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Full Freeview on the Dover (Kent, England) transmitter

first published this on - UK Free TV
sa_streetviewGoogle Streetviewsa_gmapsGoogle mapsa_bingBing mapsa_gearthGoogle Earthsa_gps51.112,1.247 or 51°6'41"N 1°14'51"Esa_postcodeCT15 7AQ

 

The symbol shows the location of the Dover (Kent, England) transmitter which serves 190,000 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 Dover (Kent, England) transmitter.

Choose from three options: ■ List by multiplex ■ List by channel number ■ List by channel name
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Which Freeview channels does the Dover 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
C33 (570.0MHz)370mDTG-80,000W
Channel icons
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
C35 (586.0MHz)370mDTG-80,000W
Channel icons
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), 71 That’s 60s,

PSB3
BBCB
 H max
C36 (594.0MHz)370mDTG-80,000W
Channel icons
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

COM4
SDN
 H -3dB
C39 (618.0MHz)370mDTG-840,000W
Channel icons
20 U&Drama, 21 5USA, 29 ITV2 +1, 32 5STAR, 33 5Action, 38 Channel 5 +1, 41 Legend, 42 GREAT! action, 57 U&Dave ja vu, 58 ITV3 +1, 59 ITV4 +1, 64 Blaze, 67 TRUE CRIME, 68 TRUE CRIME XTRA, 81 Blaze +1, 83 Together TV, 91 WildEarth, 93 ITVBe +1, 209 Ketchup TV, 210 Ketchup Too, 211 YAAAS!, 251 Al Jazeera English, 255 FRANCE 24 (in English), 265 Rok Sky +1, plus 29 others

COM5
ArqA
 H -3dB
C42 (642.0MHz)370mDTG-840,000W
Channel icons
11 Sky Mix, 17 Really, 19 U&Dave, 31 E4 Extra, 36 Sky Arts, 40 Quest Red, 43 Food Network, 47 Film4 +1, 48 Challenge, 49 4seven, 60 U&Drama +1, 65 That's TV 2, 70 Quest +1, 74 &UYesterday +1, 76 That's TV 2 MCR, 233 Sky News, plus 13 others

COM6
ArqB
 H -3dB
C48 (690.0MHz)370mDTG-840,000W
Channel icons
12 Quest, 25 U&W, 27 U&Yesterday, 34 GREAT! movies, 39 DMAX, 44 HGTV, 52 GREAT! christmas, 56 That's TV (UK), 63 GREAT! romance mix, 73 HobbyMaker, 75 That's 90s, 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 Dover (Kent, England) 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 Dover transmitter?

regional news image
BBC South East Today 0.8m homes 3.2%
from Tunbridge Wells TN1 1QQ, 69km west (270°)
to BBC South East region - 45 masts.
regional news image
ITV Meridian News 0.7m homes 2.7%
from Maidstone ME14 5NZ, 52km west-northwest (289°)
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 Dover (Kent, England) transmission frequencies change over time?

1960-80s1984-971997-981998-20122012-1316 Oct 2019
VHFC/D EC/D EC/D EC/D E TW T
C10ITVwaves
C33BBCA
C35D3+4
C36BBCB
C39SDN
C42ArqA
C48ArqBArqB
C50tv_offBBC1wavesBBC1wavesBBC1wavesBBCA
C51tv_offD3+4
C53tv_offC4wavesC4wavesC4wavesBBCB
C55tv_offSDN
C56tv_offBBC2wavesBBC2wavesBBC2waves
C57tv_off_local_local
C59tv_offArqA
C66ITVwavesITVwavesITVwaves

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 100kW
BBCA, D3+4, BBCB(-1dB) 80kW
SDN, ARQA, ARQB(-4dB) 40kW
Mux 2*, Mux A*, Mux B*(-17dB) 2kW
Mux 1*, Mux C*(-20dB) 1000W
Mux D*(-23dB) 500W

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

Aug 1958-Jan 1992Southern Television
Jan 1982-Dec 1992Television South (TVS)
Jan 1993-Feb 2004Meridian
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.

Comments
Monday, 18 April 2011
S
Stuart
9:47 AM
Broadstairs

Having read through that page I think I now understand why I pick up mux 1 on ch 45. This is transmitted by Dover but should not according to the coverage map get anywhere near my location. The problem is that probably because of my location on the N side of Broadstairs at about 130 feet elevation I am high enough that ch 45 gives a better signal than ch 68 most of the time, and my IDTVs all select the strongest signal and will not allow me to save duplicate channels.

The problem is one of coverage, according to all the places I have checked this small part of Broadstairs should not get any Freeview until switchover next year, this is in my view grossly unfair, after all it is not an area of low population numbers. I feel that they should boost the power now in order to provide an adequate Freeview service to this area and not wait for switchover - its not good enough to rely on the chance reception.

