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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 25/03/2024 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),

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 Drama, 21 5USA, 29 ITV2 +1, 32 5STAR, 33 5Action, 38 Channel 5 +1, 41 Legend, 42 GREAT! action, 57 Dave ja vu, 58 ITVBe +1, 59 ITV3 +1, 64 Blaze, 67 TRUE CRIME, 68 TRUE CRIME XTRA, 78 TCC, 81 Blaze +1, 83 Together TV, 89 ITV4 +1, 91 WildEarth, 209 Ketchup TV, 210 Ketchup Too, 211 YAAAS!, 267 Al Jazeera English, plus 30 others

COM5
ArqA
 H max
C43+ (650.2MHz)245mDTG-820,000W
Channel icons
11 Sky Mix, 17 Really, 19 Dave, 31 E4 Extra, 36 Sky Arts, 40 Quest Red, 43 Food Network, 47 Film4 +1, 48 Challenge, 49 4seven, 60 Drama +1, 65 That's TV 2, 70 Quest +1, 74 Yesterday +1, 75 That's 90s, 233 Sky News, plus 11 others

COM6
ArqB
 H max
C46 (674.0MHz)245mDTG-820,000W
Channel icons
12 Quest, 25 W, 27 Yesterday, 34 GREAT! movies, 39 DMAX, 44 HGTV, 52 GREAT! romance, 56 That's TV (UK), 61 GREAT! movies extra, 63 GREAT! romance mix, 71 That’s 60s, 73 HobbyMaker, 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
Wednesday, 25 July 2012
J
jb38
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

11:32 PM

Briantist: No problem whatsoever! as I fully understand that it wasn't the coverage from a single station that was being illustrated.

By the way many thanks for sorting out the sites Twitter link access problem, as with the listings shown not being section dependant but in a continuous stream I find this extremely convenient for making a quick check now and again to see if anyone has replied to any request for further info that I may have made.

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jb38's 7,179 posts GB flag
Thursday, 26 July 2012
J
jb38
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

11:37 PM

D: In "some" devices you can delete the offending channels whilst in the EPG listings guide menu, sometimes called "edit channels".

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jb38's 7,179 posts GB flag
Saturday, 28 July 2012
J
Julie ayling
8:42 AM

Hi we have an old portable with a set top digital box and haven't been able to get bbc since the switch over. I have tried on numerous occasions to retune, both automatically and manually, but it still says we have a poor signal so no bbc. We have a digital tv downstairs that works brilliantly. So my question is do I need to

1. Get a new digibox
2. Get a digital tv
3. Get a new ariel
Or 4. Reposition my ariel

Sorry I am completely rubbish with this sort of thing!


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Julie ayling's 1 post GB flag
K
KMJ,Derby
sentiment_satisfiedGold

9:41 AM

Julie ayling: Have you tried the set top box downstairs to see if it will receive the BBC channels on an aerial connection that you know to be working? If it works, you know that there is a problem with the signal being supplied upstairs and you will need to reposition or improve the aerial. If it still refuses to receive the BBC mux there could be a problem with the sensitivity or characteristics of the box, in this event if you give details of the make/model of the box a check can be made as to whether it is one known to have issues. Likewise, if you give some indication of your location, preferably a postcode, a check can be made on predicted reception in the locality.

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KMJ,Derby's 1,811 posts GB flag
Friday, 10 August 2012
J
Jonathan Currah
10:26 AM
Tonbridge

Yesterday I suddenly lost signal from ITV3, Yesterday & Film4
I tried a retune but still could not get a signal.Do you think this is a reception problem or a receiver fault.
I have a new Sony KDL40HX853

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Jonathan Currah's 3 posts GB flag
Jonathan's: mapJ's Freeview map terrainJ's terrain plot wavesJ's frequency data J's Freeview Detailed Coverage
K
KMJ,Derby
sentiment_satisfiedGold

1:01 PM

Jonathan Currah: It appears that you lost reception of SDN and ArqB muxes. Check that your receiver is tuned to the correct transmitter for the direction in which your aerial points. For Bluebell Hill this is C45 for ITV3 and C54 for Yesterday/Film4. You are predicted to have good reception possible from several transmitters, so incorrect frequency selection during a channel scan is possible. There is also the possibility that tropospheric ducting caused out of area signals to block reception of the missing channels, this being possible whichever transmitter is tuned in, but even more likely if, by chance, these two muxes were tuned to the "wrong" transmitter.

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KMJ,Derby's 1,811 posts GB flag
Tuesday, 14 August 2012
J
Jonathan Currah
5:23 PM
Tonbridge

Thanks for your help. I have got a signal now but no info on EPG on some channels ( including those mention above ) unless I tune to those channels. I think my TV has tuned to more than one transmitter and I don't seem to be able to delete unwanted ones.
Any suggestions?

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Jonathan Currah's 3 posts GB flag
Jonathan's: mapJ's Freeview map terrainJ's terrain plot wavesJ's frequency data J's Freeview Detailed Coverage
J
jb38
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

5:36 PM

Jonathan Currah: Try removing the aerial and then carrying out a rescan, as on most equipment (exceptions apply) this will blank out the channel memory, then after reconnecting the aerial again manually tune in the channels provided by KMJ,Derby.

If by the way the aerial out procedure has not blanked out all the channels stored, then carry out a factory reset (sometimes called default setting) and this will, then carry out the manual tune.

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jb38's 7,179 posts GB flag
Tuesday, 21 August 2012
M
Mark Allison
9:26 PM

Dear Sir/Madam

Since the last re-jigging of the channels at the Bluebell hill transmitter on 27th of June the EPG data for Humax PVR has not been filling in correctly.

After numerous emails with Humax over the last couple of months, he came to the conclusion that it must be a transmitter issue.

I didn't at first believe that but today I checked my Sony TV and found it was doing exactly the same thing! (I normally watch TV either via humax or cable so don't often use the TV's own tuner)

The channels that are missing EPG seem to be on the same MUXes and will only fill in if I switch to a channel on that MUX and leave it there for a while.

For example, today I noticed I'd only got 2 days worth of guide data for ITV4, Yesterday, PickTV & Dave (and numerous others).

I had to switch the channel to PickTV and leave it there for several minutes before the guide data for PickTV & Dave was populated (both on same MUX).

Similarly, switching channel to ITV4 populated that and Yesterday etc.

This is common to my TV AND My Humax and only started right after the last switch.

The Humax Engineer said that all the guide
data should be being transmitted on the same MUX.

Clearly this must have been the situation before as I never had issues before the last switch over.

When is this situation going to be resolved please?
Its a bit of a nonsense having to religiously switch my humax to a channel on each MUX for several minutes on a daily basis in order to keep the EPG (and therefore recordings) valid.

Regards

Mark Allison

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Mark Allison's 2 posts GB flag
Thursday, 23 August 2012
K
Ken Collyer
sentiment_satisfiedBronze

12:05 PM

Mark Allison.
I don't know if this helps or confuses things, but I watch TV from Bluebell Hill via a Humax PVR and last night I checked the EPG and as far as I can see all the information is there up until midnight next Wednesday. I did only look at the "Yesterday" channel but that also showed one or two others either side. It is of course possible that there was a problem with the transmitter and that it has been fixed between your posting Tuesday evening and my checking 24hrs later.


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Ken Collyer's 24 posts GB flag
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