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Full Freeview on the Oxford (Oxfordshire, England) transmitter

first published this on - UK Free TV
sa_streetviewGoogle Streetviewsa_gmapsGoogle mapsa_bingBing mapsa_gearthGoogle Earthsa_gps51.790,-1.179 or 51°47'25"N 1°10'46"Wsa_postcodeOX3 9SS

 

The symbol shows the location of the Oxford (Oxfordshire, England) transmitter which serves 410,000 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.

This transmitter has no current reported problems

The BBC and Digital UK report there are no faults or engineering work on the Oxford (Oxfordshire, England) transmitter.

Choose from three options: ■ List by multiplex ■ List by channel number ■ List by channel name
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Which Freeview channels does the Oxford 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
C41+ (634.2MHz)295mDTG-100,000W
Channel icons
1 BBC One (SD) South (Oxford), 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
C44- (657.8MHz)295mDTG-100,000W
Channel icons
3 ITV 1 (SD) (Meridian/Central (Thames Valley 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 (Central west), 71 That’s 60s,

PSB3
BBCB
 H max
C47 (682.0MHz)295mDTG-100,000W
Channel icons
46 5SELECT, 101 BBC One HD South (Oxford), 102 BBC Two HD England, 103 ITV 1 HD (ITV Central West), 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 -3dB
C29 (538.0MHz)295mDTG-850,000W
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 -3dB
C37- (601.8MHz)319mDTG-850,000W
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 -3dB
C31 (554.0MHz)319mDTG-850,000W
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

LOX
 H -10dB
C46 (674.0MHz)295mDTG-1210,000W
Channel icons
from 22nd December 2014: 7 That's Oxford,

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 Oxford transmitter?

regional news image
BBC South (Oxford) Today 0.4m homes 1.6%
from Oxford OX2 7DW, 6km west-southwest (258°)
to BBC South (Oxford) region - 6 masts.
BBC South (Oxford) Today shares 50% content with Southampton service
regional news image
ITV Meridian News 0.9m homes 3.4%
from Whiteley PO15 7AD, 102km south (182°)
to ITV Meridian/Central (Thames Valley) region - 15 masts.
Thames Valley opt-out from Meridian (South). All of lunch, weekend and 50% evening news is shared with all of Meridian+Oxford

How will the Oxford (Oxfordshire, England) transmission frequencies change over time?

1950s-80s1984-971997-981998-20112011-132013-182013-1723 May 2018
VHFC/D EC/D EC/D EC/D EC/D E TW TW T
C2BBCtvwaves
C29SDN
C31com7com7
C37com8com8
C41BBCA
C44D3+4
C46_local
C47BBCB
C49tv_offC5wavesC5waves
C50tv_off SDNSDN
C51tv_offLOXLOX
C53tv_offC4wavesC4wavesC4waves+BBCA+BBCA+BBCA
C55tv_offArqBArqBArqBcom7tv_off
C56tv_offCOM8tv_off
C57tv_offBBC1wavesBBC1wavesBBC1wavesBBCBBBCBBBCB
C59tv_off-ArqA-ArqA-ArqA
C60tv_offITVwavesITVwavesITVwaves-D3+4-D3+4-D3+4
C62SDN
C63BBC2wavesBBC2wavesBBC2waves

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 14 Sep 11 and 28 Sep 11.

How do the old analogue and currrent digital signal levels compare?

Analogue 1-4 500kW
BBCA, D3+4, BBCB(-7dB) 100kW
SDN, ARQA, ARQB(-10dB) 50kW
Analogue 5(-11dB) 40kW
com8(-14.7dB) 17.1kW
com7(-14.8dB) 16.4kW
Mux 1*, Mux 2*, LOX(-17dB) 10kW
Mux C*, Mux D*(-18dB) 8kW
Mux A*, Mux B*(-19.2dB) 6kW

Which companies have run the Channel 3 services in the Oxford transmitter area

Feb 1956-Jul 1968Associated TeleVision†
Feb 1956-Jul 1968Associated British Corporation◊
Jul 1968-Dec 1981Associated TeleVision
Jan 1982-Dec 2006Central Independent Television
Dec 2006-Feb 2009ITV Thames Valley
Feb 2009-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. Oxford 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
Monday, 30 December 2019
R
Rex Bartlett
12:19 AM
Swindon

SN5 4ET

For the past 24 hrs I have lost all channels, HD and SD. Occasionally some will come back on for a few minutes or seconds with my Sony reading 100% strength and 100% quality but then they go again with both at 0%.

I had the same thing happen last summer when I lost everything, due, I think, to atmospherics. I'm right on the edge of the Oxford transmitter area. I was advised last time to tune into Seagry Court which is only 3 miles away but when I tried this I got absolutely nothing, probably because there is a hill in the way.

I'm puzzled that all channels and muxes somehow disappear altogether with 0% readings. As the weather forecast is for unusually mild weather together with high pressure can I assume that this is probably the cause of my blackout? And if so does anyone have any suggestions what I might do about it?

I have a roof aerial, don't ask me what sort, which is amplified with 2 separate sockets with only the one being used.

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C
Chris.SE
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

2:03 AM

Rex Bartlett and others:

There are unusually high levels of "Tropospheric propagation" at present, often associated with High Pressure weather systems.
These levels of propagation are unusual at this time of year - they cause signals from more distant transmitters to travel a lot further than normal. It is currently affecting different parts of the country by varying degrees and signals can change by the second or remain stable for much longer periods.
In the old "analogue" days there was a lot of talk about "continental" interference often in the summer months, but the interference can come from transmitters anywhere in the UK or Europe and even further afield. At the moment some people are getting DAB radio from the Netherlands and FM Radio from France as well as the interference to DTV.

