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

Brian Butterworth first published this on 1st May 2004 at 08:20 - UK Free TV

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51.997,-2.540 or 51°59'49"N 2°32'25"W

HR8 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 22/04/2024 Pixelation or flickering on some or all channels

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.

Mux	H/V	Frequency	Height	Mode	Watts
PSB1 BBCA	H max	C28 (530.0MHz)	363m	DTG-	20,000W
	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)	363m	DTG-	20,000W
	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),
PSB3 BBCB	H max	C22+ (482.2MHz)	363m	DTG-	20,000W
	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 66 TBN UK,
COM4 SDN	H -3dB	C21+ (474.2MHz)	361m	DTG-8	10,000W
	20 Drama, 21 5USA, 29 ITV2 +1, 32 5STAR, 33 5Action, 38 Channel 5 +1, 41 Legend, 42 GREAT! action, 57 Dave ja vu, 58 ITVBe +1, 59 ITV3 +1, 64 Blaze, 67 TRUE CRIME, 68 TRUE CRIME XTRA, 78 TCC, 81 Blaze +1, 83 Together TV, 89 ITV4 +1, 91 WildEarth, 209 Ketchup TV, 210 Ketchup Too, 211 YAAAS!, 267 Al Jazeera English, plus 30 others
COM5 ArqA	H -3dB	C24 (498.0MHz)	366m	DTG-8	10,000W
	11 Sky Mix, 17 Really, 19 Dave, 31 E4 Extra, 36 Sky Arts, 40 Quest Red, 43 Food Network, 47 Film4 +1, 48 Challenge, 49 4seven, 60 Drama +1, 65 That's TV 2, 70 Quest +1, 74 Yesterday +1, 75 That's 90s, 233 Sky News, plus 11 others
COM6 ArqB	H -3dB	C27 (522.0MHz)	361m	DTG-8	10,000W
	12 Quest, 25 W, 27 Yesterday, 34 GREAT! movies, 39 DMAX, 44 HGTV, 52 GREAT! romance, 56 That's TV (UK), 61 GREAT! movies extra, 63 GREAT! romance mix, 71 That’s 60s, 73 HobbyMaker, 82 Talking Pictures TV, 84 PBS America, 235 Al Jazeera Eng, plus 18 others
PSB2 D3+4west	H max	C29 (538.0MHz)	352m	DTG-	20,000W
	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),

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?

BBC Midlands Today 2.9m homes 10.9%
from Birmingham B1 1RF, 69km northeast (39°)
to BBC West Midlands region - 66 masts.

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?

Whitton

Transposer

35 km NW Hereford

40 homes

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

	1968-80s	1984-97	1997-98	1998-2011	2011-13	1 Mar 2018
	VHF	A K T	A K T	A K T	W T	W T
C6	ITV_waves
C21					+SDN	SDN
C22		BBC1_waves	BBC1_waves	BBC1_waves	+BBCB	BBCB
C24					ArqA	ArqA
C25		ITV_waves	ITV_waves	ITV_waves	D3+4	D3+4
C27					ArqB	ArqB
C28		BBC2_waves	BBC2_waves	BBC2_waves	BBCA	BBCA
C29					D3+4
C30					_local
C32		C4_waves	C4_waves	C4_waves		com7
C34						com8
C35			C5_waves	C5_waves
C51_{tv_off}					_local	_local
C55_{tv_off}						com7_{tv_off}
C56_{tv_off}						COM8_{tv_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

Local transmitter maps

Ridge Hill Freeview Ridge Hill DAB Ridge Hill AM/FM Ridge Hill TV region BBC West Midlands Central (West micro region)

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

Feb 1956-Jul 1968	Associated TeleVision†
Feb 1956-Jul 1968	Associated British Corporation◊
Jul 1968-Dec 1981	Associated TeleVision
Jan 1982-Feb 2004	Central Independent Television
Feb 2004-Dec 2014	ITV plc

Feb 1983-Dec 1992	TV-am•
Jan 1993-Sep 2010	GMTV•
Sep 2010-Dec 2014	ITV Daybreak•

• Breakfast ◊ Weekends ♦ Friday night and weekends † Weekdays only.

Is the transmitter output the same in all directions?

Radiation patterns withheld

C

Chris.SE

_{sentiment_very_satisfied}Platinum

12:52 PM

Richard :

Richard Sutton:

As mentioned before IS transmitting. I personally don't have an pointing at at the moment, I may see what I can do over the weekend BUT it was received in Worcester on 21/04/2023 at 01:31:12 and as has been said before only ITV1 () is on the . The Freeview Channel Checker will not include C29 if someone's location is not predicted to receive it!
I have already explained how to check your C29 multiplex on your LG. Please do so.

Quote "When the tree is stationary, is received satisfactorily but when it is swaying in the breeze it blocks the C25 intermittently such that the average signal is unwatchable and worse than its alternate, C29.

