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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.

This transmitter has no current reported problems

The BBC and Digital UK report there are no faults or engineering work on the Bluebell Hill (Medway, England) transmitter.

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), 71 That’s 60s,

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 U&Drama, 21 5USA, 29 ITV2 +1, 32 5STAR, 33 5Action, 38 Channel 5 +1, 41 Legend, 42 GREAT! action, 57 U&Dave ja vu, 58 ITV3 +1, 59 ITV4 +1, 64 Blaze, 67 TRUE CRIME, 68 TRUE CRIME XTRA, 81 Blaze +1, 83 Together TV, 91 WildEarth, 93 ITVBe +1, 209 Ketchup TV, 210 Ketchup Too, 211 YAAAS!, 251 Al Jazeera English, 255 FRANCE 24 (in English), 265 Rok Sky +1, plus 29 others

COM5
ArqA
 H max
C43+ (650.2MHz)245mDTG-820,000W
Channel icons
11 Sky Mix, 17 Really, 19 U&Dave, 31 E4 Extra, 36 Sky Arts, 40 Quest Red, 43 Food Network, 47 Film4 +1, 48 Challenge, 49 4seven, 60 U&Drama +1, 65 That's TV 2, 70 Quest +1, 74 &UYesterday +1, 76 That's TV 2 MCR, 233 Sky News, plus 13 others

COM6
ArqB
 H max
C46 (674.0MHz)245mDTG-820,000W
Channel icons
12 Quest, 25 U&W, 27 U&Yesterday, 34 GREAT! movies, 39 DMAX, 44 HGTV, 52 GREAT! christmas, 56 That's TV (UK), 63 GREAT! romance mix, 73 HobbyMaker, 75 That's 90s, 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
Sunday, 17 March 2019
MikeP
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

11:12 AM

Eunice:

At the top of this page it tells you that it is horizontal. Most main transmitters are set to be horizontally polarised whilst most relay transmitters are verstical. There are a few exceptions, such as Rowridge on the Isle of Wight.



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MikeP's 3,056 posts PT flag
Friday, 13 September 2019
J
john
10:00 AM

Hi I wonder if you can help, I see freeview show sony movies christmas channel on CH50 but my area here in kent doesn't get a ch50 I can get on freesat 303 but cant understand why its not on freeview my freeview is very good giving over 160 channels but 50 is not shown on the bluebell hill transmitter info can you advise?

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john's 1 post GB flag
N
nobody
sentiment_satisfiedBronze

11:19 AM

john: Sony Movies Christmas, formerly True Movies, is only available on Local Multiplexes.

The Bluebell Hill Local Multiplex is on UHF channel 21.

It may be that the Local Multiplex is not available at your location.

We need your postcode to see the predicted coverage at your location.

You can see for yourself if you go to About us | Freeview and enter your postcode in the Coverage checker.



link to this comment
nobody's 51 posts US flag
Thursday, 19 September 2019
R
Ray Taylor
8:03 PM
Sevenoaks

We are in a strong crystal Palace area but have found that we can receive the channels which carry the local programmes (ch32 for BBC southeast) and (ch34 for Meridian) from Bluebell Hill very well on a different aerial, until about 6 weeks ago when the ch32 signal became so weak that it is unwatchable, whereas the ch34 signal is still fine. Has anything changed on the transmitter to cause this ie reduced power or change of radiation pattern?
The Bluebell Hill aerial is mounted in the front garden at a height of 6 feet above ground level and receives the signal along Old London Road (Knockholt TN14 7JW) which runs east-west at that point. I have an aerial switch next to the TV. I am a retired BBC engineer and have set this up myself. I would appreciate any ideas.
It has worked well since Digital Switch Over. I have checked everything to do with the aerial etc & is OK.

