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 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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Monday, 19 March 2012
BLUEBELL HILL transmitter - Freeview BBC Digital TV (Four, Cbeebies, Parliament, 3... Off Air; DSO related from 00:36 on 15 Mar to 05:31 on 15 Mar Analogue BBC ONE Off Air; DSO related from 00:24 on 16 Mar to 05:10 on 16 Mar BBC ONE Off Air; DSO related from 23:56 on 14 Mar to 05:35 on 15 Mar BBC TWO Off Air; DSO related from 00:21 on 16 Mar to 05:12 on 16 Mar BBC TWO Off Air; DSO related from 00:52 on 15 Ma [BBC]
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Tuesday, 20 March 2012
BLUEBELL HILL transmitter - Analogue BBC ONE Off Air; DSO related from 00:24 on 16 Mar to 05:10 on 16 Mar BBC TWO Off Air; DSO related from 00:21 on 16 Mar to 05:12 on 16 Mar [BBC]
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BLUEBELL HILL transmitter - Analogue BBC ONE Off Air; DSO related from 00:24 on 16 Mar to 05:10 on 16 Mar BBC TWO Off Air; DSO related from 00:21 on 16 Mar to 05:12 on 16 Mar [BBC]
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P
Paul Brown5:02 PM
Crowborough
I am in TN6 1BJ. I have a Televes DAT 75 TV Aerial high in the loft pointing to Blue Bell Hill. The signal is sent via a Konig ANT AMP PRO30A Aerial Amplifier and splitter to three TVs. This was installed about 18 months ago.
The set-up was fine until about 3 weeks ago. Mux 1 started to break up for about 50% of the time and Mux 2 has started to break up today. I have reset & retuned to no avail.
Can you advise please? Has the signal strength been lowered for engineering work? If so, when will the normal strength be restored?
Regards
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Paul's: mapP's Freeview map terrainP's terrain plot wavesP's frequency data P's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Paul Brown: Mux 1 is on channel 59 which is now used for a post-switchover multiplex at Midhurst (since last Wednesday) and also for Mux D at Tunbridge Wells. According to Digital UK Tradeview, Mux D on C59 is at 200W. The Ofcom guide to pre-DSO transmitters which was last updated two years ago, says that TW Mux D was at 100W:
http://www.ofcom.org.uk/s….pdf
Reigate uses channel 24 (same as Mux 2 from Blue Bell), and its power was increased on 7th March. I have seen suggestion by other contributors to this site that that was done to counter possible interference due to another transmitter, Rowridge, switching over to digital and using the same channel.
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Friday, 23 March 2012
P
Paul Brown7:20 PM
Crowborough
Thank you for your reply.
Is there anything I can do about the situation or do I have to wait for switchover in June?
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Paul's: mapP's Freeview map terrainP's terrain plot wavesP's frequency data P's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Saturday, 24 March 2012
R
Roy Mancktelow8:33 AM
Hi I get poor or no ITV channels when the weather is warm. Have been told this is due to the mux on Bluebell hill. I'm on the Loose road in Maidstone. Will things get better after switch over?
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K
KMJ,Derby9:45 AM
Roy Mancktelow: If you currently have good reception on analogue ITV1 you should have robust Freeview reception on mux D3+4 after switchover as this mux will use the frequency vacated by the analogue service. The signal will also be transmitted at 20kW for all muxes, compared to 2kW for the existing Mux2.
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K
KMJ,Derby9:50 AM
I should add that having just checked the current powers at Bluebell Hill the existing Mux2 is now at 4kW.
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Paul Brown: I'm not sure whether there is anything you can do.
Crystal Palace would appear to be your best bet (assuming no local obstructions). Its switchover is 4th and 18th April at which time your post code is predicted to have "good" reception across the board.
If reorientating the aerial is out, then you could always try tuning one or more Crystal Palace multiplexes in and seeing how good they are. Come 4th April, BBC will go to full power and on 18th April, the rest will follow.
If you look at Tradeview predictor for your post code, you will see a number of transmitters are suggested. However, all apart from Crystal Palace (excluding Forest Row which isn't on air yet), have some multiplexes that are co-channel with others. None are sparkling and you may have to try it and see how much they interfere (if at all). Of course, your aerial will, to a degree, be less sensitive in directions other than that which it faces, so that might help avoiding interference.
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