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Freeview Light on the Lochwinnoch (Renfrewshire, Scotland) transmitter

first published this on - UK Free TV
sa_gmapsGoogle mapsa_bingBing mapsa_gearthGoogle Earthsa_gps55.788,-4.654 or 55°47'18"N 4°39'14"Wsa_postcodePA12 4DW

 

The symbol shows the location of the Lochwinnoch (Renfrewshire, Scotland) transmitter which serves 5,400 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 Lochwinnoch (Renfrewshire, Scotland) 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 Lochwinnoch 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)149mDTG-17W
Channel icons
1 BBC One (SD) Scotland, 2 BBC Two Scotland, 7 BBC Alba HD, 23 BBC Three, 24 BBC Four (Scotland SD), 201 CBBC, 202 CBeebies, 231 BBC News, 232 BBC Parliament, plus 13 others

PSB2
D3+4
 H max
C36 (594.0MHz)149mDTG-17W
Channel icons
3 STV (SD) (STV Central (Glasgow micro region)), 4 Channel 4 (SD) Scotland ads, 5 Channel 5, 6 ITV 2, 10 ITV3, 13 E4, 14 Film4, 15 Channel 4 +1 Scotland ads, 18 More4, 26 ITV4, 28 ITVBe, 30 E4 +1, 35 ITV1 +1 (STV Edinburgh), 35 STV+1 (STV Edinburgh), 71 That’s 60s,

PSB3
BBCB
 H max
C48 (690.0MHz)149mDTG-17W
Channel icons
46 5SELECT, 101 BBC One HD Scotland, 102 BBC Two HD Scotland, 103 ITV 1 HD (STV West), 103 STV HD (STV West), 104 Channel 4 HD Scotland ads, 105 Channel 5 HD, 106 BBC Four HD, 108 BBC Scotland HD, 204 CBBC HD, 205 CBeebies HD, plus 1 others

H/V: aerial position (horizontal or vertical)

Are you trying to watch these 44 Freeview channels?

the effected channels
the effected channels
the effected channels
the effected channels

The Lochwinnoch (Renfrewshire, Scotland) 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 Lochwinnoch transmitter?

regional news image
BBC Reporting Scotland 2.4m homes 9.2%
from Glasgow G51 1DA, 24km east-northeast (73°)
to BBC Scotland region - 230 masts.
regional news image
STV News 1.3m homes 4.8%
from Glasgow G51 1PQ, 24km east-northeast (73°)
to STV Central (Glasgow) region - 94 masts.

How will the Lochwinnoch (Renfrewshire, Scotland) transmission frequencies change over time?

1984-971997-981998-20112011-135 Sep 2018
C/D EC/D EC/D EC/D E TK T
C33BBCA
C36D3+4
C48BBCB
C53tv_offC4wavesC4wavesC4wavesBBCB
C57tv_offBBC1wavesBBC1wavesBBC1wavesD3+4
C60tv_offITVwavesITVwavesITVwavesBBCA
C63BBC2wavesBBC2wavesBBC2waves

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 1-4 86W
BBCA, D3+4, BBCB(-7dB) 17W

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

Aug 1957-Jun 1997Scottish Television
Jun 1997-Dec 2014STV plc
Feb 1983-Dec 1992TV-am•
Jan 1993-Sep 2010GMTV•
Sep 2010-Dec 2014ITV Daybreak•
• Breakfast ◊ Weekends ♦ Friday night and weekends † Weekdays only. Lochwinnoch was not an original Channel 3 VHF 405-line mast: the historical information shown is the details of the company responsible for the transmitter when it began transmitting Channel 3.

Comments
Monday, 20 November 2017
K
Kenneth Johnson
11:08 AM
Lochwinnoch

MikeP:
Today at 11.00 the reception is good. On the affected channels today, signal strength is 75% and quality is 100%. I did not check these parameters yesterday, but the last time this happened (on 2 November) I found that signal strengths on BBC1 and 2 were around 70% but quality was 0 to 10% and varying a lot.

At no time were then HD channels affected, so we could watch TV but our PVR only receives standard definition signals, hence the failure to record on occasions. It appears as if it is channel 60 from the mast that is failing while the other two channels continue to operate.

link to this comment
Kenneth Johnson's 5 posts GB flag
Kenneth's: mapK's Freeview map terrainK's terrain plot wavesK's frequency data K's Freeview Detailed Coverage
MikeP
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

6:01 PM

Kenneth Johnson:

I wonder whether the mobile mast between your location and the transmitter may have some bearing? Channel 60 is rather close to the frequensies for mobil;e transmissions. Could you conatct @800 to check whether there is any potential conflict, they can be contacted at at800 | 4G & Freeview | 4G interference | 4G Filters | 800 MHz



link to this comment
MikeP's 3,056 posts GB flag
Tuesday, 21 November 2017
K
Kenneth Johnson
4:55 PM
Lochwinnoch

I have contacted at800.tv and they reply that there is no 4G mast currently in operation near here, so that is one solution ruled out apparently.

I have tried just now and the reception from multiplex 60 is good: strength 90 to 91% and quality 100%.
I will keep checking and report on the values if reception fails again.

