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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.

Are there any planned engineering works or unexpected transmitter faults on the Beacon Hill (Torbay, England) mast?

Beacon Hill transmitter - Beacon Hill 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 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),

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 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
C45 (666.0MHz)285mDTG-810,000W
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
C40 (626.0MHz)285mDTG-810,000W
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

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
Friday, 3 November 2017
MikeP
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

5:37 PM

Devon Dad:

To try to help, we need to know exactly the make and model of the TV in question and a full post code please. That way we can check the user manual and features of the TV set as well as checking the reception conditions at your exact location, even though two other TVs are working fine.

It would also help to know what the signal strengths are for the different multiplexes you can receive. Having too strong a signal can be as bad as it being too weak.

Different makes and models of TV perform differently - even those from the same manufacturer, hence the need for the exact make and model number.

Note also that there has been significant reception problems across the country due to high pressure weather systems passing through and they disrupt normal reception, often of just a single multiplex.



link to this comment
MikeP's 3,056 posts GB flag
D
Devon Dad
6:34 PM
Teignmouth

Hi Mike, thanks so much for the reply.
The Tv is a 2007 BeoVision7 (9334 MK30 with a 0.4.0.0 Module V 0.1.0.7.0 fitted when purchased.
The postcode is TQ14 9SG with a horizontal roof mounted aerial picking up Beacon Hill.
Info on the MK3 is fairly limited but I found a good link regarding the module at
Beovision 6-26 DVB-T tuner can't find BBC channels -
but hit a wall when the TV would not save the frequency as instructed.
The signal for D3&4 is Quality 70%/ Strength 62% on E4
ArqB is 73%/ 48% on 4Seven
SDN drops signal with 60%/ 50% on CITV
ArqA comes and goes.
BBCA nothing
BBCB/ com7&8 doubt this set does HD?

My gut feeling is the module being outdated, my next port of call with the zero knowledge I have on these things would of been a filter then amplifier I guess. The only other thing is the aerial feed has an external splitter with 2 outlets, one of which has an additional T splitter. It's not ideal but the house is badly designed with not many other options for direct feeds.

Aerial--- Outdoor 2 way splitter---Upstairs TV (10M)
---T splitter---Samsung TV (10M)
---B&O TV (5M)

Hope that all makes sense, can't think of any other info.


Thanks again for your time in looking into this. Always a pleasure to see communities like this supported by people such as yourself.



link to this comment
Devon Dad's 7 posts GB flag
Devon's: mapD's Freeview map terrainD's terrain plot wavesD's frequency data D's Freeview Detailed Coverage
D
Devon Dad
7:10 PM

Stop the press. I hope I didn't waste too much of your time, but I happened to stumble across the solution via the link I posted. I had inadvertently been entering the frequency without the correct decimalisation.
Eg. 785.8 = 785800 @ 8 Mhz. It's obvious now I look at it, but it hadn't twigged when I first read it as the B&O operating system is new to me and counter intuitive.
It's all a foreign language to me so I'm pretty amazed I managed to break the DaVinci code.
Phew, now my wife can watch rubbish on all those other channels ;)

Thanks again for taking your time to answer MikeP. Have a good weekend.

link to this comment
Devon Dad's 7 posts GB flag
Saturday, 4 November 2017
M
MikeB
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

10:50 AM

Devon Dad: Just commeting on your question about HD. A TV from 2007 would not have had an HD tuner, but will have an HD Ready or even Full HD panel (actually, that TV seems to have a slightly better than HD Ready panel) , plus at least one HDMI connection (although the spec for that model might not have them, which I'm very surprised at).

So getting a HD signal is pretty easy - just use an external HD box/PVR. They start at around 44 pounds for a receiver, and a Humax/Panasonic PVR will start around 180. They will tend to have wifi/smart capacity as well. And that goes for blu rays, streamers like Amazon Firesticks, etc.

