Full Freeview on the Tunbridge Wells (Kent, England) transmitter
 | Google Streetview |  | Google map |  | Bing map |  | Google Earth |  | 51.173,0.297 or 51°10'22"N 0°17'51"E |  | TN11 0NB |
The symbol shows the location of the Tunbridge Wells (Kent, England) transmitter which serves 53,000 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 Tunbridge Wells (Kent, England) mast?
TUNBRIDGE WELLS transmitter - DAB: Off the air due to essential engineering from 26 Nov 09:01 until 26 Nov 12:02. Off the air due to a fault from 24 Nov 19:16 until 24 Nov 19:19. Off the air due to a fault from 24 Nov 18:40 until 24 Nov 18:42. . 
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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
H/V: aerial position (horizontal or vertical)
The Tunbridge Wells (Kent, England) mast is a public service broadcasting (PSB) transmitter, it does not provide these commercial (COM) channels: .
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 Freeview channels does the Tunbridge Wells 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
H/V: aerial position (horizontal or vertical)
The Tunbridge Wells (Kent, England) mast is a public service broadcasting (PSB) transmitter, it does not provide these commercial (COM) channels: .
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 Tunbridge Wells transmitter?
BBC South East Today 0.8m homes 3.2%
from Tunbridge Wells TN1 1QQ, 5km south-southwest (205°)
to BBC South East region - 45 masts.
ITV Meridian News 0.7m homes 2.7%
from Maidstone ME14 5NZ, 21km northeast (53°)
to ITV Meridian (East) region - 36 masts.
All of lunch, weekend and 50% evening news is shared with all of Meridian plus Oxford
How will the Tunbridge Wells (Kent, England) transmission frequencies change over time?
| 1984-97 | 1997-98 | 1998-2012 | 2012-13 | 2013-18 | 2013-17 | 19 Jul 2018 | |||
| B E T | B E T | B E T | B E T | B E T | B E T | K T | |||
| C29 | SDN | ||||||||
| C31 | ArqA | ||||||||
| C37 | C5waves | C5waves | ArqB | ||||||
| C39 | _local | ||||||||
| C41 | ITVwaves | ITVwaves | ITVwaves | ArqB | ArqB | ArqB | BBCA | ||
| C42 | SDN | +SDN | +SDN | ||||||
| C44 | BBC2waves | BBC2waves | BBC2waves | ArqA | ArqA | ArqA | D3+4 | ||
| C47 | C4waves | C4waves | C4waves | BBCB | BBCB | BBCB | BBCB | ||
| C49tv_off | D3+4 | D3+4 | D3+4 | ||||||
| C51tv_off | BBC1waves | BBC1waves | BBC1waves | _local | _local | _local | |||
| C52tv_off | BBCA | BBCA | BBCA |
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 30 May 12 and 13 Jun 12.
How do the old analogue and currrent digital signal levels compare?
| Analogue 1-4 | 10kW | |
| Analogue 5, SDN, ARQA, ARQB, BBCA, D3+4, BBCB | (-4dB) 4kW | |
| Mux 1*, Mux 2*, Mux A*, Mux B*, Mux C*, Mux D* | (-20dB) 100W |
Which companies have run the Channel 3 services in the Tunbridge Wells transmitter area
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Is the transmitter output the same in all directions?
Radiation patterns withheldSunday, 17 June 2012
Richard Hawkins: Perhaps it could be too much signal being fed into your receiver.
Tunbridge Wells and Heathfield are a "Single Frequency Network" (SFN) which means that they transmit on the same channels. This is perfectly OK as the digital system allows it.
Heathfield is horizontally polarised and Tunbridge Wells is vertically polarised, but your aerial could still be picking up Heathfield to a degree. What you get down your aerial lead is the sum of what's been picked up of the two signals.
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L
Lawrence Heasman5:40 PM
Hi Am I understanding this right the TW transmitter is still on low power, but Heathfield has gone to full power. Some of my TVs are getting picture break up and sound breakup mostly on BBC channels but a few others. Previous to this changeover I had perfect reception on freeview, now it is all over the place. Today it seems ok with picture quality at 90% but signal strength at 40% (on a sony TV) am I getting interference from Heathfield (I am on the south side of TW in Broadwater down) or do I need a new better directional aerial to TW. One othe point I have a loft distributor, but it is now quite old (pre digital) could this be the problem?
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J
jb388:28 PM
Tunbridge Wells
Lawrence Heasman: If your aerial is chimney mounted then you are unlikely to find a satisfactory solution to this problem as the signal levels received from Heathfield are liable to be a little too strong to eliminate, or at least partially kill so as not to cause serious problems with reception from Tunbridge Wells.
