Full Freeview on the Bluebell Hill (Medway, England) transmitter
 | Google Streetview |  | Google map |  | Bing map |  | Google Earth |  | 51.324,0.520 or 51°19'25"N 0°31'13"E |  | ME5 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 22/04/2024 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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Tuesday, 17 January 2012
Ken Collyer: There have been a few reports on here of people having issues with Bluebell Hill following completion of work (apparently last week).
The Anglia region has switched over, thus its transmitters are (mostly) at their full post-switchover power, whereas Meridian is still at the (low) pre-switchover power.
I am assuming here that you are picking up Sudbury or Rouncefell, the latter operating on the same frequency for the PSBs only (it doesn't carry the COMs). I would run the automatic tuning scan with the aerial plugged in up until 25%. This should pick up Mux 2 (ITV1, C4 etc) and Mux A (ITV3 etc) only which are on channels 24 and 27 respectively.
Then manually add the other multiplexes:
Mux 1 BBC Ch59
Mux B BBC Ch45
Mux C Arq Ch42
Mux D Arq Ch39
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Wednesday, 18 January 2012
The pop up message about switchover seems to be being dissipated by the BBC, because when I press Blue for more info, it take me to the BBC Red Button service.
This means BBC for South East from Bluebell Hill is prompting viewers about switchover dates applicable to Crystal Palace, which is in the BBC London Region.
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John's: mapJ's Freeview map terrainJ's terrain plot wavesJ's frequency data J's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Friday, 20 January 2012
John Buchanan: It seems more likely that your equipment has tuned to the digital signals from Crystal Palace.
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Saturday, 21 January 2012
P
phil parkes9:58 AM
Hi I have a BT vision box with a viewing card for sky sports, I started to lose signal on ITV channels now getting it on sky sports 1 and 2. I brought a new aerial but still playing up and I dont know why and dont know what to do now can any one help thanks
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K
Ken Collyer11:26 AM
Dave Lindsay: Thanks for that. I'm not sure which Anglia transmitter I'm picking up, just that I'm receiving BBC1,2,3,&4 and ITV stations plus several radio stations from the back of my aerial. As my PVR has loaded BBC1 and BBC2 Anglia, into channel 1&2 and BBC1 and BBC2 Bluebell Hill into channel 804 and 816 I assumed the PVR is getting a stronger signal from Anglia. I just want to get Bluebell Hill onto 1, 2, 3, and 4 on my PVR. I could try re-tuning but I've done that twice already without anything changing, and every time I do, I have to re-set up all the programs I want to record. I guess I'll have all this again with the Crystal Palace switch over in April as I can get analogue from there now.
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J
jb384:03 PM
phil parkes: As your query essentially involves reception you really have to indicate your location (pref: post code) as this would enable the signal level expected at the location to be assessed.
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Sunday, 22 January 2012
John Buchanan: Without doubt I am looking at BBC on channel 59 from Bluebell Hill, but getting pop up messages about Crystal Palace switchover.
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John's: mapJ's Freeview map terrainJ's terrain plot wavesJ's frequency data J's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Ken Collyer: You will not have the issue again when Crystal Palace switches over in April unless you retune. As there is no change in services from Bluebell Hill, then you should leave your sets as they are.
Once Bluebell Hill has switched, you might have an issue, although with all transmitters on high power (including the one you want), you might get away with it.
After Bluebell switchover, if you do pick up Crystal Palace, you can avoid this by having your aerial lead unplugged for the first 25% of the scan.
Sudbury/Rouncefell isn't so easy to avoid if it causes problems because the channels used are inbetween those used by Bluebell. Let's hope that doesn't happen!
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John Buchanan: I don't know how these things work. It might depend on your receiver. Perhaps the message appears not as a result of the channel you are watching, but as a result of those you have stored in your receiver's memory.
To avoid picking up Crystal Palace, do an automatic tuning scan with the aerial unplugged for the first 30%.
Then you will need to add Ch24 D3&4 (ITV1/C4 etc) from Bluebell and Ch27 Mux A (ITV3 etc) from Bluebell.
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Wednesday, 25 January 2012
I am seeing these popups on my Sony Bravia KDL-32CX523 Freeview HD smart TV.
I think it retunes automatically all the time of its own volition.
It has a setting "Digital Auto Service Update" which is currently set to ON. The help page tells me this "detects and stores new digital services as they become available".
I can put up with being told about the Crystal Palace switchover, I know it doesn't affect me. I just wonder who else, less knowledgable, is getting this misleading rubbish and will retune on April 4, even though they are not required to, and it shoudld not make any difference.
Will we then start getting popups to tell us to retune 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
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