menuMENU    UK Free TV logo Freeview

 

 

Click to see updates

Full Freeview on the Huntshaw Cross (Devon, England) transmitter

first published this on - UK Free TV
sa_streetviewGoogle Streetviewsa_gmapsGoogle mapsa_bingBing mapsa_gearthGoogle Earthsa_gps50.979,-4.100 or 50°58'43"N 4°5'59"Wsa_postcodeEX31 3ND

 

The symbol shows the location of the Huntshaw Cross (Devon, England) transmitter which serves 37,000 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 Huntshaw Cross (Devon, England) mast?

Huntshaw Cross transmitter - Huntshaw Cross transmitter: Possible effect on TV reception week commencing 15/04/2024 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
_______

Which Freeview channels does the Huntshaw Cross 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
C30 (546.0MHz)359mDTG-20,000W
Channel icons
1 BBC One (SD) South West, 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
C31- (553.8MHz)359mDTG-20,000W
Channel icons
3 ITV 1 (SD) (West Country), 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 (West Country),

PSB3
BBCB
 H max
C37- (601.8MHz)359mDTG-20,000W
Channel icons
46 5SELECT, 101 BBC One HD South West, 102 BBC Two HD England, 103 ITV 1 HD (ITV Meridian Southampton), 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
C32 (562.0MHz)359mDTG-810,000W
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
C34 (578.0MHz)359mDTG-810,000W
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
C35+ (586.2MHz)359mDTG-810,000W
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

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

The Huntshaw Cross (Devon, 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 Huntshaw Cross transmitter?

regional news image
BBC Spotlight 0.8m homes 2.9%
from Plymouth PL3 5BD, 66km south (184°)
to BBC South West region - 107 masts.
regional news image
ITV West Country News (West) 0.8m homes 2.9%
from Plymouth PL7 5BQ, 66km south (176°)
to ITV West Country region - 107 masts.
All of lunch, weekend and 50% evening news is shared with West Country (East)

Are there any self-help relays?

Nth MoltonTransposer18 km E Barnstaple30 homes

How will the Huntshaw Cross (Devon, England) transmission frequencies change over time?

1968-80s1984-971997-981998-20092009-132013-182013-1719 Jun 2019
VHFC/D EC/D EC/D EC/D EC/D E TC/D E TW T
C11ITVwaves
C30BBCA
C31D3+4
C32SDN
C34ArqA
C35ArqB
C37BBCB
C48SDNSDNSDN
C50tv_off BBCABBCA
C51tv_off_local_local_local_local
C52tv_offArqAArqAArqA
C55tv_offBBC1wavesBBC1wavesBBC1waves-BBCB-BBCB-BBCB
C56tv_off+ArqB+ArqB+ArqB
C59tv_offITVwavesITVwavesITVwaves-D3+4-D3+4-D3+4
C62BBC2wavesBBC2wavesBBC2wavesBBCA
C65C4wavesC4wavesC4waves
C67C5wavesC5waves

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 1 Jul 09 and 29 Jul 09.

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

Analogue 1-4 100kW
BBCA, D3+4, BBCB(-7dB) 20kW
SDN, ARQA, ARQB(-10dB) 10kW
Mux 1*, Mux 2*, Mux A*, Mux B*, Mux C*, Mux D*(-14dB) 4kW
Analogue 5(-17dB) 2kW

Which companies have run the Channel 3 services in the Huntshaw Cross transmitter area

Apr 1961-Dec 1981Westward Television
Jan 1982-Dec 1992Television South West (TSW)
Jan 1993-Feb 2004Westcountry 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.

Is the transmitter output the same in all directions?

Radiation patterns withheld

Comments
Thursday, 12 February 2015
K
Keith Tomlin
5:09 PM

Hi Dave

Thank you for your kind comments, I will follow up the lead on 4G and will let you know

Regarding DAB I suspect the answer is in your last paragraph which indicates BBC are not willing to put out a strong enough signal that would give me comparable results with such as Classic FM (which I assume is on D1 National DAB). Is there anything that could be done to encourage them to?

All I know is that at home I get a great signal all the time, almost anywhere, with Classic but with BBC it is variable and non-existent in parts of the house, even where Classic is good.

I have one DAB radio with a meter function and just now I got the following readings off it: Classic, Bit Rate 128kbps and Signal Level 100% whereas BBC, Bit Rate 80 kbps and signal level 91/96 % (fluctuating).

I am not sufficiently technical but you may understand the meaning of these readings

Keith

link to this comment
Keith Tomlin's 2 posts GB flag
Dave Lindsay
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

6:55 PM

Keith Tomlin: Keith Tomlin: To understand this you have to think how a network of transmitters provides coverage. You are simply looking at your location and observing a poorer BBC signal. It's worth pointing out that if your complaint is one of the BBC being "too low" solely because the D1 commercial is higher that if the commercial were to reduce its power that would pacify you.

I think it unlikely that the "BBC are not willing to put out a strong enough signal that would give [you] comparable results with ... D1 National DAB". No service is there just to serve you and therefore measurement of "good" coverage isn't whether it serves you or not.

The BBC is a public service broadcaster and as such is to provide coverage. The likely reason for the power of D1 being greater than the BBC from Huntshaw Cross is that D1 doesn't have a transmitter somewhere the BBC does and that the higher power is effectively so as to serve "some" of the area that the other BBC-only transmitter serves.

The point is that the D1 network is a commercial one and as such transmitters have been sited based on number of likely listeners.

An example to illustrate the point -- this is with FM but the principle is the same. You might think that Classic FM on FM broadcasts from the same transmitters as BBC Radios 1 to 4 on FM, but you'd be wrong. As a commercial service it picks and chooses where it wants to transmit from.

