Full Freeview on the Darvel (East Ayrshire, Scotland) transmitter
 | Google Streetview |  | Google map |  | Bing map |  | Google Earth |  | 55.579,-4.291 or 55°34'45"N 4°17'26"W |  | KA16 9LS |
The symbol shows the location of the Darvel (East Ayrshire, Scotland) transmitter which serves 150,000 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 Darvel (East Ayrshire, Scotland) mast?
Darvel transmitter - Darvel transmitter: Possible effect on TV reception week commencing 04/11/2024 Screen may go black 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)
Which Freeview channels does the Darvel 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)
Which BBC and ITV regional news can I watch from the Darvel transmitter?
BBC Reporting Scotland 2.4m homes 9.2%
from Glasgow G51 1DA, 31km north (1°)
to BBC Scotland region - 230 masts.
STV News 1.3m homes 4.8%
from Glasgow G51 1PQ, 31km north (2°)
to STV Central (Glasgow) region - 94 masts.
Are there any self-help relays?
| Craigie Gardens | Transposer | 1 homes 90 caravans | |
| Inversnaid | Active deflector | 35 km N Dumbarton | 8 homes Hotel caravan park |
How will the Darvel (East Ayrshire, Scotland) transmission frequencies change over time?
| 1984-97 | 1997-98 | 1998-2011 | 2011-13 | 5 Sep 2018 | |||||
| A K T | A K T | A K T | A K T | W T | |||||
| C22 | -BBCA | BBCA | |||||||
| C23 | ITVwaves | ITVwaves | ITVwaves | SDN | |||||
| C25 | D3+4 | D3+4 | |||||||
| C26 | BBC2waves | BBC2waves | BBC2waves | ArqA | |||||
| C28 | BBCB | BBCB | |||||||
| C29 | C4waves | C4waves | C4waves | ArqB | |||||
| C30 | _local | ||||||||
| C31 | com7 | ||||||||
| C32 | SDN | ||||||||
| C33 | BBC1waves | BBC1waves | BBC1waves | ||||||
| C34 | ArqA | ||||||||
| C35 | C5waves | C5waves | ArqB | ||||||
| C37 | com8 | ||||||||
| C55tv_off | com7tv_off | ||||||||
| C56tv_off | COM8tv_off |
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 11 May 11 and 25 May 11.
How do the old analogue and currrent digital signal levels compare?
| Analogue 1-5 | 100kW | |
| BBCA, D3+4, BBCB | (-7dB) 20kW | |
| SDN, ARQA, ARQB | (-10dB) 10kW | |
| com8 | (-10.9dB) 8.19kW | |
| com7 | (-11.2dB) 7.5kW | |
| Mux 1*, Mux 2*, Mux A*, Mux B* | (-14dB) 4kW | |
| Mux C*, Mux D* | (-17dB) 2kW |
Local transmitter maps
Darvel Freeview Darvel DAB Darvel AM/FM Darvel TV region BBC Scotland STV Central (Glasgow micro region)Which companies have run the Channel 3 services in the Darvel transmitter area
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Is the transmitter output the same in all directions?
Radiation patterns withheldThursday, 26 May 2011
N
noel3:49 PM
Ayr
I lost all freeview channels at stage 2 of the Darvel switchover - but only on my computer (Compro Videomate dvb card). Two ordinary TVs on the same aerial work OK. Previously I had no problems receiving any of the freeview channels.
Any idea if something has changed in the signal format? I'm wondering if my TV card isn't compatible in some way.
KA7 4QJ
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noel's: mapN's Freeview map terrainN's terrain plot wavesN's frequency data N's Freeview Detailed Coverage
noel: Yes, the format has changed from "2k" to "8k" mode. I can't say I have known a DVB-T adaptor that does not support 8k mode.
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david b: That does seem very strange indeed. Can you check the Single frequency interference | ukfree.tv - independent free digital TV advice page?
