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Full Freeview on the Tacolneston (Norfolk, England) transmitter

first published this on - UK Free TV
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The symbol shows the location of the Tacolneston (Norfolk, England) transmitter which serves 330,000 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 Tacolneston (Norfolk, England) mast?

Tacolneston transmitter - Tacolneston 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 Tacolneston 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
 H max
C40- (625.8MHz)263mDTG-100,000W
Channel icons
1 BBC One (SD) East, 2 BBC Two England, 9 BBC Four, 23 BBC Three, 201 CBBC, 202 CBeebies, 231 BBC News, 232 BBC Parliament, plus 16 others

PSB2
D3+4
 H max
C43- (649.8MHz)263mDTG-100,000W
Channel icons
3 ITV 1 (SD) (Anglia (East 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 (Anglia east),

PSB3
BBCB
 H max
C46 (674.0MHz)263mDTG-100,000W
Channel icons
46 5SELECT, 101 BBC One HD East, 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 max
C42 (642.0MHz)263mDTG-8100,000W
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 max
C45 (666.0MHz)246mDTG-8100,000W
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 max
C39+ (618.2MHz)246mDTG-8100,000W
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

LNR
 H -10dB
C32 (562.0MHz)263mDTG-1210,000W
Channel icons
7 Mustard,

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 Tacolneston transmitter?

regional news image
BBC Look East (East) 0.8m homes 3.2%
from Norwich NR2 1BH, 16km northeast (37°)
to BBC East region - 27 masts.
70% of BBC East (East) and BBC East (West) is shared output
regional news image
ITV Anglia News 0.8m homes 3.2%
from NORWICH NR1 3JG, 16km northeast (38°)
to ITV Anglia (East) region - 26 masts.
All of lunch, weekend and 80% evening news is shared with Anglia (West)

Are there any self-help relays?

Gt YarmouthTransposer1 km S town centre30 homes
Lowestoft (2)TransposerRotterdam Rd125 homes

How will the Tacolneston (Norfolk, England) transmission frequencies change over time?

1950s-80s1984-971997-981998-20112011-132013-182013-1717 Jul 2018
VHFC/D EC/D EC/D EEE TW TW T
C3BBCtvwaves
C31com7com7
C32_local
C37com8com8
C39 +ArqB+ArqBArqB
C40BBCA
C42SDNSDNSDNSDN
C43D3+4
C45ArqAArqAArqAArqA
C46BBCB
C50tv_off BBCBBBCB
C52tv_offC5wavesC5waves
C55tv_offBBC2wavesBBC2wavesBBC2waves-BBCA-BBCA-BBCAcom7tv_off
C56tv_offCOM8tv_off
C57tv_offLNRLNR
C59tv_offITVwavesITVwavesITVwaves-D3+4-D3+4-D3+4
C62BBC1wavesBBC1wavesBBC1wavesBBCB
C65C4wavesC4wavesC4waves

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 9 Nov 11 and 23 Nov 11.

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

Analogue 1-4 250kW
SDN, ARQA, ARQB, BBCA, D3+4, BBCB(-4dB) 100kW
com7(-9.6dB) 27.4kW
com8(-10.2dB) 24kW
Mux 1*, Mux 2*, LNR(-14dB) 10kW
Mux A*, Mux B*, Mux C*, Mux D*(-17dB) 5kW
Analogue 5(-18dB) 4kW

Which companies have run the Channel 3 services in the Tacolneston transmitter area

Oct 1959-Feb 2004Anglia 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. Tacolneston 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, 8 December 2018
S
StevensOnln1
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

11:01 PM

Mardler: No one on this website has anything to do with any broadcaster or transmitter company, therefore no one here can confirm if there was a transmitter fault unless a transmitter engineering post appears (which are sourced from a BBC Engineering feed). One thing I can say is that you're the only person reporting a problem at Tacolneston on this website today, whereas if the transmitter was completely off air there would be hundreds of people complaining. Perhaps you could explain how you know for certain that the transmitter went off air? Did you check with any neighbours if they lost the same channels as you did? What tests have you undertaken to support your claim that your aerial system is "perfect"? Have you considered that you might be suffering from some form of local electrical interference?

Also, Briantist has recently put in a lot of effort to update transmitter data (in case you weren't aware, this website is run by one person who has put in a huge amount of effort over the years and doesn't always have time available to carry out updates as quickly as people might like).

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StevensOnln1's 3,607 posts GB flag
Sunday, 9 December 2018
D
david
sentiment_satisfiedBronze

10:06 AM

not sure if it's related to the posts above but this morning there is no TV guide on ITV HD (103).....SD is OK from Tacolneston

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david's 21 posts GB flag
Tuesday, 11 December 2018
M
Mardler
11:35 AM

StevensOnin1: your reply is the usual unhelpful response.

Since my initial post I have been reliably informed that there have been several faults at Tacolneston for example it was off air for a short time on the 4th , yesterday there were three faults logged and today four.

My aerial system was upgraded and fully tested. It IS near perfect (there is room for a little improvement for Com7&8 but the post upgrade metering showed excellent performance so we didn't bother and anyway this might entail too strong a signal on the high power muxes). The simple TV meter is now rock solid 10/10 on the high power muxes but Com7&8 are considerably down on the initial post upgrade levels.

I know for certain that the transmitter was off air because everything went off and a similar fault happened on the 4th. The high power muxes came back slowly, btw: this is also indicative of a transmitter problem.

There is no local interference.

Your assertion that no-one else has mentioned the fault is spurious.

