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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Sunday, 30 September 2012
J
John9:59 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: mapJ's Freeview map terrainJ's terrain plot wavesJ's frequency data J's Freeview Detailed Coverage
J
jb3811:07 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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P
Peter7:36 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: mapP's Freeview map terrainP's terrain plot wavesP's frequency data P's Freeview Detailed Coverage
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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Tuesday, 2 October 2012
E
Eileen9:15 AM
Morpeth
I'm having the same problem as John. HD was perfectly ok before the switchover & retuning, but now HD isn't worth watching. SD signal shows 97% - 100% HD is only 5% - 10% and sometimes 0%.
I wrongly assumed signal quality would be improved once analogue signal was switched off.
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Eileen's: mapE's Freeview map terrainE's terrain plot wavesE's frequency data E's Freeview Detailed Coverage
J
jb389:48 AM
Eileen: Whilst on the HD signal signal check screen have a look at the mux channel number being indicated associated with the strength / quality, as if its from Pontop Pike it should be Ch49 whereas if Ch23 its from Bilsdale, Ch25 being from your very local Morpeth relay albeit that the DUK predictor does not indicate that you should be able to receive it.
A contradiction is seen though, as on this site Morpeth is indicated as providing the strongest signal which is at odds with DUK's indications.
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Wednesday, 3 October 2012
E
Eileen8:39 AM
Morpeth
jb38. Hi thanks for your response. Mux channel is showing 49.
Just checked this morning and it shot up from 2% to 48% then down to 4% in a couple of seconds. Is it my aerial do you think? SD channel strength is excellent
Thanks
PS sorry it's taken a while to reply - I'm not getting email updates for some reason.
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Eileen's: mapE's Freeview map terrainE's terrain plot wavesE's frequency data E's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Thursday, 4 October 2012
J
jb388:06 AM
Eileen: The common reason for what you have observed is usually because the signal being received is passing over areas where dense vegetation exists in the form of trees, something which I notice seems to be in an abundance in your area and with the first cluster of them not being that terribly far away, the worst type of situation.
I fully realise you have said that the other channels are OK but signals from the mast as well as being at different heights very seldom ever reach a non line-of-sight aerials in an equal fashion, so what you find is not that unusual.
Changing your aerial would not help this type of situation either as these swings are too great, although sometimes moving the position of an aerial a few feet sideways can help the problem, but this is more in the domain of an enthusiast as its not practicable in the commercial sense for someone being paid to carry this out as its a time consuming exercise.
I dont really feel that you have any option but wait and hope that the situation improves, and which it might do with the season changing and the effects that has on vegetation. The other thing I had meant to say was that if any neighbour might say that their HD is OK then that's simply because they are at a slightly different angle to you are, and what I was meaning about aerial positions.
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E
Eileen9:20 AM
Morpeth
jb38 OK thanks for that. It just seemed a bit odd that HD was ok before switchover and poor afterwards, yet the trees are still the same.
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Eileen's: mapE's Freeview map terrainE's terrain plot wavesE's frequency data E's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Friday, 5 October 2012
J
jb3812:19 AM
Eileen: Although this isn't always generally known about, but when a signal being received has (or relies on) an element of reflection attached to it this can suddenly alter when the signal gets stronger, as the beam angles change slightly in sympathy with the power levels meaning that a signal might start to reflect off something it didn't before, likewise "not" from something it did!, and that aspect "might" be a contributory factor with your particular problem.
The other aspect is that HD signals are far more critical as far as reception conditions are concerned, this being why they will always falter first in situations where the signal being received is slightly too strong as well as in the case of the reverse, the difficulty being that the symptoms seen by the viewer are identical in both situations, picture break ups, freezing, pixilation and all sorts.
Just out of curiosity, what signal levels (strength / quality) do you get indicated on the normal channels? BBC(Ch58) - ITV(Ch54) and ITV3(Ch50)
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