Full Freeview on the Mendip (Somerset, England) transmitter
 | Google Streetview |  | Google map |  | Bing map |  | Google Earth |  | 51.237,-2.626 or 51°14'12"N 2°37'33"W |  | BA5 3LB |
The symbol shows the location of the Mendip (Somerset, England) transmitter which serves 720,000 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 Mendip (Somerset, England) mast?
Mendip transmitter - Mendip transmitter: Possible effect on TV reception week commencing 11/12/2023 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
DTG-12 QSPK 8K 3/4 8.0Mb/s DVB-T MPEG2
H/V: aerial position (horizontal or vertical)
Which Freeview channels does the Mendip 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
DTG-12 QSPK 8K 3/4 8.0Mb/s DVB-T MPEG2
H/V: aerial position (horizontal or vertical)
Which BBC and ITV regional news can I watch from the Mendip transmitter?
ITV West Country News (East) 0.9m homes 3.4%
from Bristol BS4 3HG, 23km north (11°)
to ITV West region - 61 masts.
All of lunch, weekend and 50% evening news is shared with West Country (West)
Are there any self-help relays?
| Cheddar | Transposer | 15 km E Weston-super-Mare | 1674 homes |
| Luccombe | Active deflector | 6 km w Minehead | 38 homes |
How will the Mendip (Somerset, England) transmission frequencies change over time?
| 1984-97 | 1997-98 | 1998-2010 | 2010-13 | 2013-18 | 2013-17 | 27 Feb 2018 | |||
| C/D E | E | E | C/D E | C/D E T | W T | W T | |||
| C30 | _local | ||||||||
| C32 | BBCA | ||||||||
| C33 | com7 | com7 | |||||||
| C34 | D3+4 | ||||||||
| C35 | com8 | com8 | |||||||
| C36 | ArqB | ||||||||
| C37 | C5waves | C5waves | |||||||
| C48 | SDN | SDN | SDN | SDN | |||||
| C49tv_off | BBCA | BBCA | |||||||
| C51tv_off | LBS | LBS | |||||||
| C52tv_off | ArqB | ArqB | ArqB | ||||||
| C54tv_off | C4waves | C4waves | C4waves | D3+4 | D3+4 | D3+4 | |||
| C55tv_off | com7tv_off | ||||||||
| C56tv_off | ArqA | ArqA | ArqA | COM8tv_off | |||||
| C58tv_off | BBC1waves | BBC1waves | BBC1waves | BBCB | BBCB | BBCB | |||
| C61 | ITVwaves | ITVwaves | ITVwaves | BBCA | |||||
| C64 | BBC2waves | BBC2waves | BBC2waves |
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 24 Mar 10 and 7 Apr 10.
How do the old analogue and currrent digital signal levels compare?
| Analogue 1-4 | 500kW | |
| Analogue 5 | (-6dB) 126kW | |
| SDN, ARQA, ARQB, BBCA, D3+4, BBCB | (-7dB) 100kW | |
| com7 | (-8.4dB) 72.4kW | |
| com8 | (-8.6dB) 69.1kW | |
| Mux 1*, Mux 2*, Mux A*, Mux B*, Mux C*, Mux D*, LBS | (-17dB) 10kW |
Which companies have run the Channel 3 services in the Mendip transmitter area
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Thursday, 1 December 2022
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Chris.SE4:18 PM
John Balchin:
The transmitter isn't currently listed for Planned Engineering, nor has it been recently and there don't appear to be any faults listed. As far as I can tell it's operating normally.
As you haven't given a full postcode, I can't check your normal predicted reception which may be marginal in your location under adverse weather conditions, also depending on aerial location.
Your problems with reception are most likely due to current weather conditions causing some "Tropospheric Ducting" resulting in Interference coming from distant transmitters (in Europe or the UK) which is currently affecting some parts of the south and southwest.
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Friday, 2 December 2022
i continue to get very variable reception at WR5 2HZ no 10. It is in the green area for Mendip.
