Freeview Light on the Machen Upper (Caerphilly, Wales) transmitter
 | Google map |  | Bing map |  | Google Earth |  | 51.601,-3.141 or 51°36'2"N 3°8'26"W |  | CF83 8RQ |
The symbol shows the location of the Machen Upper (Caerphilly, Wales) transmitter which serves less than 500 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 Machen Upper (Caerphilly, Wales) 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 Machen Upper (Caerphilly, Wales) 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 Machen Upper 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 | C40 (626.0MHz) | 179m | DTG- | 7W |
 1 BBC One (SD) Wales, 2 BBC Two Wales, 9 BBC Four, 23 BBC Three, 201 CBBC, 202 CBeebies, 231 BBC News, 232 BBC Parliament, plus 14 others | |||||
| PSB2 D3+4 | V max | C43 (650.0MHz) | 179m | DTG- | 7W |
 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 (Wales), 71 That’s 60s, | |||||
| PSB3 BBCB | V max | C46 (674.0MHz) | 179m | DTG- | 7W |
 46 5SELECT, 101 BBC One HD Wales, 102 BBC Two HD Wales, 104 Channel 4 HD South ads, 105 Channel 5 HD, 106 BBC Four HD, 110 Channel 4 HD (Wales), 204 CBBC HD, 205 CBeebies HD, plus 1 others | |||||
Are you trying to watch these 44 Freeview channels?
The Machen Upper (Caerphilly, Wales) 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 Machen Upper transmitter?
BBC Wales Today 1.2m homes 4.7%
from Cardiff CF5 2YQ, 13km south-southwest (209°)
to BBC Wales region - 206 masts.
ITV Cymru Wales 1.2m homes 4.7%
from Cardiff CF5 6XJ, 18km south-southwest (212°)
to ITV Wales region - 206 masts.
How will the Machen Upper (Caerphilly, Wales) transmission frequencies change over time?
| 1984-97 | 1997-98 | 1998-2010 | 2010-13 | 2013-18 | 2013-17 | 15 May 2019 | |||
| C/D E | C/D E | C/D E | C/D E | C/D E T | C/D E T | B E K T | |||
| C40 | BBCA | ||||||||
| C43 | D3+4 | ||||||||
| C46 | BBCB | ||||||||
| C50tv_off | BBCA | BBCA | |||||||
| C55tv_off | BBC1waves | BBC1waves | BBC1waves | D3+4 | D3+4 | D3+4 | |||
| C59tv_off | BBCB | BBCB | BBCB | ||||||
| C62 | ITVwaves | ITVwaves | ITVwaves | BBCA | |||||
| C65 | BBC2waves | BBC2waves | BBC2waves | ||||||
| C68 | 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 3 Mar 10 and 31 Mar 10.
How do the old analogue and currrent digital signal levels compare?
| Analogue 1-4 | 36W | |
| BBCA, D3+4, BBCB | (-7dB) 7.2W |
Which companies have run the Channel 3 services in the Wenvoe transmitter area
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Wednesday, 12 January 2011
M
Mr J Hooper10:06 PM
Caerphilly
Hi I live in mornington meadows in caerphilly and can see your mast from the house I currently have BT Vision and we purchased a digital ariel (not a cheap one) and can only get 18 channels plus 13 radio ones is there any plans to increase the amount of channels you are going to broadcast in the next month or so because if not I am going to see about going back to sky.Please could you let me now. Thank you
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Mr's: mapM's Freeview map terrainM's terrain plot wavesM's frequency data M's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Thursday, 13 January 2011
Mr J Hooper: There are no plans. Quite the opposite, the commercial operators do not regard this transmitter as an economic prospect and declined the offer of frequencies some years ago.
