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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
Wednesday, 28 March 2012
J
jb38
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

11:11 PM

Gary: DSO (digital switchover) work of an on-going nature is taking place at the station in preparation for its high power switchover in September, and as such no completion dates can really be given.

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jb38's 7,179 posts GB flag
Wednesday, 4 April 2012
C
Chris Hylton
1:33 AM

I am not on digital yet. Still have a 20" 4:3 set. Since ~turn of the year, we have nor been getting full picture. The times on the skiing (Eurosport) were not visisble on the RHS of the screen and now on F1 (BBC, analogue or cable) the names of the drivers are not visible on the LHS. Will this be cured if I get a Freeview box or do I need Wide screen. The UK Digital info says I do NOT need a new TV?

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Chris Hylton's 1 post GB flag
M
Mike Dimmick
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

1:43 AM

Chris Hylton: It should be possible to set up the cable box to letterbox the picture rather than cut off the sides, but of course you'll have black bars top and bottom.

The BBC's standard has been 14:9-safe for many years - it's a compromise between 4:3 and 16:9 widescreen which has smaller black bars, top and bottom on a traditional screen and at the sides on a widescreen. They actually broadcast like this on analogue - check whether your TV is set to 'zoom' this picture. On digital, they broadcast 16:9 but all captions are supposed to be within the 14:9 area (i.e. nothing within the areas cut off for the analogue broadcast).

Over time, it's likely that they'll migrate to using the full 16:9 screen, so a widescreen would be a good upgrade at some point.

Analogue is switched off starting from the early hours of 12 September. If you need a backup to your cable box, you'll need to get a Freeview box. I'd recommend getting a Freeview HD box now even before upgrading the TV to HD. You may also find that there are channels available for free on Freeview which have to be purchased on cable.

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Mike Dimmick's 2,486 posts GB flag
D
Dale
10:21 PM
Sunderland

Are there any problems with the freeview hd transmitter as i have lost all 4 channels. I'm in Sunderland and using a Sony tv. Never had a problem until tonight.Rescanned and no joy. Any help would be highly appreciated or is it just a case of wait and see. Thanks

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Dale's 2 posts GB flag
Dale's: mapD's Freeview map terrainD's terrain plot wavesD's frequency data D's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Dave Lindsay
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

10:58 PM

Dale: Transmitter engineering work in preparation for switchover is taking place at Pontop Pike. The answer in such situations as you found yourself is not to retune as that simply wipes the receiver's memory leaving it without the channels. You will now have to repeatedly tune until you get them back. If you have manual tuning, then you should use it (HD services on channel 63).

For Pontop Pike it is not necessary to retune until 12th September and you would be best advised to refrain from doing so.

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Dave Lindsay's 5,724 posts GB flag
D
Dale
11:53 PM
Sunderland

Thanks Dave and yeah you are spot on about losing my hd channels as i've already tried to retune it and they've gone. Whoops. Thought it might have been my aerial as we've had quite high winds. You live and learn hah. Oh well i'll just keep retuning and keeping my fingers crossed. Thanks again Dave it's much appreciated

link to this comment
Dale's 2 posts GB flag
Dale's: mapD's Freeview map terrainD's terrain plot wavesD's frequency data D's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Friday, 6 April 2012
I
Iain
3:16 PM
Chester Le Street

The ITV1+1 from Pontop Pike is now broadcasting ITV1+1 Tyne Tees which has replaced the previous ITV1+1 Yorkshire version

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Iain's 1 post GB flag
Iain's: mapI's Freeview map terrainI's terrain plot wavesI's frequency data I's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Friday, 27 April 2012
T
Terry
8:14 PM

I'm getting a good signal for most channels, but not itv 1 and 2. Is this a ariel problem or a digi box?
Postcode ne13 9be.

link to this comment
Terry's 1 post GB flag
Dave Lindsay
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

8:40 PM

Terry: Bring up the signal strength screen and check that it is tuned to C55 and not C22 which is Fenham.

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Dave Lindsay's 5,724 posts GB flag
Tuesday, 1 May 2012
G
Glen
9:23 AM
Whitley Bay

I am in Whitley Bay and have excellent signal strength from ITV, Ch 4 & 5 with all at 65% usually. BBC 1 & 2 and BBC News 24 are usually only 45% with occasional breakup of picture in the evening. Is the BBC on low power?

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Glen's 1 post GB flag
Glen's: mapG's Freeview map terrainG's terrain plot wavesG's frequency data G's Freeview Detailed Coverage
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