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Full Freeview on the Wenvoe (Cardiff, Wales) transmitter

Brian Butterworth first published this on 1st May 2004 at 08:20 - UK Free TV

51.460,-3.282 or 51°27'35"N 3°16'57"W

CF5 6SA

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The symbol shows the location of the Wenvoe (Cardiff, Wales) transmitter which serves 360,000 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.

This transmitter has no current reported problems

The BBC and Digital UK report there are no faults or engineering work on the Wenvoe (Cardiff, Wales) transmitter.

Choose from three options: ■ List by multiplex ■ List by channel number ■ List by channel name

Which Freeview channels does the Wenvoe 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.

Mux	H/V	Frequency	Height	Mode	Watts
PSB1 BBCA	H max	C41+ (634.2MHz)	384m	DTG-3	100,000W
	1 BBC One Wales, 2 BBC Two Wales, 9 BBC Four, 120 CBBC, 121 CBeebies, 130 BBC News, 131 BBC Parliament, 601 BBC RB 1, plus 14 others
PSB2 D3+4	H max	C44 (658.0MHz)	384m	DTG-3	100,000W
	3 ITV (Wales), 4 S4C HD, 5 Channel 5, 6 ITV 2, 7 Channel 4 (Wales) South ads, 13 Channel 4 +1 South ads, 14 More4, 15 Film4, 24 ITV4, 33 ITV +1 (Wales),
PSB3 BBCB	H max	C47 (682.0MHz)	384m	DTG-6	100,000W
	45 Film4 +1, 101 BBC One HD Wales, 102 BBC Two HD (England), 103 ITV HD (ITV Central West), 104 Channel 4 HD South ads, 105 Channel 5 HD, 123 CBBC HD,
COM4 SDN	H -3dB	C42+ (642.2MHz)	384m	DTG-8	50,000W
	10 ITV3, 20 Drama, 21 5 USA, 26 ITV Be, 27 ITV 2 +1, 28 E4 (Wales), 30 5STAR, 34 ITV3 +1, 37 Quest, 44 Channel 5 +1, 54 My5, 58 ITV Be +1, 59 ITV4 +1, 66 CBS Reality, 70 Horror Channel, 80 Blaze, 83 Blaze +1, 92 Quest +1, 122 CITV, plus 17 others
COM5 ArqA	H -3dB	C45+ (666.2MHz)	384m	DTG-8	50,000W
	11 pick, 12 Dave, 17 Really, 29 E4 +1, 32 Sony Movie Ch, 38 Quest Red, 41 Food Network, 46 Challenge, 48 Movies4Men, 68 truTV, 69 Tru TV +1, 72 YourTV, 132 Sky News, plus 12 others
COM6 ArqB	H -3dB	C39+ (618.2MHz)	384m	DTG-8	50,000W
	BT Showcase (not free), 18 4Music, 19 Yesterday, 25 Home, 31 Spike, 42 Travel Channel, 47 4seven, 64 CBS Action, 71 CBS Drama, 73 YourTV +1, 79 Dave ja vu, 90 Quest Red +1, plus 21 others
LCF	H -10dB	C51 (714.0MHz)	384m	DTG-12	10,000W
	from 22nd September 2014: 8 Made in Cardiff,
com7	H -3.3dB	C31 (554.0MHz)	384m	DTG-6	47,000W
	56 5USA +1, 57 VIVA, 67 CBS Reality +1, 74 CBS Action +1, 81 Talking Pictures TV, 82 Vintage TV, 87 Keep It Country, 106 BBC Four HD, 107 BBC News HD, 108 Al Jazeera Eng HD, 109 Channel 4+1 HD, 110 4seven HD, 113 RT HD, 124 CBeebies HD, plus 2 others 77 Rishtey, 245 Planet Knowledge,
com8	H -2.7dB	C37 (602.0MHz)	384m	DTG-6	53,200W
	55 5STAR+1, 63 Community Channel, 86 More4 1, 91 Front Runner TV, plus 4 others

DTG-3 64QAM 8K 2/3 24.1Mb/s DVB-T MPEG2
DTG-6 256QAM 32KE 2/3 40.2Mb/s DVB-T2 MPEG4
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 Wenvoe transmitter?

BBC Wales Today 1.2m homes 4.7%
from Cardiff CF5 2YQ, 6km northeast
to BBC Wales region - 206 masts.

ITV Cymru Wales 1.2m homes 4.7%
from Cardiff CF5 6XJ, 1km east-northeast
to ITV Wales region - 206 masts.

Are there any self-help relays?

