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

first published this on - UK Free TV
sa_streetviewGoogle Streetviewsa_gmapsGoogle mapsa_bingBing mapsa_gearthGoogle Earthsa_gps50.676,-1.369 or 50°40'35"N 1°22'7"Wsa_postcodePO30 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 25/03/2024 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
_______

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.

MuxH/VFrequencyHeightModeWatts
PSB1
BBCA
 V max
 H max
C24 (498.0MHz)
320mDTG-200,000W
200,000W
Channel icons
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, plus 17 others

PSB2
D3+4
 V max
 H max
C27 (522.0MHz)
320mDTG-200,000W
200,000W
Channel icons
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)
320mDTG-200,000W
200,000W
Channel icons
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, 107 BBC Three HD, 204 CBBC HD, 205 CBeebies HD, plus 1 others

COM4
SDN
 H -6dB
 V -6dB
C25 (506.0MHz)
299mDTG-850,000W
50,000W
Channel icons
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 -6dB
 V -6dB
C22+ (482.2MHz)
302mDTG-850,000W
50,000W
Channel icons
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 -6dB
 V -6dB
C28 (530.0MHz)
302mDTG-850,000W
50,000W
Channel icons
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

LSO
 H -13dB
C37 (602.0MHz)299mDTG-1210,000W
Channel icons
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?

regional news image
BBC South Today 1.3m homes 4.9%
from Southampton SO14 7PU, 26km north (354°)
to BBC South region - 39 masts.
regional news image
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 DocksTransposer2 km N city centre50 homes Estimate. Group of houses'

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

1950s-80s1984-971997-981998-20122012-132 May 2018
VHFA K TA K TA K TA K TW T
C3BBCtvwaves
C21C4wavesC4wavesC4waves+BBCBBBCB
C22+ArqAArqA
C24BBC2wavesBBC2wavesBBC2wavesBBCABBCA
C25SDNSDN
C27ITVwavesITVwavesITVwavesD3+4D3+4
C28ArqBArqB
C29LSO
C31BBC1wavesBBC1wavesBBC1wavescom7
C37com8
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 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

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

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

Comments
Friday, 3 April 2015
Dave Lindsay
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

2:12 PM

Stuart: Yes.

Unfortunately "common sense" with respect to all multiplexes going vertical has not prevailed. Thus, vertical polarisation is only best where reception of COM4 to 6 is not good and where COM7 (and 8 in the future) is to be forfeited or is otherwise not good anyway.

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Dave Lindsay's 5,724 posts GB flag
Wednesday, 15 April 2015
A
Alan Beale
3:58 PM

I live in Arundel West Sussex and cannot receive Sky news channel 132 on freeview on my Panasonic smart tv or my Alba ordinary tv. Why is this please?

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Alan Beale's 1 post GB flag
Dave Lindsay
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

4:57 PM

Alan Beale: Freeview services are transmitted in groups each of which is a single signal known as a multiplex or "mux". For this reason it's best if we talk about each mux.

So, from Digital UK, Sky News is on COM5. The full list is here:


Digital UK Industry - Channel listings


If this is a reception issue then you must be missing Pick and all other COM5 services.

The six main multiplexes are, along with the first service on each:

PSB1 - BBC One
PSB2 - ITV
PSB3 - BBC One HD
COM4 - ITV3
COM5 - Pick
COM6 - 4Music

There are differences in the signals of the COMs vs the PSBs. The coverage of the COMs isn't as good so you may have to go further in order achieve stable reception.

Do you have COM4 and COM6? Also, try a manual tune for COM5 which is on UHF channel 22 (482MHz). Go to the manual tune screen and enter/select this channel/frequency but don't press the button to scan/add services, rather wait and see what sort of quality and strength readings you get and whether they are stable. Having observed for a minute or so try scanning.

Rowridge is unique. Since switchover in 2011 it's been broadcasting horizontally and vertically. PSB channels radiate at a power of 200kW horizontally and vertically, whereas COM4-6 are 50kW horizontally and 200kW vertically.

