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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
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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
Saturday, 19 May 2018
R
Rob T
3:09 PM

Tony Whyman:

I saw this too, suddenly this morning BBC News HD and the various other channels that I have lost due to having a group A aerial for Rowridge.

But now the wedding is over, they've all gone again. Was this just for the wedding?

I've got the aerial people (via Freeview complaints) coming on 9/6. I was going to stand them down but no such luck.

link to this comment
Rob T's 4 posts GB flag
Tuesday, 22 May 2018
T
Tony Whyman
4:14 PM

MikeP:
I understand your point, but I doubt whether this is the case here. I suspect that the definition of "Signal Strength" varies between different TVs - 100% of what? BER is probably a better comparative measure.

On PSB1, 2 and 3, my TV reports a signal strength of ~98% but 0 BER. So I interpret that as a good quality signal and no more. I don't have a masthead amp and we are in a fringe area and so I doubt whether 98% signal strength means anything more than that. If I was seeing the same signal strength but a BER >0 then over-modulation may be taking place - but I have never seen that.

COM7 and COM8 are showing a BER of typically ~500 but with the high pressure this has gone up to ~1500 and last night both went over the 2K mark (and fell off the digital cliff). So all is not wonderful. Ch31 and Ch37 were more stable than this and I suspect that the higher frequency is to blame - and possibly Hannington.

The main point of my original post is that suddenly COM7 was there when it was not last week. Now it is showing "signal strength" and BER similar to COM8. So what changed?


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Tony Whyman's 6 posts GB flag
Wednesday, 23 May 2018
MikeP
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

12:51 PM

Tony Whyman:

You miss the point. Too much signal being fed into the tuner caues it to fail, hence you get reports of zero signal or weak signal. Supplying 98% will definitely detrimentally affect how your TV tuner works. So you need to reduce it to below a reported 85%.

The only thing that changed is the weather patterns in the area. There has been no change to the transmitter.



link to this comment
MikeP's 3,056 posts GB flag
N
Norman Langridge
1:27 PM

Although the Transmitter maps were very useful, they are now appear to be much out of date and I would enquire if these are to be brought up to date to reflect current position. For example,
On the Rowridge data, UHF Channel 37 includes CBS America (TV94) which I used to be able to receive prior to the latest shakeup, but it is no longer there and I have no idea as to where it has gone. I cannot get any response from CBS America themselves. Even an auto tune fails to find it.


link to this comment
Norman Langridge's 6 posts GB flag
S
StevensOnln1
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

2:28 PM

Norman Langridge: PBS America (not CBS) is broadcast on the COM8 multiplex which has moved to UHF channel 56 at Rowridge. If you cannot restore this and any other missing channels by manual tuning then you are most likely using a Group A aerial which is not designed to receive the higher part of the UHF band. If you don't have satellite or cable you may be eligible to have a replacement wideband aerial fitted free of charge, which can be arranged by contacting the Freeview Advice Line (see link below).

Important changes to Freeview TV signals | Freeview

link to this comment
StevensOnln1's 3,606 posts GB flag
Thursday, 24 May 2018
D
DRC
5:06 PM

BBC programs on 106 & 107 (HD) & others on COM7 are unavailable in parts of Southampton & Chandlers Ford since the change over. I have had a new aerial fitted by Freeview but no change. The broadcast power is just not enough. Why should we loose our TV just for the sake of 5G phones? When is it going to be rectified?

Can a TV be connected to Freeview and FreeSat at the same time?

link to this comment
DRC's 2 posts GB flag
MikeP
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

6:45 PM

DRC:

Depends on the TV. If it has both a Freeview UHF tuner and a separate satellite tuner then it can. My main TV has both tuners and is set to allow use of Freeview and Freesat. Note that you will need a satellite dish configured to receive the signals from the 28.2/28,5 degrees East satellite orbital position. It must *not* have an LNB designed for use with Sky Q as that does not receive the Freesat signals.

If you already have Sky (but not Sky Q) then if the LNB has at least three outputs you can use one to connect to the TV's satellite input (a screw type called and 'F' connector).



link to this comment
MikeP's 3,056 posts GB flag
Friday, 25 May 2018
T
Tony Whyman
4:51 PM

MikeP:
Sorry, I'm not convinced.

I have a 6db attenuator which I have put inline with the TV aerial in order to test out your point. That is enough to drop the reported signal strength on channel 21 (PSB3) from 96% to 92% (but still a reported 0 BER). On the other hand, COM7 (ch55) and COM8 (ch56) are behaving themselves this afternoon and without the attenuator are reporting 90% signal strength with a BER of around 500.

As soon as I put in the attenuator, channels 55 and 56 are completely trashed. Signal strength zero and 2000 BER - and this while PSB3 reports only a 4% drop.

I can only conclude that the reporting of 96% on a high power mux is not the same as 90% on a low power mux and reducing the signal strength is not going to help matters. Perhaps swinging the aerial round to point to Hannington might improve matters - but then there are trees and a hill in the way.

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Tony Whyman's 6 posts GB flag
Saturday, 26 May 2018
MikeP
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

1:36 PM

Tony Whyman:

Then you need to get a local aerial contractor in to look at your aerial system. They will have local knowledge that is not available to us contributors who are remote from your location (I'm in West Wiltshire).



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MikeP's 3,056 posts GB flag
R
Rob T
6:34 PM

I live to the east of Southampton and have an aerial engineer attending to sort out my issues on behalf of Freeview on 9/6. My signal is already marginal so I'm intending to ask them to fit a group E aerial to suppliment my group A and use a diplexer. I dont want to compromise on a wide band as I believe it will not pull in as good a signal as I get now for the group A channels.
This web page explains the procedure if anyone is interested.
Aerials

I will report back how it goes....

link to this comment
Rob T's 4 posts GB flag
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