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Full Freeview on the Mendip (Somerset, England) transmitter

first published this on - UK Free TV
sa_streetviewGoogle Streetviewsa_gmapsGoogle mapsa_bingBing mapsa_gearthGoogle Earthsa_gps51.237,-2.626 or 51°14'12"N 2°37'33"Wsa_postcodeBA5 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 04/11/2024 Pixelation or flickering on some or all channels Digital tick


Choose from three options: ■ List by multiplex ■ List by channel number ■ List by channel name
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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.

MuxH/VFrequencyHeightModeWatts
PSB1
BBCA
 H max
C32 (562.0MHz)591mDTG-100,000W
Channel icons
1 BBC One (SD) West, 2 BBC Two England, 9 BBC Four, 23 BBC Three, 201 CBBC, 202 CBeebies, 231 BBC News, 232 BBC Parliament, plus 17 others

PSB2
D3+4
 H max
C34 (578.0MHz)591mDTG-100,000W
Channel icons
3 ITV 1 (SD) (West), 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 (West), 71 That’s 60s,

PSB3
BBCB
 H max
C35 (586.0MHz)591mDTG-100,000W
Channel icons
46 5SELECT, 101 BBC One HD West, 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

COM4
SDN
 H max
C48 (690.0MHz)591mDTG-8100,000W
Channel icons
20 U&Drama, 21 5USA, 29 ITV2 +1, 32 5STAR, 33 5Action, 38 Channel 5 +1, 41 Legend, 42 GREAT! action, 57 U&Dave ja vu, 58 ITV3 +1, 59 ITV4 +1, 64 Blaze, 67 TRUE CRIME, 68 TRUE CRIME XTRA, 81 Blaze +1, 83 Together TV, 91 WildEarth, 93 ITVBe +1, 209 Ketchup TV, 210 Ketchup Too, 211 YAAAS!, 251 Al Jazeera English, 255 FRANCE 24 (in English), 265 Rok Sky +1, plus 29 others

COM5
ArqA
 H max
C33 (570.0MHz)591mDTG-8100,000W
Channel icons
11 Sky Mix, 17 Really, 19 U&Dave, 31 E4 Extra, 36 Sky Arts, 40 Quest Red, 43 Food Network, 47 Film4 +1, 48 Challenge, 49 4seven, 60 U&Drama +1, 65 That's TV 2, 70 Quest +1, 74 &UYesterday +1, 76 That's TV 2 MCR, 233 Sky News, plus 13 others

COM6
ArqB
 H max
C36 (594.0MHz)591mDTG-8100,000W
Channel icons
12 Quest, 25 U&W, 27 U&Yesterday, 34 GREAT! movies, 39 DMAX, 44 HGTV, 52 GREAT! christmas, 56 That's TV (UK), 63 GREAT! romance mix, 73 HobbyMaker, 75 That's 90s, 82 Talking Pictures TV, 84 PBS America, 235 Al Jazeera Eng, plus 18 others

LBS
 H -10dB
C30 (546.0MHz)591mDTG-1210,000W
Channel icons
from 22nd September 2014: 7 Made in Bristol,

DTG-8 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?

regional news image
BBC Points West 0.9m homes 3.4%
from Bristol BS8 2LR, 25km north (3°)
to BBC West region - 60 masts.
regional news image
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?

CheddarTransposer15 km E Weston-super-Mare1674 homes
LuccombeActive deflector6 km w Minehead38 homes

How will the Mendip (Somerset, England) transmission frequencies change over time?