As for the history of this site, I know all of that. However it remains out of date. The comments page remains hopelessly ineffective yet I gave details of far better options to the owner years ago, advice that he took no notice of. It has the basis of being useful but more up to date information is available elsewhere together with a sensible approach to enquiries.

Instead of flatly denying any problems and treating people (some of whom know more about the subject than you think) like imbeciles you might look at such reports as interesting and worth investigating instead of your usual, standard wording, outright dismissal.

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Mardler's 11 posts GB flag
S
StevensOnln1
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

12:11 PM

Mardler : You seem to have missed my point that no one on this website can investigate a transmitter fault as none of us work for or have any connection with Arqiva (the company which operates the transmitter) or any broadcaster and therefore we cannot confirm or deny a fault as we can only see the same information on this page that you can and I have certainly not flatly denied that any fault exists. It is simple logic that a complete loss of service on a main transmitter would have been noticed by far more than one person which makes it far more likely that the problem not at the transmitter. Many people post on this website stating that the transmitter must be off air, despite having nothing further to go on than a sudden loss of signal which could have any number of potential causes.

I also can't tell from your reply whether you have actually checked that you have no local faults or interference or are just assuming this to be the case. To repeat my earlier question, have you checked whether any neighbours have experienced the same loss of signal?

I post on this website in attempt to help people, but will not be replying to you again if you continue to post personal attacks.

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StevensOnln1's 3,607 posts GB flag
MikeP
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

5:38 PM

Mardler:

Look at http://www.digitaluk.co.u…rks, which is the official site for the operators of the Freeview services, being a combined activity with Arqiva and the broadcasters. That shows there may be weak signals this week from the Tacolnston transmitter, found in the section covering Anglia. That information is more reliable that most other potential sources.

Note that we contributors to this website do so out of our desire to use the technical knowledge and experience gained over many years in the industry to assist others who are having reception problems. We advise only - it is up to you whether you accept our advice or not.

It is my experience after 50 years in the industry that many blame 'the transmitter' for having 'faults' where in fact most problems occur in the home or local area only. Bear in mind that the Tacolnston transmitter serves hundreds of thousands of homes and it would be expected that if there is a fault occuring then a great many will comment about it publicly. I would suggest you do not believe whatever appears on any social media platform. If there is suspected to be a fault, your first action should be to ask your immediate neighbours who are also using Freeview (so as to eliminate those using Sky or Freesat and those using streaming such as BT TV or Virgin TV) whether they are experiencing exactly the issues. If they are not then that indicates there could well be a problem with the aerial system or the equipment in the affected home.

In that case, we would advise checking the aerial system and the receiving equipment. Which is what a television service engineer would do every time.



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MikeP's 3,056 posts GB flag
Tuesday, 25 December 2018
H
Hilary Woodward
7:59 PM

For years I have had problems with days without television (in NR19 - mid Norfolk), usually accompanied by a message about "no or bad signal". It happened just after I paid my 155 for a new licence and I resolved I was not going to put up with the situation any longer. I contacted Freeview and after going through the usual re-tunings etc. they sent a couple of chaps from miles away in Northampton. They conducted signal testing and ascertained that a G4? mast about half a mile away was interfering with my TV signal. They fitted some gadget in the loft, tested the signal again (which had doubled in strength) and I haven't had any problems since. It was all free of charge. I wish I had insisted Freeview had done something about my poor signal years ago. My mother, in a different part of the country had a new aerial fitted free of charge. I gather quite a high proportion of people's TVs are affected by G4 phone mast signal interference and the huge amount of money the government made selling the bandwidths? compensates for anything they have to spend out rectifying the TV problems they have caused.

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Hilary Woodward's 4 posts GB flag
S
StevensOnln1
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

11:04 PM

Hilary Woodward: The amount of viewers affected by 4G mobile interference is actually quite small according to recent figures (only 260,000 households) and is easily resolved by fitting a filter, which is what the device fitted in your loft most likely is. Your mother's new aerial will have been required due to a change in frequencies used by the transmitter serving her home, which is why it would have been provided free of charge. This work is paid for by the mobile phone networks who have gained much needed radio spectrum to provide mobile broadband services which are in ever increasing demand, it is not funded by government or from the TV licence. See the article linked below.


Mobile interference support open until end of 2020 - a516digital


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StevensOnln1's 3,607 posts GB flag
Friday, 4 January 2019
J
John Clark
sentiment_satisfiedBronze

9:48 AM
Halesworth

03/01/2019:- Live in area IP19 9BN, currently having picture distortion problems on BBC 101 Channel 46 from Tacolneston.
Have had a new aerial fitted, fixed to roof, & it's an extra long one, but still we get picture lose & distortion.
The aerial is connection is direct into a "Humax -Fox - T2" recorder.
What is best way to proceed to clear the problem?
Is this a known problem area?


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John Clark's 24 posts GB flag
John's: mapJ's Freeview map terrainJ's terrain plot wavesJ's frequency data J's Freeview Detailed Coverage
MikeP
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

10:11 AM

John Clark:

Looking at the Digital UK Coverage Checker, at Coverage Checker - Detailed View it shows you are in a very difficult location for terrestrial TV signal. Hence it is not unexpected that you get significant reception problems.

The best solution is to use Freesat instead of Freeview.



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MikeP's 3,056 posts GB flag
Saturday, 5 January 2019
Transmitter engineering
sentiment_very_satisfiedOwner

11:09 AM

TACOLNESTON transmitter - DAB: BBC National DAB Radio Off Air from 07:11 today to 07:24 today. [BBC]

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Transmitter engineering's 149,822 posts xx flag
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