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 15/04/2024 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, 4 June 2013
B
Bert6:22 PM
Sittingbourne
ME10 1DB, using Bluebell hill
Do you have any idea why our HD signal on C40 keeps going to "No Signal" on the TV screen on all the HD channels, All the SD channels are OK. We have a Panasonic DMR PWT420 recorder & within its set up you can see the signal strength & the signal quality levels moving around quite a bit & they will fall away completely for a second or so then recover. Our aerial man is a bit baffled. Our aerial is a wide band high gain & about 20 years old, it is already fitted with an amp.
Why is it only affecting the HD. Annoying, before the switchover last year it was OK. The aerial man has tried various filters & attenuaters
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Bert's: mapB's Freeview map terrainB's terrain plot wavesB's frequency data B's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Bert: As you mention you have an amplifier - can you see Freeview signals: too much of a good thing is bad for you | Digital switchover | ukfree.tv - 10 years of independent, free digital TV advice please?
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Bert: I wonder if it could be traffic on the M2 and the A249 which both cross the signal path. Or indeed it could be something else in the signal path, such as vegetation.
You don't have line-of-sight to the transmitter:
Terrain between ( m a.g.l.) and (antenna m a.g.l.) - Optimising UK DTT Freeview and Radio aerial location
Perhaps this is something that is out of your control which is why the various attempted fixes have not worked.
Different frequencies are affected by objects along the signal path in different ways which can result in not all channels being received at the same strength at a single location.
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Wednesday, 5 June 2013
A
Adrian3:55 PM
Westcliff-on-sea
Thanks for replying kmj
My postcode is SS0 7SN
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Adrian's: mapA's Freeview map terrainA's terrain plot wavesA's frequency data A's Freeview Detailed Coverage
B
Bert5:02 PM
Sittingbourne
Dave Lindsey
I did wonder about the line of sight problem, I can't view the terrain plot as i'm using IE8 on XP,
Aerial man is returning on Friday with an E group aerial & I will tell him to put it up on the chimney using the existing pole
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Bert's: mapB's Freeview map terrainB's terrain plot wavesB's frequency data B's Freeview Detailed Coverage
B
Bert7:24 PM
Sittingbourne
Dave Lindsey
I clicked through to the megalith pages & fiddled about with my location to get it closer to the home. I still had two hills in the way but pushed the aerial up to 15 metres & it just clipped one up by the M2. So I'm out with the measuring tape tomorrow to get an idea of the height of the chimney, plus pole. I will tell the young aerial chap of the findings.
Thanks
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Bert's: mapB's Freeview map terrainB's terrain plot wavesB's frequency data B's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Bert: It doesn't work on a thin laser-like point! Anything within the first Fresnel Zone may affect reception:
Fresnel zone - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Also, there are objects on the ground and terrain plots only sample the ground height at intervals, so it may not be totally accurate.
Megalithia shows the first Fresnel zone by a pink line:
Terrain between ( m a.g.l.) and (antenna m a.g.l.) - Optimising UK DTT Freeview and Radio aerial location
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Saturday, 8 June 2013
K
KMJ,Derby8:25 AM
Adrian: The DUK prediction is for good reception on all muxes from Bluebell Hill and Crystal Palace using a suitable aerial. Firstly is your aerial on Bluebell Hill intended to receive C54? A group "E" or wideband would normally have been fitted for analogue reception, however if your aerial is a group "B", identified by a yellow stopper at the end of the boom, it would be somewhat less efficient at picking up C54. Trees or a tall building obstructing the signal path could also result in C54 being received at lower strength. If the aerial happens to be positioned in a null for C54, slight repositioning (raising, lowering or a short distance either side) might be needed to improve reception. Interference blocking the signal is another possibility, either an analogue signal from the RF modulator of a Sky box or VCR set on or near to C54, or interaction with an HDMI cable, which would need repositioning relative to the tuner or aerial fly lead to overcome such a problem. Check that all connectors are in order. One other thought, if a communal aerial is in use there might be channel filters which require adjustment to let C54 through. In that case the landlord or building management company would need to be contacted after getting confirmation that neighbours in the same block were having a similar problem.
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Tuesday, 11 June 2013
B
Bert4:11 PM
Sittingbourne
Dave Lindsay
My existing aerial & 3 metre pole have been refixed to the chimney gaining about 5 metres in height from its previous position. Since then we have not experienced any temporary loss of signal on the HD channels. The aerial man then said that we had 75db of signal with our existing masthead amp, he tried again but without the amp but the db's were too low. The chap said that the existing signal could be too high under certain conditions, so we now have a variable amp mounted in the loft set to give us 60+/-db. 3 TVs are off this one aerial, the bedroom & kitchen tvs are on one cable via a splitter instead of a small booster, this booster was not necessary with the good signal now from the repositioned aerial.
So, height matters in our post code.
Thanks for the advice
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Bert's: mapB's Freeview map terrainB's terrain plot wavesB's frequency data B's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Bert: Excellent. And you didn't require a replacement aerial.
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