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 04/12/2023 Pixelation or flickering 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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Monday, 9 November 2020
C
Chris.SE9:55 PM
Benno:
Due to a strange quirk, it may have ended up in the 800s with a few other channels. I've come across a few others with similar problems. Try retuning as follows -
Unplug the aerial and do an automatic retune. This should clear all previous tuning as no channels should be found. (If perchance you find it hasn't cleared all previous tuning you may have to do a factory reset).
Plug the aerial back in and if you can do a manual tune, do so for the correct UHF channels for Pontop Pike.
In the multiplex order PSBs1-3, COMs4-7, Local - they are C39, C42, C45, C32, C34, C35, C55, C33
Whether you actually get COM7 or the Local Multiplex will depend on your precise location.
If your set doesn't have manual tune, just do an automatic one.
Hopefully all channels will be restored correctly.
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Saturday, 5 December 2020
A
Alan Tate6:48 PM
The information is not kept up to date
eg Version 5 Dated 05/12/2020
Horror channel has moved from 70 to 68, but still showing as 70
Last update looks to be 13/11/2019 over a year ago
Also a printable or PDF copy would be useful
Thanks
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C
Chris.SE11:45 PM
Alan Tate:
As has been mentioned quite a few times around this site, and probably a couple of pages back now on this transmitter page, the site owner has not had the time to update all the UHF Channel changes resulting from the 700MHz Clearance program. As I understand it, it involves transcription from a number of OFCOM pdf documents. As you might imagine, that's got to be a very time consuming and tedious task. That was last done by the site owner here with changes on the 13th November 2019. However on many transmitter pages the updated list of UHF channels resulting from the final stages of the 700MHz Clearance program has been posted on the respective pages by regular posters, the most recent here (not for the first time) by me just before your post.
As far as which channels are on which multiplex and their LCN, the last update here appears to be the 17th September Broadcaster/Freeview changes. Of late, a number of the Broadcasters and Freeview have been shunting channels about their LCNs (some requiring retunes). Most members of the public are rather brassed off with this nonsense and constant retuning and one of the most recent ridiculous ones was to meet the OFCOM requirement that all PSBs should be in the top 24 LCNs all because BBC4 in Scotland was down at 55, Freeview's option was to shunt all LCNs from 24-54 up one so BBC4 Scotland moved from 55 to 24 (for the rest of the UK it's on 9).
They ignored the simpler (more logical) option put to them which was -
Move Channel 5+1 from 44 to 55, Move Channel 4+1 from 15 to 44
Move BBC Alba from 7 to 15, Move BBC Scotland from 9 to 7, then Move BBC Four (Scotland) to 9 matching the rest of the UK.
How nice and logical, ITV+1 on 33 - has been for years, people used to it. Then Channel 4+1 on 44, Channel5+1 on 55, all nice memorable easy to remember numbers, AND 4Seven would still be on 47 not 48 as now.
That's all too much common sense for Freeview.
All these changes require the site owner to spend (waste IMHO) time transcribing from pdf documents or Freeview web pages. He does have a job to do besides providing this help-site for free.
Not sure where your "version 5" comes from, but generally, if you want an up-to-date list (I have found it several days out of date on occasion) of which channels are on which multiplex and their LCNs see Channel listings for Industry Professionals | Freeview which was last updated on the 4th November. There have however been some further changes (mostly minor) on the12th &19th November and some to come on the 7th December. See
Updates and alerts | Freeview
Updates and alerts | Freeview
Updates and alerts | Freeview
As far as printable or pdf options are concerned, most browsers have a "Print" option and there's a choice of software if you want to "print" to a pdf eg. there's one called PDF Creator (I'm sure a search will find many more).
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Wednesday, 3 February 2021
D
David Lewis6:36 PM
Stockton-on-tees
I have a wideband aerial looking towards Bilsdale across my roof. When first erected we had few problems. However, my neighbours conifer trees are in direct line with Bilsdale and as they have grown we have experienced increasing pixelation on some multiplexes. Now in wet weather BBC1 SD is starting to be affected. I could erect a taller mast, but the tree's growth show no signs of stopping.
The signal strength maps show that I should be able to receive Pontop Pike. I would simply swing the aerial around almost 180 degrees, but will the same aerial work?
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David's: mapD's Freeview map terrainD's terrain plot wavesD's frequency data D's Freeview Detailed Coverage
S
StevensOnln16:48 PM
David Lewis: Unless you're only receiving a weak signal a wideband aerial is suitable for reception of any transmitter, as it is literally designed pick up the entire width of the UHF band.
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C
Chris.SE9:36 PM
David Lewis:
Which way is your neighbour's aerial pointing? Are his trees on his line of sight?
Maybe he's having similar problems and not realised why and might get the trees trimmed if he knew.
If you provide a full postcode we can compare the predicted reception at your locale, from each transmitter.
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Wednesday, 24 February 2021
Why is Sony channel 49 unavailable from Pontop Pike ?
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S
StevensOnln111:09 AM
Mr Brian JE Teasdale: Sony Channel and Sony Movies Classic are both carried on the local TV multiplex, which is only available in areas with a local TV station on Freeview channel 7 or 8. There is a local mux broadcast from Pontop Pike, however I believe it is directional towards Newcasle and may not provide a strong signal in other directions.
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Friday, 12 March 2021
I
Ian Carrick12:06 PM
Hi,
Configuring something called TVHeadEnd linked to an HDHomeRun for the Pontop Pike transponders. Wondering if you can help with some settings. So these are my transponders which I believe are correct:
1=618000
2=642000,
3=666000
4=562000
5=578000
6=586000
7=746000
8=754000
9=570000
What I think I need for each of these is the settings below (a to h). In brackets I have listed out the choices I have, separated by commas.
a. Bandwidth (10Mhz, 8Mhz, 7Mhz, 6Mhz, 5Mhz or 1.712Mhz)
b. Constellation (QAM/AUTO, QPSK, QAM/16, QAM/64, QAM/256)
c. Transmission mode (32k, 16k, 8k, 2k, 1k)
d. Guard Interval (1/32, 1/16, 1/8, 1/4, 1/128, 19/128, 19/256)
e. Hierarchy (NONE, 1, 2, 4)
f. FEC High (1/2, 2/3, 3/4, 3/5, 4/5, 5/6, 7/8)
g. FEC Low (1/2, 2/3, 3/4, 3/5, 4/5, 5/6, 7/8)
h. PLP ID (free text defaults to -1)
Any help with some of the above (realise that some of those settings might not make sense) is hugely appreciated, you helped me out a while ago to get those transponders correct for DVBLink. Cheers.
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C
Chris.SE12:52 PM
Ian Carrick:
The frequencies you've listed are correct BUT no:8 754000kHz (COM8) is no longer being transmitted, it was closed at the end of June 2020 for commercial reasons.
If you see my post on Monday, 9 November 2020 (at the top of p111 here) you'll see all the correct UHF channels listed for Pontop Pike. If you hover over each of the C numbers it gives the frequency.
Bandwidth is always 8MHz.
For the rest of the information, rather than me laboriously listing them, you'll probably be best putting your postcode in the box at Platform management | Freeview and then hover your mouse over the relevant channel numbers and it give you the transmission modes and powers.
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