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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 25/03/2024 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
_______

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),

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 Drama, 21 5USA, 29 ITV2 +1, 32 5STAR, 33 5Action, 38 Channel 5 +1, 41 Legend, 42 GREAT! action, 57 Dave ja vu, 58 ITVBe +1, 59 ITV3 +1, 64 Blaze, 67 TRUE CRIME, 68 TRUE CRIME XTRA, 78 TCC, 81 Blaze +1, 83 Together TV, 89 ITV4 +1, 91 WildEarth, 209 Ketchup TV, 210 Ketchup Too, 211 YAAAS!, 267 Al Jazeera English, plus 30 others

COM5
ArqA
 H max
C33 (570.0MHz)591mDTG-8100,000W
Channel icons
11 Sky Mix, 17 Really, 19 Dave, 31 E4 Extra, 36 Sky Arts, 40 Quest Red, 43 Food Network, 47 Film4 +1, 48 Challenge, 49 4seven, 60 Drama +1, 65 That's TV 2, 70 Quest +1, 74 Yesterday +1, 75 That's 90s, 233 Sky News, plus 11 others

COM6
ArqB
 H max
C36 (594.0MHz)591mDTG-8100,000W
Channel icons
12 Quest, 25 W, 27 Yesterday, 34 GREAT! movies, 39 DMAX, 44 HGTV, 52 GREAT! romance, 56 That's TV (UK), 61 GREAT! movies extra, 63 GREAT! romance mix, 71 That’s 60s, 73 HobbyMaker, 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, 5 January 2013
R
Richard Hibberd
sentiment_satisfiedBronze

7:33 AM

Does anybody know the exact distance that will affect my freeview reception when 4G comes on line this year? I have an O2 mast on a small industrial estate roughly 60yds from my house.Actually, I am hoping that the company who has been given the job of sorting all this out will give me a freesat dish and I can then connect to my tv which has the tuner in it already. (Chippenham).

link to this comment
Richard Hibberd's 30 posts GB flag
Briantist
sentiment_very_satisfiedOwner

8:35 AM

Richard Hibberd: The "exact distance" is a function of

a) the EIRP power output of the 4G transmitter;

b) the ERP power output of your Freeview transmitter;

c) the frequencies used by the 4G mast;

d) the frequencies used by the Freeview transmitter and if these are certain numbers of channels away.

e) the angle between the Freeview transmitter and the 4G determined from your rooftop aerial's POV;

f) if a filter has been fitted.

g) which companies win the upcoming auction and which existing mobile phone sites they decide to use for the 800MHz band services.

link to this comment
Briantist's 38,915 posts GB flag
Briantist
sentiment_very_satisfiedOwner

9:10 AM

... and, of course, if you have any 4G 800MHz-band devices in your home...

link to this comment
Briantist's 38,915 posts GB flag
Dave Lindsay
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

9:13 AM

Richard Hibberd: Presumably, if a filter will work, then you will be supplied with (as I understand it) ONE filter.

link to this comment
Dave Lindsay's 5,724 posts GB flag
B
Bob F
3:32 PM
Stonehouse

Please can someone advise if one can receive Points West from Wenvo Transmitter?
I currently receive signal from Mendip to get Points West, but the predictions are that the reception will become poorer next year.

link to this comment
Bob F's 11 posts GB flag
Bob's: mapB's Freeview map terrainB's terrain plot wavesB's frequency data B's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Dave Lindsay
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

3:58 PM

Bob F: No because Wenvoe is in Wales and therefore broadcasts BBC Wales and ITV Wales!

I shouldn't be concerned about the change in the prediction. It is probably down to another transmitter becoming co-channel. Predictors should always be taken with a pinch of salt, and in any case, I assume that you are actually more interested in what happens in practice. What's more, October 2013 is a long way away!

link to this comment
Dave Lindsay's 5,724 posts GB flag
Monday, 7 January 2013
M
Matt
3:30 PM

My 1 year old Sony Bravia TV with Freeview HD built-in only finds 20 TV channels (BBC, some ITV, 4, 5 and HD channels) and most Radio stations - all with a strong signal. If I plug the same ariel into my old Freeview box I get absolutely every Freeview TV and Radio channel, all with a strong signal.

The TV software is up to date and apparently some neighbours have seen the same thing with their setup where some devices only see the main (i.e. old terrestrial/analog) channels where other devices find all the channels on the same ariel.

Has anyone come across this behaviour before? I'm in BA15, access the Mendip transmitter and the problem has existed for well over 12 months.

link to this comment
Matt's 2 posts GB flag
Dave Lindsay
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

5:14 PM

Matt: It is the case that there is now a two-tier terrestrial television transmitter network. About 98.5% of the population can receive terrestrial television with about 8.5% of those only receiving PSB channels.

Refer to this page for a list of Freeview services by multiplex (mux):

DTG :: DTT Services by Multiplex

Each mux is a single signal which occupies the same space as a single former analogue service.

The PSB network has been designed such that it will be available everywhere that the former four analogue channels were. The COM network fits but doesn't provide as good a coverage.

Refer to this page which the last graph shows the (then) 80 full-Freeview transmitters with projected figures for the number of homes that will receive PSB+COM and PSB-only. Whilst, undoubtedly, the figures are estimates, they nonetheless give a general indication that the COM signals are, to some degree, inferior to the PSBs.

The outcome you have could be as a result of this. Is it the COMs that are always iffy?

From what you describe, the PSBs are fine.

Try manually tuning the COMs but, having gone to the manual tune screen, enter/select the UHF channel number but don't press the button to scan straight away. See whether it gives any indication as to the strength and quality of the signal. Once you have the reading, then scan.

The COM channels from Mendip are:

- COM4 (ITV3) C48
- COM5 (Pick TV) C56
- COM6 (Film4) 52

link to this comment
Dave Lindsay's 5,724 posts GB flag
M
Matt
6:01 PM

Dave: Thanks for the reply, from a quick test it does seem to be the COMs so I'll try what you suggested.

link to this comment
Matt's 2 posts GB flag
Thursday, 10 January 2013
R
Russell
10:11 PM
Bridgwater

I've lost all signal within my house on both outside aerial and an indoor digital one my post code is TA6 4RB please help

link to this comment
Russell's 1 post GB flag
Russell's: mapR's Freeview map terrainR's terrain plot wavesR's frequency data R's Freeview Detailed Coverage
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