And so to the example: Suffolk is poorly served by Classic FM on FM. The high power transmitter at Tacolneston in Norfolk carries all five FM services, but the one at Manningtree, between Colchester and Ipswich, doesn't carry Classic FM. The point is that there is overlap between the two so in that area Classic FM is available, but only from Tacolneston. Classic FM must have done a cost-benefit analysis as to how many *extra* listeners they would reach with Manningtree (and not a simple question of how many can it reach). The cost-per-listener that would be served by Manningtree but not Tacolneston is likely to be greater for it than other transmitting sites which Classic FM uses.

That's why the networks aren't the same. Things "might" be changing, what with plans to improve DAB coverage, but this nonetheless outlines the differing objectives of commercial broadcasters as against the BBC.

In your situation it may be the case, therefore, that the higher power D1 signal is so as to cover an area that BBC has its own transmitter for (and therefore covers better). The BBC transmits from North Hessary Tor but D1 does not. The reason that I suggest that might be so is because of the above. I would not assume that it is because the coverage of the BBC network is inferior per se.

This may not help you, but that is likely to be the reasoning. Of course, the outcome of higher power D1 relative to BBC is that there will be pockets where the BBC signal won't reach but where the D1 will. But then if D1 broadcast from an adjacent site that is BBC-only then it would probably lower its power. So, the commercial operator isn't doing this out of the goodwill of it's heart to serve those pockets! Such pockets are generally where line-of-sight with the transmitter is obstructed such as in your case (as the high ground at Silworthy is in the way). Because the power of the BBC is just over half of D1 does not mean that it serves just over half of that of D1 -- transmitter powers don't work linearly to number of people served!

The BBC announced a long list of future transmitters over a year ago but I can't see any that might help you:

Where will the 162 new BBC DAB transmitters be?

link to this comment
Dave Lindsay's 5,724 posts GB flag
Friday, 13 February 2015
M
michael
sentiment_satisfiedGold

1:56 PM

Keith Tomlin : You are greatly favoured by the powers-that-be in that you receive DAB, be it variable.
I am in the Huntshaw area and cannot receive any DAB signal from Huntshaw. It might work if I erected a DAB aerial on the TV aerial pole. However, I would then be tethered to a socket in the wall. That ain't radio as we know it. I might as well listen to the radio stations available on Freeview. If they later switch off FM, "progress" will take on a new meaning...

link to this comment
michael's 869 posts GB flag
Thursday, 2 April 2015
M
Mr Harrow
11:41 AM
Barnstaple

Hi

I have no freeview signal in my house for the last 2 days and I have spoken to neighbours and they are the same apart from neighbours who can afford satellite dishes.

Our postcode is EX31 3RH and I get my signal from Huntshaw Torrington Devon Transmitter.

Is there any issues ?

Thanks

link to this comment
Mr Harrow's 1 post GB flag
Mr's: mapM's Freeview map terrainM's terrain plot wavesM's frequency data M's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Monday, 11 May 2015
R
Roy Rees
8:53 PM

Any idea why every night at about 1940 there is a 10 second break in transmission on ITV? Signal comes from the Huntershaw Cross aerial. Would be grateful if you could shed any light on this problem.

link to this comment
Roy Rees's 1 post GB flag
Tuesday, 12 May 2015
M
MikeB
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

7:27 PM

Roy Rees: If your getting a loss of signal at the same time every night, that indicates a problem close to home - perhaps local interference from a thermostat, etc. These days a local/national broadcast should have any real break at all.

search for 'single source interference' on this site.

link to this comment
MikeB's 2,579 posts GB flag
Tuesday, 9 June 2015
Transmitter engineering
sentiment_very_satisfiedOwner

4:30 PM

HUNTSHAW CROSS transmitter - Freeview: BBC Digital TV Very Weak Signal from 16:03 today, HD Digital TV Very Weak Signal from 16:03 today. [BBC]

link to this comment
Transmitter engineering's 150,628 posts xx flag
Transmitter engineering
sentiment_very_satisfiedOwner

7:30 PM

HUNTSHAW CROSS transmitter - Freeview: BBC Digital TV Very Weak Signal from 16:03 today to 16:50 today, HD Digital TV Very Weak Signal from 16:03 today to 16:50 today. [BBC]

link to this comment
Transmitter engineering's 150,628 posts xx flag
Wednesday, 10 June 2015
Transmitter engineering
sentiment_very_satisfiedOwner

4:31 AM

HUNTSHAW CROSS transmitter - Freeview: BBC Digital TV Very Weak Signal from 16:03 yesterday to 16:50 yesterday, HD Digital TV Very Weak Signal from 16:03 yesterday to 16:50 yesterday. [BBC]

link to this comment
Transmitter engineering's 150,628 posts xx flag
V
Vivien Barker
11:03 AM

For the past two days, i.e. 8th June and 9th June, my TV picture on ITV3, Freeview 10, has been badly breaking up. Is there any reason for this please?

link to this comment
Vivien Barker's 1 post GB flag
Select more comments

Your comment please
Please post a question, answer or commentIf you have Freeview reception problems before posting a question your must first do this Freeview reset procedure then see: Freeview reception has changed, Single frequency interference, and Freeview intermittent interference.

If you have no satellite signal, see Sky Digibox says 'No Signal' or 'Technical fault'

If you have other problems, please provide a full (not partial) postcode (or preferably enter it in box at the top right) and indicate where if aerial is on the roof, in the loft or elsewhere.

UK Free TV is here to help people. If you are rude or disrespectful all of your posts will be deleted and you will be banned.








Privacy policy: UK Free Privacy policy.