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Full Freeview on the Mendip (Somerset, England) transmitter

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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
Friday, 30 October 2020
S
StevensOnln1
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

4:25 PM

Peter Artilison & Susam Smith: The 700MHz clearance was completed in the summer. It was fully planned in conjunction with the transmitter operator Arqiva and not done in some random way as Susam is suggesting. There was a scheme to provide free replacement aerials to those households who needed one and didn't have cable or satellite. Anyone who has been affected should have discovered months ago if they needed a new aerial, so very few people will be needing to pay 100-200 for a new aerial due to the frequency changes. Can you define what you mean when you say this is not the end of it, as all frequency allocation changes due to the 700MHz clearance have been completed?

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StevensOnln1's 3,605 posts GB flag
Saturday, 31 October 2020
C
Chris.SE
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

3:29 AM

Peter Artilison:

You clearly haven't got a clue what you are talking about and you don't even remember clearly.
Firstly the 700MHz clearance programme was completed back in August. (Mainly the Granada area and parts of N.Wales & the Borders being the final areas to finish the changes).

Mendip (and a few of it's relays) changes were complete over a year ago in June 2019. The relatively small number of people that needed to have a change of aerial from an old Group C/D to a Group T/Wideband were able to get FREE in-home support from Freeview so the aerial change cost them nothing.

Susam Smith:

As for your blatant and ill-informed advertising of an aerial company, the changes are now history, were carefully planned and advertised in the local press and on-screen pop-ups, as stated above it's complete and was complete in this area over a year ago. No further changes are planned, so you are also posting inaccurate and incorrect information.

And just to put it into context a bit better, this isn't just "OFCOM making money" as you assert, the 700MHz clearance was a Europe wide programme subject to European Broadcasting and International agreements.

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Chris.SE's 4,101 posts GB flag
T
Tracey
9:12 AM
Glossop

Hi, sorry if this is one of those impossible to answer questions, but here goes. We've recently moved into a different house, in Glossop, SK13 8ED, and are having very occasional reception problems. In decent weather everything is good but with really heavy rain we get blocking and, more rarely, break-up. I remember the previous owners mentioning that the aerial and all cabling were replaced not long before it went up for sale, so it's less than a year old. The aerial would seem to be pointing to Winter Hill (it's definitely not pointing to the local repeater) and from ground level looks solidly mounted. We've tried your re-tuning suggestions and checked the cable joins to the best of our abilities. No difference. A more technical friend suggested that the cable used for the install isn't the best and we could change the internal run for a higher quality one. Within the house the cable that we could swap out is around a 15m run and is marked up as ''RG6/U 19.5dB/100m @860 Mhz''. Do you think there would be any value in changing this section? We could do without the expense of getting someone out to check/swap bits at the moment especially as the problem only rarely occurs. Thanks for any help. Tracey.

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Tracey's 6 posts GB flag
Tracey's: mapT's Freeview map terrainT's terrain plot wavesT's frequency data T's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Sunday, 1 November 2020
C
Chris.SE
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

4:02 PM

Tracey:

Hi, don't worry about the double posting, it can't be deleted anyway. I replied to your other post at Get to see your Freeview predictions map | free and easy
If for some reason you can't get to it post back here and I'll copy it here.

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Chris.SE's 4,101 posts GB flag
Wednesday, 4 November 2020
A
Alan_C
9:15 PM

A couple of unrelated comments. First the 5G clearance - changed the type of aerial needed to wideband. I could not find out anything about how to get assistance with aerial replacement, eligibility etc. - just a phone number. But as I work there was no way I would be able to hang on the phone for hours, go through the retune exercise multiple times etc. even though I'd already done that, so I bought one myself. Not happy that selling off the bandwidth has been at my expense.

Second, the channels on the mux which moved to the edge of the band have started to be pixellated and unwatchable in the last couple of weeks. Checked all my connections, etc. and found that some channels are better if I reduce the signal strength (removed aerial amp); even better when I added a splitter to introduce some attenuation. My PVR box strength and quality readouts were strength 85, quality 10 with amp in; with amp out 25,100. The mucking around involved switching the PVR off and on again several times and in the end it failed (Humax T1010 PSU fault) so now unable to check strength with splitter added. Does this make some sort of sense, does it suggest a distant transmitter interference? I suppose the amp could have been starting to fail and developed higher noise?

Third: Freeview swapped some channels on 4 Nov, forcing a retune. After the retune, all the channels on that mux have dropped off the EPG list. Presumably because they don't meet the threshold signal strength for the tuner and the previous information has been wiped?

So the main question: what's my best move to recover the missing channels? Should I try replacing the amp and retuning to get them back in the EPG list, then remove the amp again? Or try realigning the aerial (it is in the loft so has not been affected by storms, etc.). Or...?

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Alan_C's 9 posts GB flag
Thursday, 5 November 2020
C
Chris.SE
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

6:04 AM

Alan_C:

Hmm, I understand about the long waits on the phone for that free help back then. Freeview have not (IMHO) been well organised or manned to cope with those for quite a few of the transmitter changes around the country. It is worth being clear though that the changes are as a result of Europe wide changes and agreements, it's not just this country "selling off bandwidth".
Which make and exact model of aerial did you get?

In relation the mux at the "edge of the band", it would be helpful if you could be specific as this could be the top (I suspect you mean COM7 on C55) or possibly the bottom of the band (Local mux on C30).
Your remarks about signal strength and quality do make sense as it is possible to have too much signal which can result in a set's strength figure readings appearing to be lower and certainly the quality figures will drop in those circumstances, BUT equally a failing amp could do similar things. It is also helpful to compare the figures with the other muxes at the same time.
Does you TV not have strength and quality information somewhere in it's tuning section, maybe in manual tuning? Most sets have it somewhere.

