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Full Freeview on the Bluebell Hill (Medway, England) transmitter

first published this on - UK Free TV
sa_streetviewGoogle Streetviewsa_gmapsGoogle mapsa_bingBing mapsa_gearthGoogle Earthsa_gps51.324,0.520 or 51°19'25"N 0°31'13"Esa_postcodeME5 9RD

 

The symbol shows the location of the Bluebell Hill (Medway, England) transmitter which serves 200,000 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 Bluebell Hill (Medway, England) mast?

Bluebell Hill transmitter - Bluebell Hill transmitter: Possible effect on TV reception week commencing 25/03/2024 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
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Which Freeview channels does the Bluebell 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
C32 (562.0MHz)242mDTG-20,000W
Channel icons
1 BBC One (SD) South East, 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
C34 (578.0MHz)242mDTG-20,000W
Channel icons
3 ITV 1 (SD) (Meridian (East micro region)), 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 (Meridian south coast),

PSB3
BBCB
 H max
C45+ (666.2MHz)242mDTG-20,000W
Channel icons
46 5SELECT, 101 BBC One HD South East, 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 max
C40 (626.0MHz)242mDTG-820,000W
Channel icons
20 Drama, 21 5USA, 29 ITV2 +1, 32 5STAR, 33 5Action, 38 Channel 5 +1, 41 Legend, 42 GREAT! action, 57 Dave ja vu, 58 ITVBe +1, 59 ITV3 +1, 64 Blaze, 67 TRUE CRIME, 68 TRUE CRIME XTRA, 78 TCC, 81 Blaze +1, 83 Together TV, 89 ITV4 +1, 91 WildEarth, 209 Ketchup TV, 210 Ketchup Too, 211 YAAAS!, 267 Al Jazeera English, plus 30 others

COM5
ArqA
 H max
C43+ (650.2MHz)245mDTG-820,000W
Channel icons
11 Sky Mix, 17 Really, 19 Dave, 31 E4 Extra, 36 Sky Arts, 40 Quest Red, 43 Food Network, 47 Film4 +1, 48 Challenge, 49 4seven, 60 Drama +1, 65 That's TV 2, 70 Quest +1, 74 Yesterday +1, 75 That's 90s, 233 Sky News, plus 11 others

COM6
ArqB
 H max
C46 (674.0MHz)245mDTG-820,000W
Channel icons
12 Quest, 25 W, 27 Yesterday, 34 GREAT! movies, 39 DMAX, 44 HGTV, 52 GREAT! romance, 56 That's TV (UK), 61 GREAT! movies extra, 63 GREAT! romance mix, 71 That’s 60s, 73 HobbyMaker, 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 Bluebell Hill transmitter?

regional news image
BBC South East Today 0.8m homes 3.2%
from Tunbridge Wells TN1 1QQ, 28km southwest (218°)
to BBC South East region - 45 masts.
regional news image
ITV Meridian News 0.7m homes 2.7%
from Maidstone ME14 5NZ, 5km south-southeast (155°)
to ITV Meridian (East) region - 36 masts.
All of lunch, weekend and 50% evening news is shared with all of Meridian plus Oxford

How will the Bluebell Hill (Medway, England) transmission frequencies change over time?

1984-971997-981998-20122012-1319 Jul 2018
EEEW TW T
C21_local
C28_local
C32com7
C34com8
C39+ArqA
C40BBC1wavesBBC1wavesBBC1waves+BBCBSDN
C43ITVwavesITVwavesITVwavesD3+4ArqA
C45SDNBBCB
C46BBC2wavesBBC2wavesBBC2wavesBBCAArqB
C54tv_offArqB
C55tv_offcom7tv_off
C56tv_offCOM8tv_off
C65C4wavesC4wavesC4waves

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 13 Jun 12 and 27 Jun 12.

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

Analogue 1-4 30kW
SDN, ARQA, ARQB, BBCA, D3+4, BBCB(-1.8dB) 20kW
com8(-7.8dB) 5kW
com7(-8.1dB) 4.7kW
Mux 1*, Mux B*, Mux C*, Mux D*(-10dB) 3kW
Mux 2*, Mux A*(-11.8dB) 2kW

Which companies have run the Channel 3 services in the Bluebell Hill transmitter area

Sep 1955-Jul 1968Associated-Rediffusion†
Sep 1955-Jul 1968Associated TeleVision◊
Jul 1968-Dec 1981Thames†
Jul 1968-Dec 1981London Weekend Television♦
Jan 1982-Dec 1992Television South (TVS)
Jan 1993-Feb 2004Meridian
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. Bluebell 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
Saturday, 11 May 2019
Transmitter engineering
sentiment_very_satisfiedOwner

