Full Freeview on the Black Hill (North Lanarkshire, Scotland) transmitter
 | Google Streetview |  | Google map |  | Bing map |  | Google Earth |  | 55.861,-3.874 or 55°51'40"N 3°52'27"W |  | ML7 4NZ |
The symbol shows the location of the Black Hill (North Lanarkshire, Scotland) transmitter which serves 940,000 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 Black Hill (North Lanarkshire, Scotland) mast?
Black Hill transmitter - Black Hill transmitter: Possible effect on TV reception week commencing 02/12/2024 Pixelation or flickering on some or all channels 
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Digital television services are broadcast on a multiplexes (or Mux) where many stations occupy a single broadcast frequency, as shown below.
64QAM 8K 3/4 27.1Mb/s DVB-T MPEG2
DTG-12 QSPK 8K 3/4 8.0Mb/s DVB-T MPEG2
H/V: aerial position (horizontal or vertical)
Which Freeview channels does the Black 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.
64QAM 8K 3/4 27.1Mb/s DVB-T MPEG2
DTG-12 QSPK 8K 3/4 8.0Mb/s DVB-T MPEG2
H/V: aerial position (horizontal or vertical)
Which BBC and ITV regional news can I watch from the Black Hill transmitter?
BBC Reporting Scotland 2.4m homes 9.2%
from Glasgow G51 1DA, 26km west (271°)
to BBC Scotland region - 230 masts.
STV News 1.3m homes 4.8%
from Glasgow G51 1PQ, 26km west (271°)
to STV Central (Glasgow) region - 94 masts.
Are there any self-help relays?
| Ardtornish A | Transposer | 22 km NW Oban | 15 homes |
| Balquhidder | Transposer | 12 km NW Callander | 42 homes |
| Benmore B | Active deflector | 50 m WNW Glasgow | 7 homes |
| Blair Drummond | Transposer | 5 homes caravan park | |
| Blyth Bridge | Active deflector | 30 km SW Edinburgh | 50 homes |
| Glendaruel | Active deflector | 40 hotel | 40 homes hotel |
| Glendaruel B | Active deflector | 12 homes (second level) |
How will the Black Hill (North Lanarkshire, Scotland) transmission frequencies change over time?
| 1957-80s | 1984-97 | 1997-98 | 1998-2011 | 2011-13 | 3 Oct 2018 | ||||
| VHF | B E T | B E T | B E T | E T | W T | ||||
| C10 | ITVwaves | ||||||||
| C30 | _local | ||||||||
| C32 | com7 | ||||||||
| C35 | com8 | ||||||||
| C37 | C5waves | C5waves | |||||||
| C40 | BBC1waves | BBC1waves | BBC1waves | BBCB | BBCB | ||||
| C41 | +SDN | SDN | |||||||
| C43 | ITVwaves | ITVwaves | ITVwaves | D3+4 | D3+4 | ||||
| C44 | ArqA | ArqA | |||||||
| C46 | BBC2waves | BBC2waves | BBC2waves | BBCA | BBCA | ||||
| C47 | ArqB | ArqB | |||||||
| C50tv_off | C4waves | C4waves | C4waves | ||||||
| C51tv_off | LG | ||||||||
| C55tv_off | com7tv_off | ||||||||
| C56tv_off | _local | COM8tv_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 8 Jun 11 and 22 Jun 11.
How do the old analogue and currrent digital signal levels compare?
| Analogue 1-5 | 500kW | |
| SDN, ARQA, ARQB, BBCA, D3+4, BBCB | (-7dB) 100kW | |
| com7 | (-10.7dB) 42.9kW | |
| com8 | (-11.1dB) 39.2kW | |
| Mux 1*, Mux 2*, Mux A*, Mux B*, Mux C*, Mux D* | (-14dB) 20kW | |
| LG | (-20dB) 5kW |
Local transmitter maps
Black Hill Freeview Black Hill DAB Black Hill TV region BBC Scotland STV Central (Glasgow micro region)Which companies have run the Channel 3 services in the Black Hill transmitter area
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Thursday, 30 May 2019
S
Scott6:33 PM
Any details of what will happen if com7 and com8 are removed? Does this mean BBC Four HD and BBC News HD will be lost or can they be added to another multiplex?
