Full Freeview on the Tacolneston (Norfolk, England) transmitter
 | Google Streetview |  | Google map |  | Bing map |  | Google Earth |  | 52.518,1.139 or 52°31'6"N 1°8'22"E |  | NR16 1DW |
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 25/11/2024 Pixelation or flickering 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 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.
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?
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
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 Yarmouth | Transposer | 1 km S town centre | 30 homes |
| Lowestoft (2) | Transposer | Rotterdam Rd | 125 homes |
How will the Tacolneston (Norfolk, England) transmission frequencies change over time?
| 1950s-80s | 1984-97 | 1997-98 | 1998-2011 | 2011-13 | 2013-18 | 2013-17 | 17 Jul 2018 | ||
| VHF | C/D E | C/D E | C/D E | E | E T | W T | W T | ||
| C3 | BBCtvwaves | ||||||||
| C31 | com7 | com7 | |||||||
| C32 | _local | ||||||||
| C37 | com8 | com8 | |||||||
| C39 | +ArqB | +ArqB | ArqB | ||||||
| C40 | BBCA | ||||||||
| C42 | SDN | SDN | SDN | SDN | |||||
| C43 | D3+4 | ||||||||
| C45 | ArqA | ArqA | ArqA | ArqA | |||||
| C46 | BBCB | ||||||||
| C50tv_off | BBCB | BBCB | |||||||
| C52tv_off | C5waves | C5waves | |||||||
| C55tv_off | BBC2waves | BBC2waves | BBC2waves | -BBCA | -BBCA | -BBCA | com7tv_off | ||
| C56tv_off | COM8tv_off | ||||||||
| C57tv_off | LNR | LNR | |||||||
| C59tv_off | ITVwaves | ITVwaves | ITVwaves | -D3+4 | -D3+4 | -D3+4 | |||
| C62 | BBC1waves | BBC1waves | BBC1waves | BBCB | |||||
| C65 | C4waves | C4waves | C4waves |
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 |
Local transmitter maps
Tacolneston Freeview Tacolneston DAB Tacolneston TV region BBC East Anglia (East micro region)Which companies have run the Channel 3 services in the Tacolneston transmitter area
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Wednesday, 27 December 2017
I
Ian3:50 PM
Further to my last post, I have had another reply from Panasonic, suggesting I contact the BBC.
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I
Ian5:58 PM
Bill:
Hi Bill (and MikeB, and Brian),
On further investigation, I now realise that it isn't just BBC4HD that I'm having the problem recording. On trying to record from Vintage TV (channel 82), I found this also wasn't recording. This led me to try and record all stations on the COM7 (channel 31) multiplex. None of them are recording! Signal quality is 60% and signal strength is 50%. When viewing via AV through the recorder, all programmes are of good quality and sound, and they all worked a few weeks ago. There had been the odd occasion where the picture had pixelated, but nevertheless they all used to record. Every other band of channels for this area (Gorleston) are recording perfectly, 37, 39,42,45, 55,57,59.
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M
MikeB6:15 PM
Ian: Com 7 is much lower power than than the other Muxes, but could you check if your actual tuned into that transmitter?
And why isn't it recording? Does it just miss the recording, or does it try to record, but nothing gets picked up?
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I
Ian6:57 PM
MikeB:
Every thing has been done, as it has been for years, and all was fine until a few weeks ago. The recorder flashes to tell you it is about to record, but doesn't record. It just carries on flashing. If you go into "prog check", it shows that it is recording (but it isn't!). The same fault appears on many online posts, all referring to BBC4HD, which of course is on COM7. A recent factory reset has also been tried, but this didn't help either. I'm just wondering now if I'm getting a lower signal than previously, but I wouldn't have thought the 50% and 60% signal condition readings were low enough to stop it recording, and in the past it has recorded pixelating programmes.
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Thursday, 28 December 2017
B
Bill3:04 PM
After a bit of checking, I can say for sure that there is no problem with my aerial or the recorder and the tuning is okay and to the correct transmitter. Yes, there is a lower signal strength for BBC4HD, but as I seem to recall, this station, the BBC HD News and possibly RT have always been a bit lower and I was certainly able to records from BBC4 HD relatively recently. Funny how some of the other HD stations you never watch have no recording problems.
While I'm unable to record on BBC4HD, I have managed to make a couple of test recordings from the regular BBC4 channel. Better than nothing, I suppose! While my Samsung and Toshiba TVs have superior reception/tuning performance to the Panasonic recorder, I do think this is clearly an issue with the BBC or the transmitter.
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M
MikeB6:59 PM
Bill: The question I was asking is the BBC4 your trying to record actually coming from Talcneston?
My PVR used to find another BBC1, and in essence 'get stuck' on it - check which channel its trying to pick up.
Your getting a good signal from that mux, so I'm otherwise at a bit of a loss - might be worth swapping out the flt lead, but I suspect it wont change much, and frarnkly, there is no logical reason why it would be the transmitter - if the mux is working, the mux is working.
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Friday, 29 December 2017
I
Ian3:48 PM
Bill:
Looks like all the Tacolneston channels are going to have different numbers around Apr - Jun 2018, maybe it will help our situation!
Coverage Checker - Detailed View
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Sunday, 7 January 2018
H
hardy2:58 PM
sounds a bit like the only change might be a new source of interference such as from a telephone mast . Or also possible that you are getting a signal from a Dutch transmitter . There are some on UHF channel 31 . But Dutch interference usually only shows up occasionally in times of high pressure weather. Loss of signal shows as a low reading of signal strength . Interference can read like high signal strength fooling you into thinking everything is ok. Also living near the coast I have reverted to Freesat to avoid continental interference . I may switch back to freeview next june when the freeview channels will be changed but there is not much incentive as you can now watch all the same channels on freesat.
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M
Mardler 9:42 PM
Yup, time to switch to Freesat: Freeview is very likely to become unwatchable.
Bill, your BBC4HD on COM7 doesn't surprise me at all. This channel/mux drops s/s frequently. BBC et al refuse to admit it but you can watch s/s and quality shift, many people have exactly the same problem and excuses such as propagation issues don't wash.
That said, I would have thought that with the figs you give recording would be ok. Points to a transmission fault of some kind.
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Monday, 8 January 2018
M
MikeB8:15 AM
Mardler : North Norfolk has always been problematic for TV reception from Talcneston - the geography of the area means a lot of places are blocked, hence the reason why many aerials use Belmont instead.
Thats the nature of the physics - when people start saying that their reception has got a lot worse, then that points to problems within the home system - the transmitter is in the same place, with the same power output, etc. There are always people who insist it has to be the transmitter, the BBC, etc, but it very seldom is. And some will tie themselves in knots trying to explain signal loss away, often ending up confusing themselves.
If people find it easier to go to Freesat, etc, fine. There is no point in repeatedly trying to do what cannot be done - physics hasn't changed. But if the change is relatively sudden, then almost certainly its not the transmitter or even Freeview itself.
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