Full Freeview on the Rowridge (Isle Of Wight, England) transmitter
 | Google Streetview |  | Google map |  | Bing map |  | Google Earth |  | 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 22/04/2024 Screen may go black on some or all channels 
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Digital television services are broadcast on a multiplexes (or Mux) where many stations occupy a single broadcast frequency, as shown below.
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 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.
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 | BBCtvwaves | ||||||||
| C21 | C4waves | C4waves | C4waves | +BBCB | BBCB | ||||
| C22 | +ArqA | ArqA | |||||||
| C24 | BBC2waves | BBC2waves | BBC2waves | BBCA | BBCA | ||||
| C25 | SDN | SDN | |||||||
| C27 | ITVwaves | ITVwaves | ITVwaves | D3+4 | D3+4 | ||||
| C28 | ArqB | ArqB | |||||||
| C29 | LSO | ||||||||
| C31 | BBC1waves | BBC1waves | BBC1waves | com7 | |||||
| C37 | com8 | ||||||||
| C55tv_off | com7tv_off | ||||||||
| C56tv_off | COM8tv_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
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Friday, 22 December 2023
J
Jon Henderson4:10 PM
Steve Donaldson: thanks for your comprehensive answer. Our antenna is VP so it doesn't appear to be a polarization issue. When it next happens I'll check the other channels that you say are on the same multiplex.
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Steve Donaldson5:59 PM
Jon Henderson: In which case then, could it be tidal? A good proportion of the signal path is over water. The further east you are, the sooner the line leaves land before reaching Manhood Peninsula and the further out to sea it is.
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Saturday, 23 December 2023
J
Jon Henderson8:04 AM
Steve Donaldson: no idea but it's working fine now, next time it doesn't I'll check the other channels on the same mux
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J
Jon Henderson8:33 AM
Steve Donaldson: spoke too soon, as its dropped out again. Other channels on that mux have gone too having checked. Seems like it's a mux issue.
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J
Jon Henderson8:38 AM
Steve Donaldson: the other mux with lower power isn't working either so it seems the lower power is the issue and maybe as you say affected by tidal variations. I guess I need a better antenna!
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Steve Donaldson3:06 PM
Jon Henderson: The question of tidal is to mean: does the issue coincide with a particular tide level? For example, when it happens, is it always high tide? And when it is low tide does it not happen, or usually not happen?
With analogue broadcasts, each programme channel, e.g. BBC One, BBC Two etc., was carried on a separate broadcast signal. Hence, for the four main channels you had four signals. With digital, multiple programme channels are carried by a single signal known as a multiplex. It isn't the case that you can have bad reception on one programme channel on one multiplex, but not the other programme channels carried on that multiplex. Bad reception found on one programme channel of a particular multiplex will be found on them all, because the receiving part of the TV is receiving exactly the same signal.
There are six Freeview multiplexes. On the Freeview link I gave you, they are identified by name in the "Mux" column of the table. Here are the designations for the six multiplexes:
PSB1 - 'BBC A' - carries BBC standard definition TV and radio
PSB2 - 'D3&4' - carries ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5 and some of their sister channels
PSB3 - 'BBC B' - carries all the Freeview HD channels, both the BBC ones and the non-BBC ones
COM4 - 'SDN' - carries QVC, Drama, 5USA and others
COM5 - 'Arq A' - carries Sky Mix, Really, Dave, Sky News and others
COM6 - 'Arq B' - carries Quest, Yesterday, GREAT! movies and others
The reason for including this list of multiplex designations is because it's easier to refer to them as 'PSB1' or 'COM4', or 'the PSBs', rather than names such as 'BBC A' and 'SDN'. The Freeview list of channels lists them by name; you can now relate these to the PSB/COM designations which I will speak of.
In terms of the lower power multiplexes from Rowridge, it is the HP COMs that are lower (at 50kW) only. The PSBs are 200kW HP and VP. The COMs are 200kW VP. Hence, turning the aerial vertical takes advantage of the 200kW COMs.
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Sunday, 24 December 2023
S
Steve Donaldson2:26 AM
Jon Henderson: The way in which you opened by saying you are in Worthing 'but' use Rowridge in order to get BBC South sounds like you can receive from Whitehawk Hill and perhaps that you used to, and changed to Rowridge at digital switchover when you found out Whitehawk had been reattributed to BBC South East.
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Chris.SE4:08 AM
Jon Henderson:
As you say, you may need a better aerial, but there's always the possibility you may have a fault on your existing installation. How old is the aerial, do you know what it is?
If you don't know what it, can you describe it, count the number of elements - rods or Xs. Is the rear a grid or rods? Can you give a link to a similar looking aerial.
Have you checked it's still pointing correctly? For Worthing it's about compass bearing 256 degrees, that's slightly W of WSW.
But as you haven't given a full postcode, there's a couple of things we can't check -
1) Your predicted reception - there's only a few locations in Worthing where there is predicted reception of the COM multiplexes that isn't very variable, even with VP.
2) Interference from a new/upgraded phone mast. Have you had a postcard from Restore TV?
Check here https://restoretv.uk/post…ure/
We know some haven't been received when they should have!
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J
Jon Henderson9:28 AM
Worthing
Chris.SE: thanks. Postcode is BN14 7QN. No change here and no postcard from restore tv. Aerial was here when we moved in 4 years ago and the problem losing Sky and indeed all the channels on Com 4 and 5 is relatively recent. Checked bearing and its bang on 256. Antenna has 10 elements with rear two grids in shape of a v. The elements look like elongated loops either side of the main rod if that makes sense.
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Jon's: mapJ's Freeview map terrainJ's terrain plot wavesJ's frequency data J's Freeview Detailed Coverage
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Steve Donaldson12:46 PM
Jon Henderson: It's worth outlining the situation with regards TV reception in the Worthing area. At digital switchover (DSO) in 2012 Whitehawk Hill changed from being a BBC South transmitter to being BBC South East. I seem to recall that the editorial regions of the news programmes changed accordingly.
Also at DSO, the Findon transmitter, which sits north of High Salvington, on West Hill, had a big increase in power (from 50W to 2,000W) and new transmission antennas, including to the south west, a direction it didn't broadcast for analogue. I believe this was done as a measure to give back some coverage to BBC South, Whitehawk having been reatrributed to another region.
Findon, like many relays, carries only the PSB channels, so no COMs, those you are having difficulty with from Rowridge. On its own, it is therefore unattractive to those who can receive the full service, even if it isn't easy. Those up the valley in Findon village, say, have no other option and can only receive the PSBs from Findon transmitter. I do wonder how well used it is in Worthing, as in how much uptake there has been in the extended coverage area as a result of the power increase and new antennas.
In 2019 the top part of the TV band of frequencies was cleared for mobile use by changing some of the channels used by some transmitters. While Findon and Rowridge didn't change, Whitehawk did. Findon's PSBs are 41, 44 and 47, and Whitehawk's COMs are 32, 33 and 34. These allocations lend themselves to being combined into one cable feed with a diplexer, thereby allowing reception of PSBs from Findon (with BBC South) and the COMs from Whitehawk (which Findon doesn't broadcast). This is the alternative to attempting to receive all channels (PSBs+COMs) with BBC South from Rowridge.
I think Findon may cover Worthing pretty well. I tried postcodes for Goring Road where the shops are, near to where it changes to Mill Road, the college and Lancing. It's generally flat so I imagine that Findon is available to much of the town.
For people on Whitehawk who want BBC South instead, rather than changing to Rowridge with the potential for variable reception, particularly of the COMs, they could add another aerial for Findon.
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