Abergwesyn	Active deflector	7 km N Llanwrtyd Wells	20 homes
Barry	Transposer	10 km SW city centre	300 homes
Celtic Manor	Transposer	5 km E Newport	80 homes
Pentrebach	Transposer	3 km S Merthyr Tydfil	100 homes
Ystradfellte	Active deflector	30 km NE Port Talbot	20 homes

How will the Wenvoe (Cardiff, Wales) transmission frequencies change over time?

	years	1950s~85	1984-97	1997-98	1998-2010	2010-13	23/1/13-	2013-17	30th Jun 2019-
	aerial group	VHF	B E	B E	W	B E	B E K	W	B E K
	C5	BBCtv
	C30				1
600	C31							com7
	C34				2
	C37							com8
	C39						ArqB	ArqB	BBCA
	C40				-A
	C41		ITV	ITV	ITV	+BBCA	+BBCA	+BBCA	D3+4
	C42					+SDN	+SDN	+SDN	BBCB
	C43				-C
	C44		BBC1	BBC1	BBC1	D3+4	D3+4	D3+4	SDN
	C45					+ArqA	+ArqA	+ArqA	ArqA
	C46				-D
	C47		C4	C4	C4	BBCB	BBCB	BBCB	ArqB
700	C49					+ArqB
	C50				-B
	C51		BBC2	BBC2	BBC2			LCF

orange background for multiplexes names more
green background for transmission frequencies
lilac background for power levels in watts
800MHz band: 4G mobile started in 2013
700MHz band: 4G from 30 June 2020more
600MHz band: new or moved digital TV services more
Notes: + and - denote 166kHz offset; aerial group are shown as A B C/D E K W
Italics for analogue, digital switchover was Wednesdays 3rd March and 31st March 2010.

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

Analogue 1-4	500kW
BBCA, D3+4, BBCB	(-7dB) 100kW
com8	(-9.7dB) 53.2kW
SDN, ARQA, ARQB	(-10dB) 50kW
com7	(-10.3dB) 47kW
Mux 1*, LCF	(-17dB) 10kW
Mux 2, Mux A, Mux B, Mux C, Mux D*	(-20dB) 5kW

Other local maps

Wenvoe Freeview Wenvoe DAB Wenvoe AM/FM Wenvoe TV region BBC Wales Wales DAB in Cardiff AM/FM in Cardiff

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

Jan 1958-Jul 1968	Television Wales and the West
Jul 1968-Feb 2004	Harlech Television
Feb 2004-Dec 2014	ITV plc

Feb 1983-Dec 1992	TV-am•
Jan 1993-Sep 2010	GMTV•
Sep 2010-Dec 2014	ITV Daybreak•

• Breakfast ◊ Weekends ♦ Friday night and weekends † Weekdays only. Wenvoe 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?

Transmitter engineering
4:33 AM

- : HD TV Off Air from 19:59 to 20:03 yesterday. [BBC]

link to this

Transmitter engineering's 123,812 posts Owner Owner

M

Mark
8:57 PM

Living in Llantwit Fardre. Got around 7pm to find intermittent . TV in bedroom down, as is main TV in living room which takes Talk Talk TV. Don't know where my is and don't know whether neighbourd have similar issue. Cheers.

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Mark's 1 post

Transmitter engineering
4:33 AM

- : HD TV Off Air from 19:59 on 21 Mar to 20:03 on 21 Mar. [BBC]

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Transmitter engineering's 123,812 posts Owner Owner

G

Guy Richards
10:07 PM

Sunday 7 May, from has fallen to barely 50 per cent. I'm in nort Cardiff, anyone else with the same issue?

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Guy Richards's 1 post

P

Phil
3:06 PM

Hi,
I am using an old "One for All" indoor with a Toshiba TV in our Summer House in the back garden.
We are in Rhiwbina, Cardiff....no problems in the house with TV from the normal aerial..
Is there. a Problem for reception here for ...???.....the only way I can get any is to hang the the aerial out through the window...it is fine then.
Any advice...???.....maybe invest in a modern indoor aerial..???

link to this

Phil's 1 post

S

StevensOnln1
3:45 PM

Phil: only work well in places that have a strong to begin with. Using one at ground floor level will never produce the same results as a (or ) mounted as there will be less signal due to obstructions such as the surrounding buildings and trees etc (and signals reflecting off the same cancelling out the wanted signals) which are less of a problem at roof height. Also, a lot of indoor aerials are poorly designed and are little more than a piece of wire sticking out of an . The best type to try are ones that look like a smaller version of a rooftop aerial, or even consider mounting a small rooftop aerial on your summer house.

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StevensOnln1's 736 posts Gold Gold

MikeP
6:37 PM

Phil:

Further to that said by StevensOnln1, I concur that 'indoor' aerials are not at all effective unless you are very close to a powerful . Years of TV field servicing experience suggests they are never a good solution.

One alternative is to have an active splitter added into your existing feed and an additional coaxial run from that to your Summer House, bearing in mind that aerial cables are not designed to be suspended or buried. So if it crosses 'open space' you will need either supporting wires to 'hang' it from or sealed circular trunking below ground for it to fed through. Or else have a new aerial fitted where it can receive a good and stable signal.

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MikeP's 1,488 posts Gold Gold

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