All this said t still does not answer my original question about why the signal disappears completely and suddenly. As I said I can understand why the signal might degenerate but this is not what happens, it simply goes to nothing just as if someone switches it off.

link to this comment
Stuart's 7 posts GB flag
Stuart's: mapS's Freeview map terrainS's terrain plot wavesS's frequency data S's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Briantist
sentiment_very_satisfiedOwner

2:27 PM

Stuart: Digital signals do not deteriorate, they are on or off. See How digital television works | ukfree.tv - independent free digital TV advice .

link to this comment
Briantist's 38,915 posts GB flag
S
Stuart
2:56 PM
Broadstairs

My point is that the channel disappears completely, I fully understand how the digital signal is transmitted, my point is that the IDTV sees no signal at all on ch 45. In order to find a digital signal it first has to find a signal on ch45 and then tests the signal quality and gives bar graph readings for both. When this happens it cannot find anything on ch45 to test!

I know our local MP is getting involved to try and address the freeview issue locally which is unacceptable. We are completely without support because the powers that control this have decreed we do not have a service so anyone living in the central Broadstairs area cannot get anywhere complaining. This whole thing is just a mess and is being handled very badly.

link to this comment
Stuart's 7 posts GB flag
Stuart's: mapS's Freeview map terrainS's terrain plot wavesS's frequency data S's Freeview Detailed Coverage
M
Mike Dimmick
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

3:29 PM

Stuart: The low-power digital transmissions had to be squeezed in, however it could be done, but in a way that minimized interference to anyone else's analogue TV transmissions. Digital was considered an add-on service initially. The south coast was particularly difficult due to international co-ordination. It meant restricted radiation patterns, odd frequency selections, and limited power levels. Some transmitters had to have more than one set of aerials pointing in different directions, using different frequencies, and Dover is one of those.

The switch-over is more a switch-off - a switch off of the old analogue signals so that high-power digital signals can replace them. Even then, they are not designed to cover the whole country or even the whole population - the estimate for acceptable analogue reception was 98.5%. The public service broadcasters have to match that level for digital service, the commercial multiplex operators don't.

The predictor currently shows no prediction for Mux 1, 2 and A. After switchover it shows a relatively low probability of getting reliable results, indicating variable reception.

I'd look into Freesat.

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Mike Dimmick's 2,486 posts GB flag
B
brian
sentiment_satisfiedBronze

5:00 PM

Stuart D45 is interfered with by high power French digital from Dunkirk. Any hot or settled weather and you are in trouble. Nothing can be done till power up next year , sorry !

link to this comment
brian's 32 posts GB flag
Friday, 6 May 2011
Nick Lloyd
10:21 AM
Margate

OK, OK I know all about the inversion effect etc. but the reception in Broadstairs/Pam Bay Area has now got silly on freeview (or in my case NOview) just done a rescan and found 36 Channels as far as I can tell all DUTCH! I know our local MP is meant to be helping but it has now got silly, completely beyond belief, what do we pay our TV licence for, can we get a refund for the days we have no coverage! Can we push for the "Go Live" date to be brought forward, I think not but if the powers that be DO look at this Blog/Site can they think of, as a temporary measure at least, putting a digital relay on the Margate mast and letting us have at least the main Channels (BBC, ITV, CH4 (and 4 offshoots) and Five with 5* and 5USA as there are more OFF days that working days now!

link to this comment
Nick Lloyd's 1 post GB flag
Nick's: mapN's Freeview map terrainN's terrain plot wavesN's frequency data N's Freeview Detailed Coverage
S
Stuart
1:12 PM
Broadstairs

Nick I have no answer for you save to suggest you bend the ear of our local MPs to see if we can get something done to improve it. It is unacceptable to say as Malcolm has done that even after switchover we are unlikely to see significantly improved reception. The analogue service here has been good and in my view the digital one should be made to be the same. Why on earth should I have to invest in one of those ugly satellite dishes just because the powers that be cant get it right.

link to this comment
Stuart's 7 posts GB flag
Stuart's: mapS's Freeview map terrainS's terrain plot wavesS's frequency data S's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Briantist
sentiment_very_satisfiedOwner

4:44 PM

Stuart: Please don't waste your MPs time. The Dover transmitter will have a full power digital service in 2012, as part of the digital switchover. Your MP can do nothing to change this.

link to this comment
Briantist's 38,915 posts GB flag
M
Mike Dimmick
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

6:02 PM

Nick Lloyd, Stuart: Fundamentally, you're out of coverage and as far as the broadcasters are concerned, always have been. You will be covered by the Margate relay after switchover.

The terrain blocks clear line-of-sight to the Dover transmitter and always has done - this is why the Margate transmitter exists at all. You're relying on fringe reception which is more likely to be affected by the ongoing switchover programme.

Until switchover, digital takes a major back seat to analogue performance. Some changes to interference levels were inevitable as the switchover programme proceeds, both here and abroad.

The broadcasters are only trying to match the predicted digital coverage to predicted analogue coverage. If the analogue coverage was below the threshold, they are not required to provide a digital service from that transmitter at that location. The commercial muxes are not even required to match that level of coverage.

Margate is fed off-air from Dover for analogue signals and cannot currently transmit digital services, because they just don't reach from Dover to Margate, at least not reliably enough to rebroadcast. Feeding relay transmitters from a leased digital communications line is much more expensive and only done where off-air relay is not possible. It's also very unlikely that there are any spare frequencies that could be used for any interim service.

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Mike Dimmick's 2,486 posts GB flag
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