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Full Freeview on the Divis (Northern Ireland) transmitter

first published this on - UK Free TV
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The symbol shows the location of the Divis (Northern Ireland) transmitter which serves 440,000 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 Divis (Northern Ireland) mast?

Divis transmitter - Divis 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
_______

Which Freeview channels does the Divis 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
C27 (522.0MHz)551mDTG-100,000W
Channel icons
1 BBC One (SD) Northern Ireland, 2 BBC Two Northern Ireland, 9 BBC Four, 23 BBC Three, 201 CBBC, 202 CBeebies, 231 BBC News, 232 BBC Parliament, plus 14 others

PSB2
D3+4
 H max
C21+ (474.2MHz)551mDTG-100,000W
Channel icons
3 UTV (SD) (UTV), 4 Channel 4 (SD) NI ads, 5 Channel 5, 6 ITV 2, 10 ITV3, 13 E4, 14 Film4, 15 Channel 4 +1 NI ads, 18 More4, 26 ITV4, 28 ITVBe, 30 E4 +1, 35 UTV +1 (UTV),

PSB3
BBCB
 H max
C24 (498.0MHz)551mDTG-100,000W
Channel icons
46 5SELECT, 101 BBC One HD Northern Ireland, 102 BBC Two HD Northern Ireland, 103 UTV HD (UTV), 104 Channel 4 HD NI 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
C23 (490.0MHz)551mDTG-850,000W
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
C26 (514.0MHz)528mDTG-850,000W
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
C30 (546.0MHz)528mDTG-850,000W
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

LBT
 H -13dB
C36 (594.0MHz)528mDTG-125,000W
Channel icons
from 29th September 2014: 7 NvTv,

NIMM
 H -40dB
C48 (690.0MHz)551mDTG-10W
Channel icons
from 4th September 2019: 53 TG4, 54 RTÉ One, 55 RTÉ Two,

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 Divis transmitter?

regional news image
BBC Newsline 0.6m homes 2.5%
from Belfast BT2 8HQ, 1,044km northeast (51°)
to BBC Northern Ireland region - 46 masts.
regional news image
UTV Live 0.6m homes 2.5%
from Belfast BT7 1EB, 1,044km northeast (51°)
to UTV region - 46 masts.

Are there any self-help relays?

Chapel FieldsTransposerCentral Belfast61 homes

How will the Divis (Northern Ireland) transmission frequencies change over time?

1950s-80s1984-971997-981998-20122012-134 Mar 2020
VHFA K TA K TA K TK TW T
C1BBCtvwaves
C21C4wavesC4wavesC4waves+D3+4D3+4
C23SDNSDN
C24ITVwavesITVwavesITVwavesBBCBBBCB
C26ArqAArqA
C27BBC2wavesBBC2wavesBBC2wavesBBCABBCA
C29ArqB
C30LBT
C31BBC1wavesBBC1wavesBBC1waves
C33com7
C34com8
C36_local
C48NIMMNIMM
C55tv_offcom7tv_off
C56tv_offCOM8tv_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 10 Oct 12 and 24 Oct 12.

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

Analogue 1-4 500kW
BBCA, D3+4, BBCB(-7dB) 100kW
SDN, ARQA, ARQB(-10dB) 50kW
com8(-16dB) 12.7kW
com7(-16.1dB) 12.4kW
LBT(-20dB) 5kW
Mux 1*, Mux 2*, Mux A*, Mux B*(-23.4dB) 2.3kW
Mux C*(-24dB) 2kW
Mux D*(-24.9dB) 1.6kW
NIMM(-47dB) 10W

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

Oct 1959-May 2006Ulster Television
May 2006-Dec 2014UTV plc
Feb 1983-Dec 1992TV-am•
Jan 1993-Sep 2010GMTV•
Sep 2010-Dec 2014ITV Daybreak•
• Breakfast ◊ Weekends ♦ Friday night and weekends † Weekdays only. Divis 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
Monday, 30 July 2012
Dave Lindsay
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

1:10 PM

Malachy: Yes. HD services will be available from Divis starting on 24th October.

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Dave Lindsay's 5,724 posts GB flag
Friday, 3 August 2012
S
steve
2:44 PM
Dungannon

Hi will the divis transmitter have a strength upgrade before the digital switchover as my picture quality is clicky and jumpy when windy or heavy rain.And as we all now thats 6 months of the year minimum here in n ireland.My equipment is new and good 75 per cent of channels work well at present.

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steve's 1 post GB flag
steve's: mapS's Freeview map terrainS's terrain plot wavesS's frequency data S's Freeview Detailed Coverage
P
Peter Henderson
3:57 PM

Steve: No.

I'm afraid you'll just have to put up with it for the next 11 weeks or so.

Either that or intall Freesat.

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Peter Henderson's 1 post GB flag
Wednesday, 8 August 2012
P
Peter Henderson
10:55 PM

Lost all BBC channels this evening, obviously due to lift conditions.

