signal and see if that helps.
It seems the Bath transmitter only has 3 multiplexes, not including the one I was looking for, is it possible to pick up the signals from a different transmitter? It seems I almost was. I'm going to look at the orientation of the antenna tonight, I'm not sure if it's vertical or horizontal.
Any advice would be really appreciated!

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Ryan's 1 post US flag
Ryan's: mapR's Freeview map terrainR's terrain plot wavesR's frequency data R's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Dave Lindsay
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

2:36 PM

Ryan: "If" your aerial is pointing at the Bath transmitter, then, as you already know, it doesn't broadcast the COM channels and so I recommend that you look towards a replacement aerial pointing at Mendip rather than trying to amplify what signal is being picked up from Mendip by your Bath aerial.

A look on Streetview (photos taken August 2009) shows a few aerials on Mendip in the area. Remember that these photos were taken in the days before switchover (when the digital signals were weaker and therefore "perhaps" unavailable at that the location).

If this is a shared communal aerial then obviously you will either need to get those responsible for it to get it changed. If it is your own aerial, then you might like to see whether you can have a replacement for Mendip on the roof of the building, even if you do not live on the top floor.


The Bath transmitter is at 128° and aerials are vertical. Mendip is at 228° and aerials are horizontal.

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Dave Lindsay's 5,724 posts GB flag
Friday, 9 November 2012
M
Mark Littlejohns
7:27 AM
Bath

I live near the centre of Bath in BA2 3HE and have been picking up limited freeview channels from presumably the Bath transmitter. Recently my freeview has started picking up all the extra channels that were only previously available from the Mendip transmitter. However most of these are of varying quality digital picture and sound breaking up.

Does anyone know if there has been an upgrade to the Bath transmitter and if so how I can improve the picture quality of these 'extra' channels? Or if I expect my aerial is now picking up a weak signal from the Mendip transmitter.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

Mark

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Mark Littlejohns's 4 posts GB flag
Mark's: mapM's Freeview map terrainM's terrain plot wavesM's frequency data M's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Dave Lindsay
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

10:59 AM

Mark Littlejohns: The 1,000 plus PSB-only relays aren't likely to be upgraded to provide the full service. Bath transmitter continues to relay only the three PSB multiplexes.

Identify which UHF channel (frequency) that the other channels are coming in on, and hence what transmitter they are coming from. Do this by viewing the signal strength screen whilst on the following: 10:ITV3 (COM4), 11:Pick TV (COM5) and 15:Film4 (COM6).

The three COM channels from Mendip are 48, 56 and 52 respectively.

The result for digital reception (a picture being shown) is pretty much all or nothing. Thus the signal level may have been "just below" before and is "just above" now which is a "slight" change. This is to explain why you may have no reception in one instance, and some in another.

Your aerial is obviously facing the wrong way, it is vertically polarised (Mendip's signals are horizontally polarised) and it is probably a Group A one (which is more sensitive on the lower channels that Bath uses and hence less sensitive on the highest channels which Mendip uses).

I wouldn't like to say whether you will be able to get continual reliable reception from Mendip even with your Bath aerial giving some sort of reception. A professional installer on-site is only likely to be able to say.

It is possible that you are receiving the Mendip signals because there is something that has changed and is reflecting them. Or they may have been there all along, albeit a "slight" increase. Or perhaps something in the path between the transmitter and you has changed and allows more signal through.

The difficulty with Mendip is that you don't have line-of-sight due to residing in a valley. This in itself does not necessarily mean that reception isn't possible.

Look around to see if others have had Mendip-facing aerials fitted. These will be horizontal roughly south west.

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Dave Lindsay's 5,724 posts GB flag
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