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Freeview Light on the Bishops Stortford (Hertfordshire, England) transmitter

first published this on - UK Free TV
sa_gmapsGoogle mapsa_bingBing mapsa_gearthGoogle Earthsa_gps51.871,0.176 or 51°52'16"N 0°10'33"Esa_postcodeCM23 5GB

 

The symbol shows the location of the Bishops Stortford (Hertfordshire, England) transmitter which serves 7,700 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 Bishops Stortford (Hertfordshire, 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 Bishops Stortford 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
 V max
C29 (538.0MHz)108mDTG-14W
Channel icons
1 BBC One (SD) London, 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
 V max
C31 (554.0MHz)108mDTG-14W
Channel icons
3 ITV 1 (SD) (London), 4 Channel 4 (SD) London ads, 5 Channel 5, 6 ITV 2, 10 ITV3, 13 E4, 14 Film4, 15 Channel 4 +1 London ads, 18 More4, 26 ITV4, 28 ITVBe, 30 E4 +1, 35 ITV1 +1 (London),

PSB3
BBCB
 V max
C37 (602.0MHz)108mDTG-14W
Channel icons
46 5SELECT, 101 BBC One HD London, 102 BBC Two HD England, 103 ITV 1 HD (ITV London), 104 Channel 4 HD London ads, 105 Channel 5 HD, 106 BBC Four HD, 107 BBC Three HD, 204 CBBC HD, 205 CBeebies HD, plus 1 others

H/V: aerial position (horizontal or vertical)

Are you trying to watch these 44 Freeview channels?

the effected channels
the effected channels
the effected channels
the effected channels

The Bishops Stortford (Hertfordshire, England) mast is a public service broadcasting (PSB) transmitter, it does not provide these commercial (COM) channels: 4seven, 5Action, 5STAR, 5USA, Al Jazeera Eng, Al Jazeera English, Blaze, Blaze +1, Challenge, Channel 5 +1, Dave, Dave ja vu, DMAX, Drama +1, E4 Extra, YAAAS!, Film4 +1, Food Network, GREAT! action, GREAT! movies, GREAT! romance mix, GREAT! romance, HGTV, HobbyMaker, ITV2 +1, ITV3 +1, ITV4 +1, ITVBe +1, Legend, PBS America, Quest +1, Quest Red, Really, Sky Mix, Sky News, Talking Pictures TV, TCC, That's 90s, That's TV 2, Together TV, TRUE CRIME, TRUE CRIME XTRA, W, Yesterday +1.

If you want to watch these channels, your aerial must point to one of the 80 Full service Freeview transmitters. For more information see the will there ever be more services on the Freeview Light transmitters? page.

Which BBC and ITV regional news can I watch from the Bishops Stortford transmitter?

regional news image
BBC London 4.9m homes 18.4%
from London W1A 1AA, 45km south-southwest (208°)
to BBC London region - 55 masts.
regional news image
ITV London News 4.9m homes 18.4%
from London WC1X 8XZ, 44km south-southwest (206°)
to ITV London region - 55 masts.

How will the Bishops Stortford (Hertfordshire, England) transmission frequencies change over time?

1984-971997-981998-20122012-1321 Mar 2018
C/D EC/D EC/D EC/D E TA K T
C29BBCA
C31D3+4
C37BBCB
C49tv_offC4wavesC4wavesC4waves
C50tv_offBBCB
C55tv_offBBC1wavesBBC1wavesBBC1wavesD3+4
C59tv_offITVwavesITVwavesITVwavesBBCA
C62BBC2wavesBBC2wavesBBC2waves

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 4 Apr 12 and 18 Apr 12.

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

Analogue 1-4 29W
BBCA, D3+4, BBCB(-3.2dB) 14W

Which companies have run the Channel 3 services in the Crystal Palace transmitter area

Sep 1955-Jul 1968Associated-Rediffusion†
Sep 1955-Jul 1968Associated TeleVision◊
Jul 1968-Dec 1992Thames†
Jul 1968-Feb 2004London Weekend Television♦
Jan 1993-Feb 2004Carlton†
Feb 2004-Dec 2014ITV plc♦
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. Bishops Stortford 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
Sunday, 19 June 2011
Transmitter engineering
sentiment_very_satisfiedOwner

4:32 AM

BISHOPS STORTFORD transmitter - Analogue BBC ONE Off Air; DSO related from 09:00 on 17 Jun to 14:05 on 17 Jun BBC TWO Off Air; DSO related from 09:00 on 17 Jun to 14:05 on 17 Jun [BBC]

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Transmitter engineering's 149,799 posts xx flag
Friday, 10 February 2012
M
M. Bailey
11:17 AM
Bishop's Stortford

Will the Bishop's Stortford relay transmitter carry all the freeview channels and allow reception using my existing vertically polarized roof top aerial?
If not can I assume that Chrystal Palace and a replacement aerial is my best option?
Thanks

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M. Bailey's 1 post GB flag
M.'s: mapM's Freeview map terrainM's terrain plot wavesM's frequency data M's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Briantist
sentiment_very_satisfiedOwner

11:26 AM

M. Bailey: The transmitter will carry the services listed at the top of the page, and no more. See Will there ever be more services on the Freeview Light transmitters? | ukfree.tv - independent free digital TV advice

The polarization of all transmitters remain the same at switchover.

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Briantist's 38,915 posts GB flag
Dave Lindsay
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

11:34 AM

M. Bailey: No. The commercial services decide where they wish to place their transmitters which is why they don't broadcast from a 1000 or so relays which accounts for around 9% of the population. They were asked if they wished to increase their coverage and they declined.

