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Full Freeview on the Black Hill (North Lanarkshire, Scotland) transmitter

first published this on - UK Free TV
sa_streetviewGoogle Streetviewsa_gmapsGoogle mapsa_bingBing mapsa_gearthGoogle Earthsa_gps55.861,-3.874 or 55°51'40"N 3°52'27"Wsa_postcodeML7 4NZ

 

The symbol shows the location of the Black Hill (North Lanarkshire, Scotland) transmitter which serves 940,000 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 Black Hill (North Lanarkshire, Scotland) mast?

Black Hill transmitter - Black Hill transmitter: Possible effect on TV reception week commencing 25/03/2024 Pixelation or flickering 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 Black Hill 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
C46 (674.0MHz)576mDTG-100,000W
Channel icons
1 BBC One (SD) Scotland, 2 BBC Two Scotland, 7 BBC Alba HD, 23 BBC Three, 24 BBC Four (Scotland SD), 201 CBBC, 202 CBeebies, 231 BBC News, 232 BBC Parliament, plus 13 others

PSB2
D3+4
 H max
C43 (650.0MHz)576mDTG-100,000W
Channel icons
3 STV (SD) (STV Central (Glasgow micro region)), 4 Channel 4 (SD) Scotland ads, 5 Channel 5, 6 ITV 2, 10 ITV3, 13 E4, 14 Film4, 15 Channel 4 +1 Scotland ads, 18 More4, 26 ITV4, 28 ITVBe, 30 E4 +1, 35 ITV1 +1 (STV Edinburgh), 35 STV+1 (STV Edinburgh),

PSB3
BBCB
 H max
C40 (626.0MHz)576mDTG-100,000W
Channel icons
46 5SELECT, 101 BBC One HD Scotland, 102 BBC Two HD Scotland, 103 ITV 1 HD (STV West), 103 STV HD (STV West), 104 Channel 4 HD Scotland ads, 105 Channel 5 HD, 106 BBC Four HD, 108 BBC Scotland HD, 204 CBBC HD, 205 CBeebies HD, plus 1 others

COM4
SDN
 H max
C41+ (634.2MHz)576mDTG-8100,000W
Channel icons
20 Drama, 21 5USA, 29 ITV2 +1, 32 5STAR, 33 5Action, 38 Channel 5 +1, 41 Legend, 42 GREAT! action, 57 Dave ja vu, 58 ITVBe +1, 59 ITV3 +1, 64 Blaze, 67 TRUE CRIME, 68 TRUE CRIME XTRA, 78 TCC, 81 Blaze +1, 83 Together TV, 89 ITV4 +1, 91 WildEarth, 209 Ketchup TV, 210 Ketchup Too, 211 YAAAS!, 267 Al Jazeera English, plus 30 others

COM5
ArqA
 H max
C44 (658.0MHz)576mDTG-8100,000W
Channel icons
11 Sky Mix, 17 Really, 19 Dave, 31 E4 Extra, 36 Sky Arts, 40 Quest Red, 43 Food Network, 47 Film4 +1, 48 Challenge, 49 4seven, 60 Drama +1, 65 That's TV 2, 70 Quest +1, 74 Yesterday +1, 75 That's 90s, 233 Sky News, plus 11 others

COM6
ArqB
 H max
C47 (682.0MHz)576mDTG-8100,000W
Channel icons
12 Quest, 25 W, 27 Yesterday, 34 GREAT! movies, 39 DMAX, 44 HGTV, 52 GREAT! romance, 56 That's TV (UK), 61 GREAT! movies extra, 63 GREAT! romance mix, 71 That’s 60s, 73 HobbyMaker, 82 Talking Pictures TV, 84 PBS America, 235 Al Jazeera Eng, plus 18 others

LG
 H -13dB
C30 (546.0MHz)576mDTG-125,000W
Channel icons
from 2nd June 2014: 8 STV Glasgow,

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 Black Hill transmitter?

regional news image
BBC Reporting Scotland 2.4m homes 9.2%
from Glasgow G51 1DA, 26km west (271°)
to BBC Scotland region - 230 masts.
regional news image
STV News 1.3m homes 4.8%
from Glasgow G51 1PQ, 26km west (271°)
to STV Central (Glasgow) region - 94 masts.

Are there any self-help relays?

Ardtornish ATransposer22 km NW Oban15 homes
BalquhidderTransposer12 km NW Callander42 homes
Benmore BActive deflector50 m WNW Glasgow7 homes
Blair DrummondTransposer5 homes caravan park
Blyth BridgeActive deflector30 km SW Edinburgh50 homes
GlendaruelActive deflector40 hotel40 homes hotel
Glendaruel BActive deflector12 homes (second level)

How will the Black Hill (North Lanarkshire, Scotland) transmission frequencies change over time?

1957-80s1984-971997-981998-20112011-133 Oct 2018
VHFB E TB E TB E TE TW T
C10ITVwaves
C30_local
C32com7
C35com8
C37C5wavesC5waves
C40BBC1wavesBBC1wavesBBC1wavesBBCBBBCB
C41+SDNSDN
C43ITVwavesITVwavesITVwavesD3+4D3+4
C44ArqAArqA
C46BBC2wavesBBC2wavesBBC2wavesBBCABBCA
C47ArqBArqB
C50tv_offC4wavesC4wavesC4waves
C51tv_offLG
C55tv_offcom7tv_off
C56tv_off_localCOM8tv_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 8 Jun 11 and 22 Jun 11.