1984-971997-981998-20102010-132013-182013-1727 Feb 2018
C/D EEEC/D EC/D E TW TW T
C30_local
C32BBCA
C33com7com7
C34D3+4
C35com8com8
C36ArqB
C37C5wavesC5waves
C48SDNSDNSDNSDN
C49tv_off BBCABBCA
C51tv_offLBSLBS
C52tv_offArqBArqBArqB
C54tv_offC4wavesC4wavesC4wavesD3+4D3+4D3+4
C55tv_offcom7tv_off
C56tv_offArqAArqAArqACOM8tv_off
C58tv_offBBC1wavesBBC1wavesBBC1wavesBBCBBBCBBBCB
C61ITVwavesITVwavesITVwavesBBCA
C64BBC2wavesBBC2wavesBBC2waves

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

Jan 1958-Jul 1968Television Wales and the West
Jul 1968-Feb 2004Harlech Television
Feb 2004-Dec 2014ITV plc
Feb 1983-Dec 1992TV-am•
Jan 1993-Sep 2010GMTV•
Sep 2010-Dec 2014ITV Daybreak•
• Breakfast ◊ Weekends ♦ Friday night and weekends † Weekdays only. Mendip 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
Saturday, 7 July 2012
J
Jim
11:57 AM

From Mendip I can receive:
Channel4 +1
Channel5 +1
ITV +1
ITV2 +1
E4 +1
Dave ja vu

However I cannot receive the following:
More4 +1
Yesterday +1
ITV3 +1
ITV4 +1
Film4 +1

Is my Freeview tuner faulty or what?

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Jim's 1 post GB flag
J
jb38
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

1:00 PM

Jim: According to the list I am looking at these are not Freeview channels.

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jb38's 7,179 posts GB flag
C
Charles Stuart
sentiment_satisfiedSilver

1:00 PM

@Jim - No, your tuner isn't faulty. You need Freesat for those channels that you can't get. They're not on Freeview.

@jb38 - I have considered atmospheric conditions but yesterday was about as nasty as it gets with very low pressure. The 26th was a bit better but not much, perhaps a bit like today. If anything, I think the roof aerial may be pointing just a fraction south of the south-west direction it's meant to point. The DVD player gives the easiest to understand signal measure. BBCA, D3+4, SDN and ArqA score 10/10 and ArqB scores 9/10, so there shouldn't be any problem. The machine has worked interference-free with scores of 7/10 and with occasional pixelation with scores of 6/10 and 5/10. The HD box measures BBCB at 99% for signal quality and 100% for signal strength. ArqB is on 56. Could the problem be a signal that's too strong? Or maybe I needn't worry about it any more as I'm now getting the multiplex. (51.4634,-2.5264) 

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Charles Stuart's 159 posts GB flag
C
Chris.SE
sentiment_satisfiedSilver

1:27 PM
Bristol

Charles Stuart: You should have absolutely no problem with reception in your location. I'm not sure what you managed to enter for your postcode, but when it managed to interpret something it put you near Ridgeway Rd. which you aren't. In the Site Setting box on the top RH corner of this page you should find a clickable [CLEAR] next to whatever you put in. You should enter your postcode in the following way BS15 1AZ as an example, that's letters BS figures 15 then space then figure 1 then letters AZ.
If you are using a standard keyboard and using the number pad on the right, make sure you have the Num Lock on.

The aerial should be pointing slightly south of SW so that sounds correct.
You loft aerial installation should be fine if you've not previously experience any problems since April.
When you say the roof aerial is minute, how many element does it seem to have?

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Chris.SE's 251 posts GB flag
Chris.SE's: mapC's Freeview map terrainC's terrain plot wavesC's frequency data C's Freeview Detailed Coverage
J
jb38
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

2:41 PM

Charles Stuart: As far as your HD signal being too strong is concerned and which "will" always affect HD before SD with the latter in many cases appearing as perfectly OK, but in practically all situations where an excessively high signal genuinely exists this can easily be verified by trying a set top aerial, or alternately if not readily to hand then a short piece of wire (about 18" or so) connected into the aerial socket will suffice, as in both cases a picture of sorts will always be seen.

All of Mendip's multiplexes transmit on the same power and the levels you see indicated on your DVD device does indeed indicate a strong signal, which of course is possible as although your exact location is not known I did see on the terrain predictor that you are indicated at roughly 16 miles or so from the transmitter.

The only thing that I suggest you do is to verify what one of you two aerials gives the best reception by trying a test using the same device on both aerials, but remember though that the signal levels seen are dedicated to the sensitivity of the device being used for the test, and so the results obtained aren't really valid unless the same device is used on both aerials.