To be able to make some sensible comment and suggestions, we really need a full postcode to see what the Freeview Detailed Coverage Checker gives for your predicted reception and the aerial bearing for the transmitter at your location.
We also really need to see the Strength and Quality figures for each multiplex with the aerial direct to the TV without any splitters or amplifiers. Then the same again with the amplifier.

As far as recovering lost muxes and channels, this 4th.Nov. retune has given some other people problems and it's not been/going to be helped by the fact that there's some predicted "Tropospheric Ducting" around with the current high pressure which may result in interference from distant transmitters to some of the multiplexes at varying times! (see Effect of tropospheric ducting on Freeview | RTIS for a simplistic explanation).
The best way to try and recover everything correctly is to try retuning in the following way -
First unplug the aerial and do an automatic retune - this should clear all previous tuning as no channels should be found. (This technique doesn't always work on some devices and a factory reset might be required).
Once previous tuning is cleared and no channels present then plug the aerial back in direct to the TV (no amp or splitters) and ideally do a manual tune for Mendip's UHF channels which are C32, C34, C35, C48, C33, C36, C55, C30 and that's in the order PSBs1-3, COMs4-7 and the Local mux.
If manual tuning isn't possible then it'd have to be an automatic one.

If you post back with as much of that information as possible, we should be able to help further.

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Chris.SE's 4,101 posts GB flag
Saturday, 7 November 2020
A
Alan_C
6:01 PM
Somerton

Chris.SE:

Many thanks for you comprehensive and helpful response.

In answer to your questions and comments:

Aerial is XB10K from ATV, mounted in the loft (using the cradle and a short pole down from the rafters).

The channels I lost were on the mux COM4 at channel 48, so actually not the highest frequency - I regret I don't know whether I also lost channel 55 (or indeed whether I even had it before the retune).

Prior to the PVR box filing I was using the signal strength indications on that, but I have found you are right that signal strength is available in a manual tune of the set.

Postcode: TA11 6SH.

I followed your recommended procedure today (Sat) now that the pressure has dropped (automatic retune with aerial disconnected, then reconnect (without splitter) and manual retune one channel at a time. Here are the strengths and qualities for each:

32 Q 100 L 65
34 Q 100 L 65
35 Q 100 L 55
48 Q 20 L 50
33 Q 100 L 60
36 Q 100 L 60
55 Q 0 L 0
30 Q 0 L 0

I viewed one channel briefly from each frequency channel (if you see what I mean) and they were all good (but of course I don't have any channels from 30 or 55).

So that's fantastic and thanks. Do you have any recommendations about 55 and 30?

Alan

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Alan_C's 9 posts GB flag
Alan_C's: mapA's Freeview map terrainA's terrain plot wavesA's frequency data A's Freeview Detailed Coverage
A
Alan_C
6:28 PM

Chris:

Oh, and I meant to say that although the one channels (Drama) that I've watched so far on frequency channel 48 is watchable, there is intermittent pixellation. I'd be grateful for any suggestions about improving the signal for this channel, which came up with Quality 20% and Level (signal strength) 50% .

Thanks again,

Alan

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Alan_C's 9 posts GB flag
Sunday, 8 November 2020
C
Chris.SE
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

4:06 AM

Alan_C:

I assume those figures are without the amp. Can you put the amp in and see how the figures compare without changing anything else.

That quality and signal strength on C48 is of concern. The SDN/COM4 mux is the only one that hasn't moved UHF channel at sometime or other!
That XB10K is a good aerial and on paper the gain at C55, C48 & C35 should be pretty much identical.

The Freeview predictor say all the main muxes should be blowing your windows out, but being in a loft will attenuate things. Without an amp, and lower transmission power for C55, that may make a significant difference. The Local mux on C30 is the exception for which you may get nothing as it's beamed N towards Bristol.
Your aerial should be pointing at a bearing of 22 degrees (NNE) but may need tweaking because of its location in the loft.

To address this C48 performance. Lots of things to check.
Have you got anything with an RF modulator running which might be causing interference eg. RF output from a VCR or other devices, Games consoles and the like. If so change the channel to 60 or above if possible.

Check you have no breaks or kinks in your downlead or any flyleads you may be using. Pre-made flyleads are often a problem with breaks at the back of the connector. Check connections on any walls plates for corrosion etc. None of this will necessarily affect all multiplexes as it can cause standing waves to be set up in the cable and what frequencies are affected will depend on cable lengths etc.

Assuming you've not found issues with downlead, flyleads etc, consider position of the aerial in the loft - check its not got any metal objects nearby - flues etc. electric cabling, especially in the direction it's pointing. Similarly partition walls. Also roof flashing, solar panels and the like.
If nothing else has come to light, try altering the bearing slightly and see how it affects the figures.
If that doesn't make much difference try altering it position, move it backwards, forwards, sideways etc.

Post back the figures with the amp in circuit first, that may be quite revealing.

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Chris.SE's 4,101 posts GB flag
C
Chris.SE
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

5:34 AM

Alan_C:

Almost forgot, do you have anything connected with HDMI? Keep the leads well away from aerial and flyleads, as they can cause interference especially to C55.

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Chris.SE's 4,101 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.

If you have no satellite signal, see Sky Digibox says 'No Signal' or 'Technical fault'

If you have other problems, please provide a full (not partial) postcode (or preferably enter it in box at the top right) and indicate where if aerial is on the roof, in the loft or elsewhere.

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