Full Freeview on the Limavady (Northern Ireland) transmitter
 | Google Streetview |  | Google map |  | Bing map |  | Google Earth |  | 55.108,-6.887 or 55°6'30"N 6°53'14"W |  | BT49 9LJ |
The symbol shows the location of the Limavady (Northern Ireland) transmitter which serves 45,000 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 Limavady (Northern Ireland) mast?
Limavady transmitter - Limavady transmitter: Possible effect on TV reception week commencing 18/11/2024 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 Limavady (Northern Ireland) 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 Limavady 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 Limavady (Northern Ireland) 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 Limavady transmitter?
BBC Newsline 0.6m homes 2.5%
from Belfast BT2 8HQ, 1,051km northeast (51°)
to BBC Northern Ireland region - 46 masts.
Are there any self-help relays?
| Elliotts Hill | Transposer | 13 km SE Ballymena, Co. Antrim | 90 homes (according to B9 Energy) |
How will the Limavady (Northern Ireland) transmission frequencies change over time?
| 1984-97 | 1997-98 | 1998-2012 | 2012-13 | 4 Sep 2019 | |||||
| C/D E | C/D E | C/D E | C/D E T | B E K T | |||||
| C40 | SDN | ||||||||
| C41 | BBCA | ||||||||
| C43 | ArqA | ||||||||
| C44 | D3+4 | ||||||||
| C46 | ArqB | ||||||||
| C47 | BBCB | ||||||||
| C48 | _local | _local | |||||||
| C49tv_off | ArqB | ||||||||
| C50tv_off | BBCA | ||||||||
| C54tv_off | SDN | ||||||||
| C55tv_off | BBC1waves | BBC1waves | BBC1waves | BBCB | |||||
| C58tv_off | ArqA | ||||||||
| C59tv_off | ITVwaves | ITVwaves | ITVwaves | D3+4 | |||||
| C62 | BBC2waves | BBC2waves | BBC2waves | ||||||
| C65 | C4waves | C4waves | C4waves |
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 10 Oct 12 and 24 Oct 12.
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 1*, Mux 2*, Mux A*, Mux B*, Mux C*, Mux D* | (-21dB) 800W |
Local transmitter maps
Limavady Freeview Limavady DAB Limavady AM/FM Limavady TV region BBC Northern Ireland UTVWhich companies have run the Channel 3 services in the Limavady transmitter area
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Wednesday, 2 December 2020
Hi Chris,
My apologies for taking so long to reply .. life with young kids keeps one very busy!!
I have noticed that the reception with my newer aerial is very much weather-dependent. The better the weather the better the reception. Tonight the weather is not great (a lot of rain) .. and for the first time, I'm seeing even BBC1 showing some pixellation and signal strength only 50 - 60% (instead of 72%).
I'll probably need to contact my local TV aerial person back to have another look. I now wish I kept the older (ch21 - 68) aerial, which never exhibited this problem...
Thanks for all the info on nearby transmitters!
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Friday, 4 December 2020
C
Chris.SE4:46 AM
Francis Byrne:
No problem, quite understand, there's other things that one needs to do! Although there had been some tropo around again which eventually cleared by Wednesday evening, it does sound rather like it's an issue with rain getting into the aerial connections or the coax somewhere. It may just be aerial position of course and a slight tweak could change things - it can just have effects on one channel, but if it varies with rain, I'm more doubtful that it'll be (just) position.
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Sunday, 13 December 2020
Thanks, Chris. Hmm, I wonder if it is rain leaking in somewhere then! I'll have to check with my aerial guy. This evening after all the rain earlier, I am only getting the BBC mux, and SaorView. I'm not even getting Channel 4 or UTV (ITV)! (BBC is at 60%). I know that some coax cable had been changed from the mast head amplifier to the aerial, so that could be the culprit. My wife also told me that all channels break up when I use the paper shredder but I can't blame the rain on that one :-)
I'll let you know what comes out of it all when I get a hold of the aerial man.
Thanks!
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C
Chris.SE10:02 PM
Francis Byrne:
OK, look forward to hearing.
