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.
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 11/11/2024 Screen may go black on some or all channels 
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Digital television services are broadcast on a multiplexes (or Mux) where many stations occupy a single broadcast frequency, as shown below.
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 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 | BBCtvwaves | ||||||||
| C32 | SDN | ||||||||
| C33 | com7 | ||||||||
| C34 | com8 | ||||||||
| C35 | ArqB | ||||||||
| C39 | BBCA | ||||||||
| C42 | D3+4 | ||||||||
| C45 | BBCB | ||||||||
| C49tv_off | BBCB | ||||||||
| C50tv_off | SDN | ||||||||
| C54tv_off | C4waves | C4waves | C4waves | D3+4 | |||||
| C55tv_off | ArqB | com7tv_off | |||||||
| C56tv_off | LNE | ||||||||
| C58tv_off | BBC1waves | BBC1waves | BBC1waves | BBCA | |||||
| C59tv_off | ArqA | ||||||||
| C61 | ITVwaves | ITVwaves | ITVwaves | ||||||
| C64 | BBC2waves | BBC2waves | BBC2waves |
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 TeesWhich companies have run the Channel 3 services in the Pontop Pike transmitter area
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Thursday, 10 January 2013
J
jb3812:36 PM
Graham Francis: Not necessarily so on both counts, as it all depends on the sensitivity of the TV's or boxes tuner, because if a fault develops on a transmitter causing a power output drop and yet its signal can still be viewed on one receiver but not the other, then this in most cases this is simply through the receiver that's still working either having a more sensitive tuner which overcomes the signal level cut off threshold, or alternatively it can be caused by the working device having a direct feed from the aerial whereas the other device doesn't, this usually by its aerial feed being daisy chained through another device which in most cases reduces the signal level.
I do realise that Panasonics have been mentioned more than any other brands, but software updates are generally dedicated to a particular range of chassis and doesn't blanket cover all models even within the same brand name, and so although I could possibly be proven wrong! but I don't feel that its connected in any way to software updates, that is unless everyone is using the same model of Panasonics.
But though re: my 9.37pm yesterdays posting to Debbie which can be seen above but a few postings back, you should also try this as the two mux channels mentioned are technically identical to each other which makes them ideal for comparison level checks.
You could also try the test on Pick TV(11) as mux Ch59 used by that programme is equally identical to the other two, although mux transmitters, even of identical power output, are very seldom ever received at the same levels through a multitude of factors involved.
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D
Dave2:22 PM
Regarding the issue of Pontop Pike Ch50 being missing (on Panasonic TVs??).
As of 1400 today (Thurs), someone seems to have undone whatever they did to cause it; the problem seems to be resolved, missing stations are again available.
I assume anyone who did a full reset/rescan to try to resolve it will have lost the stations from their program guides and will now have to rescan Ch50 to get them back.
Dave (not Dave Lindsay!).
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R
ron2:56 PM
Thanks for that dave, just done a manual scan on channel 50 and all stations are back, wonder what caused it in the first place, we shall probably never know!.
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P
Peter Jackson3:55 PM
Yes my Panny and Sony HDR are both now getting Dave ja vu etc.
Thanks to whoever
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G
Graham Francis4:59 PM
Just done manual scan on Channel 50, and everything is now OK.
Do you think we will ever find out what happened?
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Monday, 28 January 2013
J
joeparkin9:03 PM
Houghton Le Spring
aerial is on the roof, the tuner is a goodmans, and the picture is pixelating slightly and there is a loudish crackle, and the sound level goes down and takes a few seconds to go back to normal. I get the idea that I need to replace the aerial with a CD group one, but how do I know what type of aerial I currently have?
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joeparkin's: mapJ's Freeview map terrainJ's terrain plot wavesJ's frequency data J's Freeview Detailed Coverage
K
KMJ,Derby9:51 PM
joeparkin: In the first instance I would check that the tuner has tuned in the frequencies for the transmitter that the aerial is pointing to. Bilsdale or Fenham frequencies could have been stored with the aerial pointing to Pontop Pike, for example. To check what group of aerial is in use it is often a matter of looking at the coloured plastic stopper in the end of the boom. Group C/D is green, wideband is black. It is worth mentioning that within a few years it is possible that all transmitters will be either group A or group K, so ideally replacing an aerial at the present time should only be done if absolutely necessary when using a group C/D transmitter. Yes, a wideband type could be fitted which would be suitable for future frequency changes at the transmitter, but such an aerial would also be liable to unnecessary reception of 4G or 5G mobile signals, which for some viewers could require replacing in the same way as a group C/D one will be.
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Tuesday, 23 April 2013
J
jamie8:44 PM
When c55 will be maximum signal ? Right now i can see it's not maximum signal because channels i watch never break up is maximum signals but on film4 keep breaking up i know that will be solved when they change to maximum signal do u know when it will happen ?
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K
KMJ,Derby9:37 PM
jamie: ArqB on C55 is intended to be transmitted at half the power of the PSB services on C49/C54. This will continue at least until about 2018 when the COM muxes might be allocated different frequencies and also, possibly, the network reconfigured.
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