Freeview Light on the Margate (Kent, England) transmitter
 | Google map |  | Bing map |  | Google Earth |  | 51.380,1.404 or 51°22'49"N 1°24'16"E |  | CT9 3RG |
The symbol shows the location of the Margate (Kent, England) transmitter which serves 9,400 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 Margate (Kent, 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 Margate (Kent, 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 Margate 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 | C33 (570.0MHz) | 86m | DTG- | 200W |
 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 | V max | C51 (714.0MHz) | 86m | DTG- | 200W |
 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 | V max | C53 (730.0MHz) | 86m | DTG- | 200W |
 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 | |||||
Are you trying to watch these 44 Freeview channels?
The Margate (Kent, 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 Margate transmitter?
BBC South East Today 0.8m homes 3.2%
from Tunbridge Wells TN1 1QQ, 84km west-southwest (249°)
to BBC South East region - 45 masts.
ITV Meridian News 0.7m homes 2.7%
from Maidstone ME14 5NZ, 61km west-southwest (258°)
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 Margate (Kent, England) transmission frequencies change over time?
| 1984-97 | 1997-98 | 1998-2012 | 2012-13 | 16 Oct 2019 | |||||
| A K T | A K T | A K T | B C/D E T | W T | |||||
| C22 | BBC1waves | BBC1waves | BBC1waves | ||||||
| C25 | ITVwaves | ITVwaves | ITVwaves | ||||||
| C28 | BBC2waves | BBC2waves | BBC2waves | ||||||
| C32 | C4waves | C4waves | C4waves | ||||||
| C33 | BBCA | ||||||||
| C39 | SDN | ||||||||
| C42 | ArqA | ||||||||
| C48 | ArqB | ||||||||
| C50tv_off | BBCA | ||||||||
| C51tv_off | D3+4 | D3+4 | |||||||
| C53tv_off | BBCB | BBCB |
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?
| BBCA, D3+4, BBCB | 200W | |
| Analogue 1-4 | (-10dB) 20W |
Which companies have run the Channel 3 services in the Dover transmitter area
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Thursday, 16 August 2012
There are have been a few new PSB relay transmitters which were installed at switchover. Also, many transmitters post-switchover broadcast at a power that (theoretically) provides equivalent coverage to the former analogue. In order to cover the same area, digital transmitters are less powerful than the former analogue ones.
Margate is one of those which is radiating at a higher power, and considerably so. Before switchover, the analogue was transmitted at 20W and an equivalent digital signal would be at 4W. (This is to cover the same area.) However, the digital signals are now being broadcast at 200W.
mb21 says that the broadcast antennas are (or were) directional ones pointing roughly west:
mb21 - The Transmission Gallery
I'm not familiar with the area, but the Dover coverage map on this site shows a gap in the green "served" area which is to the west of the A254, around Tivoli Park. This would appear to be in the direction that the transmitting aerials are pointing. Therefore, I suggest that the Margate transmitter was installed originally to serve this pocket that would appear to have particular difficulty in receiving from Dover.
I wonder, why higher power signals after switchover? I wonder if this has been done in conjunction with a replacement antenna system that serves more than just the west. Have they (the ones shown on mb21) been changed for switchover?
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Saturday, 10 August 2013
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Col Stjj9:14 PM
Margate
Transmitter engineering: CT9 3XE, External aerial on roof.
We have a freeview box which 2 days ago lost all the HD channels, i have tried the resets and re tuning and no difference is seen, i can receive all other channels with no problem, any help appreciated
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Col's: mapC's Freeview map terrainC's terrain plot wavesC's frequency data C's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Sunday, 11 August 2013
J
jb3812:02 AM
Col Stjj: Although factors external to your installation (e.g: cross channel interference) could be responsible for your problem, but by being located at under 1 mile away from the Margate 200 watts transmitter which uses the same PSB mux channel numbers as Dovers 80Kw HD transmitter then your problem "might" possibly be caused by an excessively high signal level being received on the HD channel C53, HD being more sensitive to this sort of thing and will cut out even although SD is seemingly working OK.
You should try removing the aerial and temporarily connecting a short piece of wire (about 6 feet) into the aerial socket followed by going into your TV or boxes tuning menu / manual tune and entering C53, but do "NOT" press search or scan as on most devices as soon as C53 is entered the signal strength its being received at will be indicated.
However, when taking into consideration the fact that the transmitters in question have being experiencing problems this week, then before touching anything it would be rather prudent to make a local enquiry to determine if others are also experiencing the problem.
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Col Stjj11:25 AM
Margate
jb38: Many thanks for you reply, i have asked my immediate neighbours if they have been experiencing problems but unfortunately they are either with sky or on normal free view. Do you know if the local transmitter problem could be causing this loss of signal. I have noted that the signal strength is indicating approx 60% and signal quality is at 100%, the you view box we have is a HUAWEI DN370T.
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Col's: mapC's Freeview map terrainC's terrain plot wavesC's frequency data C's Freeview Detailed Coverage
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jb384:03 PM
Col Stjj: Yes, that's one of the snags frequently experienced by many when attempting to carry out a reception check with a neighbour, as nine times out of ten they are usually unable to oblige because of such as you have mentioned.
As far as transmitter faults are concerned, nothing is seen indicated on the RT investigation site nor is any engineering work taking place on either the Margate or Dover transmitters, albeit of course that there is always a slight time lag in the reporting of any fault, that said, considering the fact that you lost HD reception two days ago then its very unlikely that your problem is connected with the transmission side of the equation but more one with your box, and especially now that its known you are using a Huawei brand device, this brand having a known about (by manufacturers) defect and which (to my belief anyway) has not as yet been resolved.
