menuMENU    UK Free TV logo Freeview

 

 

Click to see updates

Full Freeview on the Bilsdale (North Yorkshire, England) transmitter

first published this on - UK Free TV
sa_streetviewGoogle Streetviewsa_gmapsGoogle mapsa_bingBing mapsa_gearthGoogle Earthsa_gps54.358,-1.151 or 54°21'30"N 1°9'2"Wsa_postcodeTS9 7JS

 

The symbol shows the location of the Bilsdale (North Yorkshire, England) transmitter which serves 570,000 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 Bilsdale (North Yorkshire, England) mast?

Bilsdale transmitter - Bilsdale transmitter: Possible effect on TV reception week commencing 04/11/2024 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 Bilsdale 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
C27 (522.0MHz)676mDTG-100,000W
Channel icons
1 BBC One (SD) North East and Cumbria, 2 BBC Two England, 9 BBC Four, 23 BBC Three, 201 CBBC, 202 CBeebies, 231 BBC News, 232 BBC Parliament, plus 16 others

PSB2
D3+4
 H max
C24 (498.0MHz)676mDTG-100,000W
Channel icons
3 ITV 1 (SD) (Tyne Tees), 4 Channel 4 (SD) North ads, 5 Channel 5, 6 ITV 2, 10 ITV3, 13 E4, 14 Film4, 15 Channel 4 +1 North ads, 18 More4, 26 ITV4, 28 ITVBe, 30 E4 +1, 35 ITV1 +1 (Tyne Tees), 71 That’s 60s,

PSB3
BBCB
 H max
C21 (474.0MHz)676mDTG-100,000W
Channel icons
46 5SELECT, 101 BBC One HD North East and Cumbria, 102 BBC Two HD England, 103 ITV 1 HD (ITV Granada), 104 Channel 4 HD North 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
C43 (650.0MHz)676mDTG-850,000W
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
C46 (674.0MHz)681mDTG-850,000W
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)681mDTG-850,000W
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 Bilsdale transmitter?

regional news image
BBC Look North (Newcastle) 1.6m homes 6.0%
from Newcastle NE99 2NE, 74km north-northwest (336°)
to BBC North East and Cumbria region - 70 masts.
regional news image
ITV Tyne Tees News 1.4m homes 5.4%
from Gateshead NE11 9SZ, 75km north-northwest (333°)
to ITV Tyne Tees region - 47 masts.
All of lunch, weekend and 50% evening news is shared with Border

Are there any self-help relays?

Garsdale (pin Fold)Transposer63 homes (coverage together with SH34)
Hawsker BottomActive deflector 150 caravans
LangthwaiteActive deflector30 homes

How will the Bilsdale (North Yorkshire, England) transmission frequencies change over time?

1984-971997-981998-20122012-1313 Nov 2019
A K TA K TA K TK TW T
C21BBCB
C23C4wavesC4wavesC4wavesBBCB
C24_localD3+4
C26BBC2wavesBBC2wavesBBC2wavesBBCA
C27BBCA
C29ITVwavesITVwavesITVwavesD3+4
C30_local
C31com7
C33BBC1wavesBBC1wavesBBC1waves
C35C5wavesC5waves
C37com8
C40ArqBArqB
C43SDNSDN
C46ArqAArqA
C55tv_offcom7tv_off
C56tv_offCOM8tv_off

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 12 Sep 12 and 26 Sep 12.

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

Analogue 1-5 500kW
BBCA, D3+4, BBCB(-7dB) 100kW
SDN, ARQA, ARQB(-10dB) 50kW
com7(-14.3dB) 18.5kW
com8(-14.4dB) 18.1kW
Mux 2*, Mux A*, Mux B*, Mux C*(-19.2dB) 6kW
Mux 1*(-20.2dB) 4.8kW
Mux D*(-24.9dB) 1.6kW

Which companies have run the Channel 3 services in the Bilsdale transmitter area

May 1956-Jul 1968Granada Television†
May 1956-Jul 1968Associated British Corporation◊
Jul 1968-Jul 1974Yorkshire Television
Jul 1974-Feb 2004Tyne Tees 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. Bilsdale 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.

Is the transmitter output the same in all directions?

Radiation patterns withheld

Comments
Wednesday, 26 September 2012
Dave Lindsay
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

8:12 PM

Darren Brown: Have you had your Group A aerial replaced with a wideband or Group K one?

The Commercial (COM) channels from Bilsdale are out of the former analogue group.

If your aerial hasn't been replaced, then it may be a Group A one which means that it is most sensitive at frequencies within the bottom third of the band. Prior to switchover all analogue channels were in Group A and all except Mux D which carried Film4 and Yesterday were within Group A.

The six channels are:

PSB1 | BBC One | C26
PSB2 | ITV1 | C29
PSB3 | BBC One HD | C23
COM4 | ITV3 | C43
COM5 | Pick TV | C46
COM6 | Dave | C40

Note that the COMs are now in the 40s which is above Group A. Mux D was formerly on C42 at much lower power.