8:09 AM

BLUEBELL HILL transmitter - Freeview: BBC Digital TV Weak Signal from 05:09 today to 05:14 today. [BBC]

link to this comment
Transmitter engineering's 149,799 posts xx flag
Sunday, 12 May 2019
Transmitter engineering
sentiment_very_satisfiedOwner

5:09 AM

BLUEBELL HILL transmitter - Freeview: BBC Digital TV Weak Signal from 05:09 yesterday to 05:14 yesterday. [BBC]

link to this comment
Transmitter engineering's 149,799 posts xx flag
Monday, 13 May 2019
Transmitter engineering
sentiment_very_satisfiedOwner

5:09 AM

BLUEBELL HILL transmitter - Freeview: BBC Digital TV Weak Signal from 05:09 on 11 May to 05:14 on 11 May. [BBC]

link to this comment
Transmitter engineering's 149,799 posts xx flag
Thursday, 12 September 2019
Transmitter engineering
sentiment_very_satisfiedOwner

5:09 AM

BLUEBELL HILL transmitter - Freeview: BBC Digital TV Weak Signal from 22:52 yesterday to 23:20 yesterday. [BBC]

link to this comment
Transmitter engineering's 149,799 posts xx flag
Friday, 13 September 2019
Transmitter engineering
sentiment_very_satisfiedOwner

5:08 AM

BLUEBELL HILL transmitter - Freeview: BBC Digital TV Weak Signal from 22:52 on 11 Sep to 23:20 on 11 Sep. [BBC]

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Transmitter engineering's 149,799 posts xx flag
J
john
10:00 AM

Hi I wonder if you can help, I see freeview show sony movies christmas channel on CH50 but my area here in kent doesn't get a ch50 I can get on freesat 303 but cant understand why its not on freeview my freeview is very good giving over 160 channels but 50 is not shown on the bluebell hill transmitter info can you advise?

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john's 1 post GB flag
N
nobody
sentiment_satisfiedBronze

11:19 AM

john: Sony Movies Christmas, formerly True Movies, is only available on Local Multiplexes.

The Bluebell Hill Local Multiplex is on UHF channel 21.

It may be that the Local Multiplex is not available at your location.

We need your postcode to see the predicted coverage at your location.

You can see for yourself if you go to About us | Freeview and enter your postcode in the Coverage checker.



link to this comment
nobody's 47 posts US flag
Thursday, 19 September 2019
R
Ray Taylor
8:03 PM
Sevenoaks

We are in a strong crystal Palace area but have found that we can receive the channels which carry the local programmes (ch32 for BBC southeast) and (ch34 for Meridian) from Bluebell Hill very well on a different aerial, until about 6 weeks ago when the ch32 signal became so weak that it is unwatchable, whereas the ch34 signal is still fine. Has anything changed on the transmitter to cause this ie reduced power or change of radiation pattern?
The Bluebell Hill aerial is mounted in the front garden at a height of 6 feet above ground level and receives the signal along Old London Road (Knockholt TN14 7JW) which runs east-west at that point. I have an aerial switch next to the TV. I am a retired BBC engineer and have set this up myself. I would appreciate any ideas.
It has worked well since Digital Switch Over. I have checked everything to do with the aerial etc & is OK.

link to this comment
Ray Taylor's 3 posts GB flag
Ray's: mapR's Freeview map terrainR's terrain plot wavesR's frequency data R's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Friday, 20 September 2019
N
nobody
sentiment_satisfiedBronze

4:36 AM
Sevenoaks

Ray Taylor: I've assembled some links that might contain an explanation:

Bluebell Hill - Possible weak signal
Planned engineering works | Freeview

Coverage checker for TN14 7JW
About us | Freeview

New relay:
"11 July 2019
The BLUEBELL HILL transmitter group, serving north and mid Kent
Gillingham MOT

RF Channel
32PSB1 (BBCA)
34PSB2 (D3&4)
45PSB3 (BBCB)

Power change: the ERP will launch at 400W for all multiplexes":
About us | Freeview

Coverage checker for a Gillingham postcode:
Gillingham Testing Centre
About us | Freeview


link to this comment
nobody's 47 posts US flag
nobody's: mapN's Freeview map terrainN's terrain plot wavesN's frequency data N's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Tuesday, 15 October 2019
D
Dave
5:58 PM

Pot sound on meridian news and weather

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Dave'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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