And that means you dont have to deal with the B & O system any more....

link to this comment
MikeB's 2,579 posts GB flag
D
Devon Dad
11:03 AM

Thanks Mike.
Although very grateful that we inherited this beauty of a TV (phenomenal sound!), the MK3 unfortunately only has Scart connections and no HDMI.
The MK5 is the Holy Grail of this range as you could certainly open up the full potential of B&O's panel.
Funnily enough 'Scart only' receivers are thin on the ground now, but I may keep an eye open in the future as it may enable a few more features.
Meanwhile my wife is very happy that she can finally use the lovely set that was handed down to her.
Thanks again.

link to this comment
Devon Dad's 7 posts GB flag
M
MikeB
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

1:54 PM

Devon Dad: Frankly, I'm amazed that a set of that age doesn't have any HDMI's, especially considering the price (which paid, in part, for the amazing sound!).

So your kind of stuck. A Manhattan HD receiver does have a scart (I've got one), and Humax PVR's still do, or the latest version has RCA's, which is an easy convert to scart - so you will have the connectivity, smartness, etc, but not the HD.

That would be the most pragmatic way to go, but sadly, you can't enjoy Blue Planet II in its full glory.

I had a couple come in a while back asking about TV's, and it was only after about 10 min that they bothered to tell me they had a B & O (which meant I'd wasted my time talking about a perfectly decent 600 Panasonic...), and were looking for something similar in quality terms. Since I've only ever seen a B & O once, I showed them the best Samsung (B & O use Samsung panels) and then said to go to our main London store to compare B & O with Samsung.

Then I looked at the cost of a B & O and laughed - because they are very very very expensive, certainly in panel terms. So if you are looking to replace it, go up one size or more, stick to the four major brands, and get the best you can. You wont get the sound quality, but a decent soundbar, etc will overall be much cheaper. Frankly, you could get Sonos and still be ahead. OLED is a big seller this year, and the quality is wonderful.


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MikeB's 2,579 posts GB flag
D
Devon Dad
2:41 PM

Agreed. I am more than happy with my Samsung 40" that the kids & I use for gaming and enjoy the benefits that come with a new panel for shows like BP2. I've only ever switched between Samsung and Panasonic (both great products but luck of the draw with the panels these days) for myself as there is no way on this big Blue Planet that I'd ever afford a new B&O set. Just walking in their store bought me out in a rash! The price my wifes Aunt paid at new is simply eye watering for a 32".

OLED is a pipe dream for future upgrades. I'd better get saving now. Especially with 4K gaming/ movies now.

Thanks for the heads up on the Humax, I will go down that route if the Mrs ever wants iPlayer etc in the lounge. But she seems content with the usual stable of freeview channels which is handy.

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Devon Dad's 7 posts GB flag
M
MikeB
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

4:38 PM

Devon Dad: Panasonic use LG panels, and are doing very well (I'm a huge fan of the EX750), Samsung make panels for other brands as well, - and of course LG, Sony and Panasonic OLEDS are all made by LG. The secret is the quality of the panel and the software - B & O of course use their own, like every brand.

Yeah, I can't afford a new TV either, never mind an OLED! But selling them....

Actually, I would like to ask what the quality of the picture is like on the B & O, vs a Panasonic/Samsung. Obviously its only on SD, but is there much difference?

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MikeB's 2,579 posts GB flag
Tuesday, 12 December 2017
Transmitter engineering
sentiment_very_satisfiedOwner

2:09 PM

BEACON HILL transmitter - DAB: BBC National DAB Radio Off Air from 08:05 today to 08:23 today. [BBC]

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Transmitter engineering's 149,799 posts xx flag
Wednesday, 13 December 2017
Transmitter engineering
sentiment_very_satisfiedOwner

5:09 AM

BEACON HILL transmitter - DAB: BBC National DAB Radio Off Air from 08:05 yesterday to 08:23 yesterday. [BBC]

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Transmitter engineering's 149,799 posts xx flag
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