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Full Freeview on the Oxford (Oxfordshire, England) transmitter

first published this on - UK Free TV
sa_streetviewGoogle Streetviewsa_gmapsGoogle mapsa_bingBing mapsa_gearthGoogle Earthsa_gps51.790,-1.179 or 51°47'25"N 1°10'46"Wsa_postcodeOX3 9SS

 

The symbol shows the location of the Oxford (Oxfordshire, England) transmitter which serves 410,000 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 Oxford (Oxfordshire, England) mast?

Oxford transmitter - Oxford 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 Oxford 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)295mDTG-100,000W
Channel icons
1 BBC One (SD) South (Oxford), 2 BBC Two England, 9 BBC Four, 23 BBC Three, 201 CBBC, 202 CBeebies, 231 BBC News, 232 BBC Parliament, plus 17 others

PSB2
D3+4
 H max
C44- (657.8MHz)295mDTG-100,000W
Channel icons
3 ITV 1 (SD) (Meridian/Central (Thames Valley micro region)), 4 Channel 4 (SD) South ads, 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 (Central west),

PSB3
BBCB
 H max
C47 (682.0MHz)295mDTG-100,000W
Channel icons
46 5SELECT, 101 BBC One HD South (Oxford), 102 BBC Two HD England, 103 ITV 1 HD (ITV Central West), 104 Channel 4 HD South ads, 105 Channel 5 HD, 106 BBC Four HD, 107 BBC Three HD, 204 CBBC HD, 205 CBeebies HD, plus 1 others

COM4
SDN
 H -3dB
C29 (538.0MHz)295mDTG-850,000W
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 -3dB
C37- (601.8MHz)319mDTG-850,000W
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 -3dB
C31 (554.0MHz)319mDTG-850,000W
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

LOX
 H -10dB
C46 (674.0MHz)295mDTG-1210,000W
Channel icons
from 22nd December 2014: 7 That's Oxford,

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 Oxford transmitter?

regional news image
BBC South (Oxford) Today 0.4m homes 1.6%
from Oxford OX2 7DW, 6km west-southwest (258°)
to BBC South (Oxford) region - 6 masts.
BBC South (Oxford) Today shares 50% content with Southampton service
regional news image
ITV Meridian News 0.9m homes 3.4%
from Whiteley PO15 7AD, 102km south (182°)
to ITV Meridian/Central (Thames Valley) region - 15 masts.
Thames Valley opt-out from Meridian (South). All of lunch, weekend and 50% evening news is shared with all of Meridian+Oxford

How will the Oxford (Oxfordshire, England) transmission frequencies change over time?

1950s-80s1984-971997-981998-20112011-132013-182013-1723 May 2018
VHFC/D EC/D EC/D EC/D EC/D E TW TW T
C2BBCtvwaves
C29SDN
C31com7com7
C37com8com8
C41BBCA
C44D3+4
C46_local
C47BBCB
C49tv_offC5wavesC5waves
C50tv_off SDNSDN
C51tv_offLOXLOX
C53tv_offC4wavesC4wavesC4waves+BBCA+BBCA+BBCA
C55tv_offArqBArqBArqBcom7tv_off
C56tv_offCOM8tv_off
C57tv_offBBC1wavesBBC1wavesBBC1wavesBBCBBBCBBBCB
C59tv_off-ArqA-ArqA-ArqA
C60tv_offITVwavesITVwavesITVwaves-D3+4-D3+4-D3+4
C62SDN
C63BBC2wavesBBC2wavesBBC2waves

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 14 Sep 11 and 28 Sep 11.

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

Analogue 1-4 500kW
BBCA, D3+4, BBCB(-7dB) 100kW
SDN, ARQA, ARQB(-10dB) 50kW
Analogue 5(-11dB) 40kW
com8(-14.7dB) 17.1kW
com7(-14.8dB) 16.4kW
Mux 1*, Mux 2*, LOX(-17dB) 10kW
Mux C*, Mux D*(-18dB) 8kW
Mux A*, Mux B*(-19.2dB) 6kW

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

Feb 1956-Jul 1968Associated TeleVision†
Feb 1956-Jul 1968Associated British Corporation◊
Jul 1968-Dec 1981Associated TeleVision
Jan 1982-Dec 2006Central Independent Television
Dec 2006-Feb 2009ITV Thames Valley
Feb 2009-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. Oxford 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
Monday, 10 October 2011
J
jb38
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

3:20 PM

Paul: Yes, Hannington might well be, but I think you are overlooking the fact that apart from it being roughly 50 miles away from Oxford its also only transmitting on low power (20Kw), so if any signal was actually received (which is very doubtful) then its most unlikely to be at any level that a box could lock onto.

Emley Moor is the only station that does transmit on high power on both Mux Ch's 51 & 52, but once again at a distance that it also can be disregarded for the same aforementioned reason.

