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Full Freeview on the Wenvoe (Cardiff, Wales) transmitter

first published this on - UK Free TV
sa_streetviewGoogle Streetviewsa_gmapsGoogle mapsa_bingBing mapsa_gearthGoogle Earthsa_gps51.460,-3.282 or 51°27'35"N 3°16'57"Wsa_postcodeCF5 6SA

 

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.

Are there any planned engineering works or unexpected transmitter faults on the Wenvoe (Cardiff, Wales) mast?

Wenvoe transmitter - Wenvoe transmitter: Possible effect on TV reception week commencing 25/11/2024 Screen may go black on some or all channels Digital tick


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

MuxH/VFrequencyHeightModeWatts
PSB1
BBCA
 H max
C41+ (634.2MHz)384mDTG-100,000W
Channel icons
1 BBC One (SD) Wales, 2 BBC Two Wales, 9 BBC Four, 23 BBC Three, 201 CBBC, 202 CBeebies, 231 BBC News, 232 BBC Parliament, plus 14 others

PSB2
D3+4
 H max
C44 (658.0MHz)384mDTG-100,000W
Channel icons
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 (Wales), 71 That’s 60s,

PSB3
BBCB
 H max
C47 (682.0MHz)384mDTG-100,000W
Channel icons
46 5SELECT, 101 BBC One HD Wales, 102 BBC Two HD Wales, 104 Channel 4 HD South ads, 105 Channel 5 HD, 106 BBC Four HD, 110 Channel 4 HD (Wales), 204 CBBC HD, 205 CBeebies HD, plus 1 others

COM4
SDN
 H -3dB
C42+ (642.2MHz)384mDTG-850,000W
Channel icons
 E4 (Wales), 20 U&Drama, 21 5USA, 29 ITV2 +1, 32 5STAR, 33 5Action, 38 Channel 5 +1, 41 Legend, 42 GREAT! action, 57 U&Dave ja vu, 58 ITV3 +1, 59 ITV4 +1, 64 Blaze, 67 TRUE CRIME, 68 TRUE CRIME XTRA, 81 Blaze +1, 91 WildEarth, 93 ITVBe +1, 209 Ketchup TV, 210 Ketchup Too, 211 YAAAS!, 251 Al Jazeera English, 255 FRANCE 24 (in English), 265 Rok Sky +1, plus 29 others

COM5
ArqA
 H -3dB
C45+ (666.2MHz)384mDTG-850,000W
Channel icons
11 Sky Mix, 17 Really, 19 U&Dave, 31 E4 Extra, 36 Sky Arts, 40 Quest Red, 43 Food Network, 47 Film4 +1, 48 Challenge, 49 4seven, 60 U&Drama +1, 65 That's TV 2, 70 Quest +1, 74 &UYesterday +1, 76 That's TV 2 MCR, 233 Sky News, plus 13 others

COM6
ArqB
 H -3dB
C39+ (618.2MHz)384mDTG-850,000W
Channel icons
12 Quest, 25 U&W, 27 U&Yesterday, 34 GREAT! movies, 39 DMAX, 44 HGTV, 52 GREAT! christmas, 56 That's TV (UK), 63 GREAT! romance mix, 73 HobbyMaker, 75 That's 90s, 82 Talking Pictures TV, 84 PBS America, 235 Al Jazeera Eng, plus 18 others

LCF
 H -10dB
C37 (602.0MHz)384mDTG-1210,000W
Channel icons
from 22nd September 2014: 8 Made in Cardiff,

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?

regional news image
BBC Wales Today 1.2m homes 4.7%
from Cardiff CF5 2YQ, 6km northeast (42°)
to BBC Wales region - 206 masts.
regional news image
ITV Cymru Wales 1.2m homes 4.7%
from Cardiff CF5 6XJ, 1km east-northeast (74°)
to ITV Wales region - 206 masts.

Are there any self-help relays?

AbergwesynActive deflector7 km N Llanwrtyd Wells20 homes
BarryTransposer10 km SW city centre300 homes
Celtic ManorTransposer5 km E Newport80 homes
PentrebachTransposer3 km S Merthyr Tydfil100 homes
YstradfellteActive deflector30 km NE Port Talbot20 homes

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

1950s-80s1984-971997-981998-20102010-132013-182013-1715 May 2019
VHFB E TB E TB E TB E TB E K TW TW T
C5BBCtvwaves
C30LOCAL2
C31com7com7
C37com8com8
C39 +ArqB+ArqBArqB
C41ITVwavesITVwavesITVwaves+BBCA+BBCA+BBCABBCA
C42+SDN+SDN+SDNSDN
C44BBC1wavesBBC1wavesBBC1wavesD3+4D3+4D3+4D3+4
C45+ArqA+ArqA+ArqAArqA
C47C4wavesC4wavesC4wavesBBCBBBCBBBCBBBCB
C49tv_off+ArqB
C51tv_offBBC2wavesBBC2wavesBBC2wavesLCFLCF
C55tv_offcom7tv_off
C56tv_offCOM8tv_off

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 3 Mar 10 and 31 Mar 10.

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

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

Jan 1958-Jul 1968Television Wales and the West
Jul 1968-Feb 2004Harlech 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. 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.