See here for a more in depth explanation:

Will there ever be more services on the Freeview Light transmitters? | ukfree.tv - independent free digital TV advice

Your only possibility is Crystal Palace (if you can get it). Its power will go up in April when switchover occurs, so you might need this extra power to receive from it.

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Dave Lindsay's 5,724 posts GB flag
M
Mike Dimmick
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

2:08 PM

M. Bailey: Digital UK show Sandy Heath as a possible alternative - it should give better results than Crystal Palace, particularly for the commercial multiplexes. The predictions are all probabilities, so you should try both and see which gives best results for you.

The list of transmitters carrying all multiplexes hasn't changed since digital TV launched in 1998, and I'm afraid there's no immediate prospect of it changing in future.

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Mike Dimmick's 2,486 posts GB flag
Wednesday, 28 March 2012
J
Jay
8:22 PM
Bishop's Stortford

Hi
I live in CM23 3RJ and on the freeview site i put my postcode in and it says i wont be able to get freeview even after the switch over, is this true? and if so why? i have an ariel in the loft but i also have virgin media points in bedrooms witch is where i want freeview for the kids, please can i have some advice,cheers.

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Jay's 1 post GB flag
Jay's: mapJ's Freeview map terrainJ's terrain plot wavesJ's frequency data J's Freeview Detailed Coverage
K
KMJ,Derby
sentiment_satisfiedGold

8:36 PM

Jay: No, you are predicted to get good reception from Crystal Palace after switchover, with possible reduced reliability on two of the COM muxes. If you have good analogue reception now you can normally expect to get Freeview after switchover.

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KMJ,Derby's 1,811 posts GB flag
Dave Lindsay
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

8:52 PM

Jay: If you receive analogue television now, then you will receive Freeview afterwards.

However, if your aerial is directed at the Bishop's Stortford transmitter, which is on Raynham Road Industrial Estate, then you will only receive Public Service multiplexes. These carry BBC, ITV1, ITV2, Channel 4, E4, More 4, Channel 5, HD services and a few others.

In order to get the full Freeview service you will have to direct your aerial to a main station, most probably Crystal Palace. Signals in the loft will be lower than outside both due to the fact that it's lower down than roof top level and the roof itself weaking the signal as it passes through it before hitting your aerial. Whilst you are receiving an adequate signal in the loft from Bishop's Stortford (if that is where you are receiving from), you may (or may not) be pushing your luck to pick up Crystal Palace in the loft.


Don't regard what any post based system says as gospel; it is simply a guide. It is more apt to consider such systems as being a guide to likelihood of success.

The Digital UK Tradeview predictor suggests that you may have a good chance of picking up Crystal Palace.

Examination of the rooftops in your road using Google Streetview shows quite a few Crystal Palace aerials. I couldn't spot a single aerial on Bishop's Stortford transmitter, so you mustn't be in that bad a area as far as reception from main stations goes.

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Dave Lindsay's 5,724 posts GB flag
Monday, 2 April 2012
Steve
11:28 AM
Stansted

Roof aerial points to Crystal palace. Location Stansted Mountfitchet

Would Sandy Heath give me a good picture?

Last week we had the pleasure of receiving ITV Anglia News instead of London! Reverted unfortunately over the weekend.
Why did this happen?




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Steve's 3 posts GB flag
Steve's: mapS's Freeview map terrainS's terrain plot wavesS's frequency data S's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Dave Lindsay
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

12:36 PM

Steve: Looking around your road using Google Streetview there are quite a few talls trees which could be an issue. I can't see a single aerial on Sandy Heath, but a few have an aerial on Sudbury and one on Crystal Palace.

This perhaps suggests that the trees put paid to reception from Sandy Heath. Maybe your neighbours could advise as to how good their Sudbury reception is.

If you do go for Sandy Heath, then its Public Service (PSB) channels are Group A (first third of the band) and Commercial (COM) channels are Group B (middle third of the band). Thus, if your current aerial is a Group A one (which all of Crystal Palace's channels are before and after switchover), then it will work for Sandy Heath's PSBs.

If you go for Sudbury, then its PSBs are Group B and its COMs are Group C/D (top third of the band).

Wideband aerials trade sensitivity within each Group with increase sensitivity across the whole band, particularly being less so on Group A channels. See here:

Gain (curves), Again


In summary:

- Crystal Palace would appear to be your best bet from a signal strength point of view on all channels. However, it gives you London programming.

- Sandy Heath may be blocked by trees; you can perhaps see much better whether this is the case than Streetview shows.

- From what I can see, no one has an aerial on Sandy Heath. You could perhaps take a walk around your area and see if this is the case, perhaps identifying why it may be the case (e.g. trees).

- Whilst the Digital UK Predictor suggests that reception of Sudbury's PSBs will be "poor" and its COMs "variable", there are a number of aerials on it. The predictor's calculation of poor PSBs could be as a result of another transmitter using the same channels. Aerials have greater rejection of unwanted signals in some directions than in others, so this may be less of an issue, depending on that factor.

- For full service from Sandy Heath or Sudbury, Group aerials that cover a third of the band will not be sufficient. Either a single wideband aerial (perhaps a less favourable option for Sandy Heath with its PSBs being Group A) or two Group aerials diplexed (combined) together into one downlead. Or for Sudbury, a single Group E aerial (top two thirds of band).

- If you do go for Sudbury, then its COMs are on low power until 27th June, so will probably be unavailable at your location until then.

- Sandy Heath's SDN multiplex (ITV3 etc) is on low power until 9th May, so may be unavailable until then.


For lots of information about aerials, see ATV Sheffield's site www.aerialsandtv.com

See the page on aerial Groups Aerials, TV Aerial and Digital Aerial

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Dave Lindsay's 5,724 posts GB flag
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