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david b
4:56 PM
4:56 PM
Brian, have looked at single and multiple freq' problems, I have nothing "in line",DVD is on sep't input, no other device in use. my tv has a booster which is off. if the DSO signal has been constant, then i am also confused? i stay in a 4 in a block,(council)don't know ariel set-up, or the set-up of others in the block? i will keep eye on times HD present? bit sad if all i can do is watch it through the night, as was getting 1080p on BBC,far superior pic... unless there is any other advice? thank you brian, david
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J
jb385:28 PM
David / Briantist: if I could just add another aspect to be considered in cases where Darvel is being used for reception in the Glasgow area rather than Blackhill, that being, it should always be keep in mind that signals received from Darvel could be suffering from interference from the massive Whitelee wind farm at Eaglesham Moor, this having caused widespread problems for people in parts of Glasgow, Clarkston, East Kilbride, Newton Mearns etc even before it was expanded, with Scottish Power having paid out for satellite receivers etc in a multitude of the homes affected.
Needless to say the interference being of a totally random fashion in intensity, this being dependant on rotational speeds of the turbine blades.
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K
KMJ,Derby5:36 PM
David: If the signal from Darvel is weak using a group A receiving aerial rather than a tri-boom would give improved signal pick-up. Use a good quality 18 element group A yagi, or for a class 1 aerial a Blake DMX10A or Triax Unix52A. You are correct when you say that the masthead amp would require removing or replacing if you wanted to receive Black Hill signals.The Digital UK postcode checker predicts good reception from Black Hill at your location both now and after switchover, however whilst based on the general terrain along the signal path it does not take into account tall buildings, trees or other local obstructions.Inserting your house number into the D.UK.postcode checker would give a more accurate prediction.
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N
noel6:18 PM
Thanks Brian :) My TV card uses a configuration file to do a channels scan. I changed all the 2k transmission modes to 8k so the new file is as follows:
T 481833000 8MHz 3/4 NONE QAM16 8k 1/32 NONE
T 505833000 8MHz 2/3 NONE QAM64 8k 1/32 NONE
T 561833000 8MHz 2/3 NONE QAM64 8k 1/32 NONE
T 529833000 8MHz 3/4 NONE QAM16 8k 1/32 NONE
T 546167000 8MHz 3/4 NONE QAM16 8k 1/32 NONE
T 578000000 8MHz 3/4 NONE QAM16 8k 1/32 NONE
I immediately found all the BBC channels, but no others. If you can point me somewhere where I can find the rest of the technical info I need to create a proper post-switchover Darvel config that would be fantastic.
Noel
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noel: It is all listed at the top of the page.
All multiplexes are MHz 2/3 64QAM 8k 1/32 now, with the exception of the HD multiplex BBCB, which is 256QAM 2/3 32k, but you will need a DVB-T2 device to receive that.
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noel8:04 PM
Thanks again. In case anyone else is in the same boat, here's the final working config file. Note that I found PSB/BBCA on 481833000 not 482000000. The rest is the same as the info at the top of this page.
# UK, Darvel post switchover tuning info
# PSB1/BBCA
T 481833000 8MHz 2/3 NONE QAM64 8k 1/32 NONE
# PSB2/D3+4
T 506000000 8MHz 2/3 NONE QAM64 8k 1/32 NONE
# PSB3/BBCB (HD channels require dvb-t2 tuner)
T 530000000 8MHz 2/3 NONE QAM64 8k 1/32 NONE
# COM4/SDN
T 490000000 8MHz 2/3 NONE QAM64 8k 1/32 NONE
# COM5/ArqA
T 514000000 8MHz 2/3 NONE QAM64 8k 1/32 NONE
# COM6/ArqB
T 538000000 8MHz 2/3 NONE QAM64 8k 1/32 NONE
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noel: Apologies, I had missed the "-" from the BBCA allocation, I have corrected the database.
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