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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
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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
Monday, 17 February 2014
Dave Lindsay
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

7:11 PM

Nick Burleigh: As this issue is limited to a particular locality then perhaps it is worth discounting the possibility that this could be due to a 4G mobile base station operating in the 800MHz band (which is what used to be the top part of the band for TV frequencies).

There are mobile phone base stations co-located with the Torquay Town transmitter and it is only a few hundred metres away, so any signals are likely to be very strong.

The organisation set-up by the mobile operators to tackle interference with terrestrial TV is at800. It generally notifies by postcard those who may be affected, although as it isn't an exact science this isn't always the case.

If you haven't had notification then I would give them a ring to see if there is a 800MHz 4G base station that has come on air and which coincides with the TV reception issue:

Contact at800 / DMSL | General Enquiries | at800

The solution is usually the installation of a filter, provided free-of-charge by at800. This needs to be fitted between aerial and TV or box, and before any amplifier (booster). Where a set-top aerial with an in-built booster is being used then this may have to be replaced with one that doesn't. It may turn out that using an aerial without a booster resolves the issue as, quite frankly, at such close proximity to the transmitter the signal isn't liable to be too weak and the only possible undesireable outcome of using a booster is that the signal breaks up due to being made too big!

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Dave Lindsay's 5,724 posts GB flag
Tuesday, 18 February 2014
N
Nick Burleigh
10:07 PM

Thanks to Briantist and Dave Lindsay - The three local residents who came to us to get help about their poor television reception being received from the local Torquay town relay transmitter since the weekend are pleased that their service has been restored and is working fine again without the need for any adjustment to either their aerials or television sets.
Not many people use this transmitter these days and this might be why the problem was undetected for several days. This is because the Torquay town transmitter station has a limited number of channels so people are more inclined to opt for a new aerial and a mast head amplifier capable of bringing the full service in from a distant high power main transmitter that was unaffected by any interference or faults.

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Nick Burleigh's 1 post GB flag
Tuesday, 3 June 2014
P
Phil White
9:36 PM
Brixham

Hi,

I live in Higher Brixham , with a clear line of sight view to Beacon Hill. My antenna is mounted outdoors on my roof.
However, practically every evening starting anytime between 18:30 to19:30, and lasting for up to two hours I get severe picture breakup with occasional lost of signal on the BBC channels on C60. Non of the other channels are affected, i.e. ITV etc.
I have a 4G filter in place between the antenna and my distribution amplifier. The interference does not coincide with any appliances being used in my home.
Can anyone suggest the cause of this interference or provide me with someone who would be able to locate the source of this interference.
A friend who lives nearby also has this problem.

link to this comment
Phil White's 11 posts GB flag
Phil's: mapP's Freeview map terrainP's terrain plot wavesP's frequency data P's Freeview Detailed Coverage
M
MikeB
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

11:02 PM

Phil White: Looking at your position, your just 9km from the transmitter. Admittedly, someone else might suggest why your signal seems to have a problem at the same time each night (remember the source of interference might not be in your home), but if you look at the link I posted to Phil Cliffords question, it might help answer your question.

link to this comment
MikeB's 2,579 posts GB flag
Thursday, 17 July 2014
B
Bob D
1:32 PM
Paignton

Hi There
I live between Brixham and Paignton TQ4 7BQ, over the past 3 days I intermittently lost all BBC reception. Today I reset all Freeview channels and I no longer have any BBC channels showing at all. I have checked all my wiring and there appears to be no problem. I live in a bungalow with the aerial situated on a 10ft pole attached to my dormer bedroom making it about 25-30 feet high. I have lived here for 12 years and have never experienced any problems at all even after the digital switchover.
There is some building and road widening going on about a mile away but this has been going on for some time and there are no new high rise buildings.
The weather is very sunny but this has never caused a problem before. Any thoughts?


link to this comment
Bob D's 3 posts GB flag
Bob's: mapB's Freeview map terrainB's terrain plot wavesB's frequency data B's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Friday, 18 July 2014
B
Bob D
12:24 PM
Paignton

Just a brief update, I was able to retune to all BBC channels at midnight last night only to find that at 6.00am this morning I was informed that the signal for Freeview was too low and unable to show any BBC channels again!
I don't understand why all other providers are always OK but the mighty BBC goes down.

link to this comment
Bob D's 3 posts GB flag
Bob's: mapB's Freeview map terrainB's terrain plot wavesB's frequency data B's Freeview Detailed Coverage
M
MikeB
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

2:59 PM

Bob D: Since your so close to the transmitter, you should be getting an excellent signal. Are you actually tuned to Beacon Hill?

The other thing is your system. Since you should be getting a decent signal with wet string, it sounds like that might need checking.

link to this comment
MikeB's 2,579 posts GB flag
Monday, 21 July 2014
B
Bob D
3:36 PM
Paignton

Thanks for your reply MikeB. I agree that I should be receiving a good signal and up until last Wednesday I was, then all BBC channels went off. Nothing has been altered and I can still receive all other channels except BBC.
I have just checked my booster in the loft thinking it might be that playing up but when I switched it off I lost everything so I assume it's doing its job.
The only thing I can think of is that when the BBC came back (briefly) we had just had a thunderstorm so I am wondering if it might be weather related (what do I know!). If the aerial has moved (birds landing on it) would that be enough to lose only BBC?
I've just found a channel checker on my Freeview box and it tells me that on channel 60 the signal strength is excellent but of poor quality - what does that mean and why would that be so?
Confused
Bob D

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Bob D's 3 posts GB flag
Bob's: mapB's Freeview map terrainB's terrain plot wavesB's frequency data B's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Monday, 28 July 2014
M
michael scott
9:19 PM

hello Bob D,
If you're in Paignton then Channel 60 BBC mux should be always both good/excellent for signal and quality.
You might have a weather-related cause loss of C60 probably due to LIGHTNING but it could be co-incidental. It needs a pro to diagnose in situ.Don't use a cowboy though,get someone who is 'trade-recognised',e.g. Confederation of Aerial Installers. CAI. Good luck!

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michael scott's 8 posts GB flag
Sunday, 2 November 2014
J
John Wotton
1:02 PM

I seem to be having problems receiving c51 channels signal strength low, picture breaks up, Other channels ok. Any problems reported?

link to this comment
John Wotton's 1 post GB flag
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Your comment please
Please post a question, answer or commentIf you have Freeview reception problems before posting a question your must first do this Freeview reset procedure then see: Freeview reception has changed, Single frequency interference, and Freeview intermittent interference.

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If you have other problems, please provide a full (not partial) postcode (or preferably enter it in box at the top right) and indicate where if aerial is on the roof, in the loft or elsewhere.

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