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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
_______

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
Sunday, 17 July 2022
C
Chris.SE
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

3:40 PM

John Simmons:

Whilst current weather conditions can disrupt reception with signals from distant transmitter in the UK or Europe causing interference (Freeview and the BBC had issued warnings) reception in your area is unlikely to be affected at this particular moment (doesn't mean it won't be!).

I take it from your remarks that you probably haven't retuned, but DON'T as this will probably clear your correct tuning if done when you have no signal.
If perchance you have retuned, then
I suggest you do a MANUAL tune on the UHF channels for the multiplexes you are missing (list right at the top of the page, remembering COM7 has now closed).

The transmitter has been the subject of Planned Engineering, and there's a possibility that some work may be continuing, it's unusual for individual multiplexes to be off-air or low power for any length of time.


link to this comment
Chris.SE's 4,102 posts GB flag
Sunday, 7 August 2022
C
C Russell
8:10 AM

No Freeview on 34--43--46
32&40 ok
Problem started 6/8/22

link to this comment
C Russell's 1 post GB flag
C
Chris.SE
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

2:03 PM

C Russell :

For Bluebell Hill the full list of UHF channels are C32, C34, C45, C40, C43, C46, & C21 for the multiplexes in the order BBCA/PSB1, D3&4/PSB2, BBCB HD/PSB3, SDN/COM4, ArqA/COM5, ArqB/COM6 & the Local multiplex.

Bluebell Hill has been currently listed for Planned Engineering with the possible effect "Screen may go black on all or certain channels". As you haven't given a full postcode we can't say if you are in a weak signal area where such engineering may have greater impact.

To complicate matters, current weather conditions have resulted in some very variable Tropospheric Ducting resulting in periodic interference with signals from distant transmitters in Europe or the UK affecting reception.- do NOT retune, as this will likely just clear your correct tuning.

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Chris.SE's 4,102 posts GB flag
Wednesday, 10 August 2022
J
John Groves
5:59 PM

Today 10th August 2022 Meridiam TV has been replaced with LOndon why is that and why do you not have a contact telephone number

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John Groves's 1 post GB flag
C
Chris.SE
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

6:34 PM

John Groves:

I can't find any faults currently listed for the Bluebell Hill transmitter. It was listed for Planned Engineering last week and it's possible some work may be continuing although not listed. Depending on the work sometimes the "wrong" region is fed for a period of time.

However there may be other reasons that you are seeing London news. If at some point you had no signal and retuned (never advised if you were correctly tuned before as this usually just clears the correct tuning), you can end up tuned to the wrong transmitter, maybe Crystal Palace.
Check in your TV tuning section that you are correctly tuned to the UHF channels as listed in the post before yours.

If you haven't retuned, then note the remark about weather conditions. This is currently affecting the SE and you simply may be getting signal from another transmitter on the same channels. Nothing you can do except wait for conditions to change.

If you require further help and reception advice we need a full postcode to look at your predicted reception.
This is an independent technical helpsite and if you still need to contact Meridian you are probably best using a search engine and look for "Contact us" on the relevant site.

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Chris.SE's 4,102 posts GB flag
Friday, 9 June 2023
Transmitter engineering
sentiment_very_satisfiedOwner

11:09 AM

Bluebell Hill transmitter - Bluebell Hill transmitter: Possible effect on TV reception week commencing 05/06/2023 Pixelation or flickering on some or all channels [DUK]

link to this comment
Transmitter engineering's 149,799 posts GB flag
Monday, 12 June 2023
Transmitter engineering
sentiment_very_satisfiedOwner

4:07 AM

Bluebell Hill transmitter - Bluebell Hill transmitter: Possible effect on TV reception week commencing 12/06/2023 Pixelation or flickering on some or all channels [DUK]

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Transmitter engineering's 149,799 posts GB flag
Monday, 24 July 2023
Transmitter engineering
sentiment_very_satisfiedOwner

8:00 AM

Bluebell Hill transmitter - Bluebell Hill transmitter: Possible effect on TV reception week commencing 24/07/2023 Pixelation or flickering on some or all channels [DUK]

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Transmitter engineering's 149,799 posts GB flag
Wednesday, 9 August 2023
B
Brian
9:52 PM

Had problem for a week from bluebell hill. Yesterday service returned to normal on all channels. Tonight problem has returned. What going on with the transmitter

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Brian's 1 post GB flag
C
Chris.SE
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

10:41 PM

Brian:

A|s you may have seen from the post before yours, last week the transmitter was subject to Planned Engineering.
You say tonight the problem has returned, what exactly is the problem you are having?
What time approx. did it start? Is it now back to normal?

The BBC have logged a fault with the BBCB HD multiplex which would have affected all HD channels only, but that fault should have been cleared at 9.03pm

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Chris.SE's 4,102 posts GB flag
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Your comment please
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