Full Freeview on the Bluebell Hill (Medway, England) transmitter
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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 25/11/2024 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
H/V: aerial position (horizontal or vertical)
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.
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?
BBC South East Today 0.8m homes 3.2%
from Tunbridge Wells TN1 1QQ, 28km southwest (218°)
to BBC South East region - 45 masts.
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?
| 1984-97 | 1997-98 | 1998-2012 | 2012-13 | 19 Jul 2018 | |||||
| E | E | E | W T | W T | |||||
| C21 | _local | ||||||||
| C28 | _local | ||||||||
| C32 | com7 | ||||||||
| C34 | com8 | ||||||||
| C39 | +ArqA | ||||||||
| C40 | BBC1waves | BBC1waves | BBC1waves | +BBCB | SDN | ||||
| C43 | ITVwaves | ITVwaves | ITVwaves | D3+4 | ArqA | ||||
| C45 | SDN | BBCB | |||||||
| C46 | BBC2waves | BBC2waves | BBC2waves | BBCA | ArqB | ||||
| C54tv_off | ArqB | ||||||||
| C55tv_off | com7tv_off | ||||||||
| C56tv_off | COM8tv_off | ||||||||
| C65 | C4waves | C4waves | C4waves |
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 |
Local transmitter maps
Bluebell Hill Freeview Bluebell Hill DAB Bluebell Hill TV region BBC South East Meridian (East micro region)Which companies have run the Channel 3 services in the Bluebell Hill transmitter area
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Monday, 26 March 2012
D
Dave11:03 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
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M
MH11:47 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.
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MH's: mapM's Freeview map terrainM's terrain plot wavesM's frequency data M's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Tuesday, 27 March 2012
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.
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K
KMJ,Derby12:24 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.
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Thursday, 29 March 2012
M
mle4:29 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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John Buchanan
6:38 PM
Billericay
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'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?
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K
KMJ,Derby9:26 AM
Pete: Could you supply your postcode, so that a check can be made of predicted reception at your location?
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Thursday, 5 April 2012
Derek Brice: There are no changes to analogue until the switchover.
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Monday, 21 May 2012
J
John5:54 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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