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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 28/10/2024 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), 71 That’s 60s,

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 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 max
C43+ (650.2MHz)245mDTG-820,000W
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 max
C46 (674.0MHz)245mDTG-820,000W
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 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
Monday, 26 March 2012
D
Dave
11:03 PM

hi i live in boroughgreen and have the same issues all the time mostly at night and again 8:30pm i lose the lot this is a joke all i can watch is dvd's or the Iplayer on my laptop

link to this comment
Dave's 1 post GB flag
M
MH
11:47 PM
Rochester

Hi all, We have an aerial on the roof pointing towards Bluebell hill. We have had problems since around 19th March. Up until then reception has been good. We have lost all Mux 2 and Mux A channels. BBC channels are usually pretty good but occasionally 'drop out' for a second or so.

Is this down to atmospheric conditions? How long is this expected to last? Anyone else in the Higham area experiencing problems? Looking at the local aerials it seems a 50:50 split between Bluebell Hill and Crystal Palace.

link to this comment
MH's 1 post GB flag
MH's: mapM's Freeview map terrainM's terrain plot wavesM's frequency data M's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Tuesday, 27 March 2012
Dave Lindsay
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

12:20 AM

MH: I'm not surprised that Mux 2 and Mux A are the two you don't have as they are co-channel with Sandy Heath whereas others are not. Sandy Heath switched a year ago and has been using these channels since then.

I suggest that you try tuning to Sudbury/Rouncefall as they have switched to full power. It's a try it and see sort of thing; I wouldn't go altering the aerial but if it provides a more stable reception than now, then it might be better until June when Blue Bell switches.

Rouncefall and Sudbury work as a Single Frequency Network for the Public Service channels. That is they are on the same frequency (this works!). Rouncefall was introduced at switchover and only broadcasts the Public Service channels. The Commercial channels are on low power from Sudbury, so you will probably have to stick with Blue Bell for these.

link to this comment
Dave Lindsay's 5,724 posts GB flag
K
KMJ,Derby
sentiment_satisfiedGold

12:24 AM

MH: The Digital UK postcode checker does not make a prediction for reception of Mux2 or MuxA from Bluebell Hill at the present time. The other muxes are shown as variable, with all six muxes being variable after switchover on 27th June 2012. Crystal Palace is good (reasonably) on three muxes and variable on the rest at the present time, but good reception is predicted for all muxes from 18th april 2012. Additionally Sudbury is shown as giving good reception on four muxes at present, with all six muxes good from 27th June 2012 when ArqA and ArqB adopt final frequencies and power increases to 100kW.

link to this comment
KMJ,Derby's 1,811 posts GB flag
Thursday, 29 March 2012
M
mle
4:29 PM

Hi everyone, same story here at Bidborough, Tunbridge Wells. Been losing reception on all channels for last 3/4 weeks. Keep retuning but getting v. fed up. Thank god its the gardeing season again!

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mle's 1 post GB flag
John Buchanan
6:38 PM
Billericay

BBC channels from Bluebell Hill still popping up messages giving switchover dates as April 4 and 18.
ITV channels popping messages with correct dates in June

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John Buchanan's 12 posts GB flag
John's: mapJ's Freeview map terrainJ's terrain plot wavesJ's frequency data J's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Friday, 30 March 2012
P
Pete
9:22 AM

Thinking of upgrading my aerial TN30SX, ideally like to retain a loft aerial albeit with new sat spec cabling and wondered if you could recommend which transmitter to focus on and what aerial would provide my best chances?

link to this comment
Pete's 1 post GB flag
K
KMJ,Derby
sentiment_satisfiedGold

9:26 AM

Pete: Could you supply your postcode, so that a check can be made of predicted reception at your location?

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KMJ,Derby's 1,811 posts GB flag
Thursday, 5 April 2012
Briantist
sentiment_very_satisfiedOwner

12:03 PM

Derek Brice: There are no changes to analogue until the switchover.

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Briantist's 38,915 posts GB flag
Monday, 21 May 2012
J
John
5:54 PM

BBC broadcasts on Channel 59 aoppear to have ceased although all other services are working. OUr TV's have been retuned both automatically and manually without success. It seems unfair that the services which are paid for by the TV licence fee are not available while the others which are paid for by advertising appear to work properly. This problem has occurred previously and does not appear to be restricted to our part of Kent.

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John'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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If you have other problems, please provide a full (not partial) postcode (or preferably enter it in box at the top right) and indicate where if aerial is on the roof, in the loft or elsewhere.

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