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Tuesday, 5 October 2021
F
Francis Byrne10:04 PM
I don't know what works were done in Limavady over the past several weeks but I had been hoping that the reception would improve afterwards. Now .. I can only get the BBC mux without breakup. Even the Channel4 mux is unwatchable, despite it being the "same" signal strength. All other muxes are breakup up to the point of being unwatchable... Looks like either the signal was shielded more and more or the signal had neen turned down post-works...
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S
StevensOnln110:09 PM
Francis Byrne: According to the post above yours, there is still transmitter work taking place this week. I would fully expect the signal to be restored to the same level as normal once the works have been completed, but it looks like they haven't finished yet.
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Friday, 15 October 2021
F
Francis Byrne4:07 PM
Hi Steven,
Thanks for your reply. Yes, the reception did improve at the weekend but last night, Channel 4 was unwatchable again. I didn't see any further work mentioned in the mast, so am fearing the worst on what tuning has been done on the signal... I just had my aerial tested in August by a local TV aerial man, so I guess I might just have to rely on the nearer Freeview lite transmitter at some point soon.
What really gets me is that the signal used to be perfect back pre switchover - the 800w of power was enough for here .. but the boosted 10kW (COM) and 20kW (PSB) are hard to tune in. Pop (channel) and those on that mux have only occasionally been strong enough over the last 2 years or so.
Thanks again for your reply - the ukfree.tv website is a regular visit for me!
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Saturday, 16 October 2021
C
Chris.SE1:46 AM
Francis Byrne:
There was some quite variable "Tropospheric Ducting" around over the previous couple of days which could well have been responsible for some disruption to reception. That should have now cleared and your reception should hopefully be back to normal.
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Wednesday, 27 October 2021
F
Francis Byrne6:09 PM
Hi Chris,
Thanks for your reply. Do you know if there are any weather conditions that might be affecting reception at the moment? Even BBC is breaking up for me today .. and it's the only mux even partially coming in.
Thanks and regards
..Francis
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Thursday, 28 October 2021
C
Chris.SE2:17 AM
Francis Byrne:
Hi Francis.
Some predictions were showing the possibility of some weak ducting, but one showing possible unstable air masses earlier in the evening when heavy and/or scattered rain can disrupt signal paths with rapid variations in signal strength, it can be more pronounced at night and also ahead of warm fronts. A warm front was forecast with the rain that's moving through but the front should now have passed.
Whilst I know you are in a marginal reception area, I'm slightly surprised that things are so variable and, for example, using your paper shredder causes the signals to break-up!
I'm trying to think of anything that's not been mentioned as well as the best way of trying to eliminate any other possibilities however unlikely they might be.
Let's check the obvious silly first, at any point when you've retuned, have you checked you're still tuned to Limavady's UHF channels and not inadvertently picked up a weaker signal from another transmitter. They are ( as I'm sure you know) C41,C44,C47,C40,C43,C46 in the order PSBs1-3, COMs4-6.
I know one thing i don't see mentioned anytime previously, especially as you've mentioned a Freesat box, do you have anything connected with HDMI cables? HDMI has been know to cause interference in some cases and the leads should be kept well away from any aerial or flyleads especially if those aren't high quality double screened coax.
Do you still have a DAB aerial diplexed into your aerial lead? If so where is the diplexer, is it out on the roof or is it internal (eg.loft) or anywhere you could easily disconnect the DAB aerial to see what effect (if any) it has on your Freeview signal strength and errors.
You mentioned about the possibility of maybe having to rely on a nearer Freeview Light transmitter. Which one would that be, would it be Strabane by any chance? Albeit a very low power relay (400W) it supposedly has some coverage into your area, it's also vertical polarisation not horizontal as Limavady. It's also on Planned Engineering this week!! The only reason I mention it is that aerials can be funny things, they have reception side lobes and are capable of receiving different polarisation in some situations. If it is Strabane you could out of curiosity (without moving your aerial of course) try a manual tune for it's PSBs1-3 on UHF C32, C34, C35. If nothing, try again next week if it's no longer on Planned Engineering, just to see.
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