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

first published this on - UK Free TV
sa_streetviewGoogle Streetviewsa_gmapsGoogle mapsa_bingBing mapsa_gearthGoogle Earthsa_gps55.861,-3.874 or 55°51'40"N 3°52'27"Wsa_postcodeML7 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 Digital tick


Choose from three options: ■ List by multiplex ■ List by channel number ■ List by channel name
_______

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
Sunday, 26 June 2011
S
Scott
sentiment_satisfiedSilver

10:22 PM

Adam: Mad question I know but I assume you used the new channel numbers for the manual tune and not the old ones?

link to this comment
Scott's 110 posts GB flag
Monday, 27 June 2011
A
Adam
12:38 AM
Motherwell

Hi Scott, yes used the new numbers but get a message saying "service not collected"

link to this comment
Adam's 3 posts GB flag
Adam's: mapA's Freeview map terrainA's terrain plot wavesA's frequency data A's Freeview Detailed Coverage
J
jb38
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

7:24 AM

Adam: When signals above a certain power level are being received it can create all sorts of problems, like in some cases blocking effects on some channels and not others, this maybe why you are receiving signals from Darvel, as you will be getting less of a signal from there.

You should try and borrow a set top aerial from someone and see how that goes, if this enables you to get the BBC channels from Blackhill then you will have to use an attenuator in your aerial lead, as your problems are due to the signal level being received being too high.

Just another little point, its always best to check the signal/quality levels being shown on your TV (or box) when trying to find out the cause of a problem, as that in many cases can assist with the diagnosis of what is causing the problem.

link to this comment
jb38's 7,179 posts GB flag
L
LD
6:02 PM
Leven

I've just had a look at the full specs for the Pioneer box DBR-TF100
Modulation is stated as COFDM (2k/8k)
Doesn't that mean the box should be 8k compliant - if so, why doesn't it seem to be? Might it be a firmware problem?

Also although a lot of us seem to have the same problem, might it be because we're using a wideband aerial, and since 8k the box is sensitive enough to be picking up intermittent overlapping signals? Would a more directional aerial help?

link to this comment
LD's 9 posts GB flag
LD's: mapL's Freeview map terrainL's terrain plot wavesL's frequency data L's Freeview Detailed Coverage
L
LD
6:09 PM

I was reading on this site that a workround for 8k difficulties is to
' add the "8k" channel manually (C62 for Selkirk, for example) and then to do this procedure after switchover is complete: see:
TVs and boxes that do not support the 8k-mode | ukfree.tv - independent free digital TV advice

Where can I find the 8k channel for my area BKH, as it's something I haven't tried yet.
(KY85NJ)

link to this comment
LD's 9 posts GB flag
K
KMJ,Derby
sentiment_satisfiedGold

6:46 PM

LD: All the standard definition Freeview muxes are transmitted in 8k mode from Black Hill. You need to enter C46, C43, C41+, C44 and C47 when doing a manual tune.

link to this comment
KMJ,Derby's 1,811 posts GB flag
J
jb38
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

9:26 PM

LD: If I could just add a comment to what you were saying about your Pioneer DBR-TF100 being shown as 2K/8K compliant.

Although you are quite correct as far as what has been seen printed is concerned, but there has been issues with this problem in the past with this model, Pioneer being aware about it but not really intending to do anything about it due to the age of the box.

However my experience in general with boxes of the older variety has shown that although they will work on an 8K mode signal (if stated as such) they can sometimes intermittently struggle to resolve a picture, some being quite sluggish in doing so, something that can cause problems if the device is a PVR.

A good test on any box that is suspected of being like that is, if its switched on and the screen is blank knock it up a channel and back down again, as if it is one of the types described this will usually trigger it into operation, that is until the next time!

link to this comment
jb38's 7,179 posts GB flag
Thursday, 30 June 2011
L
LD
1:01 PM
Leven

This is from Pioneer Handbook:

System capabilities
DVB compliant MPEG-2 reception of broad-
casts up to Main Profile @ Main Level
Video decoding
DVB compliant MPEG-2 reception of broad-
casts up to MP @ ML
Video bit rate: up to 15 Mbit/sec
Video format: 4:3 and 16:9
Resolution: up to 720 by 576 pixels
Audio decoding
MPEG layer I/II (excluding multichannel
management from one bit stream)
Operation/Features
Automatic programme loading via scanning
installation
Free to air reception
DVB subtitles
Programme parental lock with PIN code
Full remote
Menu controlled operation using on-screen
display
Menu controlled installation using on-screen
display
10 events over 10 months programme timer
Video still image capture
Multibrand TV remote
Reception-Demodulation
Demodulation conforming to ETSI EN 300 744
(COFDM)
supports FFT size 2k and 8k
All non-hierarchical modes supported
Connections
RF input (for aerial) connector: female IEC
169-25
Tuner frequency range: 470-854 MHz (CH21
to 68)
RF output (to TV) connector: male IEC 169-2
Loopthrough frequency range: 47-862 MHz
(VHF, UHF CH21 to 69)
RF modulator: Standard PAL I
Channel: selectable ch 21 to 68. (Default: ch
38)
TV SCART
Output: CVBS, Controlled audio L/R, RGB,
S-VIDEO
VCR SCART
Input: CVBS, Audio L/R, S-VIDEO, RGB
Output: CVBS, Audio L/R, S-VIDEO
Optical digital audio output
Accessories
Remote
Aerial/RF lead
Instruction manual
Warranty card
Batteries: 2 x 1.5V type AA/R06/UM-3
Mains lead
Miscellaneous
Operating Temperature: +5 ˚C to 40 ˚C
Mains: 230 V +/10%, 50 Hz
Power consumption (W) 10 max
Standby consumption (W) 4 max
Weight (kg) 1.1
Dimensions (w x h x d mm) 260 x 50 x 190

As far as I'm aware, Pioneer know about the issue with this model, but it seems they don't propose to do anything about it. I assume all it would need is a OTA firmware update. Shame, because it's always been rock solid.

link to this comment
LD's 9 posts GB flag
LD's: mapL's Freeview map terrainL's terrain plot wavesL's frequency data L's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Sunday, 17 July 2011
Monday, 25 July 2011
S
Scott
sentiment_satisfiedSilver

12:54 PM

LD: Does this box have a USB port? If so maybe you should check if there are any firmware upgrades available on-line.

link to this comment
Scott's 110 posts GB flag
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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.

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