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

Analogue 1-5 500kW
SDN, ARQA, ARQB, BBCA, D3+4, BBCB(-7dB) 100kW
com7(-10.7dB) 42.9kW
com8(-11.1dB) 39.2kW
Mux 1*, Mux 2*, Mux A*, Mux B*, Mux C*, Mux D*(-14dB) 20kW
LG(-20dB) 5kW

Which companies have run the Channel 3 services in the Black Hill transmitter area

Aug 1957-Jun 1997Scottish Television
Jun 1997-Dec 2014STV plc
Feb 1983-Dec 1992TV-am•
Jan 1993-Sep 2010GMTV•
Sep 2010-Dec 2014ITV Daybreak•
• Breakfast ◊ Weekends ♦ Friday night and weekends † Weekdays only.

Comments
Friday, 14 January 2011
Briantist
sentiment_very_satisfiedOwner

8:47 AM

IRIS: "on 12 and 13 January 2011: Engineering transmitter work will take place between 00:01hrs and 06:00hrs. TV services that will be disrupted: Analogue services - BBC1, BBC2 and ITV will be affected by periods of shutdown between 00:01 and 06:00 Digital services - Mux1, Mux2, and MuxA will be affected by periods of shutdown between 00:01 and 06:00"

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Briantist's 38,915 posts GB flag
Transmitter engineering
sentiment_very_satisfiedOwner

6:40 PM

BLACK HILL transmitter - Freeview BBC Digital TV (One, Two, Three, CBBC, News) Off Air; DSO related from 01:47 yesterday to 05:39 yesterday Analogue BBC TWO Off Air; DSO related from 02:14 yesterday to 05:49 yesterday [BBC]

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Transmitter engineering's 149,799 posts xx flag
Transmitter engineering
sentiment_very_satisfiedOwner

6:40 PM

BLACK HILL transmitter - Freeview BBC Digital TV (One, Two, Three, CBBC, News) Off Air; DSO related from 01:47 yesterday to 05:39 yesterday Analogue BBC TWO Off Air; DSO related from 02:14 yesterday to 05:49 yesterday [BBC]

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Transmitter engineering's 149,799 posts xx flag
I
ian twist
8:44 PM

anyone know why blackhill is transmitting mux b (bbc4/cbbebies) on less power than normal for the last 2 days,my tv in the extension has lost these (the aeriel is bungalow height)but the main tv on a high up aeriel is still fine

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ian twist's 10 posts EU flag
Saturday, 15 January 2011
S
Scott
sentiment_satisfiedSilver

11:24 AM

I would take a guess thst it might be due to engineering work in preparation for the switch-over to digital only services later in the year.

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Scott's 110 posts GB flag
D
David Sharp
12:42 PM

I wonder if anyone can give any insight to receiving the HD Mux from Central Scotland (Blackhill)

I am of the belief that the HD Mux is being transmitted a very low power 10kW pre DSO, and that the actual antenna is mounted relatively low on the actual transmitter.

I am located 7 miles from the transmitter and there are not any significant obstacles between myself and the transmitter.

I have a brand new, high quality wide band aerial (DY14WB), all high quality cabling, and screened outlets and I am getting superb picture, both in terms of signal quality and signal strength. I can receive 100% of the freeview channels (106 from memory) and I can view all of them BUT I cannot receive any of the HD Mux (channel 59 I believe?)

I cannot get my aerial any higher than it already is (planning restrictions).

The question I have is, do you think fitting a good quality Masthead Amp (possibly variable up to 16dB) would enhance my chances of getting the HD Mux?....or is it more likely that its just the low power transmission and physical site of the transmitter that is the problem, and waiting until DSO when the signal gets increased is the realistic answer?

Cheers for any input. (55.8005,-4.0147) 

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David Sharp's 11 posts GB flag
S
Scott
sentiment_satisfiedSilver

3:05 PM

I live about 20 miles from Black Hill, west end of Glasgow. I get perfect quality and 95% signal strength so I am a bit mystified about your situation. Can you check the signal strength on your TV set? It is an 'option' on mine.

My understanding is the same as yours: 10 kW from a lower position on the mast.

I see you are using a wideband aerial. I was strongly advised not to use such an aerial as it is less efficient than an aerial designed for the correct group. Wideband is a compromise. If you look elsewhere on this site you will see the aerial groups. Mine is Group E but as far as I can see after switchover the appropriate aerial will be Group B.

Do you have any joins - even wall sockets? I was told there should be no joints of any sort, with the cable leading direct from the aerial to the back of the set.

I think the HD channel is 55 not 59.

My understanding is that amplifiers are more for analogue than digital as digital is 'all or nothing' and double nothing is still nothing.

As you say, there will be a massive power increase - to 100 kW AIUI - in June so maybe you should just wait and see what happens then.

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Scott's 110 posts GB flag
A
andrew1210
sentiment_satisfiedBronze

6:55 PM

Deffinately CH59 for HD Mux.

I gave in and am just patiently (or not so) waiting on the DSO to get HD only 2 miles away from me :(

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andrew1210's 26 posts GB flag
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