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Full Freeview on the Malvern (Worcestershire, England) transmitter

first published this on - UK Free TV
sa_gmapsGoogle mapsa_bingBing mapsa_gearthGoogle Earthsa_gps52.116,-2.331 or 52°6'56"N 2°19'53"Wsa_postcodeWR14 4AD

 

The symbol shows the location of the Malvern (Worcestershire, England) transmitter which serves 58,000 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 Malvern (Worcestershire, England) transmitter.

Choose from three options: ■ List by multiplex ■ List by channel number ■ List by channel name
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Which Freeview channels does the Malvern 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
 V max
C41 (634.0MHz)204mDTG-400W
Channel icons
1 BBC One (SD) West Midlands, 2 BBC Two England, 9 BBC Four, 23 BBC Three, 201 CBBC, 202 CBeebies, 231 BBC News, 232 BBC Parliament, plus 19 others

PSB2
D3+4
 V max
C44 (658.0MHz)204mDTG-400W
Channel icons
3 ITV 1 (SD) (Central (West micro region)), 4 Channel 4 (SD) Midlands ads, 5 Channel 5, 6 ITV 2, 10 ITV3, 13 E4, 14 Film4, 15 Channel 4 +1 Midlands ads, 18 More4, 26 ITV4, 28 ITVBe, 30 E4 +1, 35 ITV1 +1 (Central west),

PSB3
BBCB
 V max
C47- (681.8MHz)204mDTG-400W
Channel icons
46 5SELECT, 101 BBC One HD West Midlands, 102 BBC Two HD England, 103 ITV 1 HD (ITV Central West), 104 Channel 4 HD Midlands ads, 105 Channel 5 HD, 106 BBC Four HD, 107 BBC Three HD, 204 CBBC HD, 205 CBeebies HD, plus 1 others

COM4
SDN
 V max
C29 (538.0MHz)204mDTG-8400W
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
 V max
C31- (553.8MHz)203mDTG-8400W
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
 V max
C37 (602.0MHz)204mDTG-8400W
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

DTG-8 64QAM 8K 3/4 27.1Mb/s DVB-T MPEG2
H/V: aerial position (horizontal or vertical)

The Malvern (Worcestershire, England) mast is a public service broadcasting (PSB) transmitter, it does not provide these commercial (COM) channels: .

If you want to watch these channels, your aerial must point to one of the 80 Full service Freeview transmitters. For more information see the will there ever be more services on the Freeview Light transmitters? page.

Which BBC and ITV regional news can I watch from the Malvern transmitter?

regional news image
BBC Midlands Today 2.9m homes 10.9%
from Birmingham B1 1RF, 49km northeast (36°)
to BBC West Midlands region - 66 masts.
regional news image
ITV Central News 2.9m homes 10.9%
from Birmingham B1 2JT, 49km northeast (35°)
to ITV Central (West) region - 65 masts.
All of lunch, weekend and 80% evening news is shared with Central (East)

How will the Malvern (Worcestershire, England) transmission frequencies change over time?

1984-971997-981998-20112011-137 Mar 2018
C/D EC/D EC/D EC/D E TW T
C29SDN
C31ArqA
C37ArqB
C41BBCA
C44D3+4
C47BBCB
C50tv_offSDN
C51tv_off_local_local
C53tv_offBBCA
C55tv_offArqB
C56tv_offBBC1wavesBBC1wavesBBC1waves
C57tv_offD3+4
C59tv_off-ArqA
C60tv_off-BBCB
C62BBC2wavesBBC2wavesBBC2waves
C66ITVwavesITVwavesITVwaves
C68C4wavesC4wavesC4waves

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 7 Sep 11 and 21 Sep 11.

