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Full Freeview on the Black Hill (North Lanarkshire, Scotland) transmitter

first published this on - UK Free TV
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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 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 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.

MuxH/VFrequencyHeightModeWatts
PSB1
BBCA
 H max
C46 (674.0MHz)576mDTG-100,000W
Channel icons
1 BBC One (SD) Scotland, 2 BBC Two Scotland, 7 BBC Alba HD, 23 BBC Three, 24 BBC Four (Scotland SD), 201 CBBC, 202 CBeebies, 231 BBC News, 232 BBC Parliament, plus 13 others

PSB2
D3+4
 H max
C43 (650.0MHz)576mDTG-100,000W
Channel icons
3 STV (SD) (STV Central (Glasgow micro region)), 4 Channel 4 (SD) Scotland ads, 5 Channel 5, 6 ITV 2, 10 ITV3, 13 E4, 14 Film4, 15 Channel 4 +1 Scotland ads, 18 More4, 26 ITV4, 28 ITVBe, 30 E4 +1, 35 ITV1 +1 (STV Edinburgh), 35 STV+1 (STV Edinburgh),

PSB3
BBCB
 H max
C40 (626.0MHz)576mDTG-100,000W
Channel icons
46 5SELECT, 101 BBC One HD Scotland, 102 BBC Two HD Scotland, 103 ITV 1 HD (STV West), 103 STV HD (STV West), 104 Channel 4 HD Scotland ads, 105 Channel 5 HD, 106 BBC Four HD, 108 BBC Scotland HD, 204 CBBC HD, 205 CBeebies HD, plus 1 others

COM4
SDN
 H max
C41+ (634.2MHz)576mDTG-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
C44 (658.0MHz)576mDTG-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
C47 (682.0MHz)576mDTG-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

LG
 H -13dB
C30 (546.0MHz)576mDTG-125,000W
Channel icons
from 2nd June 2014: 8 STV Glasgow,

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 Black Hill transmitter?

regional news image
BBC Reporting Scotland 2.4m homes 9.2%
from Glasgow G51 1DA, 26km west (271°)
to BBC Scotland region - 230 masts.
regional news image
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 ATransposer22 km NW Oban15 homes
BalquhidderTransposer12 km NW Callander42 homes
Benmore BActive deflector50 m WNW Glasgow7 homes
Blair DrummondTransposer5 homes caravan park
Blyth BridgeActive deflector30 km SW Edinburgh50 homes
GlendaruelActive deflector40 hotel40 homes hotel
Glendaruel BActive deflector12 homes (second level)

How will the Black Hill (North Lanarkshire, Scotland) transmission frequencies change over time?

1957-80s1984-971997-981998-20112011-133 Oct 2018
VHFB E TB E TB E TE TW T
C10ITVwaves
C30_local
C32com7
C35com8
C37C5wavesC5waves
C40BBC1wavesBBC1wavesBBC1wavesBBCBBBCB
C41+SDNSDN
C43ITVwavesITVwavesITVwavesD3+4D3+4
C44ArqAArqA
C46BBC2wavesBBC2wavesBBC2wavesBBCABBCA
C47ArqBArqB
C50tv_offC4wavesC4wavesC4waves
C51tv_offLG
C55tv_offcom7tv_off
C56tv_off_localCOM8tv_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

Which companies have run the Channel 3 services in the Black Hill transmitter area

Aug 1957-Jun 1997Scottish Television
Jun 1997-Dec 2014STV plc
Feb 1983-Dec 1992TV-am•
Jan 1993-Sep 2010GMTV•
Sep 2010-Dec 2014ITV Daybreak•
• Breakfast ◊ Weekends ♦ Friday night and weekends † Weekdays only.