Roll on October when hopefully this will all be a thing of the past.

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Peter Henderson's 15 posts GB flag
Saturday, 11 August 2012
N
Noel
9:18 PM

I'm not getting all the freeview channels , in particular itv4. I live in Dungannon northern ireland, BT71 7TJ

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Noel's 1 post GB flag
J
jb38
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

10:55 PM

Noel: I cant really see your situation improving until October 24th when Divis (@ 32 miles) switches over to full power operation, as the multiplex that ITV4 uses is only transmitting on 1.6 Kw whereas it will 50kw as from the date mentioned, the reception in your area presently predicted as being non existent on some channels and poor on others, the ArqB mux that ITV4 uses being the only one of the five with a prediction in the green, this being good. (in theory anyway!).

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jb38's 7,179 posts GB flag
Sunday, 12 August 2012
P
Peter Henderson
3:26 PM

Your other alternative is Freesat Noel.

However, according Digital UK's poscode checker you should heve good reception from Divis after the 24th October.

Many people still use Freesat even if they good Feeview reception.

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Peter Henderson's 15 posts GB flag
Wednesday, 5 September 2012
M
MARGARET MARTIN
9:07 PM
Belfast

Hi we live at foot of divis and blackmountain bt127hf we had a digital aerial fitted but can only get a few channels ie yesterday film four the guy said that we will have to wait ontill black mountain starts relaying the signal is this right

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MARGARET MARTIN's 1 post GB flag
MARGARET's: ...
P
Peter Henderson
sentiment_satisfiedBronze

10:26 PM

Margaret: No.

According to Digital UK's postcode chaecker you should be getting excellent reception from Divis at the moment, and after DSO. You should also be able to receive the NI mux from Black Mountain on October 24th.

Check to see which transmitter your aerial is currently receiving. If it's vertically polarised (i.e. the elements are up and down) then it's Black Mountain. If it's horizontally polarised then it's Divis.

Another way to check is to see if you're getting a good picture from Channel 5 analogue.

Personally, I'd seek the advice of a reputable aerial installer to see exactly what you need.

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Peter Henderson's 75 posts GB flag
Thursday, 6 September 2012
Dave Lindsay
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

12:37 AM

MARGARET MARTIN: The answer to the question would depend on which transmitter the new aerial is directed at.

I should say that there is no such thing as a "digital aerial". Aerials are designed to pick-up particular frequencies. In some cases a different aerial is required for digital reception because the frequencies used are different to the former analogue.

As Peter Henderson says, Digital UK does predict "good" reception on all channels from Divis now. However, such predictors should always be taken with a pinch of salt as there are other factors not taken into account.


I had a look down your road on Streetview (photos taken August 2008) and most houses have two vertical aerials (or did then). They would appear to be pointing at Black Mountain and Clermont Carn (for RT, TV3 and TG4). I spotted only one horizontal aerial on Divis.

This leads me to think that reception from Divis is difficult because there is no line of sight to the transmitter on the top of the hill. Furthermore, I should think that if you can get any digital from Divis now (bearing in mind that it's on much lower power than after switchover), then you're lucky!


It would appear that the only two transmitters north of the border that you can receive (if at all) are Divis and Black Mountain:

- If your new aerial is on Black Mountain then it will be vertical and pointing a bit anti-clockwise of west. This does not carry any digital (Freeview) now and after switchover will only carry Public Service channels (these being all BBC TV (standard definition and high definition), BBC radio stations, UTV, UTV+1, ITV2, Channel 4, Channel 4+1, Channel 4HD, E4, More4 and Channel 5 (I assume UTV HD if there is such a channel).

There should be no need to replace aerials on Black Mountain as the channels (frequencies) used after switchover are the same as those used for the current analogue. Only where viewers change transmitter (probably to Divis) to get the full service will a different aerial probably be required.

- If your new aerial is on Divis then it will be horizontal and pointing roughly north-west. Divis broadcast all Freeview channels after switchover, unlike Black Mountain which will be "Lite".


The fact that you can receive one of the multiplexes suggests that your new aerial is probably pointing at Divis. If not, then you must be receiving it with the aerial not pointing at the transmitter and with the aerial vertical when the signal is horizontal.

If your aerial is on Divis, then all you can do is try manually tuning missing channels (if your receiver allows). The rigger has installed the aerial based on the signals that can be received now. You will have to hope that the boost in power in October will be sufficient. I'm not sure whether you have recourse with him if it's not because he can't know for certain whether the aerial will work come October. For this reason it would perhaps have been pertinent to have the aerial changed after switchover.

By the way, the changeover will happen in two stages. On 10th October BBC standard definition services will go on full post-switchover power. These will take the place of BBC Two analogue. BBC One, UTV and Channel 4 will continue to be available on analogue.

Two weeks later on 24th October the other analogue channels will go and the other digital ones will go on full power.

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Dave Lindsay's 5,724 posts GB flag
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