A Group K aerial will be best for Bilsdale now:

Bilsdale TV Transmitter

Group K covers Group A and Group B; Group B being the middle third of the band, where the COMs are.

link to this comment
Dave Lindsay's 5,724 posts GB flag
D
Darren Brown
8:52 PM

Darren Brown:
Dave Lindsay: Cheers Dave. Thanks for your help mate. Will let you know how I get on.

link to this comment
Darren Brown's 7 posts GB flag
D
Darren Brown
9:01 PM

Dave Lindsay: Sorry forgot to mention, I havent changed my aerial but will do.

link to this comment
Darren Brown's 7 posts GB flag
Thursday, 27 September 2012
A
Alan
12:34 PM
Stockton-on-tees

Since the switch over my PVR keeps loosing the channels on Com 5. A manual or automatic retune finds them ok but they drop out at random times or if the PVR goes into standby. The digital tv is fine and the digi box on an old tv is also fine....we have a signal booster on because prior to the switch over we had problems with channel drop out and picture break up and the booster resolved it. Although pick tv did remain troublesome on the pvr. Post Code TS17 0SH. Stockton on Tees.
I guess this is an obvious question but does this seem like a PVR fault? and if so why only certain channels and not all of them? Is it possible we may no longer need the booster on since the increase in power output and could this be the problem? I need to get this working because the wife likes Star Trek and likes to watch it after working late....

link to this comment
Alan's 4 posts GB flag
Alan's: mapA's Freeview map terrainA's terrain plot wavesA's frequency data A's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Dave Lindsay
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

1:56 PM

Alan: Different receivers have differing tollerances and therefore I wouldn't jump to the conclusion that there is a fault.

The thing to be aware of about Bilsdale is that aerials may require replacement because some channels are out of the former analogue group.

In the days of four-channel analogue, each transmitter used four UHF channels (frequencies) from within the same "group". Each group is a portion of the band of frequencies used for TV.

Aerials that were installed were usually grouped meaning that they are most sensitive of one particular group and that they drop off in sensitivity outside of the group.

Bilsdale was Group A (C21 to C37) for all five analogue channels and all pre-switchover digital multiplexes, except for one (Mux D which carried Film4, Yesterday etc). Group A is the bottom third of the band.

Post-switchover the Public Service (PSB) channels are on Group A channels, but the three Commercial (COM) channels are in Group B (middle third of the band). COM5 is the highest of the COMs which is on C46.

The channels are (those in brackets are the pre-switchover channels of the equivalent multiplexes):

PSB1 | BBC One | C26 (C34)
PSB2 | ITV1 | C29 (C21)
PSB3 | BBC One HD | C23 (n/a)
COM4 | ITV3 | C43 (C31)
COM5 | Pick TV | C46 (C27)
COM6 | Film4 | C40 (C42)

Prior to switchover the booster may have been needed because the digital signals were on much lower power. It is, of course, always worth a try without it. But I wonder if it may in practice be being used now to compensate for the weaker signals due to them being out of group.

To understand the sensitivities of aerials, see these example gain curves:

Gain (curves), Again

If, having tried removing the booster, it doesn't work and you decide to replace the aerial I suggest that you get a Group K aerial if you get a yagi type or if it's a log periodic, then these are wideband but have a flatter response than yagis (see gain curves on above link).

See here for some pointers:

Bilsdale TV Transmitter

link to this comment
Dave Lindsay's 5,724 posts GB flag
J
Jan
7:28 PM

Please help me I live in whitby and have always recieved my signal from bilsdale after the switchover on the 26th I have now lost channels like 5+1 5usa 5* dave challange quest and im gutted why is this why have they gone i have retuned 3 times since yesterday and its still not there!!!! help

link to this comment
Jan's 4 posts GB flag
Dave Lindsay
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

7:41 PM

Jan: Try manually tuning for them. 5+1, 5USA, 5* and Quest are carried on COM4 which is on UHF channel 43 from Bilsdale and Dave and Challenge are on COM5 which are on C46.

Perhaps you need your aerial replacing to receive the COM channels. I covered this in response to Alan in the posting immediately before yours.

link to this comment
Dave Lindsay's 5,724 posts GB flag
M
Matt
10:03 PM

I live in Pickering, and have had an acceptable signal on all channels until the switchover. Now PSB1 experineces freezing and breakup. I am using a standard digital aerial and a 4 way booster. I believe this is caused by too strong a signal from BBCA, so I have reduced the gain on the booster. However, the signal is not at all maxing out, (strength 8 quality 7.) If anyone can help with this please. I am using a Thomspon top up tv box

link to this comment
Matt's 3 posts GB flag
Friday, 28 September 2012
Dave Lindsay
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

11:21 AM

Matt: Have you confirmed that it is not picking up Emley Moor's BBCA on C47 instead of Bilsdale's which is on C26?

link to this comment
Dave Lindsay's 5,724 posts GB flag
Dave Lindsay
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

11:36 AM

Could someone suggest why it might be that the DUK Postcode Checker "thinks" that the Bilsdale PSBs aren't as good as the COMs in the Saltburn-by-the-Sea area?

There appears to be no co-channel transmitters that could degrade reception and the COMs are on half-power to the PSBs. So surely the COMs would be most likely to be not as good as the PSBs, if any.

Postcode Checker - Detailed View

Postcode Checker - Detailed View

Up the coast at Seaham, all are "good", but the figures for served and marginal are slightly down for the PSBs:

Postcode Checker - Detailed View


I appreciate that the DUK is a calculation and therefore there may be variables that aren't totally correct. But what could make the predictor give this result. Could it be Caldbeck?

link to this comment
Dave Lindsay's 5,724 posts GB flag
Select more comments

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.

If you have no satellite signal, see Sky Digibox says 'No Signal' or 'Technical fault'

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.

UK Free TV is here to help people. If you are rude or disrespectful all of your posts will be deleted and you will be banned.








Privacy policy: UK Free Privacy policy.