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Full Freeview on the Ridge Hill (County of Herefordshire, England) transmitter

first published this on - UK Free TV
sa_streetviewGoogle Streetviewsa_gmapsGoogle mapsa_bingBing mapsa_gearthGoogle Earthsa_gps51.997,-2.540 or 51°59'49"N 2°32'25"Wsa_postcodeHR8 2PG

 

The symbol shows the location of the Ridge Hill (County of Herefordshire, England) transmitter which serves 270,000 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 Ridge Hill (County of Herefordshire, England) mast?

Ridge Hill transmitter - Ridge Hill 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 Ridge Hill 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
C28 (530.0MHz)363mDTG-20,000W
Channel icons
1 BBC One (SD) West Midlands, 2 BBC Two England, 9 BBC Four, 23 BBC Three, 201 CBBC, 202 CBeebies, 231 BBC News, 232 BBC Parliament, plus 19 others

PSB2
D3+4
 H max
C25 (506.0MHz)363mDTG-20,000W
Channel icons
3 ITV 1 (SD) (Central (West micro region)), 4 Channel 4 (SD) Midlands ads, 5 Channel 5, 6 ITV 2, 10 ITV3, 13 E4, 14 Film4, 15 Channel 4 +1 Midlands ads, 18 More4, 26 ITV4, 28 ITVBe, 30 E4 +1, 35 ITV1 +1 (Central west), 71 That’s 60s,

PSB3
BBCB
 H max
C22+ (482.2MHz)363mDTG-20,000W
Channel icons
46 5SELECT, 101 BBC One HD West Midlands, 102 BBC Two HD England, 103 ITV 1 HD (ITV Central West), 104 Channel 4 HD Midlands 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
C21+ (474.2MHz)361mDTG-810,000W
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
C24 (498.0MHz)366mDTG-810,000W
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
C27 (522.0MHz)361mDTG-810,000W
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

PSB2
D3+4west
 H max
C29 (538.0MHz)352mDTG-20,000W
Channel icons
3 ITV 1 (SD) (West), 4 Channel 4 (SD) South ads, 5 Channel 5, 6 ITV 2, 10 ITV3, 13 E4, 14 Film4, 15 Channel 4 +1 South ads, 18 More4, 26 ITV4, 28 ITVBe, 30 E4 +1, 35 ITV1 +1 (West), 71 That’s 60s,

DTG-8 64QAM 8K 3/4 27.1Mb/s DVB-T MPEG2
H/V: aerial position (horizontal or vertical)

Which BBC and ITV regional news can I watch from the Ridge Hill transmitter?

regional news image
BBC Midlands Today 2.9m homes 10.9%
from Birmingham B1 1RF, 69km northeast (39°)
to BBC West Midlands region - 66 masts.
regional news image
ITV Central News 2.9m homes 10.9%
from Birmingham B1 2JT, 69km northeast (39°)
to ITV Central (West) region - 65 masts.
All of lunch, weekend and 80% evening news is shared with Central (East)

Are there any self-help relays?

WhittonTransposer35 km NW Hereford40 homes

How will the Ridge Hill (County of Herefordshire, England) transmission frequencies change over time?

1968-80s1984-971997-981998-20112011-131 Mar 2018
VHFA K TA K TA K TW TW T
C6ITVwaves
C21+SDNSDN
C22BBC1wavesBBC1wavesBBC1waves+BBCBBBCB
C24ArqAArqA
C25ITVwavesITVwavesITVwavesD3+4D3+4
C27ArqBArqB
C28BBC2wavesBBC2wavesBBC2wavesBBCABBCA
C29D3+4
C30_local
C32C4wavesC4wavesC4wavescom7
C34com8
C35C5wavesC5waves
C51tv_off_local_local
C55tv_offcom7tv_off
C56tv_offCOM8tv_off

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 6 Apr 11 and 20 Apr 11.

How do the old analogue and currrent digital signal levels compare?

Analogue 1-5 100kW
BBCA, D3+4, PSB2 iw, BBCB(-7dB) 20kW
com7(-9.8dB) 10.5kW
SDN, ARQA, ARQB(-10dB) 10kW
com8(-10.1dB) 9.8kW
Mux 1*, Mux 2*, Mux A*, Mux B*, Mux C*, Mux D*(-17dB) 2kW

Which companies have run the Channel 3 services in the Ridge Hill transmitter area

Feb 1956-Jul 1968Associated TeleVision†
Feb 1956-Jul 1968Associated British Corporation◊
Jul 1968-Dec 1981Associated TeleVision
Jan 1982-Feb 2004Central Independent 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.

Is the transmitter output the same in all directions?

Radiation patterns withheld

Comments
Tuesday, 9 July 2019
S
StevensOnln1
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

1:02 PM

Richard Sutton: ITV4 is only broadcast from Ridge Hill on UHF channel 25 (UHF 29 only carries ITV West with no other services). Have you checked for any loose or damaged cables or connections? Do you get the same results on ITV2 and ITV3 (both are on the same PSB2 mux as ITV4)? If you provide a full postcode someone may be able to offer more specific advice.

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StevensOnln1's 3,669 posts GB flag
R
Richard Sutton
sentiment_satisfiedBronze

3:07 PM
Evesham

StevensOnln1:

Many thanks for commenting but surely the detailed listing above shows ITV4 and the other related Freeview channels as being available on both C25 and C29 as well as the regional version of ITV? At least, that's how I'm reading it but I might be wrong.

