Full Freeview on the Wenvoe (Cardiff, Wales) transmitter
 | Google Streetview |  | Google map |  | Bing map |  | Google Earth |  | 51.460,-3.282 or 51°27'35"N 3°16'57"W |  | CF5 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 02/10/2023 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 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.
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 (42°)
to BBC Wales region - 206 masts.
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?
| 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?
| 1950s-80s | 1984-97 | 1997-98 | 1998-2010 | 2010-13 | 2013-18 | 2013-17 | 15 May 2019 | ||
| VHF | B E T | B E T | B E T | B E T | B E K T | W T | W T | ||
| C5 | BBCtvwaves | ||||||||
| C30 | LOCAL2 | ||||||||
| C31 | com7 | com7 | |||||||
| C37 | com8 | com8 | |||||||
| C39 | +ArqB | +ArqB | ArqB | ||||||
| C41 | ITVwaves | ITVwaves | ITVwaves | +BBCA | +BBCA | +BBCA | BBCA | ||
| C42 | +SDN | +SDN | +SDN | SDN | |||||
| C44 | BBC1waves | BBC1waves | BBC1waves | D3+4 | D3+4 | D3+4 | D3+4 | ||
| C45 | +ArqA | +ArqA | +ArqA | ArqA | |||||
| C47 | C4waves | C4waves | C4waves | BBCB | BBCB | BBCB | BBCB | ||
| C49tv_off | +ArqB | ||||||||
| C51tv_off | BBC2waves | BBC2waves | BBC2waves | LCF | LCF | ||||
| C55tv_off | com7tv_off | ||||||||
| C56tv_off | COM8tv_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
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Wednesday, 18 December 2019
MikeP
8:32 PM
8:32 PM
Tim Phipps:
The listings here are not currently being maintained as the site owner is unabkle to do so at present.
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Thursday, 19 December 2019
C
Chris.SE8:37 AM
Tim Phipps:
Whilst the listings here haven't been maintained as MikeP has mentioned, up-to-date and (usually) correct information can be obtained from Freeview | All your favourite TV shows, all in one place and all for free
BBC1 HD etc is on the BBCB/PSB3 multiplex which is transmitted by all transmitters, but BBC4 HD is on the COM8 multiplex (see Freeview | All your favourite TV shows, all in one place and all for free corporate/platform-management/channel-listings ) That mux is not transmitted by all transmitters, but it is by Wenvoe if it is Wenvoe you are receiving. To help/assist you with why not/or if you can get the COMs7&8 multiplexes, we will need a full postcode.
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Monday, 30 December 2019
H
Hywel clatworthy7:22 PM
Abertillery
Is anyone else having problemswith wenvoe tv reception in NP13 2AY ?
Its been up and down this afternoon, a retune has not helped
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Hywel's: mapH's Freeview map terrainH's terrain plot wavesH's frequency data H's Freeview Detailed Coverage
C
Chris.SE10:49 PM
Hywel clatworthy:
There are unusually high levels of "Tropospheric propagation" at present, often associated with High Pressure weather systems.
These levels of propagation are unusual at this time of year - they cause signals from more distant transmitters to travel a lot further than normal. It is currently affecting different parts of the country by varying degrees and signals can change by the second or remain stable for much longer periods.
In the old "analogue" days there was a lot of talk about "continental" interference often in the summer months, but the interference can come from transmitters anywhere in the UK or Europe and even further afield. At the moment some people are getting DAB radio from the Netherlands and FM Radio from France as well as the interference to DTV.
It is predicted to continue for a couple more days, and you are advise NOT to retune as you will likely lose the correct tuning that you had. The "propagation" can be very frequency dependent, and it can only affected one frequency or several, but it can/will be different for others.
People will however have noticed the unusually mild weather which the Met office is referring to as a "Foehn effect" but it's not helpful that it seems none of the major broadcasters are making any reference to the interference being caused to TV and Radio reception! So it's no surprise that people wonder what is going on and think there is a transmitter problem.
For those that have retuned and lost correct tuning, you will have to try again and it could be hit and miss whilst the unusual propagation continues. If you are able to do a manual tune for the correct UHF channels, you may still receive interference or the wrong programmes.