So turning the aerial for vertical polarisation might solve the problem were it not for the fact that the new quasi-national COM7 HD multiplex broadcasts only horizontally and it's only 24kW.

This, of course, complicates matters. The preference must be to achieve reception of all channels horizontally. If COM7 is out of the question then without question switch the aerial to vertical.

Looking at satellite images and StreetView I would suggest that the trees may be the main cause of any difficulty. The terrain plot suggests you may have clear line-of-sight at 37 miles, were it not for objects on the ground and this assumes increase in the terrain close to you which the plotter hasn't sampled:


Terrain between ( m a.g.l.) and (antenna m a.g.l.) - Optimising UK DTT Freeview and Radio aerial location


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Dave Lindsay's 5,724 posts GB flag
Monday, 18 May 2015
Transmitter engineering
sentiment_very_satisfiedOwner

10:32 AM

ROWRIDGE transmitter - MainPossible service interruptions [DUK]

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Transmitter engineering's 149,799 posts xx flag
Friday, 22 May 2015
N
Nigel Gout
4:38 PM
Lymington

I've lost access to Quest (37) but can get Quest +1. Have retuned both TVs but 37 doesn't even appear?
Postcode SO41 0LH. I believe signal comes from Rowridge in Isle of Wight.

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Nigel Gout's 1 post GB flag
Nigel's: mapN's Freeview map terrainN's terrain plot wavesN's frequency data N's Freeview Detailed Coverage
J
jb38
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

8:03 PM

Nigel Gout: Quest (37) is on the same multiplex as ITV3 (10), if you are also unable to view the latter then you are not receiving COM4/SDN.

It should though be noted that engineering work has been taking place at Rowridge since 18th, with a "possible service interruptions" tag listed against the station, and so this might be the reason for your problem.

As COM4 from Rowridge transmits on Mux C25, try carrying out a manual scan on C25 now and again, as this might resolve the problem without upsetting anything already stored.

Just out of interest, is your aerial mounted vertically or horizontally? as the ERP power on COM4 horizontal is only 50Kw, whereas on vertical its 200Kw, therefore should any temporary reduction in power prove to necessary for safety reasons etc, this will always have a greater effect on installations with horizontally mounted aerials.

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jb38's 7,179 posts GB flag
C
colin1951uk
10:06 PM

Nigel Gout I can confim engineering problems with Rowridge this week.

I've had several stations drop out for a few minutes but they've always come back and I'm sure this is what you're experiencing with Quest.

If I were you and you haven't got it back yet try a retune around midnight and everything should turn out fine. You'll even find two new stations on COM8, not that they're worth having!

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colin1951uk's 20 posts GB flag
Saturday, 23 May 2015
M
Mark Morgan
8:15 AM

I have lost ALL my freebies stations. Retuning has no effect. I am in Poole and receive freeview from Rowridge. My aerial is aligned vertically and is barely 3 months old. The signal died sometime on Friday. 22nd. I would describe my tech knowledge as limited so any advice would be gratefully received!

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Mark Morgan's 1 post GB flag
Sunday, 7 June 2015
D
David bowden
11:46 AM

Have lost 95% of channel's today, and those still available are of poor quality.
I am using the rowridge transmitter but they say there are no faults.

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David bowden's 1 post GB flag
M
MikeB
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

5:57 PM

David bowden: Then logically its you! Check back from the back of the TV up the signal path. Could be as simple as the aerial lead falling out of the socket on the TV, but equally could be a frayed or corroded cable, moisture via a crack, loose or broken connection, etc.

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MikeB's 2,579 posts GB flag
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Your comment please
Please post a question, answer or commentIf you have Freeview reception problems before posting a question your must first do this Freeview reset procedure then see: Freeview reception has changed, Single frequency interference, and Freeview intermittent interference.

If you have no satellite signal, see Sky Digibox says 'No Signal' or 'Technical fault'

If you have other problems, please provide a full (not partial) postcode (or preferably enter it in box at the top right) and indicate where if aerial is on the roof, in the loft or elsewhere.

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