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Freeview Light on the Sidmouth (Devon, England) transmitter

first published this on - UK Free TV
sa_gmapsGoogle mapsa_bingBing mapsa_gearthGoogle Earthsa_gps50.684,-3.224 or 50°41'3"N 3°13'28"Wsa_postcodeEX10 0NX

 

The symbol shows the location of the Sidmouth (Devon, England) transmitter which serves 6,900 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 Sidmouth (Devon, England) transmitter.

Choose from three options: ■ List by multiplex ■ List by channel number ■ List by channel name
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Which Freeview channels does the Sidmouth 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
C32- (561.8MHz)130mDTG-6W
Channel icons
1 BBC One (SD) South West, 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
C48 (690.0MHz)130mDTG-6W
Channel icons
3 ITV 1 (SD) (West Country), 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 (West Country),

PSB3
BBCB
 V max
C33- (569.8MHz)130mDTG-6W
Channel icons
46 5SELECT, 101 BBC One HD South West, 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

H/V: aerial position (horizontal or vertical)

Are you trying to watch these 44 Freeview channels?

the effected channels
the effected channels
the effected channels
the effected channels

The Sidmouth (Devon, England) mast is a public service broadcasting (PSB) transmitter, it does not provide these commercial (COM) channels: 4seven, 5Action, 5STAR, 5USA, Al Jazeera Eng, Al Jazeera English, Blaze, Blaze +1, Challenge, Channel 5 +1, Dave, Dave ja vu, DMAX, Drama +1, E4 Extra, YAAAS!, Film4 +1, Food Network, GREAT! action, GREAT! movies, GREAT! romance mix, GREAT! romance, HGTV, HobbyMaker, ITV2 +1, ITV3 +1, ITV4 +1, ITVBe +1, Legend, PBS America, Quest +1, Quest Red, Really, Sky Mix, Sky News, Talking Pictures TV, TCC, That's 90s, That's TV 2, Together TV, TRUE CRIME, TRUE CRIME XTRA, W, Yesterday +1.

If you want to watch these channels, your aerial must point to one of the 80 Full service Freeview transmitters. For more information see the will there ever be more services on the Freeview Light transmitters? page.

Which BBC and ITV regional news can I watch from the Sidmouth transmitter?

regional news image
BBC Spotlight 0.8m homes 2.9%
from Plymouth PL3 5BD, 72km west-southwest (244°)
to BBC South West region - 107 masts.
regional news image
ITV West Country News (West) 0.8m homes 2.9%
from Plymouth PL7 5BQ, 65km west-southwest (242°)
to ITV West Country region - 107 masts.
All of lunch, weekend and 50% evening news is shared with West Country (East)

How will the Sidmouth (Devon, England) transmission frequencies change over time?

1950s-80s1984-971997-981998-20092009-1327 Mar 2019
VHFEEEC/D E TK T
C4BBCtvwaves
C32BBCA
C33BBCB
C39BBC1wavesBBC1wavesBBC1waves
C45ITVwavesITVwavesITVwaves
C48D3+4D3+4
C49tv_offBBC2wavesBBC2wavesBBC2waves
C52tv_off-BBCA
C56tv_off-BBCB
C67C4wavesC4wavesC4waves

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 8 Apr 09 and 22 Apr 09.

How do the old analogue and currrent digital signal levels compare?

Analogue 1-4 12W
BBCA, D3+4, BBCB(-3dB) 6W

Which companies have run the Channel 3 services in the Beacon Hill transmitter area

Apr 1961-Dec 1981Westward Television
Jan 1982-Dec 1992Television South West (TSW)
Jan 1993-Feb 2004Westcountry Television
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. Sidmouth 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.

Is the transmitter output the same in all directions?

Radiation patterns withheld

Comments
Friday, 19 November 2021
Transmitter engineering
sentiment_very_satisfiedOwner

9:14 PM

SIDMOUTH transmitter - DAB: Off the air due to a fault from 19 Nov 18:26 until 19 Nov 19:13. . [BBC]

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Transmitter engineering's 149,601 posts GB flag
Friday, 26 November 2021
Transmitter engineering
sentiment_very_satisfiedOwner

3:17 PM

Sidmouth transmitter - Sidmouth transmitter: Possible effect on TV reception week commencing 22/11/2021 Screen may go black on some or all channels [DUK]

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Transmitter engineering's 149,601 posts GB flag
Monday, 29 November 2021
Transmitter engineering
sentiment_very_satisfiedOwner

3:13 PM

Sidmouth transmitter - Sidmouth transmitter: Possible effect on TV reception week commencing 29/11/2021 Screen may go black on some or all channels [DUK]