This being the case, I would normally have advised that you carry out a "factory reset" on the box, but though I believe is something that you have already carried out ? although it would not do any harm to repeat the action albeit that on this brand of device it deletes everything previously recorded, another short sighted aspect concerning the design of the Huawei box as a manufacturers reset on practically ever other brand of device does NOT delete programmes already stored.
By the way, the signal strength and quality indication (the latter the important one!) you report on mux Ch53 is on the face of it anyway perfectly OK and which I presume is being received from the Dover transmitter @ 20 miles / 198 degrees? the aerial being mounted horizontally, whereas with Margate the elements would be mounted vertically and pointing straight up and down.
Although I fully realise that you have already attempted to check HD reception with one of your immediate neighbours but though I feel that the only way of pinpointing the exact cause of your problem is by checking further afield, as it doesn't really matter if someone reports iffy reception on HD as you are only really interested if they can receive it at all.
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Tuesday, 13 August 2013
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Annoyed3:46 PM
I live on the coast of Margate on the outskirts of palm bay.
For the past few weeks i have been loosing channels due to poor reception.
The channels i lost on the skybox i was able to veiw on my tv's built in freeview. (Not really acceptable service nor is it convenient but a work around at least)
During this period, the Tv freeview channels also started to cock-up!
This 'plague' has spread across all of the channels now, and for the past three days i have been without signal via both sky and freeview. The signal just continuously dropped until there was none at all.
So now i am without tv and i am pissed.
I live in a high spec apartment at the top of a listed building which was converted a few years back now and i happen to know that the wiring is sound and of good quality.
The connections are also sound as is my equipment.
The dish however is precariously positioned at the highest point of the building, mounted on the chimney and is subjected to strong coastal winds which may cause the dish to fall out of alignment.
However, if you could see the construction which holds it in place you would certainly question if that were at all possible even in the event of a hurricane, so i doubt this is the cause of the problem.
One other thing i am not keen on is the fact that the dish is below my roof level pointing directly through the mezzanine, but for years this has been its position and until now has worked fine so who am i to question the decision of an experienced engineer?
I am currently awaiting an engineers visit to hopefully solve the problem.
It would probably be worth mentioning that the dish was replaced just months ago when this problem arose for the first time!
same problem occurred and due to the condition of the large metal dish, it was replaced.
This seemed to be the solution as full service was resumed, alas here we are again.
I will not accept that my equipment is at fault here and despite what i have stated with regards to the dish and its position i do believe there is something else awry.
I will report back with the findings from the engineers visit
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col stjj6:47 PM
Margate
jb38, many thanks for your previous help, well here is my latest installment to my saga,my aerial is as you say aligned towards the Dover transmitter, i have just taken my 32 inch Samsung TV to one of my neighbours to see if it would tune in and receive the signal for the HD channels but my TV could not receive them but all other channels are ok, i guess this rules out the aerial being faulty !Both of my TV`s are run off the same aerial via a multi-room booster which i have checked and seems ok. One TV is less than a year old with HD Freeview and the other TV is HD via the HUAWEI you view box. I`m at a loss as to pinpoint the source of the problem, i`m no expert but is seems that the signal for HD has disappeared but there are no problems reported on the transmitters? Aaaargh
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col's: mapC's Freeview map terrainC's terrain plot wavesC's frequency data C's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Monday, 19 August 2013
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Dave G4:24 PM
Margate
Judging by the number of comments on here, there is a big problem with mux BBC B in the cliftonville area of Margate. I too lost my HD channels altogether (No Signal at all) and so far nobody has come up with any explanations. All other muxes are fine at about 90% signal and excellent quality. Where would we get someone to look into this problem as it has been going on for about 2 weeks now. It was previously perfect reception.
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Dave's: mapD's Freeview map terrainD's terrain plot wavesD's frequency data D's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Tuesday, 20 August 2013
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col stjj9:56 AM
Margate
Dave G:
Hi Dave, it seems this problem is affecting more people by the day, i have had no solution as yet! i have also reported this fault with R + T Investigation but as yet they have not come back to me with any updates! so pretty much we are still left without HD channels and nobody knows why........
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col's: mapC's Freeview map terrainC's terrain plot wavesC's frequency data C's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Wednesday, 21 August 2013
J
jb3812:37 AM
col stjj: With regards to your HD reception problem, in your August 11th @ 11.25am posting you reported the signal strength being indicated on the Huawei box as 60% and with a 100% quality, could you confirm that this was with reference to that obtained from Ch53?
If though it was, then the aspect that puzzles me is the reason for the screen being blank "unless" being caused by a fault within the box, because in practically all cases where a reception problem is being caused by a transmission fault, or indeed as a result of co-channel interference and something which cannot be completely discounted in your area, then the signal "quality" is always affected as witnessed by erratic quality indications being seen, i.e: constantly diving downwards, something which if the query I made in the first paragraph is confirmed is something which in your case has not been happening.
As far as the problem being widespread is concerned, apart from Dave G and yourself I cant say I have noticed anyone else complaining of an HD problem, albeit of course the that the HD transmitter was recently broadcasting programmes intended for another region, that being more of programme feed to the transmitter problem rather than an actual RF signal issue.
Another point that I would like if you could clarify is concerning your other Samsung TV, insomuch were you previously able to receive HD on it before the problem struck the YouView box? it would also be of assistance if the model number of this device was known.
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