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 04/11/2024 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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Friday, 15 November 2019
C
Chris.SE7:13 AM
gary mckenzie:
Somehow it doesn't come as much of a surprise that Freeview didn't help! That said, the standard recommendation in these situations (although I don't know the specifics for the TalkTalk box - they should have been able to tell you that) -
is to unplug the aerial and do a full automatic retune which should clear all previous tuning from memory as no channels will be found. You then plug the aerial back in and repeat the process which should hopefully restore all receivable multiplexes and the channels in their correct LCNs. It's only where you might readily get reception from more than one transmitter that the final tune has to be a manual one using the UHF channels from the desired transmitter.
paul milne:
You may have noticed Freeview giving identical advice to some users ;) How helpful they can be seems to depend on who you happen to get on the end of the phone, whether it's a script monkey or one of the more experienced advisers!
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P
paul milne9:31 AM
Problems with Pontop Pike Transmitter since retune 13/11/19...
Chris/everyone....
One retuning my Talk Talk set top box last night (clearing all channels then retuning again) I lost a few channels - and some were still pixelated.
After many attempts - seemed to be worse when the showers of rain were about _ I managed to get 148 freeview aerial channels . I took the connector off the box and redid it to make sure I had the best connection possible and even banged my set top box a little which strangely seemed to help. As of this morning I can view all of the channels - although still getting slight pixilation now and again on sky news and pick tv. I tested the signal strength on the best channels and this was around 40 - I do not know what it was before the retune but I never had any issues with any channels previously.
Freeview said they would look into it - they have just come back with your solution and even hinted at a new aerial or cable tv. Seems they are washing their hands of any responsibility as its only a few users reporting this and not 100s - I may be proven wrong in the coming days...I am not happy but will just have to live with this - whatever they did to me seems to have reduced the signal on certain channels - and nobody wants to go up to pontop pike and move them to a better slot or improve the signal strength...im disillusioned this morning tbh...
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C
Chris.SE10:04 PM
paul milne:
For a list of which channels are on which multiplexes see Channel listings | Freeview
I'm beginning to wonder about two possibilities, leaving aside the possibility of a fault on your aerial system for a moment.
Whilst Pontop Pike is your predicted transmitter, you may be getting signals from another transmitter. There is Fenham and Bilsdale giving predicted coverage at your location. Although Fenham requires a vertical polarisation, Pontop Pike being horizontal, Bilsdale is also horizontal but much further away, Fenham much closer.
Although they are in different directions, it's possible to receive signals of the wrong polarisation and also maybe off "side-lobes" of the aerial reception characteristics.
Have you been having continuous trouble with BBC channels at all since the September retune?
Now, I'm not familiar with the TalkTalk box is it a Youview box?
But leaving that aside for a moment, if you plug the aerial directly into your TV, can you get all the channels on your TV without any problem?
The other possibility apart from wrong transmitter is too much signal. Power on PSB1 was turned up from 90 to 100kW, the COM 4-5 muxes had power doubled to 100kW , whereas COMs 7&8 did have the power turned down to 19kW from 33/34. Do you have any aerial amplifiers or distribution to more than one room, splitters etc.?
Can you also check your aerial has the rods horizontal and is pointing slightly W of SW (239degrees).
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Sunday, 17 November 2019
K
KarlR12:28 PM
Newcastle Upon Tyne
Was told by freeview telephone helpline that changes to accommodate 5G is the reason for the recent retune and also why we now can only get 13 channels after a retune, none of which are watchable. HD channels have also disappeared. Their advice - you'll need to buy a new aerial. I'm in rented accommodation - that's not my responsibility, and even if it was, making such changes with only a warning of 'you'll need to retune' is a bit of a joke
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KarlR's: mapK's Freeview map terrainK's terrain plot wavesK's frequency data K's Freeview Detailed Coverage
C
Chris.SE12:36 PM
KarlR:
If your provide a full postcode we can look at the predicted reception. Freeview's advice isn't always the most helpful unfortunately, however, if another aerial was needed then it is the landlord's responsibility.