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Ray Taylor's 3 posts GB flag
Ray's: mapR's Freeview map terrainR's terrain plot wavesR's frequency data R's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Friday, 20 September 2019
N
nobody
sentiment_satisfiedBronze

4:36 AM
Sevenoaks

Ray Taylor: I've assembled some links that might contain an explanation:

Bluebell Hill - Possible weak signal
Planned engineering works | Freeview

Coverage checker for TN14 7JW
About us | Freeview

New relay:
"11 July 2019
The BLUEBELL HILL transmitter group, serving north and mid Kent
Gillingham MOT

RF Channel
32PSB1 (BBCA)
34PSB2 (D3&4)
45PSB3 (BBCB)

Power change: the ERP will launch at 400W for all multiplexes":
About us | Freeview

Coverage checker for a Gillingham postcode:
Gillingham Testing Centre
About us | Freeview


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nobody's 51 posts US flag
nobody's: mapN's Freeview map terrainN's terrain plot wavesN's frequency data N's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Tuesday, 15 October 2019
D
Dave
5:58 PM

Pot sound on meridian news and weather

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Dave's 1 post GB flag
Wednesday, 11 December 2019
B
Bert
sentiment_satisfiedBronze

10:39 AM

Where has Quest on channel 12 gone from the Bluebell Hill transmitter. It disappeared yesterday, 10 Dec, showing as "No Signal" when 12 was selected. Some other channels have gone as well. Where have they gone to? As I manual tune which multiplex do I select to get them back?
Thanks

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Bert's 32 posts GB flag
B
Bert
sentiment_satisfiedBronze

10:59 AM

Drama on channel 20 has also gone from the channel list.
Drama & Quest were on the SDN & com4 group, I can get Quest HD but not on my non HD tv's.
I've tried a manual retune on C40 & the list say's Drama is there but the list lies, it does not appear in the guide.
What's going on?

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Bert's 32 posts GB flag
B
Bert
sentiment_satisfiedBronze

11:40 AM

OK, at the moment there is "No Signal" on channel 40 from Bluebell Hill, is this a fault or has it been discontinued.
Is there anywhere else where I can find out about transmitter faults?

link to this comment
Bert's 32 posts GB flag
C
Chris.SE
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

12:52 PM

Bert:

For what should be an up-to-date list of which channels are on which multiplex see Freeview | All your favourite TV shows, all in one place and all for free corporate/platform-management/channel-listings">Channel listings | Freeview

I can find no reports of transmitter problems at Bluebell Hill at this time, neither being reported by the BBC or Freeview. Your issues sounds a bit like your TV's memory needs clearing.

The site owner has been unable to keep up with all the 700MHz clearance changes and as has been said quite a few times on this and other transmitter boards, the best place to look is the official listings on the Freeview site (now that the digitalUK site has been merged into it).

Goto Freeview | All your favourite TV shows, all in one place and all for free and scroll to the box "Check Freeview at my home", put in the postcode and house number/name and click "Check".

On the new page, amongst other things, you should see a mention of any Planned work Freeview | All your favourite TV shows, all in one place and all for free corporate/platform-management/planned-engineering-works
also whether there's any current transmitter issues - I've not always found the latter to be 100% reliable.

On this new page, scroll down just over half way and click "Detailed view".
You'll now see a list of any transmitters and their multiplexes that are predicted to be received at your location. You can hover over some of the information to get more detail/explanation, eg. hover over a channel number will give the transmission mode and the power in kW.

Another source of help & information is Advice about receiving TV and radio | RTIS Select the service you are having problems with and then enter your postcode and house name/number. It will show you which transmitters you might receive, you select the one you are interested in.

To hopefully resolve your current problem, unplug your aerial and do an automatic retune. This should clear all previous tuning as no channels will be found.
Plug the aerial back in and then retune (manually was your choice) to the UHF channels listed on the Freeview Detailed Coverage Checker.

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Chris.SE's 4,346 posts GB flag
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Your comment please
Please post a question, answer or commentIf you have Freeview reception problems before posting a question your must first do this Freeview reset procedure then see: Freeview reception has changed, Single frequency interference, and Freeview intermittent interference.

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If you have other problems, please provide a full (not partial) postcode (or preferably enter it in box at the top right) and indicate where if aerial is on the roof, in the loft or elsewhere.

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