Full Freeview on the Ridge Hill (County of Herefordshire, England) transmitter
 | Google Streetview |  | Google map |  | Bing map |  | Google Earth |  | 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 15/04/2024 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
H/V: aerial position (horizontal or vertical)
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.
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 | ITVwaves | ||||||||
| C21 | +SDN | SDN | |||||||
| C22 | BBC1waves | BBC1waves | BBC1waves | +BBCB | BBCB | ||||
| C24 | ArqA | ArqA | |||||||
| C25 | ITVwaves | ITVwaves | ITVwaves | D3+4 | D3+4 | ||||
| C27 | ArqB | ArqB | |||||||
| C28 | BBC2waves | BBC2waves | BBC2waves | BBCA | BBCA | ||||
| C29 | D3+4 | ||||||||
| C30 | _local | ||||||||
| C32 | C4waves | C4waves | C4waves | com7 | |||||
| C34 | com8 | ||||||||
| C35 | C5waves | C5waves | |||||||
| C51tv_off | _local | _local | |||||||
| C55tv_off | com7tv_off | ||||||||
| C56tv_off | COM8tv_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
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Is the transmitter output the same in all directions?
Radiation patterns withheldMonday, 24 April 2023
C
Chris.SE8:58 PM
Graham Seward:
Richard Sutton:
Information update on C29. During the 700MHz Clearance, on 1 March 2018 when COMs 7&8 moved to C55&C56, D3&4 West changed modulation from 64QAM to QPSK and reduced power from 20kW to 2kW. As previously mentioned the change in modulation with the lower power results in pretty much the same coverage. No sign of a radiation pattern yet though.
The Malvern transmitter (then serving ~57,000 households) started on the 7th March 2018.
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Tuesday, 25 April 2023
R
Richard Sutton1:04 PM
Testing done 13.00 to 13.30 25th April 2023
First test using loft booster only on full gain:
C21: Strength 97%, Quality 100%
C22: Strength 96%, Quality 100%
C24: Strength 66%, Quality 28% (variable)
C25: Strength 74%, Quality 5% (variable)
C27: Strength 94%, Quality 100%
C28: Strength 100%, Quality 100%
C29: Strength 99%, Quality 25% (stable)
Second test using loft booster only on minimum gain:
C21: Strength 91%, Quality 100%
C22: Strength 90%, Quality 100%
C24: Strength 0%, Quality 0%
C25: Strength 46%, Quality 15% (variable)
C27: Strength 86%, Quality 97%
C28: Strength 94%, Quality 100%
C29: Strength 94%, Quality 19% (stable)
What has happened to C25? Yesterday it was reasonable but today it is unwatchable again. There is a very slight breeze today compared to yesterday's total calm but surely it can't be that?
As I'm so surprised that C24 has died completely and C25 has halved in strength but tripled in quality, I increased the booster back to full gain and took the readings again:
C21: Strength 97%, Quality 100%
C22: Strength 96%, Quality 100%
C24: Strength 66%, Quality 28% (variable)
C25: Strength 74%, Quality 4% (variable)
C27: Strength 94%, Quality 100%
C28: Strength 100%, Quality 100%
C29: Strength 99%, Quality 23% (stable)
Once again, turning the loft booster down to minimum gain:
C21: Strength 91%, Quality 100%
C22: Strength 90%, Quality 100%
C24: Strength 0%, Quality 0%
C25: Strength 46%, Quality 14% (variable)
C27: Strength 82%, Quality 98%
C28: Strength 94%, Quality 100%
C29: Strength 94%, Quality 19% (stable)
I cannot understand how signals from the same transmitter can vary from 0% / 0% to 100% / 100% at the same time.
I also cannot understand how the quality of C25 increases threefold when the booster gain is reduced from max to min, albeit it is still unwatchable, whereas C24 goes from 66% / 28% on max gain to 0% / 0% on min gain when the effect of the same change in gain on C21, C22, C27 and C28 is marginal.
As things stand, ITV4 on C25 is currently unwatchable whereas yesterday it was fine. Just to check, I did a further test with both boosters out of circuit again:
C21: Strength 82%, Quality 100%
C22: Strength 74%, Quality 100%
C24: Strength 14%, Quality 1% (variable)
C25: Strength 30%, Quality 28% (variable)
C27: Strength 62%, Quality 100%
C28: Strength 91%, Quality 100%
C29: Strength 90%, Quality 8% (stable)
Without any boosters and under current atmospheric conditions, C25 is just about watchable without any boosters although it is half the quality it was yesterday. C24 is not watchable without the booster in circuit and set to full gain and neither is C29. However, as I'm not interested in C24 or C29, I will leave things as they are, i.e. no boosters, and do the tests under difference atmospheric conditions.
Richard
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C
Chris.SE1:36 PM
Richard Sutton:
Hmm, interesting. Yes see how things change over the next 24hrs. Based on what you've seen so far I'm thinking tweaking the gain somewhere in between to get a more consistent quality on C25 & C27 as I don't think we are into overload conditions, unless there's some interference that's saturating things. The cause could be the trees or interference, especially seeing C27 slightly affected.
