Full Freeview on the Pontop Pike (County Durham, England) transmitter

Brian Butterworth first published this on 1st May 2004 at 08:20 - UK Free TV

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54.868,-1.771 or 54°52'5"N 1°46'15"W

DH9 9AT

The symbol shows the location of the Pontop Pike (County Durham, England) transmitter which serves 700,000 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 Pontop Pike (County Durham, England) mast?

Pontop Pike transmitter - Pontop Pike transmitter: Possible effect on TV reception week commencing 24/03/2025 Pixelation or flickering on some or all channels

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

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Which Freeview channels does the Pontop Pike 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	H max	C39 (618.0MHz)	447m	DTG-	100,000W
	1 BBC One (SD) North East and Cumbria, 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	H max	C42 (642.0MHz)	447m	DTG-	100,000W
	3 ITV 1 (SD) (Tyne Tees), 4 Channel 4 (SD) North ads, 5 Channel 5, 6 ITV 2, 10 ITV3, 13 E4, 14 Film4, 15 Channel 4 +1 North ads, 18 More4, 26 ITV4, 28 ITVBe, 30 E4 +1, 35 ITV1 +1 (Tyne Tees), 71 That's TV 3,
PSB3 BBCB	H max	C45 (666.0MHz)	447m	DTG-	100,000W
	46 5SELECT, 57 U&Eden, 101 BBC One HD North East and Cumbria, 102 BBC Two HD England, 103 ITV 1 HD (ITV Granada), 104 Channel 4 HD North ads, 105 Channel 5 HD, 106 BBC Four HD, 107 BBC Three HD, 203 CBBC HD, 204 CBeebies HD, plus 1 others 66 TBN UK,
COM4 SDN	H -3dB	C32 (562.0MHz)	447m	DTG-8	50,000W
	20 U&Drama, 21 5USA, 29 ITV2 +1, 32 5STAR, 33 5Action, 38 Channel 5 +1, 41 Legend, 42 GREAT! action, 58 ITV3 +1, 59 ITV4 +1, 61 GREAT! mystery, 64 Blaze, 67 TRUE CRIME, 68 TRUE CRIME XTRA, 74 U&DaveJaVu, 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, plus 21 others
COM5 ArqA	H -3dB	C34 (578.0MHz)	447m	DTG-8	50,000W
	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, 76 That's Dance, 233 Sky News, plus 11 others
COM6 ArqB	H -3dB	C35 (586.0MHz)	447m	DTG-8	50,000W
	12 Quest, 25 U&W, 27 U&Yesterday, 34 GREAT! movies, 39 DMAX, 44 HGTV, 52 GREAT! romance, 56 That's TV (UK), 63 GREAT! player, 73 HobbyMaker, 75 That's Melody, 82 Talking Pictures TV, 84 PBS America, 207 POP UP, plus 10 others
LNE	H -13dB	C33 (570.0MHz)	447m	DTG-12	5,000W
	from 22nd September 2014: 7 Made in Tyne and Wear,

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 Pontop Pike transmitter?

BBC Look North (Newcastle) 1.6m homes 6.0%
from Newcastle NE99 2NE, 15km northeast (42°)
to BBC North East and Cumbria region - 70 masts.

ITV Tyne Tees News 1.4m homes 5.4%
from Gateshead NE11 9SZ, 12km north-northeast (29°)
to ITV Tyne Tees region - 47 masts.
All of lunch, weekend and 50% evening news is shared with Border

Are there any self-help relays?

Kieldor Dam	Active deflector		6 homes Holiday complex
Low Haber	Active deflector	West Allen Dale, 18 kn SW Hexham	caravan site
North Hartlepool	Transposer		84 homes

How will the Pontop Pike (County Durham, England) transmission frequencies change over time?

	1950s-80s	1984-97	1997-98	1998-2012	2012-13	13 Nov 2019
	VHF	C/D E	C/D E	C/D E	C/D E T	W T
C5	BBCtv_waves
C32						SDN
C33						com7
C34						com8
C35						ArqB
C39						BBCA
C42						D3+4
C45						BBCB
C49_{tv_off}					BBCB
C50_{tv_off}					SDN
C54_{tv_off}		C4_waves	C4_waves	C4_waves	D3+4
C55_{tv_off}					ArqB	com7_{tv_off}
C56_{tv_off}						LNE
C58_{tv_off}		BBC1_waves	BBC1_waves	BBC1_waves	BBCA
C59_{tv_off}					ArqA
C61		ITV_waves	ITV_waves	ITV_waves
C64		BBC2_waves	BBC2_waves	BBC2_waves

_{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 12 Sep 12 and 26 Sep 12.

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
com8	(-11.6dB) 34.6kW
com7	(-11.7dB) 33.8kW
Mux 1, Mux 2, Mux A, Mux B, Mux C, Mux D	(-17dB) 10kW
LNE	(-20dB) 5kW

Local transmitter maps

Pontop Pike Freeview Pontop Pike TV region BBC North East and Cumbria Tyne Tees

Which companies have run the Channel 3 services in the Pontop Pike transmitter area

Jan 1959-Feb 2004	Tyne Tees Television
Feb 2004-Dec 2014	ITV plc

Feb 1983-Dec 1992	TV-am•
Jan 1993-Sep 2010	GMTV•
Sep 2010-Dec 2014	ITV Daybreak•

• Breakfast ◊ Weekends ♦ Friday night and weekends † Weekdays only. Pontop Pike 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.

Is the transmitter output the same in all directions?

C

Chris.SE

_{sentiment_very_satisfied}Platinum

2:55 AM

Richie:

Hi Richie, yes any filter should go before an amp otherwise you are just amplifying the as well! I'd get onto Restore TV and tell them you've now been getting interference issues for weeks and there's a on the line-of-sight to (they should know that anyway from their database) and with Pontop Pike having Planned , you are struggling to receive anything, so you'd like one of the free filters.
These newer filters will clobber anything in the band and above (ie. ) basically anything above , so you shouldn't need both.

