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Full Freeview on the Carmel (Carmarthenshire, Wales) transmitter

first published this on - UK Free TV
sa_streetviewGoogle Streetviewsa_gmapsGoogle mapsa_bingBing mapsa_gearthGoogle Earthsa_gps51.818,-4.067 or 51°49'5"N 4°4'3"Wsa_postcodeSA14 7NA

 

The symbol shows the location of the Carmel (Carmarthenshire, Wales) transmitter which serves 72,000 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 Carmel (Carmarthenshire, Wales) mast?

Carmel transmitter - Carmel 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
_______

Which Freeview channels does the Carmel 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
C23- (489.8MHz)411mDTG-20,000W
Channel icons
1 BBC One (SD) Wales, 2 BBC Two Wales, 9 BBC Four, 23 BBC Three, 201 CBBC, 202 CBeebies, 231 BBC News, 232 BBC Parliament, plus 14 others

PSB2
D3+4
 H max
C26 (514.0MHz)411mDTG-20,000W
Channel icons
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 (Wales),

PSB3
BBCB
 H max
C29 (538.0MHz)411mDTG-20,000W
Channel icons
46 5SELECT, 101 BBC One HD Wales, 102 BBC Two HD Wales, 104 Channel 4 HD South ads, 105 Channel 5 HD, 106 BBC Four HD, 110 Channel 4 HD (Wales), 204 CBBC HD, 205 CBeebies HD, plus 1 others

COM4
SDN
 H -3dB
C33 (570.0MHz)411mDTG-810,000W
Channel icons
 E4 (Wales), 20 Drama, 21 5USA, 29 ITV2 +1, 32 5STAR, 33 5Action, 38 Channel 5 +1, 41 Legend, 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 -3dB
C36 (594.0MHz)411mDTG-810,000W
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 -3dB
C48 (690.0MHz)411mDTG-810,000W
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)

The Carmel (Carmarthenshire, Wales) mast is a public service broadcasting (PSB) transmitter, it does not provide these commercial (COM) channels: .

If you want to watch these channels, your aerial must point to one of the 80 Full service Freeview transmitters. For more information see the will there ever be more services on the Freeview Light transmitters? page.

Which BBC and ITV regional news can I watch from the Carmel transmitter?

regional news image
BBC Wales Today 1.2m homes 4.7%
from Cardiff CF5 2YQ, 68km east-southeast (122°)
to BBC Wales region - 206 masts.
regional news image
ITV Cymru Wales 1.2m homes 4.7%
from Cardiff CF5 6XJ, 68km southeast (127°)
to ITV Wales region - 206 masts.

Are there any self-help relays?

AbergorlechActive deflectorDyfed5 homes
CwmereActive deflector11 km NE Aberystwyth10 homes

How will the Carmel (Carmarthenshire, Wales) transmission frequencies change over time?

1984-971997-981998-20092009-132013-182013-1717 Jul 2019
C/D EC/D EC/D EC/D EC/D E TC/D E TW T
C23BBCA
C26D3+4
C29BBCB
C33SDN
C36ArqA
C48ArqB
C49tv_off ArqBArqB
C53tv_offC4wavesC4wavesC4wavesD3+4D3+4D3+4
C54tv_offSDNSDNSDN
C55tv_off_local_local_local_local
C57tv_offBBC1wavesBBC1wavesBBC1wavesBBCBBBCBBBCB
C58tv_offArqAArqAArqA
C60tv_offITVwavesITVwavesITVwaves -BBCA-BBCA
C61ArqB
C63BBC2wavesBBC2wavesBBC2waves

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 26 Aug 09 and 23 Sep 09.

How do the old analogue and currrent digital signal levels compare?

Analogue 1-4 100kW
BBCA, D3+4, BBCB(-7dB) 20kW
SDN, ARQA, ARQB(-10dB) 10kW
Mux A*(-13dB) 5kW
Mux 1*, Mux 2*, Mux B*(-16dB) 2.5kW
Mux C*, Mux D*(-20dB) 1000W

Which companies have run the Channel 3 services in the Carmel transmitter area

Jan 1958-Jul 1968Television Wales and the West
Jul 1968-Feb 2004Harlech Television
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. Carmel 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?

Radiation patterns withheld

Comments
Wednesday, 17 February 2021
Transmitter engineering
sentiment_very_satisfiedOwner

3:17 PM

CARMEL transmitter - DAB: Off the air due to essential engineering from 17 Feb 11:46. . FM: Slightly reduced power due to essential engineering from 17 Feb 12:29 until 17 Feb 13:27. . [BBC]

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Transmitter engineering's 149,799 posts xx flag
Transmitter engineering
sentiment_very_satisfiedOwner

4:56 PM

CARMEL transmitter - DAB: Off the air due to essential engineering from 17 Feb 11:46 until 17 Feb 13:23. . FM: Slightly reduced power due to essential engineering from 17 Feb 12:29 until 17 Feb 13:27. . [BBC]

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Transmitter engineering's 149,799 posts xx flag
Monday, 22 February 2021
Transmitter engineering
sentiment_very_satisfiedOwner

4:27 PM

CARMEL transmitter - DAB: Off the air due to essential engineering from 17 Feb 11:46 until 17 Feb 13:23. . [BBC]

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Transmitter engineering's 149,799 posts xx flag
Saturday, 26 June 2021
B
Bernard John
11:45 AM
Llanelli

I get my signal from Carmel transmitter but I get intermittent poor/weak signal on channel 33(always this channel).
Sometimes the signal is good for weeks and then I lose the signal for a number of days and then the signal improves. The signal quality is never better than about 6 to 7 whilst the other channels are constantly strength 10.My aerial is outside and is over 20 years old.Can you give me some pointers as to what the problem might be.

