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

first published this on - UK Free TV
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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.

This transmitter has no current reported problems

The BBC and Digital UK report there are no faults or engineering work on the Rowridge (Isle Of Wight, England) transmitter.

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), 71 That’s 60s,

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 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 -6dB
 V -6dB
C22+ (482.2MHz)
302mDTG-850,000W
50,000W
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 -6dB
 V -6dB
C28 (530.0MHz)
302mDTG-850,000W
50,000W
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

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
Sunday, 16 July 2023
T
tony
7:15 PM

the Rowridge listings are starting to be so confusing..

i am now able to watch HorrorExtra using my Windows box running Hauppauges (sp) Dual HD usb tuner stick, with the WinTV tuner software from Hauppauge.

this station shows up in listing on Kaffeine on my Linux box, it tunes in, sort of, but doesn't play properly. however... according to Kaffeine it is on a Mux being broadcast on 506MHz. but isn't included in the listing above.

how do i find a current definitive listing of what the ...flip.. is being broadcast from Rowridge at this moment?
20:14 Sunday 16th July 2023.

link to this comment
tony's 8 posts GB flag
S
Steve Donaldson
sentiment_satisfiedSilver

7:46 PM

tony: Freeview has published here is list of all services on the platform:

Channel listings for Industry Professionals | Freeview

For Rowridge, the multiplexes are:

PSB1 BBC A C24 498MHz
PSB2 D3&4 C27 522MHz
PSB3 BBC B C21+ 474.2MHz
COM4 SDN C25 506MHz
COM5 Arq A C22+ 482.2MHz
COM6 Arq B C28 530MHz

PSB3 and COM5 on C21 and C22 respectively have a positive offset, meaning they are +0.2MHz above the centre of the channel. The receiver may or may not show the ".2", but assume it to mean the same thing.

There is also the local multiplex for Southampton, broadcast on C37 (602MHz) from directional antennas pointing in the direction of Southampton.

link to this comment
Steve Donaldson's 261 posts GB flag
Monday, 4 September 2023
T
TIM wardlaw
11:09 AM

Each week we get a new posting about engineering work on Rowridge transmitter.
this has been going on for some time now. What are they actually doing and how is it going to improve my TV reception. are they likely to boost the power on the remaining 3 muxes.

link to this comment
TIM wardlaw's 8 posts GB flag
C
Chris.SE
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

12:48 PM

TIM wardlaw:

As far as we know, it's routine maintenance. Arqiva never giver details of what the work entails or how long it will last as some of it may be weather dependant. Clearly such work is better done at this time of year when weather is not so inclement. It's a good ten years since DSO and one would image that most transmitters will need a lot of maintenance checks etc. This isn't the only transmitter where works have been running on and off for several weeks.
It's very unlikely that will be any change in transmitted power as these are subject to international agreements.

link to this comment
Chris.SE's 4,394 posts GB flag
S
Steve Donaldson
sentiment_satisfiedSilver

11:09 PM

TIM wardlaw: I think the best course of action to "hopefully" get good reception 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-power VP signals may solve the issue.

Looking back at earlier postings, you have spoken on the saga of Rowridge HP versus VP. Since COM7 and COM8 were turned off, there is no longer any HP-only multiplex, with the exception of the Southampton Local TV 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 digital switchover 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 transmitter 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-channel with the COMs of Stockland Hill and Crystal Palace (both which broadcast only HP). The PSBs of Rowridge with these two transmitters are not co-channel.

link to this comment
Steve Donaldson's 261 posts GB flag
Friday, 8 September 2023
Monday, 25 September 2023
R
R Murchie
sentiment_satisfiedBronze

2:34 PM

Is this engineering work the cause of occasional short-lived dropouts on PSB3 channels from Rowridge with a black screen and a 'no signal' 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
C
Chris.SE
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

12:34 AM

R Murchie:

As the report says "pixellation or flickering on some or all channels", so that is highly probable.
If the "flickering" is a brief drop in signal, then getting a no signal message wouldn't be unexpected.

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Chris.SE's 4,394 posts GB flag
Saturday, 7 October 2023
C
Christopher woodnutt
3:25 PM

Transmitter engineering: today 7/10 having virtually no tv reception on freeview channels. Its Saturday usually watch sports. Today nothing. What the hell is going on? I don't pay my TV licence to put up with this crap. So apologise and restore today

link to this comment
Christopher woodnutt's 1 post GB flag
A
Ashley
7:56 PM

Lost bbc2 HD, but bbc is perfect, lost other channels as well, but not all

link to this comment
Ashley's 1 post BE flag
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