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Tuesday, 31 December 2019
H
Hywel clatworthy8:32 AM
Chris.SE: Thanks Chris, what you say does make sense, it would be nice if I could prove it by picking up a European channel ! No doubt when Brexit is done we won't get this problem again !!!!!
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C
Chris.SE1:13 PM
Hywel clatworthy:
I like your wit :) You may still get something on FM or DAB but the "tropo" is currently subsiding. However it may return next week :o
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Friday, 21 February 2020
R
Rob7:58 PM
Cardiff
Hi, I am unable to pick up some BBC channels. I can get BBC 1 & 2 Wales perfectly fine. Yet BBC Four, News Channel are both very poor quality. I can also get the English (West) versions of BBC 1 & 2 in the 800s however they are also very poor quality. What I don't understand is how its possible to receive BBC 1 & 2 perfectly okay yet not the other channels when they are in the same multiplex? I am using an indoor aerial in CF24 4QD. Yes I know thats not recommended but I always thought all channels in the same multiplex share the same signal.
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Rob's: mapR's Freeview map terrainR's terrain plot wavesR's frequency data R's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Thursday, 4 March 2021
S
Sam Evans4:35 PM
I live on Gower in a "green" area for Wenvoe. I have indoor amplifiers.
Over the past 6 months, more and more channels have disappeared.
Now I can only get the main BBC channels and a few others.
What happened? What changed? And will they put it back?
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D
David Williams4:54 PM
Chris.SE:
This is really not an adequate response (although it may well be true). Its certainly not a fix.
Surely the real issue a very bad decsion to transmit some channels at one-tenth of the power.
Then blame the weather or the customers or their equipment. No! Turn the power up.
The thought process that says my gran's TV can receive some channels at 10kW transmission power, yet needs 100kW to receive the BBC is simply ludicrous. Its one TV. And one gran. Clearly all channels need to be transmitted at the same power.
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C
Chris.SE8:03 PM
Sam Evans:
All multiplexes are still transmitted from Wenvoe, nothing has changed. There was some Planned Engineering at Wenvoe back around the beginning of February, but that would have been routine and AFAIK everything is "normal". I can't find any listing of any Faults either by Freeview or the BBC, or any current issues.
As you've been having a problem for some time, there could be a number of reasons.
First perhaps just check that all your coax plugs are properly plugged in, unplug them, check there's no corrosion etc and plug them back in.
Second perhaps to check is that you are tuned to the correct UHF channels for the Wenvoe multiplexes, it's possible you may have got tuned to other transmitters with weak signals at some point when perhaps there there was interference or even no signal from Wenvoe during maintenance or faults.
If you happened to retune (or your set did an automatic one) in such circumstances, it can also just clear the correct tuning.
If you haven't done a retune recently, then try one now, especially if you aren't sure of your technical ability to check things in your TV's tuning section which I'll detail now.
The UHF channels for Wenvoe are C41, C44, C47, C42, C45, C39, C55, C37 that's in the multiplex order BBCA/PSB1, D3&4/PSB2, BBCB HD/PSB3, SDN/COM4, ArqA/COM5, ArqB/COM6, COM7, Local.
(C means UHF channel). See Channel listings for Industry Professionals | Freeview for which programmes are carried on which multiplex.
Your location will determine which of those you can receive, particularly you may not get COM7 or the Local multiplex. Also PSB3 and COM7 are HD multiplexes for which your need a set with an HD/T2 tuner. To comment on predicted reception at your locale, a full postcode is needed.
If you look in your TV's tuning section, maybe there's an option for signal strength or manual tuning, you should be able to see the UHF channel number, Signal strength and Quality. Make a note of the figures for each UHF channel as it might help identify and problems with the aerial installation, and of course check you are tuned to the correct UHF channels.
If you are still having problems, post back with as much information as possible, where your aerial is located, whether you have any distribution amplifier/splitters, a full postcode, check your aerial is still pointing in the correct direction and seems intact, etc. It's possible your aerial installation and downlead may have deteriorated during some of the abysmal weather we've been having in recent times.
If you've changed anything in your installation over the period, moved any leads etc, post detail. Check that you don't have any HDMI leads close to any aerial or flyleads, especially if the aerial and flyleads aren't high quality double screened cable as HDMI has been known to cause interference.
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