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

Analogue 1-4 2kW
SDN, ARQA, ARQB, BBCA, D3+4, BBCB(-7dB) 400W
Mux 1*, Mux 2*, Mux A*, Mux B*, Mux C*, Mux D*(-10dB) 200W

Which companies have run the Channel 3 services in the Sutton Coldfield transmitter area

Feb 1956-Jul 1968Associated TeleVision†
Feb 1956-Jul 1968Associated British Corporation◊
Jul 1968-Dec 1981Associated TeleVision
Jan 1982-Feb 2004Central Independent 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. Malvern 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, 17 October 2011
B
BRG
12:07 PM

In late September several of us had problems in obtaining Channel 60 (HD) on the Malvern transmitter.

I was advised to use the BBC reception site to report the problem, which I duly did.

Their response was that: (a) as there was fully automated fault reporting on the Malvern transmitter, and (b) there were no reported transmitter faults at the time, the problem must lie with my equipment.

So I wrote a second time to say that they must be wrong as I was very confident that there was a transmitter problem.

I have just received this response:

------------------------
Thanks for contacting the BBC again.

I forwarded your correspondence to our engineers who have asked that I pass on the following:

"I can confirm that there was indeed an issue with the transmission of the HD channels. Unfortunately, the automatic fault reporting system did not function so the BBC's website was not updated.

These matters are now being addressed and we apologise for the impact this had upon your viewing."
------------------------

So automated fault reporting on Malvern is screwed and doesn't report faults even though it is _blindly_ relied on by the BBC in responding to issues raised by viewers!!!

This is really quite serious since viewers could easily be needlessly spending money to solve problems that are not their own as a result of misleading fault information.

link to this comment
BRG's 7 posts GB flag
J
jb38
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

1:39 PM

Iain Sherriff: Ah! Now you have mentioned this Iain its added a somewhat different dimension to the possible cause, especially when there's a Hitachi PVR in the equation, as although these chassis do indicate as being compatible with 8k transmission modes they are still prone to playing up in various ways.

One of being, sometimes no picture is shown when first switched on even although strength / quality (combined) are indicated as being OK, the only way of rectifying the situation being to nudge up to the next channel then back down again, this obviously not being possible when a recording has been programmed to start which results in it being missed. (this being your problem)

One thing that can sometimes help is to carry out a first time installation but do NOT carry out an auto tune, entering the Mux's individually, in the case of Malvern its Mux Ch's 53 - 57 - 50 - 59 - 55 (HD channel 60 obviously N/A) You will NOT lose anything already recorded by doing this, but will anything else you may have pre-set.

Maybe you could have a look at the software version and give an update on what's seen, this shown under the "configuration" menu, also if you could give the actual model of the Hitachi in question.

There is an update for these chassis but its a long winded process involving a download into the PC, then the use of an RS232 cable from it into the PVR, this always coupled to the danger that if anything goes wrong during the process then a non rectifiable disaster strikes.

The Humax mentioned was also known for various problems (lock ups etc) although if this has always been kept powered up (in standby) then you could have received over air updates, although similar to in the case of the Hitachi, the scrubbing of everything stored in the EPG and entering channels individually has been reported to help in the case of odd problems, cant confirm though because I use a pair of 9200's.

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jb38's 7,179 posts GB flag
Wednesday, 19 October 2011
I
Iain Sherriff
11:30 AM
Malvern

Iain Sherriff: not near them at the moment but I know the Humax has the latest software (I checked last week). The Hitachi doesn't show the dropped recording problem BUT it doesn't record many, just things I want were as the Humax lots to do (gets all the soaps/strictly/x factor etc ) so has more chance to show a fault. I have tried setting both to record the same thing bit didn't get the same result all the time..............
What is the best aerial I can have in my situation and how much difference would it make in the loft against being on the roof ?