Either way, I can certainly receive both C25 and C29 but they are both hopelessly weak and one of them (I'm not sure which) used to be fine until the last few weeks.

I've just tried ITV2 and ITV3 and they are both breaking up and unwatchable just like ITV4. I don't see how it can be a connection issue as all the other channels are 100% quality.

This is the Coverage Checker result for WR11 4HQ: Coverage Checker - Detailed View

It used to show Ridge Hill as the best for me which is why I have been on it ever since switchover but that has now changed to Sutton Coldfield which is the transmitter I used to use pre-switchover.

Richard



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Richard Sutton's 31 posts GB flag
Richard's: mapR's Freeview map terrainR's terrain plot wavesR's frequency data R's Freeview Detailed Coverage
S
StevensOnln1
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

3:58 PM

Richard Sutton: The detailed listing above is incorrect for UHF channel 29, there are no other services on the PSB2west mux from Ridge Hill (this mux is an anomaly that this website doesn't appear to be coded to cope with and no other transmitter has anything like it that I'm aware of).

Have you actually checked your cables and connections or are you just assuming that there's nothing wrong? If everything else is showing 100% signal strength then you may well be suffering with signal overload on those 2 muxes. You could also be suffering from local interference, although that seems less likely if PSB1 on UHF channel 28 (BBC 1 SD, BBC 2 SD, etc) are fine.

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StevensOnln1's 3,669 posts GB flag
R
Richard Sutton
sentiment_satisfiedBronze

4:11 PM

StevensOnln1:

I just realised that our the newish LG 4K TV I can do a signal test on each Channel mux and it lists all the broadcast channels available on that mux and you're right. C29 which I can get with a watchable signal is only ITV and the LG has put that on 800.

ITV4 which I want is listed on C25 by the LG but the signal checker currently shows UHF Ch25 (506000 kHz) as being Signal Strength 94%, Signal Quality 1% - 4% so it's unwatchable.

This must mean that I have also now lost Film 4 on channel so I've just checked that live and that is just like the ITV channels, i.e. unwatchable. I've recorded dozens of films of over the last few years on Film 4, the most recent I've just checked was a film called "Thanks for Sharing" which I recorded on the Humax on the 4th July 2019 and I've just checked and that looks fine.

Whatever has happened to C25 seems to have happened in the last few days although I only realised when I tried to watch the BSB recording from ITV4 last night.

I wonder what's happened?

Richard




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Richard Sutton's 31 posts GB flag
S
StevensOnln1
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

5:58 PM

Richard Sutton: High signal strength is most likely either down to interference or signal overload. Try fitting an attenuator to reduce the signal strength (somewhere around 75% signal strength will still give the tuner plenty of signal without causing it to become overloaded if that is what is happening).

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StevensOnln1's 3,669 posts GB flag
R
Richard Sutton
sentiment_satisfiedBronze

7:18 PM

StevensOnln1:

I've taken your advice and unplugged and re-plugged all the aerial cables in the lounge and in the loft and that seems to have restored the signal quality on C25/ITV4 back to around 50%. It's nowhere as near as good as all the other channels but the picture looks fine and it's not breaking up.

I don't understand why only C25 seems to be affected by the corroding connection or whatever it is but I'm delighted that I finally understand that C25 is the only one I need and I can stop trying to tune in to C29 as I'm not interested in ITV SD.

It seems that this connection thing is just something I will need to keep an eye on.

Many thanks for you help which has been invaluable.

Richard


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Richard Sutton's 31 posts GB flag
Saturday, 24 August 2019
J
JB
8:56 AM

Hi - after some self help! I've recently moved into a property in Hagley, Worcestershire. Having auto tuned the 3 TVs around the house picked up variable signal quality and often dropped out. Having looking into further I believe auto tune was picking up a mixture of transmitters, namely Bromsgrove and Ridge Hill. Bizarrely it seemed Ridge Hill was delivering the most stable transmissons, so I manually tuned all the TVs to all of the COMs bar 7 & 8 as they were really sketchy. Even some of the lower powered COMs (10k) power used to drop out, but a lot of the time they were watchable. Now even the 20k COMs occasionally drop out. It's a rented property and the aerial in the loft, so I couldn't see for sure which way it's pointing. I did wonder if it was omnidirectional but having looked for the first time yesterday, the aerial is vertically polarised and points north of the property actually I believe towards Shropshire!

I'm really confused as I'm pretty sure I'm getting signal from Ridge Hill, but surely the aerial would be south of where we are and horizontal?

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated. I'm tempted to spin the aerial around south and put horizontal but i think that could be guesswork and might just make me worse off! DY9 0WQ

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JB's 5 posts GB flag
S
StevensOnln1
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

9:02 AM

JB: Is this a new build property? Your postcode isn't returning a result on the Digital UK checker. If the aerial is vertical and pointing towards Shropshire, it's probably pointed at the Wrekin. Can you find another postcode for a shop/pub/school or other business/public building nearby?

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StevensOnln1's 3,669 posts GB flag
J
JB
9:27 AM

StevensOnln1: DY9 ONS is local school. Yes it's new build. The Wrekin is horizontal too? I think some of their COMs might be similar to Ridge Hill in terms of frequency?

Thanks for quick reply

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JB's 5 posts GB flag
J
JB
9:29 AM
Stourbridge

Yes new build. Dy9 0NS is local school and just checking that says the Wrekin. However, the Wrekin is Horizontal too? Confused, this the COMs are similar in terms of frequency to Ridge Hill too

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JB's 5 posts GB flag
JB's: ...
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