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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
Friday, 28 September 2012
T
Tony
1:20 PM
Darlington

First off, just wanted to say what an excellent site this is, and it's been very informative.

I'm really p'd off right now, as I don't think there's been any publicity given to the change of frequencies on Bilsdale transmitter post-cutover - so for people such as my parents, who had a decent freeview signal on all but Mux6 pre-cutover - suddenly find they've got fewer channels than before, and are unexpectedly having to think about having the aerial replaced.

So, with that in mind, looking at the frequencies table above I see that the current aerial group recommended for bilsdale is K, but for 2013 onwards it says W. Is there yet another frequency change coming next year?

Is a K still the recommended type, or should they be looking at a W type?

Thanks.



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Tony's 2 posts EU flag
Tony's: mapT's Freeview map terrainT's terrain plot wavesT's frequency data T's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Dave Lindsay
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

2:59 PM

Tony: My sympathies go to you.

Before replacing the aerial, try manually tuning if the receiver allows.


There are also a proportion who receive from PSB-only relays, such as in Whitby and Guisborough, who have had to wait to switchover to get any Freeview at all. These people will be disappointed that they have limited channels.

The nonsense of so many wideband or semi-wideband transmitters (where PSBs are in one group and COMs in another) is caused by the fact that channels 31 to 37 have been ringfenced to be sold off for more multiplexes... or maybe not depending on what the powers that be decide.

Consequently, where previously Group A channels available were 21 to 35 (or perhaps you could say 21 to 37) are now 21 to 30 (but only a handful of transmitters use C30).

At the top end (C/D), C61 to C68 have been ringfenced to be sold off to 4G mobile operators, so this is now a smaller group as well.

The silly nonsense of prospectively putting three new muliplexes in the 31 to 37 gap means that some Group C/D aerials (on C/D transmitters) may have to be replaced.

When it was all planned out, the vast majority of transmitters had four channels all in the same group. Queue the introduction of Channel 5 in 1997 and the insistence that logical planning and universal coverage should go out the window in order to cram in as many as possible.

The objective has always been that post-switchover the PSB services are available in all areas that four-channel analogue was, and without the need to change aerials. This has been achieved in all but a small number of cases.


In answer to your question, in signal areas where a log periodic will work, use one. These are naturally wideband and have a much flatter response than yagis.

Where more gain is needed, a yagi must be used. Because the gain curve of yagis always peak at a relatively high channel and slope off downwards, wideband yagis have less gain on Group A channels. This means that a "high-gain" wideband aerial isn't "high-gain" on Group A channels:

Aerials, TV Aerial and Digital Aerial

See this page for some examples to understand this point:

Gain (curves), Again

It is really a compromise. The more channels you design the aerial to operate across, the more the curve stretches and hence the more the low gain end spans more channels.

I'm not sure on what basis that the above says wideband. Perhaps because everything may all get thrown up in the air and it will be anyone's guess as to where they land....

However, on the basis that useable C/D is now smaller, I wouldn't have thought that they would be allocating any C/D channels to transmitters that currently don't have them.

In any case, it doesn't mean that "no" signal is received out of group. As I say, the gain slopes away.


For more information and products, see ATV's site:

Bilsdale TV Transmitter

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Dave Lindsay's 5,724 posts GB flag
T
Tony
3:39 PM
Darlington

Many thanks for your quick response.
I had tried manually retuning, but that didn't make any difference.
I've read through the aerials links, and as you've suggested a log periodic sounds like the best option. Cheers!

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Tony's 2 posts EU flag
Tony's: mapT's Freeview map terrainT's terrain plot wavesT's frequency data T's Freeview Detailed Coverage
A
Alan
10:36 PM
Stockton-on-tees

Hi Dave,
Yes I agree with Tony this is a great site and I thoroughly appreciate your time and help.
I managed to find out we have a wideband aerial fitted so I'm unsure whether this a k group aerial or not?

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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
Saturday, 29 September 2012
Dave Lindsay
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

12:00 AM

Alan: Wideband is fine as it covers the whole band.

Group K is Group A (bottom third) plus Group B (middle third).

I'm not sure that I can be much more help to you. With your symptoms the likely possibility appeared to be that you still had a group A aerial.

Is it possible to bypass the booster (as a test) by connecting the feed from the aerial to that of the room where the troublesome PVR is?

If the booster has a separate power supply then remove the power supply first and then remove the booster.

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Dave Lindsay's 5,724 posts GB flag
Sunday, 30 September 2012
C
Claire
3:18 PM

Completely lost Dave channel. Reset box have done full retune and completed a manual retune on 46. In Malton area anything else I can do?

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Claire's 1 post GB flag
T
Trevor Milburn
8:04 PM
Sunderland

I have had the same apparent problem as Claire. I was watching Dave on Saturday morning when suddenly I got a blank screen and 'No Video' message on my TV (Sony + built in Freeview HD) - same on all C46 stations. Tried automatic then manual re-tunes (C46 only) all to no avail. I am not certain what aerial I have (I do have a booster)but as all other channels etc seem fine and I haven't had any problems in the past I will now have to go through a process of elimintaion to find out the cause of the problem. I am in Sunderland and all my other TVs are recieved via Pontop Pike so can't do comparisons with othe TVs on the same transmiter which is a pain as the immediate suspect is the booster/co-ax link bearing in mind that C46 is at the top end of the transmission spectrum.

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Trevor Milburn's 4 posts GB flag
Trevor's: mapT's Freeview map terrainT's terrain plot wavesT's frequency data T's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Dave Lindsay
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

8:40 PM

Claire: See my posting to Alan, above, Thursday 27 September 2012 1:56PM. If you have a group A aerial which will likely be the type installed in the days of four-channel analogue then you may need it replacing.

Group A is the bottom third of the band of frequencies and now the COM channels are all in Group B (middle third), which are in the 40s.

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

8:42 PM

Trevor Milburn: Rather than install a new aerial, could you feed the TV from the Pontop Pike aerial? The expense of changing this may be less than the cost of installing or paying an installer to fit a new Bilsdale aerial.

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Dave Lindsay's 5,724 posts GB flag
Monday, 1 October 2012
I
Ian Gilkison
10:40 AM
Ripon

I have two independent receiver systems with separate aerials aligned with Bilsdale and both are missing the HD channels 50..54 here in Ripon, N Yorks
There is Zero signal strength for MUX PSB3/BBCB UHF 23 at 490MHz. Other MUX on UHF 26, 29, 40, 43, 46 are all strong (>90%).
My first system is a wide band roof mounted aerial into a LG M2380DF. Second system is a lof mounted twin yagi into a Sony KDL-26U30.
Please advise - has HD transmission started from Bildsale yet?

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Ian Gilkison's 1 post GB flag
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