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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
Saturday, 1 April 2023
C
Chris.SE
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

5:02 PM

Richard Sutton:

To add to my last comment, devices with an RF Output might include an old Sky Box.

Your most likely Transmitter for your postcode is indeed correctly Ridge Hill. It's possible that during the 700MHz Clearance programme changes elsewhere may have temporarily affected that prediction but it's more likely to have been some sort of temporary gremlin in the system - on occasion they still exist elsewhere for other transmitters, the predicted reception figure make it obvious that the "most likely" transmitter is incorrect.

Now I note from some of your previous posts, that you've got (not explicitly stated) an amp/splitter in the loft. What make & model is it? Does it have a variable gain control?
I assume such a device is connected to a mains power connection in the loft?

Does it have coax plug connections or does it have F-connector connections?

If Coax, do you have a straight coupler similar to
Close

If F-connector, do you have a straight coupler similar to
Close

With the information we can then proceed with some checks to eliminate some of the potential problems.


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Chris.SE's 4,346 posts GB flag
Friday, 7 April 2023
C
Chris.SE
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

2:37 PM

Richard Sutton:

It seems that Richard's reception oddities will continue to be a mystery, maybe for another 3 1/2 years!

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Chris.SE's 4,346 posts GB flag
Wednesday, 19 April 2023
R
Richard Sutton
sentiment_satisfiedBronze

9:20 PM

Sorry Chris

I need to check why I am getting no notifications that anyone has responded to my post.

I'm going to do another retune as C25 has now gone bad and is unwatchable whereas it was fine when I made the above post. It is now Strength 94%, Quality 30% so a programme that I recorded last night on ITV4 which I just tried to watch is just a pixellated mess.

I'll update on the retune tomorrow.

We don't have any old analogue devices or games consoles or anything of that sort.

The booster in the loft does have a gain control which is on maximum gain and is connected to the mains supply. It has four coax sockets in the front of it but we only use two of the sockets for the two separate cables which run down to the lounge and the breakfast room which are the only rooms with TV/recorders in them.

Many thanks for your assistance.

Richard


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Richard Sutton's 31 posts GB flag
Thursday, 20 April 2023
C
Chris.SE
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

2:47 AM

Richard Sutton:

The email system on this has been somewhat iffy on and off. The default setting is one week I think and is usually a list of the posts on the various pages. There was a possibility of setting it for a more frequent response but I've not tried myself. The last time I tried to change it, it fouled up my mailing completely! I'm not sure if you can set it just to notify of a reply to a specific post.

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R
Richard Sutton
sentiment_satisfiedBronze

8:09 AM

That's odd. I thanked Chris and posted a long reply last night but there is no sign of it on here. Let's see if this short acknowledgement appears.

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Richard Sutton's 31 posts GB flag
R
Richard Sutton
sentiment_satisfiedBronze

8:46 AM

My post from last night has now appeared so I'll continue with the results from this morning. I'm using a manual tune on the LG TV as it has a very good signal strength/quality display.

These are my current figures from Ridge Hill:

C21: Strength 100%, Quality 100%
C22: Strength 100%, Quality 100%
C24: Strength 90%, Quality 20%
C25: Strength 94%, Quality 35%
C27: Strength 100%, Quality 100%
C28: Strength 100%, Quality 100%

As before. the quality for C24 and C25 is terrible although my figures are averages as it jumps + or - 10% around the figures shown.

If I try C29, which is not my region as I'm sure that I'm West Midlands rather than Gloucestershire because the strong BBC channel, C28, shows up as BBC1 West Midlands, I get:

C29: Strength 100%, Quality 50% which also jumps around +/- 10% but is actually better that the alternative C25 but still poor.

I don't actually need C24, the channel which was originally bad, so that's not a big loss although I can't understand why four channels can be 100% / 100% whilst that one is always unwatchable.

However, the big problem for me now is C25 and C29 are both bad. I'll try using C29 to see what that is like as, even though it has always been a worse signal than C25 in the past, it seems that it now might be the better of the two. This assumes that C29 on Ridge Hill is actually broadcasting ITV4. It is according to the channel allocation table shown above but I'm not sure that is correct.

Richard

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Richard Sutton's 31 posts GB flag
R
Richard Sutton
sentiment_satisfiedBronze

9:02 AM

OK, after more investigation using my TV settings, I can see that C29 on Ridge Hill is only broadcasting four programmes:

555 Accessible TV guide
800 ITV1
802 ITVBe
803 E4+1

The table above is obviously incorrect which means that, as things stand, I no longer have access to ITV4.

ITV1 on 800 is fine although keeps breaking up on 003 but, as I only ever watch it in HD on 103, that is of no use to me.

Richard

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R
Richard Sutton
sentiment_satisfiedBronze

11:57 AM

Having spent a couple of hours changing cables and sockets and unplugging all devices which are not currently in use, none of which made any difference at all to reception on C24 and C25, I now suspect that the problem is caused by the high winds over the last few days and the trees between our house and the Ridge Hill antenna.

Is it possible that trees/leaves swaying in the wind could affect C24 and C25 so badly but not affect any of the other channels?

Richard

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Richard Sutton's 31 posts GB flag
C
Chris.SE
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

2:16 PM

Richard Sutton:

Right, there's a number of things to mention. I don't like to give too much technical information in one go as it often just confuses people without any technical background and one doesn't always get the answers needed to try and get to the root of problems.

Firstly, retuning. Pointless. If you are correctly tuned, just because your signal has either disappeared or is pixellated or the Quality has dropped for whatever reason, Weather, Transmitter maintenance, trees, etc. then retuning is more likely just to clear the correct tuning, and then you end up having to repeat it when signals are back to normal (and you won't know exactly when that might be).

2nd. The PSB2/D3&4 mux on C29 (Ridge Hill West) only transmits ITV1 (West Country). The table above is wrong I'm afarid. The appearance of those other channels in the 800s may have come from a retune after recent TV channel swaps on the COM muxes or from another transmitter. If you go to Signal Test on your LG and select C29 & then scroll down once the transmitter information has appeared, you should only find ITV1 listed.

I suggest you do the following to start. Unplug the aerial and start an automatic retune BUT (to save time) as soon as it starts, select Skip and confirm. No channels will be found and memory should be cleared. Then do a Manual tune of all the UHF channels for Central (ie. not C29). When that's complete you can select C29 and it should put ITV1 West in the 800s.
As an aside, if you were to do an Automatic retune having cleared the channels, the set should prompt you for region, & on selecting England then Central, it should put any other channels it's found in the 800s. When you've finished retuning, you could use the Programme Manager to move ITV1 West from the 800s to say LCN 8 in the EPG for convenience if you ever wanted to watch ITV West Region News.

3rd. I did ask in one of my earlier initial responses "do you have a straight coupler similar to
Close "

The reason for this is I need you do do some tests without the amp/splitter in circuit (and powered off) so that we can check for interference and overload conditions before doing anything else.
Unplug the aerial input and your LG TV feed output and connect them with a coupler. Power OFF the amp splitter.
Check and post the Signals Strength and Quality figures of each Ridge Hill UHF channel multiplex including C29. You can then connect things back up and power On the amp/splitter again.
When you've done that, I'll suggest what to do next.

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Chris.SE's 4,346 posts GB flag
R
Richard Sutton
sentiment_satisfiedBronze

5:38 PM

Thanks Chris.

I do have an inline connector so will try the tests you have mentioned and report back
tomorrow.

Richard

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