Is there a good reason why COM7 ARQB and SDN are so unreliable. They appear to be broadcast at the same power as BBC and D3+4 which are fine. The aerial is mounted on the lefthand side of house at a height which I believe is the optimum to avoid the trees in the direction of the aerial. Thank you
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Paul's: mapP's Freeview map terrainP's terrain plot wavesP's frequency data P's Freeview Detailed Coverage
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StevensOnln111:43 PM
Paul Jennings: COM7 closed at the end of June, perhaps you mean COM5/ArqA? You're 109km away from Mendip and your postcode is predicted to get better reception of the COM4/5/6 multiplexes and similar reception of the PSB1/2/3 muxes from Malvern (only 11km away approximately to the south-west of you) so it may be worth considering having your aerial turned towards Malvern and rotated from horizontal to vertical polarity, or perhaps fit a new wideband type which will perform better on the lower frequencies used for COM4/5 if you're currently using an older grouped aerial (Mendip was historically Group C/D which only covered the higher frequencies of the UHF band).
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Saturday, 3 December 2022
C
Chris.SE1:14 AM
Worcester
Paul Jennings:
Hi, the reason is you are living in the wrong house, move next door to no:11, ah, but then BBCA and D3&4 could become less reliable,or down the road to no:1 where you might get good reception of all multiplexes from Malvern!!
OK, I jest somewhat, however predicted reception across your postcode is VERY variable. Being more serious , you are rather a long way from Mendip - 109km but nevertheless the Freeview & BBC predictors suggests good reception of a variety of multiplexes but which ones depends on where you are in the postcode and that even for your most likely transmitter Malvern (also the closest).
I started compiling this reply a while ago and got interrupted. I see StevensOnln1 has made some suggestions.
It's obvious you live in a very awkward spot. The question we don't know the answer two is are you using Mendip because you want the West Region, whereas Malvern is Central, but with hills and trees you might not get reliable reception. The reason it can be so variable is not just the very local obstructions and terrain, but the path to the transmitter of interest as well as paths to other transmitters that might give interfering signals.
A knowledgeable (must know your specific area!) local aerial installer should know what might be achieved, an aerial even in a different location on your house could give different reception! Using street=view, I see someone down the end of your road seems to be getting their signals from Waltham on a very tall mast!
Looking at the Freeview predictor, Malvern, Mendip and Waltham are the only potentially serious contenders for likely reliable reception.
I would not however use a wideband aerial. I would choose a high-gain Group K Log-periodic. There are now a few manufacturers doing Grouped Log-periodics. Group A and Group K are both available, but you need Group K (for whichever of those main transmitters is going to give you the best reception).
If you are finding things too variable, you might consider Freesat. A lot of modern TVs have a satellite tuner built-in so you'd only need a dish and LNB.
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Chris.SE's: mapC's Freeview map terrainC's terrain plot wavesC's frequency data C's Freeview Detailed Coverage
S
StevensOnln111:11 AM
Chris.SE: Isn't a Group K log periodic the same as a wideband log periodic but with some of the elements removed?
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C
Chris.SE2:56 PM
StevensOnln1:
Not as I understand it from the performance curves and manufacturers statements that I've seen. Quite a few still have the same number of elements. There's a definite cut-off above C48 690MHz as the design has been "tuned". How exactly they do that I don't know as I'm no expert in aerial design but it's the claimed performance that's important.
As you know Log-periodics have the advantage of a flat (+/-) performance over the frequency range so will do a bit better at the lower frequencies is you have the gain. Whereas a traditional (yagi) wideband, & even grouped, see a fall-off in gain at the lower frequencies.
There's been a significant increase in Log-periods appearing in many places (and certainly round here) especially in the lead up to the COM7 closure and since. They also have the advantage of less side lobes.
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B
bruce tearle3:24 PM
Had set reorder for snooker on channel 12. got screen msg saying retune necessary, did this and found Quest was on 790. did a full return on recorder to get thing right only to find 790 gave a blank screen which 12 was showing r snooker.
What the heck is happening
regards Bruce
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S
StevensOnln15:45 PM
bruce tearle: Quest moved from COM4 to COM6 recently. The old version which was temporarily moved to 790 to give viewers time to retune now appears to have been removed.
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C
Chris.SE5:45 PM
bruce tearle:
There was a change with some "minor" channels on the 23rd November. What Freeview didn't mention was that Quest moved from SDN/COM4 to ArqB/COM6. Only those that did a full retune discovered that after finding nothing or a retune message at LCN12.
The 790 LCN is the old COM4 version which will disappear at a future date.
The lists on this site have yet to be updated by the site owner.
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Wednesday, 18 January 2023
A
alan paterson2:13 PM
last 48 hours lost all channels except channel 32, carried out all retune methods as usual, still only have channel 32 , transmitter is Mendips in somerset approx 40km away, have your mobile mast filter fitted, all equipment is in good order.
Any ideas ?
Thank you.
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