It is predicted to continue for a couple more days, and you are advise NOT to retune as you will likely lose the correct tuning that you had. The "propagation" can be very frequency dependent, and it can only affected one frequency or several, but it can/will be different for others.

People will however have noticed the unusually mild weather which the Met office is referring to as a "Foehn effect" but it's not helpful that it seems none of the major broadcasters are making any reference to the interference being caused to TV and Radio reception! So it's no surprise that people wonder what is going on and think there is a transmitter problem.

For those that have retuned and lost correct tuning, you will have to try again and it could be hit and miss whilst the unusual propagation continues. If you are able to do a manual tune for the correct UHF channels, you may still receive interference or the wrong programmes.
The UHF channels for Oxford are C41, C44, C47, C29, C37, C31, C55, C56 for (PSBs1-3, COMs4-8).

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Chris.SE's 4,364 posts GB flag
C
Chris.SE
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

2:26 AM

Rex Bartlett:

Further to your remarks about Seagry Court, this requires an aerial with the rods vertical pointing virtually due E (bearing 88 degrees). So whilst your aerial is pointed at Oxford (rods horizontal) bearing 64 degrees (approx. ENE) you are unlikely to get a signal from Seagry Court. FYI its channels are C39, C42, C45, C40, C43, C46 it has no COMs7&8.
As you probably know, Seagry Court is West region, whilst Oxford is Meridian.
Also note that your reception of the COM muxes, especially ArqB and COM7 from Oxford could get a bit more iffy during/after Feb/Mar/April next year due to transmitter retunes elsewhere which may cause a bit more interference.

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Chris.SE's 4,364 posts GB flag
R
Rex Bartlett
11:52 PM

Chris.SE:

Many thanks Chris. I'm sort of pleased that it was as I suspected re tropospherics and my complete loss of signals. Also very much appreciated is your explanation why I could not get anything from Seagry Court even though my aerial points that way, roughly in the same direction as the Oxford transmitter.

As it seems a new aerial is in order sooner or later, can I ask for more advice? My usual reception from Oxford isn't that bad, apart from times like this once in a while, and as my present aerial looks a feeble affair that was erected 40 yrs ago, do you think a better quality higher gain more directional aerial would be less prone to these blackouts happening to me? Is there maybe a super whiz aerial that would allow me to tune into both the Seagry Court and Oxford muxes? Or is this question just displaying my ignorance?

Either way, thanks for explaining so clearly. Thankfully, everything seemed to return to normal during the course of this evening. Happy New Year!

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Rex Bartlett's 8 posts GB flag
Wednesday, 18 March 2020
M
margaret Jenkins
10:00 AM
Chipping Norton

No Charlbury BBC Freeview chanels. What's wrong ? Postcode OX7 3RW

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margaret's: mapM's Freeview map terrainM's terrain plot wavesM's frequency data M's Freeview Detailed Coverage
C
Chris.SE
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

2:33 PM

margaret Jenkins:

Oxford does have Planned Engineering this week with "Possible service interruptions" which might possibly also affect the Charlbury Relay if that's where you get your signals from. If you are using the main Oxford transmitter you shouldn't have any problems normally with signals except COMs 7&8 which are predicted to be variable at your location.

If you retuned whilst there was no signal, it'll have cleared the correct tuning. So you'll need to repeat a retune when the transmitter is back on air.

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Chris.SE's 4,364 posts GB flag
Saturday, 21 March 2020
C
Chris.SE
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

2:44 AM

margaret Jenkins:

Further to the above, it seems there's probably a fault at the Charlbury Relay Transmitter, see its own transmitter page (click the name for a link).

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Chris.SE's 4,364 posts GB flag
Tuesday, 7 April 2020
P
Pat
8:33 AM

Oxford (Bexley) transmitter seems to be broadcasting the Film4 channel using some kind of weird reduced colour palette (I'd guess 16 colours). I've reproduced the problem on 3 different receivers and had confirmation from someone else some distance away (on the same transmitter).

This started around the afternoon of the 6th and is still persisting as of the morning of the 7th.

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Pat's 1 post GB flag
C
Chris.SE
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

1:38 PM

Pat:

It seems Oxford are on Planned Engineering this week so that may have something to do with what you are observing. They are advising "Possible weak signal" which in recent observations from others can mean the disappearance of some channels and other effects for periods of time. If this persists for a lengthy period I'd try giving Channel 4 a call on 020 7396 4444 or 0345 076 0191 as Freeview are unlikely to be much help, they only seem to regurgitate a retuning script which I don't advise when you have weak or no signals.

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Chris.SE's 4,364 posts GB flag
P
Pat
3:50 PM

Chris.SE:

Thanks for that, I did see: Planned engineering works | Freeview
...so, Central - Oxford - Main - Possible weak signal - is that all the detail that's available? Is an 8-bit colour palette a symptom of a weak signal? The signal reports fine (80%+) and there are no drop-outs, just the washed-out picture for Film4. All the other PSB2 channels look fine.

There seems to be so little information nowadays that I'm feeling more and more of a dinosaur even knowing what Freeview is.

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Pat's 2 posts GB flag
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