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Iain Sherriff's 8 posts GB flag
Iain's: mapI's Freeview map terrainI's terrain plot wavesI's frequency data I's Freeview Detailed Coverage
J
jb38
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

5:16 PM

Iain Sherriff: A loft aerial can perform every bit as good as a roof mounted one provided that its not facing into a water tank, nor the angle for reception isn't through walls of adjacent properties. Also if the property is new'ish making sure that metallic roof materials haven't been used or that will screen the signal, other than these qualifications then there really isn't any great difference, although the one big advantage that a loft aerial does have over a chimney mount is that the aerial can be positioned (left or right) for the best reception, unlike when mounted in a fixed position on a chimney!

An ideal one for a loft being shown on the link.

Online TV FM DAB Aerial sales

As far as your equipment is concerned, although that model of Humax isn't without its faults, in the case of the Vestel chassis Hitachi PVR's, (practically all) although being extremely user friendly in use (I also have a HDR162) they are notorious for erratic performance when receiving the new 8k transmissions, and are prone to exaggerating the slightest glitch in the signal which results in recordings stuttering and jumping, thankfully though the aforementioned manual tuning seems to help to occasional no picture problem previously mentioned.


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jb38's 7,179 posts GB flag
J
jb38
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

5:55 PM

Iain Sherriff: Just in addition to that mentioned. The aerial I referred to in the link would still possibly require to go through an amplifier similar the one you are presently using to maintain the present signal strength, although I would try a test without it first should you go along the line of using another aerial.

This is a link for a slightly larger version of DM log that I meant to add to the one given in the previous posting.

Online TV FM DAB Aerial sales

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jb38's 7,179 posts GB flag
I
Iain Sherriff
6:14 PM

jb38:
again, thanks for your help. I will try manual tuning on both, then i'm going to set both to record the same programmes for a week and see if both drop the same things.
Probably will go for a loft aerial as well for the cost (as I can do that myself),can't help feeling that our old one (that I cant reach) may have connection/age problems.............

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Iain Sherriff's 8 posts GB flag
J
jb38
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

9:19 PM

Iain Sherriff: Yes, that's the best idea, making sure that everything stored is totally scrubbed before carrying out the manual tune or your test wont really be valid.

Looking forward to your next update in about a weeks time, and in particular if you have any problems with the Hitachi on Mux CH59, this channel having a negative offset which when coupled to an 8K signal can cause problems on "some" Vestel chassis.

Malvern's Mux Ch's 53 / 57 / 50 / 59- / 55 / (HD channel 60 obviously N/A).

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jb38's 7,179 posts GB flag
Sunday, 30 October 2011
I
Iain Sherriff
12:44 PM
Malvern

jb38: The more I do the less I know !
I did the aerial before manual tuning ('cos I wanted to see what difference the aerial made without changing anything else).
I got a the "log" aerial you gave a link to and installed it in the loft. I also got an in line signal strength meter (has four led's, 50,60,70,80) along with new cable and connectors.
I could get no signal (on the meter) at all from the new aerial.
I then tried the meter with the original aerial which still has it's masthead unit in place (I left all the connections in place)and it showed a strength of 60. Then tried the new aerial with the masthead unit (I have a spare same make masthead unit from when i bought a new PWS a few months ago) and got a strength of 60.

All channels were available with both aerials with the MH unit tho some showed brief freezing and some blockiness.
Then tried a room booster as well as the masthead unit and got a strength of 70. Now have no freezing and blocky BUT both PVR's still dropped recordings now and then.

Now I have done a manual tune on everything but dont yet know what difference it has made.
I did notice that on an auto tune I get "midlands" and "glouscestershire" channels stored.

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Iain Sherriff's 8 posts GB flag
Iain's: mapI's Freeview map terrainI's terrain plot wavesI's frequency data I's Freeview Detailed Coverage
I
Iain Sherriff
12:46 PM
Malvern

.....also

I think the new loft aerial results have shown that there is nothing wrong with the original roof aerial ???

So it was worth trying that even tho I dont seen to have gained anything by it!

link to this comment
Iain Sherriff's 8 posts GB flag
Iain's: mapI's Freeview map terrainI's terrain plot wavesI's frequency data I's Freeview Detailed Coverage
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