Full Freeview on the Carmel (Carmarthenshire, Wales) transmitter
 | Google Streetview |  | Google map |  | Bing map |  | Google Earth |  | 51.818,-4.067 or 51°49'5"N 4°4'3"W |  | SA14 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 22/04/2024 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)
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 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.
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?
BBC Wales Today 1.2m homes 4.7%
from Cardiff CF5 2YQ, 68km east-southeast (122°)
to BBC Wales region - 206 masts.
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?
| Abergorlech | Active deflector | Dyfed | 5 homes |
| Cwmere | Active deflector | 11 km NE Aberystwyth | 10 homes |
How will the Carmel (Carmarthenshire, Wales) transmission frequencies change over time?
| 1984-97 | 1997-98 | 1998-2009 | 2009-13 | 2013-18 | 2013-17 | 17 Jul 2019 | |||
| C/D E | C/D E | C/D E | C/D E | C/D E T | C/D E T | W T | |||
| C23 | BBCA | ||||||||
| C26 | D3+4 | ||||||||
| C29 | BBCB | ||||||||
| C33 | SDN | ||||||||
| C36 | ArqA | ||||||||
| C48 | ArqB | ||||||||
| C49tv_off | ArqB | ArqB | |||||||
| C53tv_off | C4waves | C4waves | C4waves | D3+4 | D3+4 | D3+4 | |||
| C54tv_off | SDN | SDN | SDN | ||||||
| C55tv_off | _local | _local | _local | _local | |||||
| C57tv_off | BBC1waves | BBC1waves | BBC1waves | BBCB | BBCB | BBCB | |||
| C58tv_off | ArqA | ArqA | ArqA | ||||||
| C60tv_off | ITVwaves | ITVwaves | ITVwaves | -BBCA | -BBCA | ||||
| C61 | ArqB | ||||||||
| C63 | BBC2waves | BBC2waves | BBC2waves |
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
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Is the transmitter output the same in all directions?
Radiation patterns withheldSaturday, 30 September 2023
M
Michael 9:41 AM
Chris, thanks for the reassurance! I plan to replace my corroding log-periodic with a Group-A yagi. There are persistent musings about an eventual switch-off of DTT, with all broadcasts moving to fibre-Internet and satellite. This would be problematic for rural areas - and for older viewers who might be perplexed by the complexities of "smart" TV navigation. Likewise the plan to transfer all telephone services to fibre. Maybe for future generations :-)
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C
Chris.SE6:14 PM
Michael :
Yes all such future switching is/can be/will be confusing for some. HOWEVER if you want to receive all of Carmel's muxes as they are at present, your really need a Group K. They do do both Group K and Group A Log-periodics these days (well Blake certainly do, there are one or two others).
Personally I doubt there'll be much of a DTT switch off in the next decade, whilst mux licences run until 2034 even though some could be terminated at shorter notice, I doubt the wider public will tolerate it. The type of change to "broadcast" TV is by no means certain, some think 5G may still be the choice. Streamed content will obviously be still an option anyway as it is at present although not for all and the "complexities of smart TVs" makes it all far to clunky at present for a lot of users. But as for VoIP phone don't start me on that topic :o
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Sunday, 1 October 2023
M
Michael10:02 AM
Chris, I agree! My issues are, simplified:
1. Auto-retuning of my "smart" TV to unwanted Carmel. I plan to replace the old wideband log-periodic with
a Blake Group-A aerial modified with a larger mesh reflector to supress Carmel (north)
in favour of wanted Huntshaw (south) That will, hopefully, "outsmart" the TV :-)
2. Complexity of registering for, and selecting, streaming options. Why must we register?
All online services want too much personal data. This is unjustifiably intrusive -
and increases online vulnerability !
3. Longterm, obscure plans. Fibre or 5G are unrealistic for many, particularly in rural areas.
As you say, this will probably get bogged down for years to come!
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C
Chris.SE2:30 PM
Michael:
1) Sounds like a plan. I did wonder about you wanting Carmel :o but I didn't looked back to see if you've previously said which way your aerial is pointing as I couldn't remember. Yes that must be irritating if auto retunes get Carmel, doesn't the set have a setting for Region or Postcode? And nowhere to turn off auto-updating?