Try and investigate this potential interference issue now. As mentioned see what neighbours experiences may be. Also consider things like a nearby street light or similar that may even be on 24/7.
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R
Richard Sutton2:13 PM
One thing that strikes me looking at these figures again is the issue of C25 ITV1 on 3 and C29 ITV1 on 800.
I do not even think that C29 is directed to my area but actually watching ITV on these channels it is immediately obvious that the picture on 800 appears to be fine but when I watch it on 3 I can see that the picture is breaking up a little every few seconds. However, when I check the signal for C29 and C25 I can see that C29 is 90% / 12% whilst C25 is 30% / 28%.
Without any boosters, I am getting a much stronger signal from the channel that I'm not supposed to be receiving and, although the quality is half of the quality from the channel that I am supposed to be using, the poor quality channel is actually giving me a better picture.
I have lived with this mess for 25 years now and have still never got to the bottom of it.
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R
Richard Sutton2:50 PM
I only have four neighbouring houses but we are all widely separated and surrounded by gardens on all sides.
Three of the four have no TV aerials and use Sky / internet and one has a vertically polarised antenna on a long pole, like mine, but pointed towards Lark Stoke. I have never tried Lark Stoke as it is not the recommended transmitter for my postcode but perhaps that was the first mistake I made 25 years ago?
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R
Richard Sutton3:01 PM
By the way, C29 has now changed to carrying just two programmes, 800 ITV1 and 803 Accessible TV Guide. ITVBe and E4+1 have both vanished overnight.
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Wednesday, 26 April 2023
C
Chris.SE1:20 AM
Richard Sutton:
I wouldn't call any particular choice of transmitter necessarily a mistake. Predictions are what they are, based on typical aerial heights of 10m, but obviously cannot take into account any local obstructions like trees or tall buildings etc. and what you get on the spot can be different.
Your neighbour would need a tall pole because the terrain gives a local obstruction on the line-of-sight to Lark Stoke. However it may still have been the only option because there maybe trees or buildings on the LoS to Ridge Hill or Sutton Coldfield making the signals from them far more unreliable, have a look and see what things look like. It would still be a weaker signal than an unobstructed signal from Ridge Hill.
Out of interest, check how your aerial points (use a compass on a smart phone?). It's 253 degrees for Ridge Hill, 8 degrees for Sutton Coldfield, 101 degrees for Lark Stoke (V) but often slight tweaking is needed for optimum signal.
Try and check the interference possibilities but in view of what you've seen today, I'm suspecting the trees could be the issue. Trees can affect a narrow band of frequencies, not just by obstructing a signal but producing multipath distortions, even polarisation changes! Whist DTV is generally very good at coping with multipath, sometimes just the wrong position/distance from trees can have a serious effect, but never the less it would be a good idea to try and ensure interference isn't a likely cause.
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Thursday, 4 May 2023
R
Richard Sutton7:30 AM
Just to update this thread, it's a windy day today and the large conifer is swaying from side to side and the usual 4 channels are fine at 100% quality but the dodgy channels, C24 and C25, are both jumping up and down by 50% every second. C24 jumps between 20% and 70% quality and C25 between 0% and 50%.
I still have no idea why frequencies below 489 MHz or above 506 MHz do not seem to be affected by the tree but it would seem that I'm stuck with it unless I start aerial spinning again to try and find a better transmitter.
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C
Chris.SE12:58 PM
Richard Sutton:
Have you checked out the potential interference situation from other sources? Depending on possible sources, that can affect only a small band of frequencies.
Did you tweak the gain to try and find a happy compromise with the Quality figures?
I'm not prepared to conclude it's the trees until you can rule out other possible sources of interference, whilst I do think it's likely. As I explained trees can cause multipath reflections which can occur in a narrow band of frequencies and may only cause an issue at certain distances away. Sometimes repositioning an aerial can resolve such things, on the other hand it could create different problems.
Who owns the trees? Can you not get them trimmed or chopped down?
Whilst the Freeview predictor shows Sutton Coldfield as the only other transmitter likely to give reliable signals on all multiplexes (compass bearing 8 degrees) it can't be relied upon 100% as the local terrain and obstructions can often make a big difference as you move around the postcode.
Malvern (vertically polarised) might be another possible option as 2nd best , almost due West.
You need to look at the visible line of sight locally in the directions I mentioned in a previous post.
If you decide to reposition the aerial you need a proper professional installer who has proper signal strength measuring equipment and a spectrum analyser, that won't be especially cheap but should be able to decide on the best possible transmitter at your specific aerial position.
Failing all that, you could consider Freesat. If your set already has a built-in satellite tuner all you'd need is a dish and LNB (& cable).
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R
Richard Sutton4:15 PM
I'm pretty sure that the problem is the tall conifer because the wind has now dropped away almost completely and C24 is now quality about 10% +/- 5% and C25 is 15% +/- 10% and are therefore much more stable than they were a few hours ago. Everything else in the house is the same as it was this morning but the previous wild 50% swings now seem to be more under control, presumably because the tree is now barely moving.
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