Comments
Saturday, 11 June 2011
S
Scott
sentiment_satisfiedSilver

3:19 PM

I wondered the same. There seems to be no power increase on the new multiplex. Thinking about it, it would make sense for the power increase to take place at stage two so as not to have one multiplex more powerful than the others. Does anyone know?

link to this comment
Scott's 110 posts GB flag
S
Scott
sentiment_satisfiedSilver

3:27 PM

Does anyone know the detailed schedule for the switchover. Clearly, the ending of analogue television transmissions in Scotland will be a historic occasion requiring to be marked with appropriate solemnity. Will the switch-off occur exactly at midnight? Will there be on-screen messages in advance? Will there be a formal close-down? Will the First Minister be giving a speech? Or will it be Billy Connolly? When should the whisky be opened?

link to this comment
Scott's 110 posts GB flag
Monday, 13 June 2011
D
David
12:22 PM

Hi,
Cannot receive any BBC channels via free view box since switchover (Sat 12 June). Tried new installation several times to no avail. other channels missing include the most popular ones eg yeserday; film 4 etc.

Can anyone suggest a fix?

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David's 1 post GB flag
M
Mike Dimmick
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

1:56 PM

ALL: A common problem is that, if signal levels were already on the high side before switchover, the new signal levels are too high and cause distortion. Some boxes will not be able to read the distorted signal level properly and report a lower signal level. You will often get picture and sound break-up and in the worst cases the multiplex will not be decodable.

If you have a booster or amplifier, you should remove it or turn it down. In some cases you may have fitted, or had fitted, a new aerial with too much gain - in this case, add an attenuator. If you're using a communal aerial, your landlord or agent should be ensuring that the levels entering your property are appropriate.

The new multiplex is definitely running at the final power level - if it were not, the relays would not be able to receive it in order to retransmit it.

Another common problem is old onDigital/ITV Digital or early Freeview equipment that cannot handle the 8K mode used after switchover. Check if it's on the list at http://www.digitaluk.co.uk/2kequipment . It also might not be able to handle the larger Network Information Table in use since 2008 - see http://www.digitaluk.co.uk/splitnit . These lists are not complete, there may be other affected equipment not on them.

link to this comment
Mike Dimmick's 2,486 posts GB flag
B
Bigdave
7:18 PM

The extra channels in the 800 range mean that Humax PVRs will not record any programs o the channels with the correct number for the identical channel. Retuning as suggested by Humax for similar problem last year seems not to work. The workaound is to leave the box on at the time you want to record and it then seems to record but not in standby. Hope it will go away after 22 June when 800+ channels disappear

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Bigdave's 5 posts GB flag
S
Scott
sentiment_satisfiedSilver

7:37 PM

I have the HD version of the Humax box, which may work differently. However, what I did was to start an automatic rescan then immediately abort it. This left me with no channels at all. I then did a manual scan for each of the six Blackhill multiplexes (see top of page for details and remembemr to use the old numbers except for BBC-A which is the only multiplex to have moved). This seems to have worked perfectly. (If you have HD you need to change to DBV-T2 for channel 59 only.).

link to this comment
Scott's 110 posts GB flag
Briantist
sentiment_very_satisfiedOwner

7:37 PM

Bigdave: You get channel in the 800 range when you have failed to clear out the channel list before rescanning.

link to this comment
Briantist's 38,915 posts GB flag
S
Scott
sentiment_satisfiedSilver

7:51 PM

Briantist: Would you not get the same problem if you receive multiple incidences of the same station during the scan? I seemed to BBC1 three times.

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Scott's 110 posts GB flag
Tuesday, 14 June 2011
M
Matt
sentiment_satisfiedBronze

12:00 PM

Scott, what you say is true. one solution for this is to perform a factory reset or first time installation with no aerial connected so you clear the channel list. then manually tune only the frequencies from your local transmitter.

link to this comment
Matt's 21 posts NL flag
S
Scott
sentiment_satisfiedSilver

6:27 PM

Matt: Actually that is effectively what I did with my Humax box. I started the automatic scan then aborted it, leaving no stations at all. I then manually scanned each of the six multiplexes. Only problem was that the HD multiplex showed nothing, until I realised that the default setting was DVB-T and had to be changed to DVB-T2. Having said all that, I was speaking to a colleague on the train home and I asked him if he had picked up multiple transmitters and how did he go about selecting the correct one. He had no idea what I was on about and said that he had followed the instructions and carried out a full scan. How many people, I wonder, will now be left with their equipment tuned to a transmitter that is not the strongest signal? I have to say that until this all started I knew next to nothing about digital television, main transmitters, relays etc so this has been an interesting learning experience and diversion into a completely new field. I am now getting quite enthusiastic!

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Scott's 110 posts GB flag
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