Freeview Light on the Darwen (Blackburn with Darwen, England) transmitter
 | Google map |  | Bing map |  | Google Earth |  | 53.696,-2.444 or 53°41'47"N 2°26'37"W |  | BB3 3SE |
The symbol shows the location of the Darwen (Blackburn with Darwen, England) transmitter which serves 15,000 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 Darwen (Blackburn with Darwen, England) transmitter._______
Digital television services are broadcast on a multiplexes (or Mux) where many stations occupy a single broadcast frequency, as shown below.
H/V: aerial position (horizontal or vertical)
The Darwen (Blackburn with Darwen, England) mast is a public service broadcasting (PSB) transmitter, it does not provide these commercial (COM) channels: U&Yesterday, 4seven, 5Action, 5STAR, 5USA, Al Jazeera Eng, Al Jazeera English, Blaze, Blaze +1, Challenge, Channel 5 +1, DMAX, E4 Extra, YAAAS!, Film4 +1, Food Network, FRANCE 24 (in English), GREAT! action, GREAT! christmas, GREAT! movies, GREAT! romance mix, HGTV, HobbyMaker, ITV2 +1, ITV3 +1, ITV4 +1, ITVBe +1, Legend, PBS America, Quest +1, Quest Red, Really, Sky Mix, Sky News, Talking Pictures TV, That's 90s, That's TV 2, Together TV, TRUE CRIME, TRUE CRIME XTRA, U&Dave, U&Dave ja vu, U&Drama +1, U&W.
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 Darwen 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 | V max | C45 (666.0MHz) | 312m | DTG- | 100W |
 1 BBC One (SD) North West, 2 BBC Two England, 9 BBC Four, 23 BBC Three, 201 CBBC, 202 CBeebies, 231 BBC News, 232 BBC Parliament, plus 17 others | |||||
| PSB2 D3+4 | V max | C39+ (618.2MHz) | 312m | DTG- | 100W |
 3 ITV 1 (SD) (Granada), 4 Channel 4 (SD) North ads, 5 Channel 5, 6 ITV 2, 10 ITV3, 13 E4, 14 Film4, 15 Channel 4 +1 North ads, 18 More4, 26 ITV4, 28 ITVBe, 30 E4 +1, 35 ITV1 +1 (Granada), 71 That’s 60s, | |||||
| PSB3 BBCB | V max | C42 (642.0MHz) | 312m | DTG- | 100W |
 46 5SELECT, 101 BBC One HD North West, 102 BBC Two HD England, 103 ITV 1 HD (ITV Granada), 104 Channel 4 HD North ads, 105 Channel 5 HD, 106 BBC Four HD, 107 BBC Three HD, 204 CBBC HD, 205 CBeebies HD, plus 1 others | |||||
Are you trying to watch these 44 Freeview channels?
The Darwen (Blackburn with Darwen, England) mast is a public service broadcasting (PSB) transmitter, it does not provide these commercial (COM) channels: U&Yesterday, 4seven, 5Action, 5STAR, 5USA, Al Jazeera Eng, Al Jazeera English, Blaze, Blaze +1, Challenge, Channel 5 +1, DMAX, E4 Extra, YAAAS!, Film4 +1, Food Network, FRANCE 24 (in English), GREAT! action, GREAT! christmas, GREAT! movies, GREAT! romance mix, HGTV, HobbyMaker, ITV2 +1, ITV3 +1, ITV4 +1, ITVBe +1, Legend, PBS America, Quest +1, Quest Red, Really, Sky Mix, Sky News, Talking Pictures TV, That's 90s, That's TV 2, Together TV, TRUE CRIME, TRUE CRIME XTRA, U&Dave, U&Dave ja vu, U&Drama +1, U&W.
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 Darwen transmitter?
BBC North West Tonight 3.1m homes 11.8%
from Salford M50 2QH, 27km south-southeast (159°)
to BBC North West region - 92 masts.
ITV Granada Reports 3.1m homes 11.6%
from Salford M50 2EQ, 27km south-southeast (159°)
to ITV Granada region - 80 masts.
How will the Darwen (Blackburn with Darwen, England) transmission frequencies change over time?
| 1984-97 | 1997-98 | 1998-2009 | 2009-13 | 31 Mar 2018- | |||||
| B E T | B E T | B E T | B E T | B E K T | |||||
| C39 | BBC1waves | BBC1waves | BBC1waves | D3+4 | |||||
| C42 | C4waves | C4waves | C4waves | BBCB | BBCB | ||||
| C45 | BBC2waves | BBC2waves | BBC2waves | BBCA | BBCA | ||||
| C49tv_off | ITVwaves | ITVwaves | ITVwaves | +D3+4 |
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 4 Nov 09 and 2 Dec 09.
How do the old analogue and currrent digital signal levels compare?
| Analogue 1-4 | 500W | |
| BBCA, D3+4, BBCB | (-7dB) 100W |
Local transmitter maps
Darwen Freeview Darwen DAB Darwen AM/FM Winter Hill TV region BBC North West GranadaWhich companies have run the Channel 3 services in the Winter Hill transmitter area
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Is the transmitter output the same in all directions?
