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Full Freeview on the Beacon Hill (Torbay, England) transmitter

first published this on - UK Free TV
sa_streetviewGoogle Streetviewsa_gmapsGoogle mapsa_bingBing mapsa_gearthGoogle Earthsa_gps50.446,-3.611 or 50°26'45"N 3°36'40"Wsa_postcodeTQ3 1RT

 

The symbol shows the location of the Beacon Hill (Torbay, England) transmitter which serves 84,000 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 Beacon Hill (Torbay, England) transmitter.

Choose from three options: ■ List by multiplex ■ List by channel number ■ List by channel name
_______

Which Freeview channels does the Beacon Hill 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
C44- (657.8MHz)284mDTG-20,000W
Channel icons
1 BBC One (SD) South 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
 H max
C41+ (634.2MHz)284mDTG-20,000W
Channel icons
3 ITV 1 (SD) (West Country), 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 Country), 71 That’s 60s,

PSB3
BBCB
 H max
C47+ (682.2MHz)284mDTG-20,000W
Channel icons
46 5SELECT, 101 BBC One HD South 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

COM4
SDN
 H -3dB
C42 (642.0MHz)285mDTG-810,000W
Channel icons
20 U&Drama, 21 5USA, 29 ITV2 +1, 32 5STAR, 33 5Action, 38 Channel 5 +1, 41 Legend, 42 GREAT! action, 57 U&Dave ja vu, 58 ITV3 +1, 59 ITV4 +1, 64 Blaze, 67 TRUE CRIME, 68 TRUE CRIME XTRA, 81 Blaze +1, 83 Together TV, 91 WildEarth, 93 ITVBe +1, 209 Ketchup TV, 210 Ketchup Too, 211 YAAAS!, 251 Al Jazeera English, 255 FRANCE 24 (in English), 265 Rok Sky +1, plus 29 others

COM5
ArqA
 H -3dB
C45 (666.0MHz)285mDTG-810,000W
Channel icons
11 Sky Mix, 17 Really, 19 U&Dave, 31 E4 Extra, 36 Sky Arts, 40 Quest Red, 43 Food Network, 47 Film4 +1, 48 Challenge, 49 4seven, 60 U&Drama +1, 65 That's TV 2, 70 Quest +1, 74 &UYesterday +1, 76 That's TV 2 MCR, 233 Sky News, plus 13 others

COM6
ArqB
 H -3dB
C40 (626.0MHz)285mDTG-810,000W
Channel icons
12 Quest, 25 U&W, 27 U&Yesterday, 34 GREAT! movies, 39 DMAX, 44 HGTV, 52 GREAT! christmas, 56 That's TV (UK), 63 GREAT! romance mix, 73 HobbyMaker, 75 That's 90s, 82 Talking Pictures TV, 84 PBS America, 235 Al Jazeera Eng, plus 18 others

DTG-8 64QAM 8K 3/4 27.1Mb/s DVB-T MPEG2
H/V: aerial position (horizontal or vertical)

Which BBC and ITV regional news can I watch from the Beacon Hill transmitter?

regional news image
BBC Spotlight 0.8m homes 2.9%
from Plymouth PL3 5BD, 37km west (262°)
to BBC South West region - 107 masts.
regional news image
ITV West Country News (West) 0.8m homes 2.9%
from Plymouth PL7 5BQ, 30km west (260°)
to ITV West Country region - 107 masts.
All of lunch, weekend and 50% evening news is shared with West Country (East)

Are there any self-help relays?

LannacombeActive deflector25 km SW Torbay4 homes

How will the Beacon Hill (Torbay, England) transmission frequencies change over time?

1984-971997-981998-20092009-132013-182013-1727 Mar 2019
C/D EC/D EC/D EE TE TW TK T
C33com7com7
C34com8com8
C40ArqB
C41D3+4
C42SDNSDNSDNSDN
C44BBCA
C45ArqAArqAArqAArqA
C47BBCB
C51tv_offArqBArqBArqB
C53tv_offC4wavesC4wavesC4waves+D3+4+D3+4+D3+4
C57tv_offBBC1wavesBBC1wavesBBC1waves+BBCB+BBCB+BBCB
C60tv_offITVwavesITVwavesITVwaves -BBCA-BBCA
C63BBC2wavesBBC2wavesBBC2waves

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 8 Apr 09 and 22 Apr 09.

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

Analogue 1-4 100kW
BBCA, D3+4, BBCB(-7dB) 20kW
SDN, ARQA, ARQB(-10dB) 10kW
com7(-11.4dB) 7.3kW
Mux 1*, Mux 2*, Mux A*, Mux B*(-17dB) 2kW
Mux C*, Mux D*, com8(-20dB) 1000W

Which companies have run the Channel 3 services in the Beacon Hill transmitter area

Apr 1961-Dec 1981Westward Television
Jan 1982-Dec 1992Television South West (TSW)
Jan 1993-Feb 2004Westcountry 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. Beacon Hill 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, 27 July 2011
D
Di Masters
4:06 PM

Quite true Brian. Before the changeover, all channels except the BBC ones were liable to break up or pixillate and freeze but, as changeover day approached, the faults began to disappear and my TV showed that the signal strength had improved and was strength 10 by the day itself on all channels,some of which had been only 4 or 5 so a faultless changeover was achieved in my case.

