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Full Freeview on the Mendip (Somerset, England) transmitter

first published this on - UK Free TV
sa_streetviewGoogle Streetviewsa_gmapsGoogle mapsa_bingBing mapsa_gearthGoogle Earthsa_gps51.237,-2.626 or 51°14'12"N 2°37'33"Wsa_postcodeBA5 3LB

 

The symbol shows the location of the Mendip (Somerset, England) transmitter which serves 720,000 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 Mendip (Somerset, England) mast?

Mendip transmitter - Mendip 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 Mendip 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
C32 (562.0MHz)591mDTG-100,000W
Channel icons
1 BBC One (SD) 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
C34 (578.0MHz)591mDTG-100,000W
Channel icons
3 ITV 1 (SD) (West), 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),

PSB3
BBCB
 H max
C35 (586.0MHz)591mDTG-100,000W
Channel icons
46 5SELECT, 101 BBC One HD 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 max
C48 (690.0MHz)591mDTG-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
C33 (570.0MHz)591mDTG-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
C36 (594.0MHz)591mDTG-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

LBS
 H -10dB
C30 (546.0MHz)591mDTG-1210,000W
Channel icons
from 22nd September 2014: 7 Made in Bristol,

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 Mendip transmitter?

regional news image
BBC Points West 0.9m homes 3.4%
from Bristol BS8 2LR, 25km north (3°)
to BBC West region - 60 masts.
regional news image
ITV West Country News (East) 0.9m homes 3.4%
from Bristol BS4 3HG, 23km north (11°)
to ITV West region - 61 masts.
All of lunch, weekend and 50% evening news is shared with West Country (West)

Are there any self-help relays?

CheddarTransposer15 km E Weston-super-Mare1674 homes
LuccombeActive deflector6 km w Minehead38 homes

How will the Mendip (Somerset, England) transmission frequencies change over time?

1984-971997-981998-20102010-132013-182013-1727 Feb 2018
C/D EEEC/D EC/D E TW TW T
C30_local
C32BBCA
C33com7com7
C34D3+4
C35com8com8
C36ArqB
C37C5wavesC5waves
C48SDNSDNSDNSDN
C49tv_off BBCABBCA
C51tv_offLBSLBS
C52tv_offArqBArqBArqB
C54tv_offC4wavesC4wavesC4wavesD3+4D3+4D3+4
C55tv_offcom7tv_off
C56tv_offArqAArqAArqACOM8tv_off
C58tv_offBBC1wavesBBC1wavesBBC1wavesBBCBBBCBBBCB
C61ITVwavesITVwavesITVwavesBBCA
C64BBC2wavesBBC2wavesBBC2waves

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 24 Mar 10 and 7 Apr 10.

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

Analogue 1-4 500kW
Analogue 5(-6dB) 126kW
SDN, ARQA, ARQB, BBCA, D3+4, BBCB(-7dB) 100kW
com7(-8.4dB) 72.4kW
com8(-8.6dB) 69.1kW
Mux 1*, Mux 2*, Mux A*, Mux B*, Mux C*, Mux D*, LBS(-17dB) 10kW

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

Jan 1958-Jul 1968Television Wales and the West
Jul 1968-Feb 2004Harlech 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. Mendip 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
Tuesday, 17 May 2016
M
MikeB
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

9:09 PM

David: The clue is probably the 100% on good channels. We have no idea how close you are to the transmitter, but if your close with a amp, then you can overload the tuner - and too much signal looks much the same as none. Check your signal elvels, and then look up 'too much of a good thing' on this site

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MikeB's 2,579 posts GB flag
MikeB's: mapM's Freeview map terrainM's terrain plot wavesM's frequency data M's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Wednesday, 18 May 2016
MikeP
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

9:29 AM
Trowbridge

Tim:

Using a higher gain log-periodic obviates the need for any amplification. That has been my professional experience over 50 years in the TV industry!

Amplifiers amplify everything - wanted signal as well as noise.




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MikeP's 3,056 posts GB flag
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MikeP
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

9:39 AM
Trowbridge

David and MikeB:

Bath is approximately North West of Mendip and only about 14 miles away, so signals shlould not need any amplification.

As MikeB states, a signal strength of 100% is too strong and will oberload the tuner, causing picture and/or sound breakup or even apparent loss of signal. Fo most equipment a strength between 60% and 80% is ideal.