However as you were originally only querying why the signal would not pass through your box which was rectified by switching off the power saving on standby setting, then I will agree that you have nothing really to worry about.

By the way as far as post codes are concerned I fully understand why people are reluctant to give this info, but I generally always qualify this type of request by adding "or at least one from nearby such as a shop" as that is quite suffice, but in any query being made where it involves reception then for obvious reasons the persons location has to be known.



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jb38's 7,179 posts GB flag
C
Chris.SE
sentiment_satisfiedSilver

4:02 PM

Charles Stuart: Another thought I've had is that since you have moved from Kettering, if any of your equipment has RF outputs, you may well need to re-tune them to other channels as the ones you have, or may be some wierd combination depending on what is switched on may cause interference with reception of the Mendip channels.
Depending on what you have I'd suggest trying channels above 62.

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Chris.SE's 251 posts GB flag
C
Chris.SE
sentiment_satisfiedSilver

4:10 PM

@jb38
knowing the location, the postcode I provided in my post at 1.27pm is a nearby one. Also considering the "description" of his external aerial (sounds like a 10 element yagi) it is highly improbable that he has too much signal.

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Chris.SE's 251 posts GB flag
C
Charles Stuart
sentiment_satisfiedSilver

4:45 PM

The RF signal doesn't seem to be a problem, though I have changed the output on the bedroom TV's box (an Icecrypt) to channel 30.

This site seems to change my post code into coordinates. It is BS15 1EF and the house has a nice clear view towards the transmitter. I think that the aerial has fewer than ten elements. My guess is five or six. (51.4634,-2.5264) 

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Charles Stuart's 159 posts GB flag
B
Ben Ward
sentiment_satisfiedBronze

6:02 PM

jb38, I am posting part way through my latest attempts to sort myself out :-)

I reset my Panasonic back to factory condition etc. as you suggest above. It didn't help sadly. I have noticed that when I do an auto setup or rescan for channels, the system defaults to 'Channel 21' - isn't it meant to be 'Channel 61' for this part of the world?? How do I change it as it seems stuck?

I will tackle the next part of your suggestions this coming week, powering down the 4 way aerial splitter.

nb Sorry if I wasn't clear before, I don't have a second rooftop aerial, all F.V. boxes are and have been supplied from 1 signalfrom our only aerial with a splitter in the attic. One of those signals is further split in 2 for the downstairs (main) TV, to the Humax and (when it was working) to a Sony VTX-D800U.

Regards.

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Ben Ward's 28 posts GB flag
C
Chris.SE
sentiment_satisfiedSilver

6:29 PM
Bristol

How odd with the postcode, I've put your postcode into my details for this post, so you'll be able to click on the links on the RHS of the post for your information.
As far RF outputs go, the lowest channels possible or above 62 should be ok. If you use above 62 you might have to adjust them in the future when that part of the band gets used for Mobile stuff.
Where C is the channel used for RF you can sometimes get interference on the following C+1, C+5, C+9. But as mentioned earlier, if you have several, sometimes there can be weird coss-modulation products as well, so there may be an element of trial & error.

Have a look on the Aerial link that jb38 gave and see if you can identify yours from there. If it's one of the most common, there are pictures about 2/3 down the page where aerial polarisations are shown or further down - contract aerials. I suppose it might even be a 5-bay X-beam if the directors look like X's.

If all your multiplexes are OK now, you may as well forget the previous problem, the multiplex could have been off-air for a short while and it wasn't reported or you may have had a brief spot of local interference. It's unlikely to be cable degradation as the HD mux on Ch.58 and the BBCA mux on Ch.61 (both higher frequencies)seem ok and higher frequencies are usually affected first.

Hope that helps.


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Chris.SE's 251 posts GB flag
Chris.SE's: mapC's Freeview map terrainC's terrain plot wavesC's frequency data C's Freeview Detailed Coverage
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Please post a question, answer or commentIf you have Freeview reception problems before posting a question your must first do this Freeview reset procedure then see: Freeview reception has changed, Single frequency interference, and Freeview intermittent interference.

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