However, the converse is true with C29. When the tree is stable the C29 signal is blocked such that it is unwatchable but when the tree is swaying then the average signal strength goes up such that C29 actually becomes more watchable than C25."

RF can sometimes be a bit of a black art! Whilst trees can have an effect, this assumption is pure guesswork at present and whilst the effects of trees CAN be dependent, that fact that you are seeing no effect of the other UHF leads me to conclude that the trees are unlikely to be the PRIMARY issue.
The main multiplexes on virtually all main transmitters are usually on the same , however it is likely that C29 is on separate antenna beamed appropriately.
Whilst is co-channel on C29 with SDN, it is Vertical polarisation and very low power, it's possible that signals might occasionally have some effect on Ridge Hill C29, it's likely to be very small, and in any event is not your main , just an added bonus if you are interested in the West Region News.

I've explained about the tests required without the amp/splitter in place and how to tune your TV correctly to get all the TV channels in the correct LCNs. Please do these tests, they are far more important than any speculation/guesswork about trees, the weather, co-channel or anything else!

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Chris.SE's 4,153 posts GB flag

S

StevensOnln1

_{sentiment_very_satisfied}Platinum

1:54 PM

Richard : Just to confirm Chris' info, digitalbitrate.com monitor 's PSB2() mux from their scanner in Worcester (see link below) which indicates it is broadcast on 538MHz (UHF 29) using QPSK modulation and carries ITV1 as it's only stream (the remaining 5-6Mbps of capacity that isn't used for associated audio/data is packed out with null packets).

https://www.digitalbitrat…g=en

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StevensOnln1's 3,625 posts GB flag

R

Richard Sutton

_{sentiment_satisfied}Bronze

8:25 PM

I will do the tests you have suggested over the weekend, Chris.

I don't really know what the significance is, if any, but on my LG TV the listing which appears below the graphic still says:

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

Richard

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Richard Sutton's 31 posts GB flag

R

Richard Sutton

_{sentiment_satisfied}Bronze

8:29 PM

Sorry .... should have said "on my LG TV listing for "

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Richard Sutton's 31 posts GB flag

C

Chris.SE

_{sentiment_very_satisfied}Platinum

12:44 AM

Richard :

Could you list the Service Type and Service ID for each of those four on please?

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Chris.SE's 4,153 posts GB flag

C

Chris.SE

_{sentiment_very_satisfied}Platinum

1:51 AM

Richard :

Sorry also meant to ask, when the information for comes up on the can you post the TSID and the ID.

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Chris.SE's 4,153 posts GB flag

R

Richard Sutton

_{sentiment_satisfied}Bronze

8:23 AM

No problem Chris. I would normally take a photo and post it on here but I can't see any way to do that. Anyway, here is the full info:

UHF Ch29 (538000 kHz)

ONID TSID ID
Gloucestershire 0x233a 0x201d 0x3038

Code Rate Guard Interval Constellation FFT
2/3 1/32 MODULATION_QPSK 8K

(kHZ) System Bandwidth
538000 DVBT 8 MHz

555 Accessible TV Guide: Service Type : 0xc (Data/Others), Service ID : 0x2199

800 ITV1 : Service Type : 0x1 (DTV), Service ID : 0x204c

802 ITVBe : Service Type : 0x1 (DTV), Service ID : 0x2094

803 E4+1 : Service Type : 0x1 (DTV), Service ID : 0x210a

I this is helpful.

Richard

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Richard Sutton's 31 posts GB flag

R

Richard Sutton

_{sentiment_satisfied}Bronze

8:27 AM

Oh dear. All my careful column spacing using the space bar (the tab key doesn't work) have come to nought. I've no idea why the forum software deletes all the space but you can still read it.

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Richard Sutton's 31 posts GB flag

C

Chris.SE

_{sentiment_very_satisfied}Platinum

12:23 PM

Richard :

That's fine Richard. Thanks. Yes this forum software has some very annoying deficiencies. I can read everything, so I'll have a look at that shortly.

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C

Chris.SE

_{sentiment_very_satisfied}Platinum

4:44 PM

Richard :

Well the Id shows it's ITV1 from . As for the others, whether that is data that's being transmitted by Ridge Hill depends on whether you'd cleared previous tuning in the manner I described earlier. The Ids certainly come from an English , as opposed to any Welsh one as the Id for E4+1 is different as it's carried on SDN on Welsh transmitters. The others may have appeared on a previous retune when weather conditions may have allow from another transmitter carrying D3&4 on but I suspect not.
If you did clear all previous tuning and they've reappeared then I assume they might be as a result of "ghost" PIDs. I guess if you have enough on C29 and can see ITV1 on 800 you'll have nothing (but data) on 802 & 803 if you select them?

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Page 76

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