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Full Freeview on the Rowridge (Isle Of Wight, England) transmitter

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

50.676,-1.369 or 50°40'35"N 1°22'7"W

PO30 4HT

The symbol shows the location of the Rowridge (Isle Of Wight, England) transmitter which serves 620,000 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 Rowridge (Isle Of Wight, England) mast?

Rowridge transmitter - Rowridge transmitter: Possible effect on TV reception week commencing 25/09/2023 Pixelation or flickering on some or all channels

Choose from three options: ■ List by multiplex ■ List by channel number ■ List by channel name

_______

Which Freeview channels does the Rowridge 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	V max H max	C24 (498.0MHz)	320m	DTG-	200,000W 200,000W
	1 BBC One (SD) South, 2 BBC Two England, 9 BBC Four, 23 BBC Three, 201 CBBC, 202 CBeebies, 231 BBC News, 232 BBC Parliament, 250 BBC Red Button, plus 16 others
PSB2 D3+4	V max H max	C27 (522.0MHz)	320m	DTG-	200,000W 200,000W
	3 ITV 1 (SD) (Meridian (South Coast micro region)), 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 (Meridian south coast),
PSB3 BBCB	V max H max	C21+ (474.2MHz)	320m	DTG-	200,000W 200,000W
	46 5SELECT, 101 BBC One HD South, 102 BBC Two HD England, 103 ITV 1 HD (ITV Meridian Southampton), 104 Channel 4 HD South ads, 105 Channel 5 HD, 106 BBC Four HD, 109 BBC Three HD, 204 CBBC HD, 205 CBeebies HD, plus 1 others 66 TBN UK,
COM4 SDN	H -6dB V -6dB	C25 (506.0MHz)	299m	DTG-8	50,000W 50,000W
	20 Drama, 21 5USA, 29 ITV2 +1, 32 5STAR, 33 5Action, 38 Channel 5 +1, 41 Legend, 42 Great! Movies Action, 57 Dave ja vu, 58 ITVBe +1, 59 ITV3 +1, 64 Blaze, 67 CBS Reality, 69 HorrorXtra, 78 TCC, 81 Blaze +1, 89 ITV4 +1, 91 WildEarth, 203 CITV, 208 Pop Player, 209 Ketchup TV, 210 Ketchup Too, 211 YAAAS!, plus 16 others
COM5 ArqA	H -6dB V -6dB	C22+ (482.2MHz)	302m	DTG-8	50,000W 50,000W
	Smithsonian Channel, 11 Sky Arts, 17 Really, 19 Dave, 31 E4 Extra, 36 pick, 40 Quest Red, 43 Food Network, 47 Film4 +1, 48 Challenge, 49 4seven, 60 Drama +1, 70 Quest +1, 71 That's 60s, 74 Yesterday +1, 75 That's 70s, 233 Sky News, plus 9 others
COM6 ArqB	H -6dB V -6dB	C28 (530.0MHz)	302m	DTG-8	50,000W 50,000W
	Quest Red +1, Classic Hits, 12 Quest, 25 W, 27 Yesterday, 34 GREAT! movies, 39 DMAX, 44 HGTV, 52 GREAT! romance, 73 HobbyMaker, 76 That's 80s, 82 Talking Pictures TV, 83 Together TV, 84 PBS America, 90 Together TV +1, 235 Al Jazeera Eng, plus 19 others
LSO	H -13dB	C37 (602.0MHz)	299m	DTG-12	10,000W
	from 22nd December 2014: 7 That's Solent,

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 Rowridge transmitter?

BBC South Today 1.3m homes 4.9%
from Southampton SO14 7PU, 26km north (354°)
to BBC South region - 39 masts.

ITV Meridian News 0.9m homes 3.6%
from Whiteley PO15 7AD, 24km north-northeast (20°)
to ITV Meridian (South Coast) region - 39 masts.
All of lunch, weekend and 50% evening news is shared with all of Meridian plus Oxford

Are there any self-help relays?

Portsmouth Docks

Transposer

2 km N city centre

50 homes Estimate. Group of houses'

How will the Rowridge (Isle Of Wight, England) transmission frequencies change over time?

	1950s-80s	1984-97	1997-98	1998-2012	2012-13	2 May 2018
	VHF	A K T	A K T	A K T	A K T	W T
C3	BBCtv_waves
C21		C4_waves	C4_waves	C4_waves	+BBCB	BBCB
C22					+ArqA	ArqA
C24		BBC2_waves	BBC2_waves	BBC2_waves	BBCA	BBCA
C25					SDN	SDN
C27		ITV_waves	ITV_waves	ITV_waves	D3+4	D3+4
C28					ArqB	ArqB
C29						LSO
C31		BBC1_waves	BBC1_waves	BBC1_waves		com7
C37						com8
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 7 Mar 12 and 21 Mar 12.