Have a look at the coax plug on the end of the aerial lead and check for any corrosion or water, if there's any this could indicate water getting into either the aerial connection or the coax being damaged somewhere.
Also worth trying to check there's no issue with the amp/splitter.

Check the strength of several of the muxes on the set with the shortest run from the splitter (bedroom perhaps?) then unplug all the others from the splitter and try the bedroom one in each outlet and see if there's any improvement in the figures.
Also, unplug the amp from the mains/switch it off (in case it's gone unstable and generating interference) and couple the aerial direct to the short cable run (you'd probably need a coax coupler), if there's any significant improvement, the amp/splitter could be faulty.
Then try coupling the aerial output to your main TV feed and see what results you get.

Tell us how you get on.
PS. It wasn't "the government's ridiculous idea to sell off part of the UHF TV band" it was international agreements that affected the whole of Europe, so all those with broadcast DTV in these bands has been affected.

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R

Richie
1:29 PM

Spoke to bloke from Restore TV on the phone this morning and told him everything. They had a record of my call to "at 800" about TVI back in Dec 2022 and said that the filter they sent out in 2022 was actually a "" () low-pass filter and that it is identical to what they send out these days. They don't have anything better to send me.

As of this morning only the MUX with BBC SD and (COM5) Sky Mix, etc. yield any on all sets in the house, and they don't seem to glitch at all. All the other MUXs with ITV, CH4, E4, etc don't even attempt to show any picture now, just shows "". In the service menu C39 MUX shows 99% all the time and a stable sig strength. C34 shows about 90% quality but looks stable. The others show wildly fluctuating sig strengths and only 1 or 2% quality. No picture or sound at all. (None of out TVs are DVB-T2 compatible.)

The guy from Restore TV suggested I climb up in the and check for water ingress, etc. It's hard to get to the distribution at my age so when I'm up there I will do your checks bypassing the amp and checking each port and downlead to the rooms one at a time, etc. If that doesn't identify the cause they're going to send an Engineer out in a week's time. That's if if it hasn't resolved naturally. How long does Tx work usually persist? He also stated that they haven't had any calls from anyone else in my area which makes me think it could be a problem with my kit.

Incidentally what do you think of my chances of getting a decent signal from at Fern Avenue NE23 3GL, if I spun the aerial round to point North? And if I get a new it would be Group K now for PP and Chatton?

Many thanks in advance. Really appreciate it.

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C

Chris.SE

_{sentiment_very_satisfied}Platinum

3:33 PM

Richie :

For your postcode, is predicted to be worse. PP is predicted to be the best!
They never say how long the work will go on, or what it is!! Many transmitters have had work on and off for months!
If it doesn't resolve itself, I'd take them up on the offer of sending an engineer because they will do whatever is necessary, they have all the kit for testing and it's all free (normally) If say your distribution amp needed replacing they may charge for that, I don't know.

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Richie
10:45 AM

All are gone now! Most MUXs show "", and the previously remaining BBC MUX is now pixelated and breaking up beyond unwatchability.

I finally managed to climb up into the to check the cables and distribution ... The downlead from the outdoor and it's Belling- connecter look shiny, dry and corrosion free. This was plugged into a " - CH48" lowpass filter from "Clear at 800", and then into the UHF input on an 8-channel distribution amplifier. The distribution amp was warm, and the red LED was lit. The distribution amplifier was dry and free of any visible damage/corrosion. As you suspected all the connections are Belling-Lee plugs into the sockets on the amp, so I need a Belling-Lee coaxial coupler to bypass it. There's five coax cables leaving the amp to various sockets around the house, (only 3 actual TVs.) I unplugged/re-plugged all the BL connectors several times. The coax to the nearest bedroom has a dodgy join in it where it looks like the was a couple of feet short. They've just laid two coax cables side by side and twisted the cores together and the screens together then wrapped the whole mess with insulating tape to cover their sins!

I'm going to buy a coax coupler to do your recommended tests bypassing the amp, with the amp switched off to eliminate possible oscillation/. I'm planning to fix the shoddy cable join with a properly fitted Belling-Lee plug/socket. And I'm also going to make up a 5m cable with some decent 75R coax that I can just drop down the loft hatch and patch the antenna directly to the nearest TV below to see what result that gives.

Since it's such a pain to get into the loft I'm kind of temped to buy a replacement distribution amplifier and just fit it anyway. Would you recommend getting one with F connectors or Belling Lee? I personally think Belling Lee connectors are the work of the devil, and after spotting one dodgy cable join I'm inclined to check everything. I'd be happy to chop off the BL plugs and fit F-connectors. Does this sound reasonable? Any other suggestions for my next climb!?

Thanks in advance,

-Richie,

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C

Chris.SE

_{sentiment_very_satisfied}Platinum

1:40 PM

Richie:

Hi. Personally I don't find -connectors any easier to work with than BL coax. I'd say changing to F-connectors is just creating a bit more work.
I'd get the coax coupler and do the checks before deciding what else to do.

Unfortunately I see is on Planned again, like many main transmitters have been, on and off for some considerable time now. As they don't say what they are doing, we can only guess, but as it's over 10yrs since , a lot of maintenance is likely to be needed to ensure things carry on working for the next 10yrs and masts don't fall down etc.!

If they are operating on the Reserve , with the hill in the way, it would have a greater impact on your , but I still think there's more to it.
If your checks don't come up with anything obvious, I'd take up Restore TV's offer of sending an engineer. As I said before, they have all the kit and will do what ever is needed.

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