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Transmitter engineering's 149,601 posts GB flag
Friday, 3 December 2021
Transmitter engineering
sentiment_very_satisfiedOwner

3:13 PM

SIDMOUTH transmitter - DAB: Off the air due to essential engineering from 29 Nov 11:26 until 29 Nov 13:18. . [BBC]

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Transmitter engineering's 149,601 posts GB flag
Monday, 24 July 2023
Transmitter engineering
sentiment_very_satisfiedOwner

8:00 AM

SIDMOUTH transmitter - DAB: Slightly reduced power due to a fault from 20 Jul 16:35 until 20 Jul 17:00. Slightly reduced power due to a fault from 19 Jul 23:52 until 19 Jul 23:58. . [BBC]

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Transmitter engineering's 149,601 posts GB flag
Tuesday, 25 July 2023
Transmitter engineering
sentiment_very_satisfiedOwner

4:09 AM

SIDMOUTH transmitter - DAB: Slightly reduced power due to a fault from 20 Jul 16:35 until 20 Jul 17:00. . [BBC]

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Transmitter engineering's 149,601 posts GB flag
Wednesday, 9 August 2023
T
Tom Thornhill
9:22 PM

I live in EX108PA using the Beacon Hill transmitter (Sidmouth). My BBCa signal is transient /very poor /non existent , others are fine.. My aerial was installed some 10 years ago and has a mast amplifier and in house amplifier / distribution.

Any ideas on how to solve this

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Tom Thornhill's 1 post GB flag
C
Chris.SE
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

9:38 PM
Sidmouth

Tom Thornhill :

You are right on a fringe for any reception from Beacon Hill, I need to look at this in more detail.
When did this problem start? Is it intermittent or continuous?
Are your signals normal in the daytime?

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Chris.SE's 4,093 posts GB flag
Chris.SE's: mapC's Freeview map terrainC's terrain plot wavesC's frequency data C's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Thursday, 10 August 2023
C
Chris.SE
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

1:13 AM

Tom Thornhill :

This is a tricky one. Nether the BBC nor Freeview predict any useful reception from Beacon Hill, whereas they do from Stockland Hill (roughly to the NE, compass bearing 35 degrees) which is closer (17km) and has a higher power, however there are major very high ground obstructions on that line of sight and the BBCA predicted reception is (very) poor, I'm not even going to go there with assessments.

If you are far enough south in your postcode with a good aerial height, then although Beacon Hill is 37km away, you will have line-of-sight. With unfavourable aerial sighting the likely local obstructions will come from Peak Hill, I think it's called, then further afield - high ground between Ladram Bay and Budleigh Salterton.

I assume we can confirm your aerial points at compass bearing 226 degrees, that's ~SW with its rods (or squashed Xs) horizontal. Check that it's still pointing correctly and that the coax downlead isn't degraded (sheath brittle and damaged) and it's not flapping about in the wind. Check all your coax plugs are correctly plugged in and corrosion free.

An issue you may have as you have a masthead amp and amp/splitter is reception from the Sidmouth relay 1km away but it is only 12W (very very low power) to the back of your aerial - compass bearing 72 degrees. Although it's vertically polarised you could still probably pick it up on your aerial with a poor signal.

Beacon Hill transmitter was listed for Planned Engineering last week (but isn't this week) and if you retuned at any time during that if you had no signal or badly pixellated pictures (never recommended) you may have become incorrectly tuned perhaps picking up Sidmouth.
So check in your TV Tuning Section that you are correctly tuned to Beacon Hill's UHF channels.
These are C44, C41, C47, C42, C45, C40 that's in multiplex order -
BBCA/PSB1, D3&4/PSB2, BBCB HD/PSB3, SDN/COM4, ArqA/COM5, ArqB/COM6

As your aerial is 10 years old, there's a chance it will be a Group T/Wideband whereas ideally it ought to be a Group K (rather than a Group B) although they'll all work, you ideally don't want to be receiving any signals above C48 since the 700MHz Clearance as this is where new/updated mobile signals may appear and could give interference. If that happens you can get free filters from https://restoretv.uk (put your postcode into their checker if this problem arises).

I can't find any current faults listed for the Beacon Hill transmitter, but there is some weather related Tropospheric Ducting about, which might cause occasion temporary interference from distant transmitters (do Not retune).

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Chris.SE's 4,093 posts GB flag
Sunday, 17 September 2023
Transmitter engineering
sentiment_very_satisfiedOwner

5:10 AM

SIDMOUTH transmitter - DAB: Off the air due to a fault from 17 Sep 03:04 until 17 Sep 03:07. . [BBC]

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Transmitter engineering's 149,601 posts GB flag
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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.

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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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