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Friday, 24 June 2011
M
mr roberts8:39 AM
Caerphilly
hi I live in pen yr heol, caerphilly postcode cf83 2jj, up until a few weeks ago I had perfect signal on my freeview and over a hundred channels including the radio channels. I have a freeview tele and an ariel on the eves of my roof, I have a direct view of wenalt mast and am on a hill with open valley between my house and the wenalt mast (it may be the wenove mast I can not remember which name) there is nothing in between us except for a telephone pole at the end of my garden which supplies my house and my neighbours, the mast is around 6 km from my house. In the past week I,ve lost all channels, I have retuned the tv several times and tried other tv's, I then used a booster and am now getting just a few channels that come and go, I have checked and there is not a problem with the mast, I have gone up to the ariel and ensured it is pointing direct at the mast and checked all fitting on the ariel but still am having problems. The ariel is a digital ariel fitted approx 1 year ago. How do I find out what is wrong with my signal?
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mr's: ...
Tuesday, 28 June 2011
mr roberts:
Check that the center wire at both ends of the cable has not broken or touching the outer screened cable.
If your cable goes thru the eves, check that squirrels etc have not damaged it.
Check that the connection from the cable into the aerial is not rusty.
Check that the aerial will not move. Also try using another TV to workout if it's your aerial or TV.
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Mark's: mapM's Freeview map terrainM's terrain plot wavesM's frequency data M's Freeview Detailed Coverage
K
KMJ,Derby8:05 PM
mr roberts: I am wondering which mast you have pointed your aerial towards. The Wenalt mast is an FM/DAB radio transmitter site and is situated North of Cardiff. Wenvoe however is the TV transmitter site, which according to the Digital UK postcode checker offers good reception at your location on all six muxes. It is 15 km away on a bearing of 191 degrees,receiving aerials need to be set for horizontal polarisation. To the West you also have the Abertridwr relay which offers good reception on the PSB muxes only. This transmitter uses vertical polarisation. A third option is Mendip, situated 58km SE of your location it currently offers good reception on the PSB muxes, then from 28th March 2012, on all six muxes.
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Monday, 31 December 2012
J
joe1:36 PM
my mum lives in bedwas and is pointed at the machen mast, she recently spent a lot of money to get bt vision so she can watch itv4s coverage of cycling, but upon tuning it in we found we could only receive the same 10 channels as on our freeview box. how can we get to see the channels that the rest of the country take for granted, and why are people not informed about this before they are allowed to spend lots of money on equipment, as we were never told we would not be able to receive all the signals.
when the old frequencies went we were told that all would b able to get all channel, why is this not the case.
thanks
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joe: As you have found out, the BT Vision box does not work by magic; it cannot receive signals that aren't there!
ITV4 is available free-to-air via Freeview on one of the Commercial (COM) multiplexes. These do not have as great a coverage as the Public Service Broadcaster (PSB) ones.
The rest of the country do not have these channels via the terrestrial network as Machen is but one of 1,000 plus small relays that don't carry them.
Anyone who said that everyone would be able to get all channels was patently incorrect.
The reason that there is a two-tier terrestrial television transmitter network is because the COM networks are operated purely for profit whereas the PSBs are there to provide a public service.
For an explanation, see:
Londonderry transmitter | ukfree.tv - 10 years of independent, free digital TV advice
The politicians did not ensure that, by law, Commercial licence-holders would have to provide the same level of coverage as PSB services. They were allowed to pick and choose.
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joe: If your mother lives in an area where reception of all the full service isn't possible (from a full-service transmitter), then Freesat would provide additional free-to-air channels, including ITV4.
Alternatively, ITV4 is streamed online at www.itv.com/itv4 . Flat-screen TVs can often be connected to computers. A computer connected to the broadband connection would allow internet browsing on the TV. I'm not familiar with other alternatives out there; I know that you can browse the net on a PS3, so I assume that you might well be able to watch streamed content such as ITV4 by visiting its website.
Obviously you need a broadband service that you aren't going to go over its download quota limit (with frequent streaming likely to contribute heavily to the amount of data you are downloading).
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