Which 13 channels are you getting?
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K
KarlR1:27 PM
Newcastle Upon Tyne
Chris.SE
NE6 5LU - no reported issues for this area. Oddly, we've had between 13, 42 and 88 channels showing after a retune..
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KarlR's: mapK's Freeview map terrainK's terrain plot wavesK's frequency data K's Freeview Detailed Coverage
C
Chris.SE1:57 PM
KarlR:
For your postcode you shouldn't have any problem getting all the available multiplexes from Pontop Pike. I'd also be surprised that considering you're only about 18km from the mast that you wouldn't get most, if not all the multiplexes even on quite an old C/D group aerial.
The issue might be that you can in fact receive several transmitters at your location, and in particular the Fenham transmitter which is only 6km away BUT is much lower power, doesn't have COMs 7&8 and requires an aerial that's vertical polarised. A lot of aerials aren't that good at rejecting cross-polarisation signals that are moderately close.
It depends on how your set is tuning, because the Fenham UHF channels are lower in the band than Pontop Pike, so it is likely it will find these before Pontop Pike's channels so you may well find Pontop Pike's in the 800's in your programme lists.
The "trick" here will be to do a manual tune, but do it as follows. Unplug the aerial and do a full automatic tune. This should clear memory of all previous tuning as no channels will be found.
Plug the aerial back in, and in your Tuning section, find the Manual Tuning option.
Tune the following UHF channels for Pontop Pike - 39, 42, 32, 34, 35 for the SD channels, if you have HD 45, 55, 56.
Let us know how you get on.
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K
KarlR7:50 PM
Newcastle Upon Tyne
Chris.SE:
Thanks for the advice, I'll have to try this with a different box as the YouView box we have doesn't allow for manual tuning.
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KarlR's: mapK's Freeview map terrainK's terrain plot wavesK's frequency data K's Freeview Detailed Coverage
C
Chris.SE8:20 PM
KarlR:
Oh dear. I had heard that about Youview boxes, not familiar with them. I'd complain to your service provider that a frimware update is needed to allow this.
Are you finding any channels (LCNs) in the 800's? Does the box have a program manager that would allow you to move/renumber them?
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I
Ian Carrick9:00 PM
Hi,
I use something called DVBLink on a computer which distributes TV from Freeview. Since the latest Pontop Pike changes it fails to retune all but 53 channels out of 166. A rescan does not find the missing ones like BBC.
I am trying with the supplier of DVBLInk but not getting anywhere. My theory is that the transponders are out of date. Just wondering if I list them here would you be able to work out what they mean and if they need to change. Any advice would be fantastic.
Here is that list of transponders. 3,4,5,8 and 9 fail to tune.
1=570000,V,6900
2=578000,V,6900
3=698000,V,6900
4=706000,V,6900
5=738000,V,6900
6=746000,V,6900
7=754000,V,6900
8=770000,V,6900
9=778000,V,6900
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1,2, 6 and 7 successfully re-tune with these channels:
1:
Tyne & Wear TV
Tiny Pop
Sony Movies +1
Sony Channel
Sony Movies Christmas
2:
Sky News
Pick
Challenge
Dave
E4+1
ADULT smileTV3
Film4+1
talkSPORT
RNIB Connect
Classic FM
LBC
Food Network
TJC
TBN UK
Really
Quest Red
QUEST+1
NOW 90s
Sony Movies
ADULT Xpanded TV
Together TV
Create & Craft
Gems TV
697
6:
BBC NEWS HD
Channel 4+1 HD
4seven HD
Jewellery Maker
Trans World Radio
More4+1
RT HD
CBS Reality +1
5USA+1
Quest Red+1
Pick+1
Smithsonian Channel
7:
QVC HD
QVC Beauty HD
CBeebies HD
BBC FOUR HD
QUEST HD
5STAR+1
FreeSports
Forces TV
PBS America
Together TV
NOW 80s
Together TV+1
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