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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
Saturday, 9 July 2022
J
John H
sentiment_satisfiedBronze

3:53 PM

Try rejecting all cookies that worked for me

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John H's 28 posts GB flag
Tuesday, 12 July 2022
A
Annie Bevis
11:55 AM

How old is the list of Freeview channels? Looking at my TV, CBS Justice, CBSJustice+1 is now closed and so is 5USA+1, Justice+1, Forces TV, RT all these channels are gone.

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Annie Bevis's 4 posts GB flag
S
StevensOnln1
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

2:01 PM

Annie Bevis: The site owner hasn't been able to keep up with all of the changes taking place, although to be fair most of those you mentioned have only happened a couple of weeks ago.

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StevensOnln1's 3,605 posts GB flag
Monday, 5 September 2022
B
Brenda
6:11 PM

Freeview has not worked since last Wednesday

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Brenda's 1 post GB flag
C
Chris.SE
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

10:59 PM

Brenda:

Without some further details, we can only provide some general advice.

The Transmitter has been listed for Planned Engineering for a few weeks with "Screen may go black on all or certain channels". However this is usually "short term" at any given instance. The transmitter is working and no faults are currently reported! Do NOT retune if you were previously correctly tuned and have no signal as this will usually just clear all correct tuning.

Without a full postcode we can't advise your predicted reception which may also be affected by Current Weather conditions - Tropospheric Ducting - causing interference from more distant transmitters in Europe or the UK. This can be very variable and is usually short term at any instant but conditions have been persisting for several days, different parts of the UK are being affected at different time. Not all multiplexes will be affected at the same time or at all.
Both Freeview and the BBC have issued warnings about short term interference to reception.
Again do NOT retune if you have badly pixellated pictures or no signal.

If you did retune, then your correct tuning has probably been cleared and you will have to repeat a retune when signals are normal. You may have to try several times as you can't be sure when that may be.

Check that your aerial is still pointing in the correct direction (compare to neighbours). Make sure the downlead isn't flapping in the wind and just check your coax connections behind the TV etc.

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Chris.SE's 4,101 posts GB flag
Friday, 9 September 2022
E
Elaine
11:49 AM
Fareham

Chris.SE:

Same problem as Brenda.

PO16 0LE, aerial in roof of block of flats (no access to residents) - pixelation getting worse over time but particularly over the last week, and since yesterday ALL channels are unwatchable. Done all advised here and on the net but no change. Getting a new aerial cable hoping that this is the problem, also checking with other residents to see if they have Freeview and are having problems. Fingers crossed.

Thank you for your very useful website.

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Elaine's 1 post US flag
Elaine's: mapE's Freeview map terrainE's terrain plot wavesE's frequency data E's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Saturday, 10 September 2022
C
Chris.SE
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

12:49 AM

Elaine:

You should have absolutely no problem with reception from Rowridge in your location, and all Planned Engineering has been suspended in the present circumstances and signals should be normal as no transmitter faults are being reported.

Is this your own aerial or a shared aerial provided by the management of the flats?
You say you are getting a "new cable". Is this the cable from the aerial or a "fly-lead" that's one from the coax outlet to your set (and/or between say a recorder and set). Fly-leads can go faulty often noticed when you move them about.

If your neighbours are having similar problems and it's a shared aerial, then there could be a system fault and you'd need to chase the management of the flats to get it fixed. From your description it doesn't sound like the weather conditions are the cause of your problem.

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Chris.SE's 4,101 posts GB flag
Monday, 19 September 2022
G
Graham
5:54 PM
Wimborne

Hi,
Post Code BH21 2PG

Same poor Freeview issues as others above. HD over the past week is almost unwatchable. Standard definition is better but with pixalation still apparant.

Have two TVs giving the same probems fed from a loft aerial & amplifier which have been unchanged for seven years.

The TVs show 100% signal but 20% quality - so this seems to be the issue.

I suggest a transmitter engineer should check transmission even if no faults are present.

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Graham's 2 posts GB flag
Graham's: mapG's Freeview map terrainG's terrain plot wavesG's frequency data G's Freeview Detailed Coverage
C
Chris.SE
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

10:40 PM

Graham:

The previous posters above do not have the same problem as you. One is so close to the transmitter, even IF it were operating on reduced power (which it isn't) reception would still be fine. That problem sounds like a problem with a distribution system for the flats. The other would not be caused by the transmitter otherwise there would be thousands of complaints and the BBC would certainly have logged a fault as also it would if your issue was related to transmission.

You on the other hand are some distance from the transmitter and if using horizontal polarisation then your predicted reception from Rowridge is not the best for all multiplexes and you could possibly be more likely to be affected by Current Weather conditions - Tropospheric Ducting - causing interference from more distant transmitters in Europe or the UK. This can be very variable and is usually short term at any instant but conditions have been persisting for over a week, different parts of the UK are being affected at different time. Not all multiplexes will be affected at the same time or at all.
Both Freeview and the BBC have issued warnings about short term interference to reception.
Do NOT retune if you have badly pixellated pictures or no signal.

You are correct in that the 20% quality figure seems to be the issue. There are generally two likely causes of this.

One is interference, as just mentioned due to weather conditions. As the interference increases the quality drops until the point the receiver struggles to decode the wanted signal, you get pixellation and eventually the signal will quickly drop to zero as the set sees nothing but noise, or the interfering signal is so strong you start to decode that instead. As the elevation of your locale is quite good, also implied by some predicted reception from the Mendip and Stockland Hill main transmitters, this could make interference more likely in the sort of weather conditions mentioned.

The other, is too much signal which can cause overload of the receiver tuner. As you have mentioned 100% signal (using an amplifier) then this could well be a cause. You may be fine most of the time, but then a marginal increase in signal which can also be caused by the weather conditions mentioned means the quality then starts to drop.
A quick test you can do here, if the amplifier has a gain control, turn it down a bit, say to 95% strength across the multiplexes, you do not need 100% signal. See if the quality returns to 100%.
Or otherwise, unplug the aerial from the amplifier (and switch it off) and connect it directly to your main TV. If the quality returns to 100% but drops again when you reconnect via the amplifier then too much signal is most likely OR the amplifier has gone faulty (less likely if it's giving gain).

Earlier I mentioned your predicted reception using horizontal polarisation. Rowridge is one of very few transmitters that also uses vertical polarisation and your predicted reception for all multiplexes is very good if you have your aerial set with it's rods (or squashed Xs) vertical. BUT you will need to turn the gain down a bit (or add attenuators) if you change to vertical (assuming you aren't already using it).

By the way, your aerial should be pointing at compass bearing 108 degrees, that's 18 degrees south of due E.

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Chris.SE's 4,101 posts GB flag
Friday, 23 September 2022
J
John H
sentiment_satisfiedBronze

8:54 AM

What does the +' designation mean on Rowridge multiplex C22+
Many thanks
John.

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John H's 28 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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