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.
This transmitter has no current reported problems
The BBC and Digital UK report there are no faults or engineering work on the Bluebell Hill (Medway, England) transmitter._______
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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Thursday, 7 June 2012
V
Valerie Furze12:16 PM
Would like to know if anyone else had problems with reception of BBC programmes on Tuesday when watching the Jubilee celebrations. The picture kept breaking up on my set and eventually disappeared altogether. NO SIGNAL came up on the screen on all BBC programmes. ITV seemed o.k. although lost the sound at some stage. I re-tuned the set 3 times and in the end BBC returned but it took a while and spoiled he day. Digital help no. I tried had nobody answering so no joy there. Anyone have any answers?
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Friday, 8 June 2012
C
Colin Wardley10:23 AM
Living in South Ockenden and tuned to the Bluebell hill transmitter we Did have a HD service. This is now no longer available. Is there a reason for this, or do I need an engineer. Set is a Samsung UE32D520 HD TV
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Colin Wardley: As previously advised ( Are you really watching free TV in high definition? | ukfree.tv - independent free digital TV advice ) Bluebell Hill does not broadcast HD until 27th June.
Therefore if you received it previously you must have been picking it up from another transmitter. Because this was likely to be off-beam for your aerial, reception was always expected not to be perfect. Therefore it may be hit and miss.
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Wednesday, 13 June 2012
A
Adrian Bance10:45 PM
Bluebell Hill transmits 20KW, Crystal Palace transmits 200KW. Before switchover my BBC channels on Freeview were 100% signal Strength and Quality. Now BBC channels are 20% signal strength and 40% quality. I am 4 miles from Bluebell Hill and told to pay for my aerial to be repositioned to Crystal Palace 20+ miles away. We already pay an outrageous licence fee and are now expected to pay more because of BBC incompetence.
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A
Adrian Bance11:19 PM
Gillingham
This page declares that "this transmitter has no current problems" yet when I telephoned BBC technical staff to complain about deterioration of signal strength and quality I was told that "Bluebell Hill is experiencing a number of problems"
Given how much we pay for the licence fee this situation is unacceptable and we deserve a refund!
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Adrian's: mapA's Freeview map terrainA's terrain plot wavesA's frequency data A's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Adrian Bance: On the basis that you had 100% strength before switchover (which may suggest that it was bordering on the excessive then), I suggest that the problem is that the signal being fed into your tuner is now too high and is overwhelming it. High signal level has the same appearance of low and poor signal, that being that the signal strength deteriates and quality goes due to the distortion.
Payment of the Fee does not guarantee availability of signal or reception of signal. The reason for this increase is so that other Licence Fee payers can now receive the signals.
For an explanation of too much signal, see ukfree.tv - independent free digital TV advice
If you have a booster (and it isn't installed for the purpose of splitting the signal to feed separate rooms), then it does beg the question why when the signal beforehand was so strong. This should be removed.
If you don't have a booster, or if you've removed it and the problem persists, then fit an attenuator (probably a 20dB variable one) inline with the aerial lead to reduce the signal level.
This is an independent website, as it clearly states. The the information provided on it is obtained from official sources and simply reflects what those sources say. If they are wrong then it cannot be right.
I have just checked the BBC Reception site www.bbc.co.uk/reception and it reports no problems with Bluebell Hill TV. The BBC only reports on its own services.
The other source that this site uses is Digital UK and you can view the source information at www.digitaluk.co.uk/engineeringworks
Or underneath the text at the top of this page that says that there are no faults, click on "Click to recheck" and it will recheck those sources. Clearly as this site sources its information from third parties and those third parties don't notify the site when fault statuses change, then it is only going to change on here when it checks the sources again.
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Thursday, 14 June 2012
J
John Langley12:36 PM
Hi - since the retune yesterday we are experiencing weak signal strength and quality problems on certain channels - we had no previous problems!
Channel- strength - quality
24 84% 100%
39 83% 100%
42 30% 83% very poor
45 40% 95% occasional break up
46 48% 100% usually ok
I would have thought all channels would be of similar strength and quality as they are all coming from the same transmitter (Bluebell Hill) - Any ideas what the problem could be?
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John Langley: C46 is now on full post-switchover power and the rest remain on their pre-switchover "low" power.
Based on the readings you have given, I am wondering if you live in a strong signal area, or at least your aerial is providing a very strong to excessive signal, the latter being a possibility for C46 now and for the rest when they go up on 27th. Without knowing your location, it isn't possible to get an idea of how likely that might be the problem.
What stands out to me is that for the high-power multiplex on C46 you only have a strength of 46, yet 24 and 39, which are still on low power, are in the 80s. With the low-power signals you have ample strength so I suspect that the low strength reading for C46 is because it is excessive and requires reducing.
42 and 45 are close to 46, so perhaps latter the high power signal is acting to desensitise your receiver when it is tuned to the formers.
This can be likened to walking down the street at night. When car headlights come towards you, your eyes become desensitised making it more difficult to see the relatively dark surroundings.
If you have a booster (and it is not used to split the signal to different rooms) remove it. Once you've done that, if the problem prevails, you may need attenuation to bring the level down even more.
You may find that as you reduce it, not only will the strength of C46 go up, but the quality of 42 and 45 will improve.
For a more in-depth explanation see ukfree.tv - independent free digital TV advice
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J
John Langley3:54 PM
Thanks Dave Lindsay - must say it all sounds v logical now you have explained it. We have a high gain digital aerial (used to be on my daughter's house in poor reception area until she moved). We do have a multipoint booster to distribute to a number of rooms into which the aerial connects.
So I assume you can buy attenuators from the likes of Maplins - any suggestions as to the likely value I should purchase or can you get variable ones?
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John Langley: Due to the fact that the pre-switchover digital signals were weaker, some aerials have been replaced with higher gain ones. Plus the fact that with some transmitters, including Bluebell Hill, some pre-switchover digital channels were out of the native analogue group.
Bluebell Hill was Group E for four-channel analogue which covers the top two thirds of the band. All but two of the pre-switchover digital channels are in Group E, but two are below it (in the bottom third, aka Group A).
Sensitivities drop off gradually, but the fact that the weaker signals are out of group would have been likely to cause issues for some futher away. Wideband aerials may have been fitted so as to pick up the two Group A channels.
Oh, and there is no such thing as a "digital aerial" ! I presume you have a wideband aerial.
After 27th, all Bluebell's channels will be within Group E, with only one being outside of Group B (middle third) and at that it is only one channel outside, so Group Bs will probably work.
For an explanation of aerial groups, see Aerials, TV Aerial and Digital Aerial
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I digress.
What you don't know is if the overloading is occuring on the input of the distribution amplifier or the input to each TV or a bit of both.
If the signal on the input of the amp is too high for it to cope with, then it stands to reason that the outputs will be distorted. No amount of attenuation of the outputs will right the problem and no amount of reduction of amplification will right the problem.
So you need to go to square one and see what sort of level you have from the aerial by connecting directly to it.
You "may" find that there is that much signal that you replace the powered amp with a non-powered splitter.
If you still have your old aerial (the one that you replaced the current high gain one with), then that may be suitable. All channels are in group and the signal strength will be on a par with the former analogue that it used to pick up.
For more information on this subject, see www.aerialsandtv.com
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