Comments
Tuesday, 28 May 2013
K
KMJ,Derby
sentiment_satisfiedGold

11:10 PM

Colin: If your aerial is pointing to the Carmel transmiter, the frequency for ArqB which carries Film4 is now C49, as from 22nd May 2013.

link to this comment
KMJ,Derby's 1,811 posts GB flag
Friday, 14 June 2013
B
Brettski
6:14 PM
Blackwood

Hello, ive just set up an 32 element wideband aerial + 4 way amplifier in my loft with the intentions of recieving wenvoe + all chans. Currently i am getting only those channels on 100MW. Does it just need tweaking or have i no chance getting the 50MW Channels here.
Postcode NP123NT

Many Thanks

link to this comment
Brettski's 1 post GB flag
Brettski's: mapB's Freeview map terrainB's terrain plot wavesB's frequency data B's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Tuesday, 2 July 2013
D
Derek Matravers
10:26 PM
Watchet

I am receiving my signal from the Wenvoe transmitter. I live in the TA23 0RQ area. My reception of programs that use ch39 has all but disappeared. My TV shows signal strength of 5/10, and quality of 0/10.
Channel 39 transmission power is 50,000 watts, so is one of the lower power channels. ch45 is another low power channel, yet I receive this perfectly, strength is 8/10 and quality 9/10. I have a wideband aerial, digital grade coax and high quality connections/connectors. What is happening?

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Derek Matravers's 6 posts GB flag
Derek's: mapD's Freeview map terrainD's terrain plot wavesD's frequency data D's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Dave Lindsay
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

10:48 PM

Derek Matravers: Perhaps the trees in the direction of Wenvoe are causing your difficulty.

link to this comment
Dave Lindsay's 5,724 posts GB flag
Wednesday, 3 July 2013
J
jb38
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

12:22 AM

Derek Matravers : A quick check on the terrain indicator reveals that the line-of-sight between the Wenvoe transmitter and your location is obstructed from just under 4 miles away, this (dependant on conditions) usually always resulting in erratic reception of one or more of the six mux channels used by the station at certain times of the year due to the fact that the signal is only reaching you in the first place by diffraction (bending), this frequently being responsible for receiving the muxes at slightly different strengths to each other as variables will always exist between the muxes even before they are subjected to bending.

Of course the trees as mentioned by Dave Lindsay making matters even worse.



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



link to this comment
jb38's 7,179 posts GB flag
D
Derek Matravers
8:51 AM

jb38:
Thanks JB for your response. I know there are some trees in my line of sight to Wenvoe, but what puzzles me, is the fact that all the other channels from Wenvoe are ok (acceptable). This includes the other low powered channels. If it's a 'line of sight' issue, why are the other channels ok?

link to this comment
Derek Matravers's 6 posts GB flag
Dave Lindsay
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

10:54 AM

Derek Matravers: Don't ask why the one exception?

Instead, consider a single signal. It 'bends' (defracts) around an object, in this case the high ground over which you are receiving. The effect is that in the shadow of that object the signal isn't dispersed uniformly there are some good spots and some not-so-good spots.

The dispersal effect varies by frequency. Therefore each frequency will have its own "good spots" and "not-so-good spots". Hence there will be places where they are not all good at the same spot.

The same goes for refraction when signals pass through an object such as a tree.

The objective when siting an aerial is to put it in a spot where all channels are good. However, if the objects which cause the defraction (the hill, including anything on top of it such as trees) and the refraction (caused by the trees in front of the aerial) change/move then this could have implication on the signal(s) received.

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Dave Lindsay's 5,724 posts GB flag
Thursday, 4 July 2013
D
Derek Matravers
9:41 AM

Thanks Dave, for the explanation. That has made things clearer.
Seems like the only thing I can do, is to hope that channel 39 is moved to a more 'tree and hill friendly' frequency.

link to this comment
Derek Matravers's 6 posts GB flag
Saturday, 20 July 2013
H
Heath Brett
8:18 PM
Swansea

Hi, I live at SA2 9LR and my aerial uses the Wenvoe aerial.
Since a few weeks ago my Panasonic TV and Harddrive refuse to tune into Film4, Itv 4 etc, which I've received for years, they get BBC1, ITV1 etc fine. I can pick Film 4 up fine in the bedroom with our Samsung TV which shows a 50% signal.
My aerial (horizontal) is on the roof, pointing same direction as other houses, and uses a splitter/booster in the loft.
Any ideas as to why I can't receive Film 4 etc now would be much appreciated as Film 4 is one of my preferred channels.

link to this comment
Heath Brett's 1 post GB flag
Heath's: mapH's Freeview map terrainH's terrain plot wavesH's frequency data H's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Friday, 26 July 2013
L
Lee
2:55 PM
Abertillery

From NP13 2HF
Hi
I live in Brynithel Terrace.

Can I pick up a Wenvoe signal here?

At the moment an old tv arial I which is pointing towards a nearby hill top; I assume a 'reflector'.

I only have about 20 TV channels probably 6 are worth bothering with; no film 4, I have the basics and do manage ok. All the digital radio is on the tv as well, but I never used the tv for radio listening

I used to live in North Somerset where a tv scan is biased towards Wenvoe with Mendip signal also available in the 800's. Anyway I would like to have a larger choice of channels and I refer back to my initial question.

I am about to purchase a new tv aerial and if wenvoe signal possible here will mount the new aerial on top of the house rather than the corner wall where it is now (ie lower down) and pointing towards local small mast.

Think I have explained myself.

Thanks... Lee

link to this comment
Lee's 1 post GB flag
Lee's: mapL's Freeview map terrainL's terrain plot wavesL's frequency data L's Freeview Detailed Coverage
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