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

first published this on - UK Free TV
sa_streetviewGoogle Streetviewsa_gmapsGoogle mapsa_bingBing mapsa_gearthGoogle Earthsa_gps54.868,-1.771 or 54°52'5"N 1°46'15"Wsa_postcodeDH9 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 04/11/2024 Pixelation or flickering on some or all channels Digital tick


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.

MuxH/VFrequencyHeightModeWatts
PSB1
BBCA
 H max
C39 (618.0MHz)447mDTG-100,000W
Channel icons
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)447mDTG-100,000W
Channel icons
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 60s,

PSB3
BBCB
 H max
C45 (666.0MHz)447mDTG-100,000W
Channel icons
46 5SELECT, 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, 204 CBBC HD, 205 CBeebies HD, plus 1 others

COM4
SDN
 H -3dB
C32 (562.0MHz)447mDTG-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
C34 (578.0MHz)447mDTG-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
C35 (586.0MHz)447mDTG-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

LNE
 H -13dB
C33 (570.0MHz)447mDTG-125,000W
Channel icons
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?

regional news image
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.
regional news image
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 DamActive deflector6 homes Holiday complex
Low HaberActive deflectorWest Allen Dale, 18 kn SW Hexham caravan site
North HartlepoolTransposer84 homes

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

1950s-80s1984-971997-981998-20122012-1313 Nov 2019
VHFC/D EC/D EC/D EC/D E TW T
C5BBCtvwaves
C32SDN
C33com7
C34com8
C35ArqB
C39BBCA
C42D3+4
C45BBCB
C49tv_offBBCB
C50tv_offSDN
C54tv_offC4wavesC4wavesC4wavesD3+4
C55tv_offArqBcom7tv_off
C56tv_offLNE
C58tv_offBBC1wavesBBC1wavesBBC1wavesBBCA
C59tv_offArqA
C61ITVwavesITVwavesITVwaves
C64BBC2wavesBBC2wavesBBC2waves

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

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

Jan 1959-Feb 2004Tyne Tees Television
Feb 2004-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. 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.

Comments
Sunday, 16 September 2012
D
ds
11:54 PM

except that a full scan (replacing existing channels, or with the list already wiped) may not help. It certainly hasn't here.

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ds's 4 posts GB flag
Monday, 17 September 2012
L
Liz Charlton
10:31 PM
Consett

Aerial on roof pointing to Pontop Pike. Have retuned tv and Freeview box many times. Sony Bravia tv and sony Freeview box Have no itv channel 4 or other D 3 +4 channels since switchover date

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Liz Charlton's 1 post GB flag
Liz's: mapL's Freeview map terrainL's terrain plot wavesL's frequency data L's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Dave Lindsay
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

11:09 PM

Liz Charlton: Carry out a manual scan of UHF channel 55 if your Bravia allows manual tuning; this is where ITV1, C4 etc is up until 26th.

Failing that, you will probably have to wait until then in order to get it back.

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Dave Lindsay's 5,724 posts GB flag
Wednesday, 19 September 2012
T
Tim Knight
1:38 PM
Bishop Auckland

I have a sharp lc40le821e fed by bt vision box. I used to receive bbc and itv hd if I "switched out" of bt vision box and into freeview mode, but am now unable to receive the hd channels. Is there any reason for this? My location is DL14 6NR. Kind regards, Tim Knight.

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Tim Knight's 1 post GB flag
Tim's: mapT's Freeview map terrainT's terrain plot wavesT's frequency data T's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Wednesday, 26 September 2012
I
ian chambers
8:43 PM

since the switch over on the 26th I am not getting film4 and itv4 on the arqb multiplex on c55 but I am getting the new 4seven.

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ian chambers's 1 post GB flag
Friday, 28 September 2012
I
Iain
8:42 PM
Chester Le Street

On Digital 3 +4 Multiplex you have ITV1+1 listed as ITV Yorkshire but this changed to ITV Tyne Tees about 6 months ago.

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Iain's 6 posts EU flag
Iain's: mapI's Freeview map terrainI's terrain plot wavesI's frequency data I's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Sunday, 30 September 2012
J
John
9:59 AM
Morpeth

NE65 9QE (roof aerial) near Felton Northumberland
Since the switch over the reception on Channel 50- ITV 3 etc has been very poor - tolerable to non-existence.
It was perfectly OK prior to retuning.The variability suggests it is the signal, and not my set - up. Any suggestion to resolve this would be grateful.

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John's 1 post GB flag
John's: mapJ's Freeview map terrainJ's terrain plot wavesJ's frequency data J's Freeview Detailed Coverage
J
jb38
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

11:07 AM

John: Two points about your reception problems, the first being that the reception predictor does indicate your location with a status of "poor" as far as the reception of Pontop Pikes three commercial muxes is concerned and with this being on a permanent basis, so although predictors are not by any means 100% accurate (or anywhere near it!) this fact cannot be discounted.

The second point being that it would appear that the signal path to your location is at a very low angle whereby likely to be affected by trees and such likes, and variables seen on the signal strength / quality is nearly always (not exclusively though) caused by this sort of thing.

Do you use any form of booster? as in cases such as yours a booster can keep the signal running at a higher level whereby when it drops its still above the cut off threshold. That said though it depends on how much of a variable you get? as if its dropping from about 50% to near zero then a booster will not help.

Bilsdale at over twice the distance away as Pontop Pike does indicate superior reception of all muxes bar one ArqB, but I do have my doubts about this irrespective of what is indicated on the predictor.

Maybe you could give an update on the booster & the question on the span of the variables referred to.

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jb38's 7,179 posts GB flag
P
Peter
7:36 PM
Hexham

Living in Hexham, until the switch over I only received analogue TV since retuning I get a much better picture but am receiving only limited digital channels. Is there anything I can do to increase the number of channels I can access?

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Peter's 1 post GB flag
Peter's: mapP's Freeview map terrainP's terrain plot wavesP's frequency data P's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Dave Lindsay
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

8:37 PM

Peter: Unfortunately only the main transmitters and some larger relays carry all channels. The Commercial broadcasters don't consider it worth their while to transmit from the smaller sites like Wall.

The only possible transmitter at your location is Pontop Pike, if it were possible. Digital UK Postcode Checker does not think that it is possible, although such predictors should always be taken with a pinch of salt.

It would appear that you live at the bottom of a 70m slope on top of which is Cock Wood:


Terrain between ( m a.g.l.) and (antenna m a.g.l.) - Optimising UK DTT Freeview and Radio aerial location


I'm not an aerial installer, but the impression I get is that you don't really have any chance. At the bottom of such a steep drop trying to receive from over the brow of the hill is one thing, but add to that the fact that the trees are (from what I can see) on that brow.....

That said, keep your eyes open for new aerials pointing at Pontop Pike. These will be north west (at 321 degrees) and will be horizontal.

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Dave Lindsay's 5,724 posts GB flag
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