Sutton Coldfield does not use Ch50, it having been previously used by Ch4 analogue, although I assume that you have seen this error on Wolbane's site (or what was) when they refer to the PSB3 Mux, as it should be Mux Ch40.

As it was anyway, the box being used did not show channel numbers in the progress bar, making this part of the info supplied to be a bit on the academic side, although I will agree that the aerial out procedure until a certain channel is reached is always a bit iffy, especially when so many stations have their multiplexes weaved between that of other stations.



link to this comment
jb38's 7,179 posts GB flag
P
Paul
sentiment_satisfiedBronze

4:34 PM

Thanks for that feedback.
I don't know where I read that SC uses CH50. Thanks for correcting me.
Hannington, even on its current power level, is a problem in north Oxfordshire, where Hannington and Beckley are the same direction.

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Paul's 45 posts GB flag
R
Robert
sentiment_satisfiedBronze

7:18 PM
Swindon

Chris, sorry for delay, yes. What I am getting is a huge amount of static on the fly lead from the Thompson box. So much in fact that the spark is clearly visible when removing the lead.

On another set, which was working fine on it's own outside aerial I have had to re-instate the booster for channels 15/24 etc. SN3 4ST

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Robert's 75 posts GB flag
Robert's: mapR's Freeview map terrainR's terrain plot wavesR's frequency data R's Freeview Detailed Coverage
M
Michael Dalgleish
9:15 PM

Robert - if you are seeing a spark, you may have a dangerous situation. Suggest you resolve that first before doing anything else! Mike

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Michael Dalgleish's 2 posts GB flag
P
Paul
sentiment_satisfiedBronze

10:17 PM

I 've found where I read that Sutton Coldfield uses ch50: it's in the Television Viewers' Guide.
I'm pleased that I'm not going mad.
Thanks for the correction.

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Paul's 45 posts GB flag
Tuesday, 11 October 2011
N
Nicholas
10:34 AM
Luton

Sorry, I should have given the whole picture. I'm getting EPG for Sandy Heath, and some (but not all) Crystal Palace, but nothing at all for Oxford. My box has also allocated ITV Oxford at position 3, but put BBC Oxford in the 900s. I'm getting all 5 muxes (6 in the case of Crystal Palace) on all three transmitters, so presumably it's not that I'm missing the mux that the EPG is transmitted on.

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Nicholas's 15 posts GB flag
Nicholas's: mapN's Freeview map terrainN's terrain plot wavesN's frequency data N's Freeview Detailed Coverage
M
Mike Dimmick
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

3:09 PM

Nicholas: The standard Freeview EPG is transmitted on all multiplexes. Each multiplex transmits its own information more frequently than others, and information about programmes coming up sooner more frequently than later events, but it does all get sent and repeat after a few minutes. Some boxes can get very confused with a mix of different services from different transmitters.

I'd start off by doing a full reset or first-time installation with the aerial unplugged, then doing a manual search for the transmissions from your most preferred transmitters. If that is then reliable, do a manual search for just the regional services (BBC A and D3&4) on your second preferred transmitter, which will put those services in the 800s. If it stops being reliable after that, you'll know where the problem lies.

Some equipment does still use a proprietary EPG. Top-Up TV's EPG is attached to TOPUP Anytime 1, Guide+ to bid.tv, and RadioTimes Extra to Television X. All three are on Mux A/SDN.

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Mike Dimmick's 2,486 posts GB flag
M
Mike Dimmick
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

3:38 PM

Paul: Ofcom's official documentation of Sutton Coldfield's frequencies was re-issued in January this year, to move BBC B's allocated channel from C50 to C40, and ArqB from C49 to C39. This is part of the plan to free C61 and C62 for 4G mobiles - basically C39 and C40 were going to be freed but are now kept. However, a direct move from C62 to C40 or C61 to C39 would affect a lot of people, as they aren't in the same group, so the compromise is *generally* to move allocations of C62 to C50 and C61 to C49, and move C50 to C40 and C49 to C39, where there is a clash.

Yes, this means there will be another retune at Oxford some time in the next two years, to move SDN from C62 to somewhere else, although it *should* remain in Group C/D.

Hannington C50 isn't particularly low at 20kW, that actually made it joint equal most powerful pre-switchover transmitter, with Crystal Palace, Rowridge and Sandy Heath! Post-switchover PSB power levels are only 4 dB higher at 50 kW (COM power levels are 1 dB higher than at present, 25 kW).

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Mike Dimmick's 2,486 posts GB flag
A
Alex Wilde
3:51 PM

Steve P / Matthew;
Thanks for responding, problem now fixed - it was a dodgy cable.

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Alex Wilde's 3 posts US flag
N
Nicholas
4:44 PM
Luton

Mike Dimmick:

Thanks for your reply. My box is ex Top up TV (Thomson; can't remember the model) and doesn't have a manual scan facility.

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Nicholas's 15 posts GB flag
Nicholas's: mapN's Freeview map terrainN's terrain plot wavesN's frequency data N's Freeview Detailed Coverage
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