Full Freeview on the Pontop Pike (County Durham, England) transmitter
 | Google Streetview |  | Google map |  | Bing map |  | Google Earth |  | 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.
This transmitter has no current reported problems
The BBC and Digital UK report there are no faults or engineering work on the Pontop Pike (County Durham, England) transmitter._______
Digital television services are broadcast on a multiplexes (or Mux) where many stations occupy a single broadcast frequency, as shown below.
64QAM 8K 2/3 24.1Mb/s DVB-T MPEG2
DTG-6 256QAM 32KE 2/3 40.2Mb/s DVB-T2 MPEG4
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 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.
64QAM 8K 2/3 24.1Mb/s DVB-T MPEG2
DTG-6 256QAM 32KE 2/3 40.2Mb/s DVB-T2 MPEG4
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 | 2013-18 | 2013-17 | 13 Nov 2019 | ||
| VHF | C/D E | C/D E | C/D E | C/D E T | C/D E T | W T | W T | ||
| C5 | BBCtvwaves | ||||||||
| C32 | SDN | ||||||||
| C33 | com7 | com7 | |||||||
| C34 | com8 | com8 | |||||||
| C35 | ArqB | ||||||||
| C39 | BBCA | ||||||||
| C42 | D3+4 | ||||||||
| C45 | BBCB | ||||||||
| C48 | 1 | ||||||||
| C49tv_off | BBCB | BBCB | BBCB | ||||||
| C50tv_off | SDN | SDN | SDN | ||||||
| C53tv_off | -D | ||||||||
| C54tv_off | C4waves | C4waves | C4waves | D3+4 | D3+4 | D3+4 | |||
| C55tv_off | +2 | ArqB | ArqB | ArqB | com7tv_off | ||||
| C56tv_off | LNE | LNE | |||||||
| C58tv_off | BBC1waves | BBC1waves | BBC1waves | BBCA | BBCA | BBCA | |||
| C59tv_off | +A | ArqA | ArqA | ArqA | |||||
| C61 | ITVwaves | ITVwaves | ITVwaves | ||||||
| C62 | +B | ||||||||
| C64 | BBC2waves | BBC2waves | BBC2waves | ||||||
| C65 | +C |
tv_off Being removed from Freeview (for 5G use) by 30 June 2020 - 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 TeesWhich companies have run the Channel 3 services in the Pontop Pike transmitter area
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Tuesday, 10 December 2019
C
Chris.SE3:20 AM
David Landers:
As indicated immediately above the comment box, and in the post before yours (and many others around these boards), a full postcode is needed to see what the Freeview Detailed Coverage Checker is showing for predicted reception at your location. It is possible that reception of one (or more) multiplex(es) can be poorer than others. This can be very often due to interference by other transmitter signals and might vary with weather conditions, or lower transmitter power on some.
As you've had some engineers attend recently, the presumption would be that your installation is ok.
It's not possible to advise on the best possible solutions to your problem without that prediction information and some further information about channels you aren't getting.
See https://www.freeview.co.uk/corporate/platform-management/channel-listings you'll note that both Blaze and Horror are on the SDN multiplex. Are you getting any of the other channels on the SDN multiplex or are they definitely all missing?
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Friday, 13 December 2019
D
David Landers8:19 PM
Morpeth
Chris.SE:
Thanks, Chris.
Postcode is NE65 8AR. Signal strength is generally held to be poor at this location and we have always needed an amplifier (even back in analogue days). However; prior to the November 13th frequency changes, we had enjoyed a pretty full range of Freeview channels with decent reception. Then we got the problems that I mentioned.
The position right now is that the lost channels have suddenly come back again! This was some time after the second engineers' visit when they fitted the new mast-head amp. As I said in my previous post, that had pulled back all(?) channels apart from the one multiplex. In answer to your question, as far as I know, all channels on that one (SDN) were missing.
But then yet another retune, and suddenly there they are... Since nothing has changed at our end in-between, I assume it must be something happening at the transmitter, or weather conditions.
Incidentally, our Humax box always seems to pick up more channels than the TV - perhaps a difference in their sensitivity and/or power?
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Saturday, 14 December 2019
C
Chris.SE8:59 AM
David Landers:
Oh dear, you are undoubtedly lucky that you get any Freeview reception and that Freeview sent out some engineers as neither they nor the BBC predict that your location is within any normal coverage. I had to resort to Terrain mapping to see you are in an area with very variable terrain and have a large hill between you and the transmitter.
I would have to draw the same conclusion that it was likely to have been something at the transmitter, because unless faults are persistent (and/or affecting BBC channels) finding any reports from Freeview/Arqiva on transmitter problems is something I've not found to be reliable!
At least you have your reception back, and Humax boxes do have a good reputation in general for sensitivity. If in the future you find things being more unreliable, possibly in the main due to weather conditions in the summer, then it looks as though the only alternative option might be to consider Freesat. A lot of modern TVs have in-built satellite tuners so only need the addition of a dish and LNB. I suppose that there could be a possibility that if there are enough of you in the area with similar problems, you could all consider the possibility of having a "self-help" relay, but then you have to find a location where you could get reliable reception and permission to install such a relay.
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