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MikeP's 3,056 posts GB flag
MikeP's: mapM's Freeview map terrainM's terrain plot wavesM's frequency data M's Freeview Detailed Coverage
D
David
sentiment_satisfiedBronze

10:30 AM

Cheers Guys. I'm aware of all that! Though close to Mendip, Bath is surrounded by hills and thus has a local submast. Trouble with this is that it can only accomodate a small number of the available freeview channels and so most of us high enough point our ariels at Mendip. What i can't understand is that while I've been able to receive all channels for years with no problems its just in the last few weeks my problems have begun! What's changed? Mast and booster were installed professionally and signal strength tested good with booster but inadequate without, and I need distro amp to feed signal to 5 rooms! Ah well, will keep investigating!

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David's 25 posts GB flag
MikeP
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

3:07 PM
Trowbridge

David:

One thing you might try, but no quarantees it will resolve the issue, is to add an attenuator *after* your first amplifier. That will reduce the signal level (and that of any 'noise') entering the distribution amplifier. The overall effect should be to reduce the excessive signal level arriving at the receivers. Coaxial attenuators are inexpensive and available in various strengths (typically 3 dB, 6 dB, 12 dB and 18 dB), so try a 6 dB one first. If that is still allowing too much signal (over 80%) then you can add another in series. If it is too much reduction (signal strength drops below 50%) then try a 3 dB type instead. You can combine attenuators of different strengths until you get the required result.

The 'local' transmitter for Bath is a Freeview Lite intended to serve mainly those areas shielded from Mendip by the hills.

Though I am on Mendip and have no problems, there could possibly be some temperature inversion effects perhaps. Do any or your immediate neighbours have the same problem?



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MikeP's 3,056 posts GB flag
MikeP's: mapM's Freeview map terrainM's terrain plot wavesM's frequency data M's Freeview Detailed Coverage
T
Tim
11:06 PM

To MikeP, you are right that amplifiers amplify the signal and noise, even with a little more noise added by the amp itself, but when amplifying the signal prior to a lossy link, e.g. a downlink cable or even a mast-to-antenna link like Mendip to Chippenham amplified to 100kW (still with noise beforehand or course), it boosts the signal over the noise of the path so that the ratio at the receiving end is improved. Perhaps it wasn't expressed so clearly but I'm sure that x years of experience will not be lost on this point. So my advice to Dr. Harvey in Chippenham is still to use an amp unless the downlink is short. Too many parts of the town have antennae on such long masts that are testimony to the shadowing of the intervening terrain around Corsham and nearer to be able to have total confidence in not using one. A signal path predictor which also takes the earth's curvature into account can be found here: Terrain - shows radio profile between two UK sites to optimise you DTT, Freeview, DAB or analogue TV reception .

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Tim's 8 posts US flag
Thursday, 19 May 2016
C
Chris.SE
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

7:55 AM
Salisbury

David: Have you noticed any degradation at all in the signal/quality for the main HD channels (BBC B mux) - BBC, ITV etc? This is on C58 from Mendip.
Sky News etc is on the Arq A (Com5) mux on C56. If you are also seeing some degradation of those HD channels, then I'd start suspecting some issues with damp/water in the aerial connections or the coax which will start affecting the higher frequency channels first.

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Chris.SE's 4,101 posts GB flag
Chris.SE's: mapC's Freeview map terrainC's terrain plot wavesC's frequency data C's Freeview Detailed Coverage
D
David
sentiment_satisfiedBronze

10:23 AM

Thanks Chris, all HD channels have strong signal. MikeP, I have some signal attenuators which I'll try again. Thankyou.

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David's 25 posts GB flag
T
Tim
5:25 PM

David, there is an outside chance you are seeing co-channel interference from the Huntshaw Cross transmitter, which reuses UHF channels 52 and 56, the ones you are having problems with. The transmitter is more or less behind Mendip from your location though much more distant. You may be able to confirm this by getting your equipment into a portable state and testing it from a location where Huntshaw Cross is not in the frame to see if it behaves the same. Neighbours are likely to be suffering the same issue.

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Tim's 8 posts GB flag
Friday, 20 May 2016
A
alan swinburne
6:54 AM

This Morning (Friday 20th April) at 6:30 am:
All the PSB2 MUX (ITV) channels have suddenly disappeared from the freeview box and yet there is no planned maintenance from the Mendip transmitter page.
Anyboby else have this problem?

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alan swinburne's 1 post GB flag
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