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 11/12/2023 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, 89 ITV4 +1, 91 WildEarth, 209 Ketchup TV, 210 Ketchup Too, 211 YAAAS!, 267 Al Jazeera English, plus 35 others
COM5 ArqA	H max	C43+ (650.2MHz)	245m	DTG-8	20,000W
	Smithsonian Channel, 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 Christmas, 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
	Quest Red +1, Classic Hits, 12 Quest, 25 W, 27 Yesterday, 34 GREAT! movies, 39 DMAX, 44 HGTV, 52 GREAT! christmas, 56 That's TV (UK), 61 GREAT! movies extra, 63 GREAT! christmas mix, 71 That’s 60s, 73 HobbyMaker, 82 Talking Pictures TV, 83 Together TV, 84 PBS America, 235 Al Jazeera Eng, plus 20 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?

C

Chris.SE

_{sentiment_very_satisfied}Platinum

11:40 PM

MikeP:
Why couldn't you answer my question - "However one query - what equipment was your younger brother using that had the intermittent sound problem? " I was genuinely interested!

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Chris.SE's 3,940 posts GB flag

C

Chris.SE

_{sentiment_very_satisfied}Platinum

5:58 AM

Chris:

In a reply to one of your previous posts in August, Mike suggested the possibility of too much as you are only 2km from the with which I agree is a possibility. However, as you have mentioned in various posts that this only started happening with HD after the July transmitter changes, I think we'll need a lot more information.
The transmitter changes only moved some of the SD muxes around existing UHF channels, the exception being the move of COM7 and 8 to UHF 55 & 56, both of these are DVB-T2 (HD) muxes. Both of those are lower power (no change) than the other 6 muxes.

So, precisely which HD channels are you having a problem with?

How old is your installation, has it been changed in say the last 12 months and have there been any other changes to the installation?
If the coax is old, it may have degraded and/or become damaged.
Have you checked all your internal coax connections/plugs?

Do you know what aerial you have, how big is it and where is it installed?
Is the aerial still pointing in the correct direction, has it moved at all?
Have there been any nearby structural changes to buildings, any scaffolding etc.?

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Chris.SE's 3,940 posts US flag

K

Keith Mayger
4:29 PM
Rochester

Hi. I have lost BBC from the Blue Bell Hill , but ITV channels have a good . Is there a problem? My is on the and looks fine. My postcode is ME1 1UW.
Many thanks
Keith Mayger

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Keith Mayger's 1 post US flag

Keith's: K's Freeview map K's terrain plot K's frequency data K's Freeview Detailed Coverage

B

Bertmay

_{sentiment_satisfied}Bronze

4:43 PM
Sittingbourne

BBC off air, its been off for 30 minutes or so.
ME10 1DB

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Bertmay's 30 posts GB flag

Bertmay's: B's Freeview map B's terrain plot B's frequency data B's Freeview Detailed Coverage

Transmitter engineering

_{sentiment_very_satisfied}Owner

5:05 PM

transmitter - Freeview: HD TV Off Air from 13:05 today to 13:53 today. [BBC]

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Transmitter engineering's 146,888 posts xx flag

Transmitter engineering

_{sentiment_very_satisfied}Owner

8:05 PM

transmitter - Freeview: BBC TV Off Air from 16:11 today to 16:41 today, HD Digital TV Off Air from 13:05 today to 13:53 today. [BBC]

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Transmitter engineering's 146,888 posts xx flag

C

Chris.SE

_{sentiment_very_satisfied}Platinum

12:35 AM

Keith Mayger: & Bertmay:

As you can see there is a report. you are both receiving the BBC OK now.

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Chris.SE's 3,940 posts GB flag

Transmitter engineering

_{sentiment_very_satisfied}Owner

5:05 AM

transmitter - Freeview: BBC TV Off Air from 16:11 yesterday to 16:41 yesterday, HD Digital TV Off Air from 13:05 yesterday to 13:53 yesterday. [BBC]

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Transmitter engineering's 146,888 posts xx flag

Transmitter engineering

_{sentiment_very_satisfied}Owner

5:05 AM

transmitter - Freeview: BBC TV Off Air from 16:11 on 31 Oct to 16:41 on 31 Oct, HD Digital TV Off Air from 13:05 on 31 Oct to 13:53 on 31 Oct. [BBC]

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Transmitter engineering's 146,888 posts xx flag

Transmitter engineering

_{sentiment_very_satisfied}Owner

11:05 PM

transmitter - Freeview: BBC TV Off Air from 16:11 on 31 Oct to 16:41 on 31 Oct, HD Digital TV Off Air from 21:57 today, HD Digital TV Off Air from 13:05 on 31 Oct to 13:53 on 31 Oct. [BBC]

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Transmitter engineering's 146,888 posts xx flag

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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.

If you have no satellite signal, see Sky Digibox says 'No Signal' or 'Technical fault'

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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