My LG nearly 7 yrs old now, will sort of auto-update a mux if I select another channel on the mux which is irritating if they've been swapping things about on the COMs depending on which mux is watched first, the new/additional/replacement can end up in the 800s which results in me having to manual retune or edit!
2) Yeah, too many things wanting too much personal info these days, they get the absolute minimum from me and not always 100%.
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S
Steve Donaldson3:59 PM
Michael: Having reviewed your earlier postings, it looks like you may be in Ilfracombe. If you are still at the same postcode, then the Freeview predictor does not even mention Huntshaw Cross as a possibility, not even very poor.
You said previously about the co-channel interference to users of the Ilfracombe relay, caused by Carmel, and which varies by the tide. The ERP of the Ilfracombe relay is -4dB with respect to the former analogue, meaning there was an effective doubling of power at digital switchover, and maybe this was done in effort to compensate the co-channel interference from Carmel.
At 700MHz Clearance on 19/06/19 the Chambercombe relay became co-channel with Huntshaw Cross' COMs. So those in the vicinity with a Huntshaw Cross aerial will have found their COM reception wiped out by the relay! The predictor suggests the Chambercombe relay may be available at your postcode. If this is still where you are, do you get good reception of the Huntshaw Cross COMs?
There are clearly a lot of transmitters whose signal reaches the Ilfracombe area, whether strong enough to be watchable or not strong enough to watch but enough to interfere with another, desired transmitter. Judging by the predictor, there may be four six-mux transmitters in Wales to contend with, filling 21 channels. Post 700MHz Clearance there are only 26 channels left for TV.
The situation is brought about by the fact that the water is flat and without hills which would otherwise act to block unwanted, distant signals, but, further, the tide rubs in the salt by changing over time what's coming over. The other aspect is that the local terrain drops downwards to the water preventing or making difficult reception from a main station, thereby necessitating the presence of relays which require three channels.
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S
Steve Donaldson4:19 PM
There are, of course, 27 channels available for TV post-700MHz Clearance, not 26 as I said. I made it to be 26 by subtracting 21 from 48, then subtracting 1 (to account for C38 not being used).
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C
Chris.SE5:15 PM
Steve Donaldson:
Yes, he is near Ilfracombe, and I'm pretty sure he already knows most of what you've said ;)
There are several locations along that general costal area that have problems with some transmitters in Wales, one I recall is Carhampton co-channel with Kilvey Hill even the same polarisation!!
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Monday, 2 October 2023
Transmitter engineering
5:09 AM
5:09 AM
Carmel transmitter - Carmel transmitter: Possible effect on TV reception week commencing 02/10/2023 Pixelation or flickering on some or all channels [DUK]
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Transmitter engineering
5:09 AM
5:09 AM
Carmel transmitter - Carmel transmitter: Possible effect on TV reception week commencing 02/10/2023 Pixelation or flickering on some or all channels [DUK]
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M
michael6:15 PM
Hi all!
Thanks for your postings. As Chris says, I am kinda savvy :-) West of Ilfracombe at 125m elevation; clear view of Swansea. Licenced radio amateur. Degree in computing. Bucketfulls of DTT experience with aerials and interference... We had a local self-help relay, managed by me; discontinued when Carmel switched to our Ilfracombe channels, obliterating it as our feeder. Even before DTT, as the Bristol Channel tide rose and fell,
I had to manually switch between Preseli and Carmel. We had a local self-help relay, managed by me; discontinued when Carmel switched to our Ilfracombe channels. Our ante-deluvian TV obediently stuck with the channels I assigned, initially Preseli and Carmel, later to Huntshaw. Now upgraded (???) to "smart", our TV knows better - and frequently auto-retunes from Huntshaw to Carmel when the tide temporarily delivers a stronger signal and demotes Huntshaw to the 800s (no always the same one). Curent plan-A : install a Group-A yagi with a more efficient mesh reflector. Plan B : dunno. Perchance persuade the XYL that a second dish for 28E might be acceptable after all. My existing ground-mounted dish is on 19E.
73s Michael
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