Full Freeview on the Black Hill (North Lanarkshire, Scotland) transmitter
 | Google Streetview |  | Google map |  | Bing map |  | Google Earth |  | 55.861,-3.874 or 55°51'40"N 3°52'27"W |  | ML7 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 22/04/2024 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 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.
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?
BBC Reporting Scotland 2.4m homes 9.2%
from Glasgow G51 1DA, 26km west (271°)
to BBC Scotland region - 230 masts.
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 A | Transposer | 22 km NW Oban | 15 homes |
| Balquhidder | Transposer | 12 km NW Callander | 42 homes |
| Benmore B | Active deflector | 50 m WNW Glasgow | 7 homes |
| Blair Drummond | Transposer | 5 homes caravan park | |
| Blyth Bridge | Active deflector | 30 km SW Edinburgh | 50 homes |
| Glendaruel | Active deflector | 40 hotel | 40 homes hotel |
| Glendaruel B | Active deflector | 12 homes (second level) |
How will the Black Hill (North Lanarkshire, Scotland) transmission frequencies change over time?
| 1957-80s | 1984-97 | 1997-98 | 1998-2011 | 2011-13 | 3 Oct 2018 | ||||
| VHF | B E T | B E T | B E T | E T | W T | ||||
| C10 | ITVwaves | ||||||||
| C30 | _local | ||||||||
| C32 | com7 | ||||||||
| C35 | com8 | ||||||||
| C37 | C5waves | C5waves | |||||||
| C40 | BBC1waves | BBC1waves | BBC1waves | BBCB | BBCB | ||||
| C41 | +SDN | SDN | |||||||
| C43 | ITVwaves | ITVwaves | ITVwaves | D3+4 | D3+4 | ||||
| C44 | ArqA | ArqA | |||||||
| C46 | BBC2waves | BBC2waves | BBC2waves | BBCA | BBCA | ||||
| C47 | ArqB | ArqB | |||||||
| C50tv_off | C4waves | C4waves | C4waves | ||||||
| C51tv_off | LG | ||||||||
| C55tv_off | com7tv_off | ||||||||
| C56tv_off | _local | 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 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 |
Local transmitter maps
Black Hill Freeview Black Hill DAB Black Hill TV region BBC Scotland STV Central (Glasgow micro region)Which companies have run the Channel 3 services in the Black Hill transmitter area
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Saturday, 21 September 2013
S
Scott8:33 PM
Is there any way of knowing which of the new HD multiplexex will contain the BBC channels, com7 or com8? I am a bit concerned that my Group B aerial will struggle if it's channel 32.
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J
jb389:37 PM
Scott: When Blackhill's three new multiplexes eventually come into operation the total channel span of this station will be from 32 - 51, and as a group B's aerial covers from 35 - 53 then it will indeed be less efficient meaning that anyone located in a less than ideal area for reception might well suffer from problems.
The reason for this being, that when an aerial designed for operation on a high band is used to receive channels operating at the lower end of its coverage range its never quite as efficient anyway as its response generally tapers off starting from three channels or so above its lower end, and when the channel required is actually operating under its lowest channel then the situation is obviously worse.
By the way this effect occurs to a much lesser degree in situations where a person is receiving a channel that is above an aerials coverage range.
However, if you do experience any problems once that the these new services come into operation then this type of situation is usually adequately compensated for by the addition of a simple booster into the aerial system such as the SLX brand variable gain type sold by Argos.
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Tuesday, 24 September 2013
S
Scott9:59 PM
Thanks for the explanation. I thought boosters were now out of favour because of the possibility of boosting unwanted 4G signals. Depending on what is on C32, I might be happy to live without it, which is why I was wondering which new multiplex would contain the BBC.
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Wednesday, 25 September 2013
J
jb3812:39 AM
Scott: Boosters have a role to play in many installations and indeed in some are a necessity, especially so the variable gain types, as in many non line-of-sight situations its frequently found that one of a main stations six muxes is being received at a considerably lower level than the rest and with it being impossible to correct the situation even with the usual minor adjustments being made to the left / right positioning of the aerial, this being where the variable gain booster comes into the equation by it lifting the level of the signal whilst viewing the offending channel, then "if necessary" lowering it again to avoid any possible signal overloading problems on normal channels, although in most of the cases (brand model dependant) it can usually be left advanced.
As far as 4G is concerned, the filter should always be placed between the aerial and the boosters input before any amplification takes place, however there is a lot of scaremongering around about 4G such as seen in some recent postings where the finger is being pointed at it as a possible reason for the bad reception being presently experienced by many in certain South Western areas of the country, when in actual fact the problems are being caused by the current wave of high pressure enabling distant channels transmitting on the same channels as the locals to be picked up and corrupting the data stream from the locals, this resulting in the tuner being unable to decode them hence either a "no signal" screen or a severely pixilated picture accompanied with bursts of screeching audio.
On the subject of those three additional muxes, I am afraid I do not share the glowing reports as far as their predicted coverage is concerned, as in many non line-of-sight situations the slightest drop in TX power already results in reception problems for those residing in less than ideal situations, and so considering that Black Hill radiates with an ERP of 100Kw I just cant see satisfactory reception being possible in many areas from a transmitter only radiating with an ERP of 9.4Kw such as used on C32, LG being worse at 5Kw on C51, needless to say I will be waiting with interest with regards to exactly where the signal can received and where not as I am quite acquaint with the landscape of the areas involved.
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Monday, 30 September 2013
A
alan yule11:26 AM
freeview quest channel 38 on my tv appears either on squashed 4:3 or squashed 16:9 format. it's only recently been doing this. is quest now broadcast in these formats? could you report this problem for me. i pick up my signal from the central scotland blackhill transmitter. thanks
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Saturday, 5 October 2013
S
Scott9:33 AM
Thanks for the responses, but does anyone know the answer to the question I asked - whether the extra BBC HD channels will be on channel 32 or 35?
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Saturday, 19 October 2013
C
Callum7:53 PM
Hi, recently retuned my tv after moving my room about. the tv now doesnt pick up Dave or E4+1. the tv has only moved a matter of feet so surely this cant be the reason why i no longer have these channels?
Any help is appreciated
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J
jb388:50 PM
Callum: Dave and E4+1 are both on ArqA / COM5, and "if" you are covered by the Blackhill transmitter then you could try carrying out a manual tune on C44 / 658Mhz as this might recover the programmes mentioned, but though its maybe less hassle just to carry out another auto-tune as this usually solves the problem, but though if by any chance it hasn't, then you will have to carry out either a "factory reset" or "first time installation", both of being virtually guaranteed to rectify this issue and which is usually caused by either a glitch having occurred in the signal during the retune, or by corrupted data being stored in the tuners memory system.
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C
Callum9:16 PM
Thanks, but unfortunately i have tried all of the above including the full first time installation procedure. The manual tune on the 658 frequency did not pick up any channels but said there was a signal strength of 78%. this signal strength is common throughout all the other channels such as bbc and itv.
I will try the full factory reset again and if failing i will move the tv back to where it was to see if it's the tv's position causing the problem. Thanks!
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