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S
StevensOnln16:53 PM
Scott: No closure date has been announced for COM7 & COM8 at Black Hill, nor has anything been announced regarding what will happen to channels on those muxes (BBC Four HD, BBC News HD, etc) when they do close. If more muxes are converted to DVB-T2 (as was proposed several years ago) there will be space for all of the channels on COM7 & COM8 to move elsewhere.
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Friday, 31 May 2019
S
Scott3:59 PM
The explanation shows the licence to broadcast expiring on 20 June 2020. As I understand it, COM7 and COM8 are national networks so surely a decision will be needed before the first switch-off, which I thought was imminent?
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S
StevensOnln17:08 PM
Scott: Which explanation are you referring to, as I can't see it on this page? COM7 & COM8 are in the process of becoming single frequency networks (SFNs) on UHF channels 55 & 56 which form the centre gap of the new 700MHz mobile band. Ofcom are not expecting the mobile networks to use the centre gap for 5G straight away and have previously announced that COM7 & COM8 will continue to broadcast on those frequencies until they are required by the mobile networks (at which point COM7 & COM8 will close). See link below for further details.
Maximising the benefits of 700MHz clearance - Ofcom
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Tuesday, 11 June 2019
C
C Brownbridge1:06 PM
john rea: Post Code KY130UU - Crook of Devon - Black Hill Transmitter
Around the end of May, my recordings of BB4 started failing
On investigation Mux 7 & 8 channels have all but disappeared.
Signal now level very low w.r.t. other muxes.
I assume the Power as been dropped for the mobile phone implementation?
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MikeP
9:41 PM
9:41 PM
C Brown:
The power has not changed at the Black Hill transmitter. Are you using a wideband aerial? Have you checked all your aeial cables and connections? Unplug all the coaxial plugs/sockets and refit them.
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Thursday, 11 July 2019
J
Joe McGuigan5:52 PM
Motherwell
True entertainment has moved from ch61 to ch48. I have checked and I should get this from my local Blackhikl transmitter. I have tried retuning my Freeview TV and all the other recommendations and while I get all the other channels, I can't get channel 48. It doesn't appear on my channel list after tuning. My postcode is ML1 2EG. Can you help?
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Joe's: mapJ's Freeview map terrainJ's terrain plot wavesJ's frequency data J's Freeview Detailed Coverage
B
Brian5:58 PM
Joe McGuigan: I'm in the same situation (in Stirling, receiving from Blackhill transmitter).
It seems that if you can't get channel 8 (That's Scotland) then you won't get True Entertainment either.
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B
Brian6:09 PM
On the Blackhill transmitter, the True Entertainment and True Movies channels have been shifted from one of the main mulitplexes, which transmit at a strong 100,000 Watts, to the 'local' multiplex, which only transmits at a piddling 5000 Watts, a much weaker signal, so it's a lot less likely that most people will be able to receive it now (including you and me I guess).
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C
Chris.SE11:23 PM
Joe McGuigan: You should have no trouble getting the Local Mux which now carries True Entertainment. You should also get the local station at LCN 8. The Local mux is on UHF ch.30
Brian: Put your postcode into Digital UK - Coverage checker to see the predicted reception at your location. You may well need a high gain wideband aerial, but you may also be out of luck.
The changes have been made by Sony
Sony Channel changes | Freeview
Channel launches, closures and changes on 27 June 2019 | Freeview
If you go to the True Entertainment page on this site, there is a link to their Official Site True Channels and at the bottom of the page a contact us link where you can email them at info@truemovies.tv and complain about the moves to local muxes so you can no longer receive them. This is likely the only way it may change. Good luck.
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