Although transmitters within range of each other and using the same channel numbers is a highly undesirable state of affairs, you would stand a better chance of improving things by using a log aerial in the loft and taking advantage of the fact that up until the 27th Ch42 (SDN) is only being used by Tunbridge Wells, and the fact of it being temporarily on low power of only 100watts can be used to further advantage, as that would enable the vertically mounted log to be carefully positioned so as to obtain maximum quality on Tunbridge Wells Ch42 without interference from Heathfield, as Heathfield's SDN is on Ch48 until the 27th, then on that date the situation with SDN (ITV3 etc) will be exactly the same as the other five muxes presently are, that is both stations using exactly the same channels across all six muxes.
There is always going to be an element of hit and miss in any attempts made to find a satisfactory solution to this problem, and of course what I have suggested is something more suited to a person trying this themselves, as the exercise can be a very time consuming task and not the type of thing that an aerial installer is likely to consider attempting without some exorbitant charge being made, but its very unlikely that any other measures taken would bring any better results.
By the way, not having knowledge of your location I have used a test code of TN2 5RP (Broadwater Lane) as a rough guide for the signal predictor.
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jb38's: mapJ's Freeview map terrainJ's terrain plot wavesJ's frequency data J's Freeview Detailed Coverage
jb38: If this is the sort of affect expected with two overlapping SFN transmitters with different polarisations, then do you anticipate that if a national SFN was launched (such as that proposed on C36), that there will be lots of people with reception issues?
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L
Lawrence Heasman10:44 PM
Tunbridge Wells
Thanks for that JB38 in fact I am higher up in TN2 5NQ Broad Grove. And yes I do have a chimney Ariel supposedly a band b 12 element and it looks like a yogi so might be broad spectrum not just band B. I have since found that I am also getting channels (poor quality though)from Crystal Palace even though my aerial is at 90 degrees to pointing to crystal palace!
Now considering either a very directional aerial to try and screen out Heathfield, not so concerned about Crystal Palace as they are not a problem on frequencies. Another alternative is get a new aerial for crystal palace, I have noticed a few houses around me point that way anyway. What a pain in the but, it was new aerial just 3 or 4 years ago as the signal then was not good enough!
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Lawrence's: mapL's Freeview map terrainL's terrain plot wavesL's frequency data L's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Monday, 18 June 2012
R
Richard Hawkins12:33 PM
Following my posts on the 16 and 17th regarding intermittent breakups on the HD mux channel 47. I am Not alone! A friend who lives about 1/2 a mile north of me with the same post code has the same problem, It is just worse than mine!
I do not understand the above post.AFAIK all analogue TV transmissions ceased from the TW transmitter on the 13th june. I find it hard to believe that the HD Mux is working normally as two of us have the same breakups spoiling HD reception.
I have tried reducing the aerial signal by putting two splitters in series in the aerial lead. This has not solved the problem and all the other Muxes are perfect as before.
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Thursday, 21 June 2012
N
Nick Jackson12:03 AM
Following on from John Simmons post above, having exactly the same problem in TN10.
Since digital change-over day all channels on COM (MUX) 6 are very weak and breaking up from the Tunbridge Wells transmitter. This is despite the fact that the signal was perfectly satisfactory before. According to my Humax pvr the signal strength in that ITV4 group is 29% only.
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Monday, 9 July 2012
F
Furnace6:56 PM
Edenbridge
I always seem able to receive the SD MUXs, but the HD MUX is flakey. As of July 7th it disappeared (No Signal), whereas the SD MUXs always show about 50% Strength and 95% Quality.
Today (July 9th) the HD MUX is back working and it shows about 75% Strength and 95% Quality.
I am pointing at T Wells receiver from TN8 6PE and using a Technika HD STB. Aerial points directly at a large Oak tree. Could this be the problem, despite the SD MUXs being unaffected?
No Wimbledon final in HD :(
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Furnace's: mapF's Freeview map terrainF's terrain plot wavesF's frequency data F's Freeview Detailed Coverage
J
jb388:49 PM
Furnace: Yes, it could well do if the tree is within a couple of hundred feet or so away, although in situations like that turning the aerial a few degrees to the right or left or reducing the aerial height (this even better) can sometimes effect a cure, albeit it "might" have a slightly detrimental effect on another multiplex.
I will say though that the signal strength indications that you have reported are not particularly good as they don't leave that much of a safety margin between your present viewing level and the receivers reception cut off threshold level, are you using any form of booster? because if you aren't then its very likely that you would benefit from using one as that would take the level of the signal received further away from the cut off point referred to.
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Tuesday, 10 July 2012
B
Bruce8:40 PM
Tonbridge
Is there a weather related issue tonight 10th July as I have lost every single channel on the Tunbridge Wells transmitter. Post Code is TN9 2UG
| link to this comment |
Bruce's: mapB's Freeview map terrainB's terrain plot wavesB's frequency data B's Freeview Detailed Coverage
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