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Di Masters's 9 posts GB flag
Friday, 29 July 2011
Briantist
sentiment_very_satisfiedOwner

8:03 AM

Di Masters: This could be caused, in some cases, but the removal of interference from distant analogue transmitters as other regions switched over.

It is worth noting that all of the transmission frequencies actually changed at switchover.

link to this comment
Briantist's 38,915 posts GB flag
Saturday, 20 August 2011
J
john lowe
9:35 PM
Budleigh Salterton

4 flats served by 1 aerial mounted side of building
No problems with BBC channels.
Big problems with ITV(53/51).Message comes up
"Content scrabled or not available"Can last for
hours.i.e. tonight went off at 7.30 pm and is
still scrambled at 9.30
Any ideas?

link to this comment
john lowe's 1 post GB flag
john's: mapJ's Freeview map terrainJ's terrain plot wavesJ's frequency data J's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Thursday, 25 August 2011
M
Mike Dimmick
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

2:31 PM

john lowe: It's probably a case of too much signal for the PSB multiplex channels on C53 (ITV1, ITV1+1, ITV2, C4, C4+1, More 4, E4, Channel 5). You are only about 1km from the Budleigh Salterton relay, which uses the same channels as Beacon Hill, in a Single Frequency Network. However, it only relays the PSB multiplexes.

For the COM multiplexes (ITV3 is on SDN, ITV4 on ArqB), it looks like a number of other relays in the area use channels 42, 45 and 51. You may just be out of reliable reception range. Digital UK offers no prediction on these three multiplexes.

link to this comment
Mike Dimmick's 2,486 posts GB flag
M
Mike Dimmick
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

2:35 PM

john lowe: Sorry, I explained the problem, I didn't provide a solution. Since this is a distribution system, you need to arrange with the landlord - unless you are the landlord of course! - to get it looked at. Either the signal at the distribution amplifier is too loud - causing the amplifier to distort - or the signal coming out of it is too loud, causing distortion in your TV or box.

You could try adding an attenuator between the box and the wall socket, to reduce the level before it reaches your box, but as I say, the problem could be before the distribution amplifier.

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Mike Dimmick's 2,486 posts GB flag
Tuesday, 11 October 2011
C
Chrisonahill
8:07 AM

Are there any plans to increase power from Beacon Hill? I notice the COM muxes on Stockland Hill will be upgraded next year and Beacon Hill will require wideband antenna. We're outside Weymouth and often get a better signal from Beacon Hill than Stockland Hill - probably partly due local topography - but we lose signal from the former - one mux at a time - in high atmospheric pressure conditions so may switch to Stockland. Suggestions welcome.

link to this comment
Chrisonahill's 12 posts GB flag
M
Mike Dimmick
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

3:54 PM
Wareham

Chrisonahill: The signals from Beacon Hill are at their final power levels. It's unlikely that there will be further power increases.

If your location is still BH20 6JG, I would guess that Rowridge on the Isle of Wight would give better results than either of the mentioned transmitters, once it switches over in March. You're likely to get best results using a vertically-polarized Group A aerial, once the VP services are running at full power from 18 April 2012. The commercial multiplexes from Rowridge will use the same channels as Stockland Hill, which will have some effect, though the use of VP should help (as Stockland Hill is horizontally-polarized).

Your reception of commercial multiplexes from Stockland Hill is liable to be clobbered by Rowridge once it completes switchover, even with Stockland Hill's power increase, and Rowridge's horizontally-polarized COM transmissions being one quarter of the power of VP.

Please note that this is my guess, rather than a prediction from Digital UK, whose website is currently not accepting that postcode.

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Mike Dimmick's 2,486 posts GB flag
Mike's: mapM's Freeview map terrainM's terrain plot wavesM's frequency data M's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Tuesday, 18 October 2011
C
Chrisonahill
7:39 AM
Weymouth

Thanks Mike, but I don't know how you got BH20, I'm at DT3 6ED so I guess Rowridge would have much less effect.

link to this comment
Chrisonahill's 12 posts GB flag
Chrisonahill's: mapC's Freeview map terrainC's terrain plot wavesC's frequency data C's Freeview Detailed Coverage
M
Mike Dimmick
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

2:40 PM

Chrisonahill: If you click the number of posts next to a user's name (yours currently says '10 posts'), you can see that user's previous posts. A post attributed to you had a BH20 postcode attached.

Looking at the prediction for your postcode, it still looks like a significant interaction between Stockland Hill and Rowridge. Indeed the prediction for Rowridge VP COM muxes (after April 2012) is still better than for Beacon Hill - ArqA and ArqB, at least.

I can't really see why the prediction for ArqB is so poor, there aren't that many other sites using C51, although one of them is Redruth, which is in the same direction as Beacon Hill and double the distance, and has equal power. The poor predictions for C42 and C45 may be because they're adjacent to the PSB muxes at Redruth.

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Mike Dimmick's 2,486 posts GB flag
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