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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
Wednesday, 7 May 2014
M
Mike
sentiment_satisfiedBronze

3:40 PM
Poole

I have 2 TVs both fed from same aerial system via distribution amp
Tv No 1 uses You View Box receives Com 7 signal strength 49% quality 100%
normal strength other Coms 79% Qual 100%
Set 2 Samsung Com 7 only 26% strength Bit rate error level 1500 no use for reception.
Normal on other Coms signal 90% Bit rate error level 0
I'm in BH15 3RJ using Mendip Any ideas if the Samsung problem can be resolved don't want to switch to Rowridge its not very good here.

link to this comment
Mike's 29 posts GB flag
Mike's: mapM's Freeview map terrainM's terrain plot wavesM's frequency data M's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Tuesday, 13 May 2014
M
Me
sentiment_satisfiedBronze

9:31 PM

I've lost Dave and E4+1

link to this comment
Me's 65 posts GB flag
Wednesday, 14 May 2014
MikeP
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

8:11 PM

Mike
Just a thought that the cable feeding the Samsung may have a higher attenuation so less signal is reaching the set, perhaps. Might be worth trying replacing that cable and making sure that you are using outputs from your distribution amplier that give the same signal levels (some have both high and low outputs).
Please let us know if that helps.

link to this comment
MikeP's 3,056 posts GB flag
J
jb38
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

11:35 PM

Mike: In addition to that said by MikeP, if everything looks to be OK at the booster side of the equation purely an extra test try swapping the two "output" connections over on same and check if the signal situation at the receiver end has changed or not.

You should also check that both the You-View box and the Samsung TV are tuned to the same COM7 mux, Mendip (45miles @ 320 degrees) being on Mux C33 / 570.0Mhz and with Rowridge (27 miles @ 98 degrees) Mux C31 / 554.0 Mhz, the only reason for mentioning this being that COM7 is indicated (on the DUK site) as only being receivable from Rowridge, although I fully appreciate that this "might" be an error.

link to this comment
jb38's 7,179 posts GB flag
Saturday, 17 May 2014
M
Mike
sentiment_satisfiedBronze

2:52 PM

Thanks to MikeP &jb38b for advice will try the suggestions you have made and let you know the outcome. I have checked the com it is definitely channel 33 570MHz so Mendip signal reaches this far. Will also ask neighbours as most people here use the Mendip transmitter {less trouble with inversion in summer time } if they are getting reception from Com 7.

link to this comment
Mike's 29 posts GB flag
Transmitter engineering
sentiment_very_satisfiedOwner

5:40 PM

MENDIP transmitter - DAB: BBC National DAB Radio Off Air from 16:18 today. [BBC]

link to this comment
Transmitter engineering's 149,822 posts xx flag
J
jb38
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

8:40 PM

Mike: Prior to the outcome of your tests, the situation has to be looked at from the angle that if indeed your You-View box with its 49% signal strength (which does leave a bit to be desired!) results in a stable signal with a quality indication of 100%, then irrespective of my previous advice, the quickest way of determining the source of the problem is by temporarily testing your You-View box on the outlet used by the Samsung and checking the strength / quality of the signal, because if the indications on the You-View box are similar to that previously obtained when used on its own outlet then this points to the problem being with the Samsung.

Should this be found to apply, then it does not necessarily indicate that the Samsung's tuner is faulty but possibly just that the You-View boxes tuner is more sensitive to that of the Samsung's, something that's not exactly unusual as tuners can vary even within models in the same brand let alone in other brands, and so even although its always a good idea to find out if others in your immediate locality are also experiencing similar problems to yourself, then no matter what the reply might be the aspect of variations in tuner sensitivity has always to be kept in mind.

link to this comment
jb38's 7,179 posts GB flag
Tuesday, 27 May 2014
M
Mike
sentiment_satisfiedBronze

3:56 PM
Poole

Jb38 Have tried all suggestions except replacing cable some improvement with an additional booster helped but is not ideal improves signal level but quality still low.
Picture locks ok.
Do you think as Rowridge is only 27 miles A group aerial horizontal would work?Connected to distribution amp with a di-plexer.
Could use this for all PSB mux as well as for additional HD services leaving wide band aerial on Mendip for the other programmes.Providing a reasonable signal from Rowridge is available.Location BH15 3RJ

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Mike's 29 posts GB flag
Mike's: mapM's Freeview map terrainM's terrain plot wavesM's frequency data M's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Wednesday, 28 May 2014
J
jb38
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

12:22 AM

Mike: On having studied the terrain between the Mendip and Rowridge transmitters relative to that of your location, I have to honestly say that I feel nothing can really be guaranteed as far as continuity of reception throughout the year is concerned due to the signal paths from both stations suffering from line-of-sight blockages, in the case of Rowridge this being mainly at around 2.5 miles prior to your location, albeit that the signal could be affected from around 6 miles out, whereas in the case of Mendip the problem mainly starting from 11 miles out but could be affected in various ways from as far out as 16 miles.

As far as your suggestion is concerned, yes! as that mentioned would in theory anyway be about your best action to take, although on the subject of boosters, I would use one of the variable gain types with a rating of around 15db (min) or so, as anything under this would be a waste of time.

I would like to add though, that reception under these conditions is always liable to suffer from signal quality issues corresponding to changing weather conditions altering the reflective effect of the terrain.

By the way, you can see for yourself the problems referred to by opening the undermentioned links.



Terrain between ( m a.g.l.) and (antenna m a.g.l.) - Optimising UK DTT Freeview and Radio aerial location





Terrain between ( m a.g.l.) and (antenna m a.g.l.) - Optimising UK DTT Freeview and Radio aerial location



link to this comment
jb38's 7,179 posts GB flag
Sunday, 1 June 2014
M
Me
sentiment_satisfiedBronze

10:54 AM

We seem to have lost COM4,5 & 6 - signal strength is about 90 but quality is 0, any ideas?

link to this comment
Me's 65 posts GB flag
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