Radiation patterns withheldWednesday, 11 July 2012
P
paul marsh7:01 PM
Darwen
We are in Darwen BB3 1NR - we only pick up the lite darwen transmitter. Can we get he full service or are the hills in our way ;)
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paul's: mapP's Freeview map terrainP's terrain plot wavesP's frequency data P's Freeview Detailed Coverage
paul marsh: I think that it's not very likely that you will be able to receive from Winter Hill even though it is only 5.5 miles away.
Have a look around and see if anyone has a horizontally polarised aerial on Winter Hill. This (if there are any) might be a clue as to whether it might be possible. If there aren't any, then it might be because no one else has tried or it might be because it isn't possible.
Other than that, Freesat is probably your best option for additional free-to-air channels. There are some differences in the offerings of Freesat and full Freeview (ITV3 IS on Freesat):
Compare TV | ukfree.tv - 10 years of independent, free digital TV advice
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Monday, 8 April 2013
S
shaun6:45 PM
Bolton
My internal freeview HD tuner in my TV has lost all signal, yet my two set top boxes (not HD) are fine. I got a signal back on the HD tuner for a few hours the other day but it soon disappeared again. The aerial is on the roof.
Shaun
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shaun's: mapS's Freeview map terrainS's terrain plot wavesS's frequency data S's Freeview Detailed Coverage
J
jb388:53 PM
shaun: As the Mendip transmitter is located at just under 5 miles away from you then your problem "might" be caused by an excessively high level of signal being received, this always affecting HD before SD and with in many instances the latter showing no signs of any problems.
Should you have any type of booster fitted then for a test either remove or bypass it.
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S
shaun10:02 PM
Bolton
Jb38
Thanks for your answer but isn't the mendip transmitter in the southwest? I'm near the winter hill transmitter group in north west England. There is some work going on at the moment at the Darwen transmitter (part of the winter hill group) but would that explain my HD TV receiver not picking up any channels (not just the HD ones) whilst my other set top boxes are fine. I tried removing the booster I have but then none of the receivers worked! Bizarre.
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shaun's: mapS's Freeview map terrainS's terrain plot wavesS's frequency data S's Freeview Detailed Coverage
J
jb3811:46 PM
shaun: Yes, sorry about that as I had meant to say Winter Hill, everything else said still applies though.
I also realise that work is going on at the Darwen transmitter located @ 4 miles away, but this station is not indicated on the reception predictor as coming into the equation as far as reception at your particular location is concerned hence the reason why I did not mention it.
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Wednesday, 11 September 2013
A
Alan Smith3:50 PM
Darwen
I live in Darwen ( BB3 2QA) and feel short-changed with my freeview reception - do you know if there are any plans for Darwen residents to be able to receive the full compliment of freeview channels.
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Alan's: mapA's Freeview map terrainA's terrain plot wavesA's frequency data A's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Alan Smith: No, there are never likely to be more channels broadcast from Darwen transmitter, and over 1,000 other Public Service-only transmitting stations. See here for an explanation:
Londonderry (Northern Ireland) Freeview Light transmitter | ukfree.tv - 11 years of independent, free digital TV advice
Judging by the Digital UK predictor you are not in a position to receive directly from Winter Hill, and therefore pick up the full complement of channels.
Recently Film4 became available from Public Service (PSB) relays, but this was because capacity became available on an existing multiplex, so there isn't likely to be any more new services.
The only advice I can offer is to look at free-to-air satellite such as Freesat.
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Monday, 10 February 2014
A
Anthony Grime11:17 AM
Hi, I have recently installed a 52 Element Wideband Aerial to hopefully receive broadcasts from Winter Hill as opposed to the Darwen transmitter due to a muh more comprehensive channel line-up.
I receive some channels now from Winter Hill, but not the rest? I am receiving Al Jazeera English HD, which isnt really of any use to me, was hoping to receive the channels on the same lineup as Dave.
Any suggestions anyone?
Thankyou in advance.
Anthony (SD6895521703)
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Anthony Grime: Try manually scanning each UHF channel - it is worth looking at the different equipment you have to see which is most useful here. Some have no manual tuning at all and some do but give little information.
If you enter/select the channel but do not press the button to scan/add services and instead wait and see if it gives you an indication as to strength/quality, as in doing so receivers operate as basic signal meters, something which wouldn't be the case having scanned.
See the full list of Freeview services:
Digital UK Industry - Channel listings
There are six main multiplexes plus the new quasi-national COM7 HD mux that you are receiving (as you have Al Jazeera HD). Each is a single signal, so focus on one service from each. For example, for PSB1 look at BBC One, all other BBC standard definition services are also on PSB1 so there is no need to look at them:
PSB1 - BBC One - C50
PSB2 - ITV - C59
PSB3 - BBC One HD - C54
COM4 - (10)ITV3 - C58
COM5 - (11)Pick - C49
COM6 - (18)4Music - C55
COM7 - (107) BBC News HD - C31
Ensure that you aren't tuned to the Darwen relay (for PSB channels) on 45, 39 and 42 respectively. This information is usually given on the signal strength screen.
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