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

Analogue 1-4	500kW
PSB1\|\|, PSB1≡, PSB2\|\|, PSB2≡, PSB3\|\|, PSB3≡	(-4dB) 200kW
COM4≡, COM4\|\|, COM5≡, COM5\|\|, COM6≡, COM6\|\|	(-10dB) 50kW
com7≡	(-13.1dB) 24.4kW
Mux 1, Mux 2, Mux A, Mux B, Mux C, Mux D	(-14dB) 20kW
com8≡	(-14.3dB) 18.4kW
LSO≡	(-17dB) 10kW

Local transmitter maps

Rowridge Freeview Rowridge DAB Rowridge TV region BBC South Meridian (South Coast micro region)

Which companies have run the Channel 3 services in the Rowridge transmitter area

Aug 1958-Jan 1992	Southern Television
Jan 1982-Dec 1992	Television South (TVS)
Jan 1993-Feb 2004	Meridian
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. Rowridge 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.

Is the transmitter output the same in all directions?

Comments

Monday, 4 September 2023

Steve Donaldson

_{sentiment_satisfied}Bronze

11:09 PM

TIM wardlaw: I think the best course of action to "hopefully" get good for COM4-6 is to switch to vertical polarity, this if you haven't already done so. The word "hopefully" is in quotes because with reception issues there is never a guarantee, and that in this instance it would seem reasonable to conclude that the higher- VP signals may solve the issue.

Looking back at earlier postings, you have spoken on the saga of HP versus VP. Since COM7 and COM8 were turned off, there is no longer any HP-only , with the exception of the Southampton one, broadcast in the direction of Southampton.

You have previously given your location as New Milton, and the Freeview Detailed Coverage Checker does not even suggest the Southampton Local TV multiplex as a possibility for your postcode, hence why I suggest it is probably and open and shut case for switching to VP where HP is not satisfactory.

Rowridge, uniquely, broadcasts with both horizontal and vertical polarity, having done so since in 2012. PSB1-3 are 200kW HP and 200kW VP. COM4-6 are 50kW HP and 200kW VP.

It occurred to me at switchover that Rowridge had effectively become VP, with the HP transmissions more for legacy purposes, to serve those whose aerials had not been reoriented from horizontal. Subsequently, of course, the HP-only multiplexes of COM7, COM8 and Southampton Local TV threw a spanner in the works, creating a dog's dinner whereby some viewers would have faced the choice of switching back to HP, and possibly having to sacrifice good reception on one or multiplexes to benefit on one or more others.

The power of 50kW for COM4-6 is in no way "low", many main transmitters not even reaching such. Being so close to the as you are, I wonder if the trees in your vicinity in the direction of the transmitter are shadowing the signal for you, hence poor or variable reception.

The most likely reason for the lower power HP COMs at Rowridge is because they are co- with the COMs of and (both which broadcast only HP). The PSBs of Rowridge with these two transmitters are not co-channel.

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Steve Donaldson's 75 posts GB flag

Friday, 8 September 2023

Chris.SE

_{sentiment_very_satisfied}Platinum

2:41 AM

No "South Today" Saturday 9th September
Essential engineering work affecting viewers of BBC One South on Saturday 9th September 2023 | Help receiving TV and radio

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Chris.SE's 3,686 posts GB flag

Friday, 15 September 2023

Transmitter engineering

_{sentiment_very_satisfied}Owner

10:48 AM

- Rowridge transmitter: Possible effect on TV week commencing 11/09/2023 Pixelation or flickering on some or all [DUK]

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Transmitter engineering's 143,939 posts GB flag

Monday, 18 September 2023

Transmitter engineering

_{sentiment_very_satisfied}Owner

5:09 AM

- Rowridge transmitter: Possible effect on TV week commencing 18/09/2023 Pixelation or flickering on some or all [DUK]

link to this comment

Transmitter engineering's 143,939 posts GB flag

Monday, 25 September 2023

Transmitter engineering

_{sentiment_very_satisfied}Owner

5:10 AM

- Rowridge transmitter: Possible effect on TV week commencing 25/09/2023 Pixelation or flickering on some or all [DUK]

link to this comment

Transmitter engineering's 143,939 posts GB flag

R Murchie

_{sentiment_satisfied}Bronze

2:34 PM

Is this work the cause of occasional short-lived dropouts on PSB3 from with a black screen and a '' message? I usually get a strong signal so these dropouts are an unpleasant surprise.

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R Murchie's 24 posts GB flag

Tuesday, 26 September 2023

Chris.SE

_{sentiment_very_satisfied}Platinum

12:34 AM

R Murchie:

As the report says "pixellation or flickering on some or all ", so that is highly probable.
If the "flickering" is a brief drop in signal, then getting a message wouldn't be unexpected.

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Chris.SE's 3,686 posts GB flag

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