Full Freeview on the Bluebell Hill (Medway, England) transmitter

Brian Butterworth first published this on 1st May 2004 at 08:20 - UK Free TV

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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

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.

Mux	H/V	Frequency	Height	Mode	Watts
PSB1 BBCA	H max	C32 (562.0MHz)	242m	DTG-	20,000W
	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)	242m	DTG-	20,000W
	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)	242m	DTG-	20,000W
	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 66 TBN UK,
COM4 SDN	H max	C40 (626.0MHz)	242m	DTG-8	20,000W
	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)	245m	DTG-8	20,000W
	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)	245m	DTG-8	20,000W
	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?

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	BBC1_waves	BBC1_waves	BBC1_waves	+BBCB	SDN
C43	ITV_waves	ITV_waves	ITV_waves	D3+4	ArqA
C45				SDN	BBCB
C46	BBC2_waves	BBC2_waves	BBC2_waves	BBCA	ArqB
C54_{tv_off}				ArqB
C55_{tv_off}					com7_{tv_off}
C56_{tv_off}					COM8_{tv_off}
C65	C4_waves	C4_waves	C4_waves

_{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

Sep 1955-Jul 1968	Associated-Rediffusion†
Sep 1955-Jul 1968	Associated TeleVision◊
Jul 1968-Dec 1981	Thames†
Jul 1968-Dec 1981	London Weekend Television♦
Jan 1982-Dec 1992	Television South (TVS)
Jan 1993-Feb 2004	Meridian
Feb 2004-Dec 2014	ITV plc

Feb 1983-Dec 1992	TV-am•
Jan 1993-Sep 2010	GMTV•
Sep 2010-Dec 2014	ITV 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.

Is the transmitter output the same in all directions?

M

MikeB

_{sentiment_very_satisfied}Platinum

10:21 AM

Neil: Since your so close to Blueberry Hill, a might actually make your worse because of the high signal strength.

Try the as it is (without the booster connected), and see how it goes. If its really rubbish, then try with the booster, etc.

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MikeB's 2,579 posts GB flag

Dave Lindsay

_{sentiment_very_satisfied}Platinum

12:18 PM

Neil: I suggest that you connect a length of coax to the and point it in the direction of . You may find that it works at ground level, certainly for purposes.

You might find that the isn't require at such close proximity to the transmitter. Too high a level can overload the tuner, the effect with appearing much the same as too little a signal.

Use manual tuning to store the five definition multiplexes from Bluebell Hill: 46, 43, 45, 39, 54.

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Dave Lindsay's 5,724 posts GB flag

J

jb38

_{sentiment_very_satisfied}Platinum

5:45 PM

Neil: As a person who carries one of these aerials around with me on problem solving missions (when wearing my domestic cap!) I can assure you that if this device does not receive a workable when tested in a variety of mounting positions then nothing will, as these are superb devices.

The 16dB being close coupled next to the elements giving maximum efficiency, but though remember that the coax from the power unit to the must be a continuous run and not go through any other devices which could block the 12 volts or so from reaching the aerials built in amplifier.

As far as signal strength is concerned, although I doubt that the signal strength would be excessive when taking into consideration where you intend to mount the aerial, but if an excessive signal level was suspected as causing problems then all you require to do is unscrew the amplifiers input lead "from the elements" and connect it onto the downlead using a back to back female "F" coupler, then at the power unit end unscrew the downleads "F" connector from the power unit and connect this into your TV using a female "F" to male coax connector, in other words by-passing the power unit.

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jb38's 7,179 posts GB flag

MikeP

_{sentiment_very_satisfied}Platinum

10:30 PM

Without wanting to 'muddy the waters' is it possible that some refering to a '' in the actually mean a distribution unit? Something like the Labgear MSA2163 (http://www.labgear.co.uk/category/distribution-amplifiers/amplifiers/16-way-distribution--with-bypass/1002/1014/31/) might be mistaken for an amplifier wjen it's main job is to distribute the signals with minimla loss.
Just a thought.

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MikeP's 3,056 posts GB flag

J

jb38

_{sentiment_very_satisfied}Platinum

11:35 PM

MikeP / Neil: Good point! depending on how the statement is interpreted, because having read it a few times I can see where you are coming from on this.

Neil, Although you haven't mentioned as such, but should you have another installed? then the referred to should NOT be connected in any way to this, because as stated in my reply the coax from the aerials unit has to run directly to the actual aerial with nothing intercepting it.

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jb38's 7,179 posts GB flag

N

Neil
4:58 PM
Rochester

The good news is I have a reasonable , not great but ok.

The bad news is the box I have is useless as it has no manual tune option so does not get all of the .

it is then I think...

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Neil's 6 posts US flag

Neil's: N's Freeview map N's terrain plot N's frequency data N's Freeview Detailed Coverage

J

jb38

_{sentiment_very_satisfied}Platinum

9:17 PM

Neil: Well via is the way to go for anyone who might reside in a poor signal area, although in your case I think that is more one of a "where to locate the " problem, but purely out of interest where did you the aerial?

The second point being, is the box referred to one of TalkTalk's Huawei branded types? as these Huawei brand boxes cannot record the Drama due to a unresolved as yet software bug.

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jb38's 7,179 posts GB flag

J

jb38

_{sentiment_very_satisfied}Platinum

9:40 PM

Neil: Just a small additional point, keep in mind that the has be mounted in a position where it can have an unobstructed view of an E/SE Skyline, or face approximately 152 degrees.

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jb38's 7,179 posts GB flag

N

Neil
10:53 PM
Rochester

Yes it is the talk talk one, but has no manual tune option.

There is an existing outside that I learned is hooked up, it is small and hidden right beneath the . I tried with and without the booster, no difference. I then disconnected that and wired in (from the ) my aerial, I even got some fresh and placed it pointing out of the window right at bbh. The best I have got is 28% strength and 80% ,

I have 30 and no HD, with my TV I have far more.

Going to try and take the house wiring out of the equation tomorrow before I go . I'll probably end up sticking with sky damn it!

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Neil's 6 posts GB flag

Neil's: N's Freeview map N's terrain plot N's frequency data N's Freeview Detailed Coverage

L

lindsey
8:11 AM
Chatham

we have had little or for bbc 1 and 2 for the last couple of days we can get itv and all those .have checked everything and everything seems fine could it be a problem with the i live in chatham kent me4 5hy

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lindsey's 1 post GB flag

lindsey's: ...

Page 57

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