Full Freeview on the Stockland Hill (Devon, England) transmitter

_{sentiment_very_satisfied}Platinum

1:31 PM

Mark H: The thing is that St Thomas only relays the Public Service Broadcaster (PSB) which are BBC, ITV1, ITV2, C4, E4, More4, C5, HD and some others.

So if you have these perfectly then your is tuned correctly (i.e. to the signals coming from the to which your aerial faces).

The best commercial (COM) channels it will find are probably , and hence why is poor.

For an explanation of why St Thomas doesn't the COMs, see here:

Will there ever be more services on the Freeview Light transmitters? | ukfree.tv - independent free digital TV advice

Whether you can receive a stable from Stockland Hill with a suitable aerial is another question. Obviously from a signal strength point of view, St Thomas is probably the one to go for.

You might be high enough to get a signal from Stockland Hill. See here for a plot of the terrain. You have or aren't far off line of sight with it:

Terrain between ( m a.g.l.) and (antenna m a.g.l.) - Optimising UK DTT Freeview and Radio aerial location

Be aware the COMs from Stockland Hill are at lower than the PSBs so if you can't get the (weaker) COMs from it, then there's no benefit in moving away from St Thomas.

Until 18th April they are at 10kW when they will be increase to their final power of 25kW. The PSBs are at their final power now which is 50kW.

It might be best to wait until the power increase in April to get another aerial.

Mike Dimmick

_{sentiment_very_satisfied}Platinum

2:06 PM

Dave Lindsay, Mark H: While the COM muxes at will increase to final in April, the for Mark H actually goes down slightly. This is because will be using the same frequencies at high power, from the same date. They are actually going to be using the same frequencies for the same , but the transmitters are too far apart to use Single techniques, so they will just interfere with each other. ( will also be a problem, to a lesser extent.)

The likelihood is that for a number of people in your postcode, the COM multiplexes will be unreliable for some of the time. Careful siting of the may find a reliable location - it's best to get an experienced installer to do this.

Mike Dimmick's 2,486 posts GB flag

_{sentiment_very_satisfied}Platinum

6:06 PM

Mike Dimmick, Mark H: will be transmitting its COMs in both polarisations, but the horizontal ones will be at 50kW whereas the verticals will be 200kW, same as its PSBs in both polarisations.

From Rowridge, only Ch22 has an offset and it is positive.

All the COMs have negative offsets, which probably explains why Ch22- from Stockland is predicted as being better than the other two.

Friday, 20 January 2012

Mark H
9:02 AM

Dave Lindsay: I am actually at one of the highest points in Exeter with a clear line of sight to pretty much everything in the area.
Last night I decided to conduct a small experiment, I disconnected the large external and plugged in a small internal aerial, just to see what would happen. I rescanned and got all the I had been missing, including Dave etc. I then plugged the exterior aerial back in, recanned and of course they were gone again.
Now, with this in mind, conventional wisdom says "just use that aerial then" which is fine, for my television, but when the very same aerial was plugged into a TV at the other side of the house, there were almost no channels found. With this in mind, it seems to be that the best course of action is to go up a ladder and try to realign the aerial.
Would you agree?

Mark H's 2 posts GB flag

_{sentiment_very_satisfied}Platinum

9:48 AM

Mark H: Your current may well be a Group B one (tuned to the middle of the band) but Stockland uses Group A . See here for an explanation of groups:

Aerials, TV Aerial and Digital Aerial

This is not to say that it won't work. See here for some example curves that show gain drops off below the group's channels:

Gain (curves), Again

Remember, if you do try realigning your aerial, then it won't be just a case of spinning it around; you will have to switch it from vertical to horizontal.

_{sentiment_very_satisfied}Platinum

10:46 AM

Mark H: If you are going to get another , then have a look at ATV . This page lists what they recommend for :

Digital TV Transmitters Nationwide Page 2

If you get a good on the three COMs now at 10kW, then you should be fine at 25kW.

Check ITV3, Pick TV and Yesterday which is one service from each COM .

For a full list of on each multiplex see here:

DTG :: DTT Services by Multiplex

I suggest that you check that you have the stored correctly. In particular, ensure that you don't have the two (or three) multiplexes from St Thomas instead of Stockland.

Channels used by Stockland are:

BBC A (BBC One etc) Ch26
D3&4 (ITV1 etc) Ch23
BBC B (HD services) Ch29
SDN (ITV3 etc) Ch25
Arq A (Pick TV etc) Ch22
Arq B (Yesterday etc) Ch28

On each of the above services, go to the signal strength screen and it should tell you the UHF channel number.

I should say that I'm not an aerial installer or expert in RF signal propagation. But common sense would suggest that if you can get the low- COMs now with your set-top aerial, then you are in a good signal area.

Mark Fletcher

_{sentiment_satisfied}Gold

10:46 PM
Halifax

Mark H,Exeter.If you decide to buy a new and you decide to get the full package of programmes from the main transmitter including the three COM multiplexes which is not broadcasted by your local ,then as Stockland Hill is an all group A ,you only need to purchase a new group A Yagi 18A,or X-Beam XB16A for slightly extra ,but more important you will need to buy grade co-ax copper-copper and brass co-ax plugs.As you stated earlier being on a higher ground area of Exeter,if you did decide to buy a new external group A aerial for the main Stockland Hill transmitter,if must be polarised horizontally mounted externally on a or on the ,a chimney wall being ideal.

Mark Fletcher's 673 posts GB flag

Mark's: M's Freeview map M's terrain plot M's frequency data M's Freeview Detailed Coverage

Friday, 3 February 2012

Ian Thomson
1:53 PM

I have 3 TVs running from one with perfect from . One of the 3 TVs is 4:3 running from a digi-box. All are in correct format with the exception of the stations from Mulitiplex PS B2 Ch23 where the format incorrectly narrows. This would appear to be a fault of the transmitter, rather than the box?!!

Ian Thomson's 1 post GB flag

Briantist

_{sentiment_very_satisfied}Owner

2:32 PM

Ian Thomson: It is more likely to be a fault with the box. Have you tried another box on the same set?

Briantist's 38,899 posts GB flag

Monday, 5 March 2012

Transmitter engineering

_{sentiment_very_satisfied}Owner

10:31 AM

transmitter - Over the next week Stockland Hill main transmitter: TV () Liable to interruption, Radio () working normally, Radio (digital) working normally. [DUK]