SA14 6BG

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Bernard John's 1 post GB flag
Bernard's: mapB's Freeview map terrainB's terrain plot wavesB's frequency data B's Freeview Detailed Coverage
C
Chris.SE
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

3:11 PM

Bernard John:

What is obviously important with an aerial that old is its condition and that of the downlead and it's still pointing the correct way. You are so close to the transmitter - I guess you can see it! That said, before the 700MHz clearance programme Carmel was an aerial Group C/D and if that is what you have, it's performance at the lower channels now used by Carmel will not be as good. Although the PSB multiplexes are on lower UHF channels again they are also transmitted at higher power than the COM4-6 multiplexes. You might be able to see a Green plug in the end of the aerial if it's a Group C/D but not all manufacturers fitted correct coloured plugs and it might be black (possibly making you think it's wideband).

Unless you are certain the aerial is wideband I would assume the problem could be related to performance as well as possibly condition, weather can play havoc with connection boxes and cable insulation. Aerial misalignments, problematic connections, water ingress etc. can seem to affect reception of just AN individual or several multiplexes.
It should be pointing at bearing 28 degrees, fractionally E of NNE, but if you can see the mast, pointing it shouldn't be an issue.

Even so, you location is predicted to get variable/poor reception of the COM multiplexes (predictions are often based on external aerials at about 10m height).
See Channel listings for Industry Professionals | Freeview for which channels are on which multiplex.
I guess you may be on fairly high ground, so that interference from other transmitters using those channels (possibly Mendip) might be an issue in certain weather conditions. I do know that in such conditions, signals from Mendip can get to the Preseli's. Even though the aerial isn't pointing that way it will have what are called sidelobes, especially with smaller standard aerials which I assume this probably is being so close to Carmel, where it will be able to receive signals in those directions.

The trick to deal with this sort of interference problem (as that is quite likely) is to have the aerial positioned maybe not as high if there is a clear unobstructed view of Carmel, and somewhere which screens it (by eg. buildings) from the directions most likely to have the interfering sources. Also use an aerial likely to have better directivity and minimal sidelobes - a log-periodic could be the best option, if for some reason it's not the best, a Group K aerial will be better than wideband. Even consider loft mounting, but that can have issues with partition walls, water tanks, metal chimneys, lead flashing and so on requiring careful positioning.
Being on-site and maybe a little bit of experimenting to get the best arrangement and using an experienced (and recommended) aerial installer if it's not a job you are able to tackle yourself.

As for weather conditions, there has been quite a bit of "Tropospheric Ducting" around lately which has been quite variable. It can come and go in seconds or minutes or last for longer and doesn't always affect all multiplexes - it tends to be frequency dependent.
See Effect of tropospheric ducting on Freeview | Help receiving TV and radio for a simplistic explanation.
Some predictors are showing that there could be more over the next few days, but they aren't specific for the frequencies used by TV, and like weather forecasts they can change!

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Chris.SE's 4,101 posts GB flag
Saturday, 20 November 2021
Transmitter engineering
sentiment_very_satisfiedOwner

9:09 AM

CARMEL transmitter - DAB: Slightly reduced power due to a fault from 20 Nov 06:29. . [BBC]

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Transmitter engineering's 149,799 posts GB flag
Transmitter engineering
sentiment_very_satisfiedOwner

12:10 PM

CARMEL transmitter - DAB: Slightly reduced power due to a fault from 20 Nov 06:02 until 20 Nov 09:26. . [BBC]

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Transmitter engineering's 149,799 posts GB flag
Friday, 5 May 2023
Transmitter engineering
sentiment_very_satisfiedOwner

9:46 AM

Carmel transmitter - Carmel transmitter: Possible effect on TV reception week commencing 01/05/2023 Pixelation or flickering on some or all channels [DUK]

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Transmitter engineering's 149,799 posts GB flag
Monday, 8 May 2023
Transmitter engineering
sentiment_very_satisfiedOwner

4:08 AM

Carmel transmitter - Carmel transmitter: Possible effect on TV reception week commencing 08/05/2023 Pixelation or flickering on some or all channels [DUK]

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Transmitter engineering's 149,799 posts GB flag
Monday, 15 May 2023
Transmitter engineering
sentiment_very_satisfiedOwner

4:08 AM

Carmel transmitter - Carmel transmitter: Possible effect on TV reception week commencing 15/05/2023 Pixelation or flickering on some or all channels [DUK]

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Transmitter engineering's 149,799 posts GB flag
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