One thing that concerns me is that this seems to be the only way of drawing attention to reception problems. If any other service fails (gas, electricity or water) there is an number to call to report it. Why is there no similar facility for TV, which although called "Freeview" can only be legally received if you have paid the TV licence. Surely Ofcom or TV Licencing should have a Freephone number for reporting failures, or is it left up to the broadcasters to somehow become aware that their transmissions are not getting to their target audience?

link to this comment
Kenneth Johnson's 5 posts GB flag
Kenneth's: mapK's Freeview map terrainK's terrain plot wavesK's frequency data K's Freeview Detailed Coverage
S
StevensOnln1
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

5:20 PM

Kenneth Johnson: Main transmitters are all monitored remotely so it's unlikely that a fault with the transmitter wouldn't be noticed by either the broadcaster or Arqiva (the company responsible for operating the transmitters). The PSB broadcasters (BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5 & S4C) all have viewer services departments (or similar) who would be able to pass on reports of a transmitter problem (i.e. if lots of people from one area called in reporting a problem it would be more likely to be a transmitter fault than if only one person calls in who could easily have a fault with their TV or aerial system). There is also the Radio & Television Investigation Service (see link below). Freeview is just a marketing brand used to promote the UK's Digital Terrestrial TV platform and doesn't have anything to do with broadcasting any channels or operating any transmitters.

Radio & Television Investigation Service - About Us

link to this comment
StevensOnln1's 3,671 posts GB flag
M
MikeB
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

6:27 PM

Kenneth Johnson: Looking at your problem, you've got an issue with possibly one mux. As Steve has pointed out, if the transmitter is working OK, they logically it must be you.

Try replacing the aerial lead from the wall to the TV - they are really cheap. Loads of people complain about a similar problem, and all too often, its simply a damaged lead, which is killing a particular frequency. Give it a go, and then see what happens.

link to this comment
MikeB's 2,579 posts GB flag
Friday, 24 November 2017
K
Kenneth Johnson
3:55 PM
Lochwinnoch

Thanks Steve and Mike. Knowing who is actually responsible for the masts (Arqiva) is useful.

I had the whole lead from roof to set renewed a few years ago when I was having problems receiving Darvel. The aerial contractor could not get all the channels from Darvel as my address is in a marginal area and two large trees in the line of sight do not help. Further up the hill the signal is fine. So we decided to go for the reduced number of services from Lochwinnoch. I have a spare connecting lead or two so I will try one the next time the signal quality goes off. That has not happened for a few days. I wonder if it is weather-dependent, but I would not have thought that tropospheric interference would affect reception over such a short distance (less than 2 miles.)

link to this comment
Kenneth Johnson's 5 posts GB flag
Kenneth's: mapK's Freeview map terrainK's terrain plot wavesK's frequency data K's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Wednesday, 30 May 2018
K
Ken Johnson
8:28 PM
Lochwinnoch

Once again (at 20.30 on May 30th) I have no standard definition signal at postcode PA12 4HG from the Lochwinnoch transmitter. I have tried all the channels listed for PSB1 and PSB2 multiplexes. On my Humax PVR all I get is either "no signal" or "channel scrambled or not available. On the TV, the pictures from the same channels are hopelessly broken or not visible at all. All of the HD channels are working well on the TV. the PVR does not receive them as it is a standard definition only box.

The weather conditions are high pressure and overcast with spots of rain occasionally. There is no lightning or thunder.

link to this comment
Ken Johnson's 3 posts GB flag
Ken's: mapK's Freeview map terrainK's terrain plot wavesK's frequency data K's Freeview Detailed Coverage
S
StevensOnln1
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

10:58 PM

Ken Johnson: There are no recent faults showing for the Lochwinnoch transmitter. Have you checked for any loose or damaged cables or connections behind your TV?

link to this comment
StevensOnln1's 3,671 posts GB flag
K
Ken Johnson
11:11 PM

Ken Johnson: I have checked connections. I have also looked at recordings from Tuesday night and they are unwatchable due to broken signal. As I said, the HD signals on PSB 3 seem to be fine. It is only on the multiplexes supplying the standard definition signals that there is a problem.

I have had similar problems before, several times, but only on PSB 1. This has meant that I could not record programs from BBC1 for example but STV programs at the same times recorded OK. On these occasions channels broadcast on PSB 2 were good.

This has been going on for a few years intermittently since I got an aerial contractor to try to improve reception from Darvel or Blackhill. He found that he could not get reception on all the channels we wanted from either mast. From Darvel, BBC1 was missing and from Blackhill it was BBC2. As a result, he opted to use the stronger signal from Lochwinnoch which at that time gave workable reception over the limited range of programs from that mast. In the process, the co-ax cable run from aerial to set was completely renewed.

link to this comment
Ken Johnson's 3 posts GB flag
Thursday, 31 May 2018
M
MikeB
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

7:44 AM

Ken Johnson: You are just 2.4km from the transmitter - you should get a decent picture from a bit of old wire! Check the signal strength - it's probably too high, not too low.

Btw - why not just use Freesat?

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MikeB's 2,579 posts GB flag
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