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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
Tuesday, 21 June 2011
C
Colin
11:15 PM
Gillingham

We live in Gillingham, Dorset
Have lost several channels recently - Fiver, 5USA ITV4 etc
I have the biggest aerial one can buy and I still cant pick up all the free view channels!! When will the "very Low" band be improved. Why do we pay 100% TV licence when we do get 100% of the channels

link to this comment
Colin's 1 post GB flag
Colin's: mapC's Freeview map terrainC's terrain plot wavesC's frequency data C's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Wednesday, 22 June 2011
M
Mike Dimmick
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

3:13 PM

Colin: Check that your box hasn't decided to tune into Stockland Hill instead. Some just store the first version of the channels that they find, and Stockland Hill is on lower frequencies. The prediction for the commercial muxes from Stockland Hill is variable or poor, and the aerial will pick up less signal from that direction, but it could still be enough to detect the services. Changes at other transmitters, particularly Ridge Hill which now uses the same frequencies, could have made it worse. See Digital Region Overlap for some thoughts on how to fix this.

"I have the biggest aerial one can buy."

That could be your problem. Digital UK's postcode checker shows a prediction of 99-100% across the board, and it's usually a bit pessimistic.

There's a slight terrain restriction which will reduce levels slightly compared to clear line-of-sight. Line-of-sight levels are expected to be 80 dBuV max, on Mux 2/D3&4 (C54) and minimum 69.6 dBuV on Mux A/SDN (C62). These figures include 10 dBd of aerial gain, which is what Digital UK use in their predictions. The recommended upper limit, to avoid intermodulation, is 65 dBuV.

If you have any amplification, you should remove it. You will probably also need to add some attenuation to bring levels into spec.

As far as the TV licence goes, it's your licence to own and operate a TV. That's it. You have to pay the full rate if you own a colour TV. You can still pay a reduced rate for a monochome TV, bizarrely. The funds from the licence fee go to the BBC only, so even if it were based on reception - which it is not - I can't see that you'd be entitled to any discount if you were getting all BBC services.

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Mike Dimmick's 2,486 posts GB flag
P
Peter Dolman
5:44 PM

Colin: A Mike says, your receiver may well be tuning to Stockland Hill, or anything else being broadcast lower down the UHF band. Mendip transmits on channels grouped well up toward the top end of the UHF band, so any receiver sweep tuning up the band during its channel search will 'see' every other possible broadcast signal before it finally reaches the wanted Mendip channels. The way to check is to watch it tuning...don't take your eyes off the search tuning display for a moment! The Mendip standard definition channels for the five multiplexes are 54, 56, 61, 62 and 67. Most (but not all) receivers show what channel is being locked on to as the search progresses and valid signals are found, so by keeping your eye on the screen you can check and see exactly what's happening during the automatic tuning cycle. If your receiver identifies any TV broadcasts whilst it is tuning between the bottom of the band (channel 21) and channel 53, then that's wrong. If so, check to see if your receiver allows for manual tuning, rather than automatic search. If so you can probably resolve things by firstly clearing its memory (full reset or factory default) and then going to manual set up,entering each of the five channel numbers I've mentioned in sequence, as prompted. The receiver will then only search within that channel's multiplex, avoiding any unwanted ones.

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Peter Dolman's 13 posts GB flag
Friday, 24 June 2011
C
Colin smith
6:18 PM
Bristol

free view picture much worse and now impossible to watch, breaks up and says no signal.
Aerial is in the loft and used for several years generally OK reception, worse in summer with trees.
Also have another TV in the house with satellite dish, no problems here.

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Colin smith's 1 post GB flag
Colin's: mapC's Freeview map terrainC's terrain plot wavesC's frequency data C's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Saturday, 25 June 2011
M
Mike Gallimore
1:53 PM
Swindon

Aerial replaced last year for digital freeview switchover. It is on a 2.5 metre pole on the gable end of 2 story house. The installer positioned it for Mendip transmitter, BBC West and ITV West. For the last 2 weeks we have had problems receiving stations on Channel 61 and 56, i.e. BBC and Sky News. The signal strength hovers on 3 to 4 with the quality mainly on 1. We can get a more stable signal from the South or South West transmitters but obviously they are not for our specific region.

Have tried switching off all mains electrical equipment in turn but no change. Today the TV's are coming up with no signal. All other channels are brilliant and stable, quality 10 and signal strength 6 or 7.

We use Panasonic Plasma Freeview TV's with a distribution amplifier in the loft. Any ideas please, its driving my wife and I nuts!!!! Thanks.

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Mike Gallimore's 2 posts GB flag
Mike's: mapM's Freeview map terrainM's terrain plot wavesM's frequency data M's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Wednesday, 29 June 2011
M
Mike Dimmick
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

3:04 PM

Mike Gallimore: Digital UK's predictions are the exact opposite of what you're saying. The prediction is for extremely good chance of reliable reception from Mendip, but poor or variable for Hannington (South) and Stockland Hill (South West).

This tends to indicate that signal levels are too high overall. If there's a separate amplifier included in the chain before the distribution amplifier, remove or bypass it. If not, or that doesn't help, turn down the distribution amplifier, and/or add an attenuator between the aerial and the distribution amp.

If the distribution amplifier is separate from the splitter, remove the amplifier. If not, consider replacing the distribution amp with a passive (unpowered, unamplified) splitter.

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Mike Dimmick's 2,486 posts GB flag
T
TONY
9:20 PM
Highbridge

WHAT DEGREE SHOULD MY ARIAL BE POINTING ?
it is mounted on caravan but picture keeps freezing and intrmitant talking.

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TONY's 1 post GB flag
TONY's: mapT's Freeview map terrainT's terrain plot wavesT's frequency data T's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Thursday, 30 June 2011
J
jb38
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

7:20 AM

TONY: Taking it that you are located at the post code given, then for the Mendip transmitter your aerial should point directly to the East and be mounted with the elements being horizontal.

Predictions are that you should get good reception, this statement being made with the usual qualifications! (i.e: never assume %100 accuracy).

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jb38's 7,179 posts GB flag
Friday, 1 July 2011
S
Steve D
3:11 PM
Bristol

I've just moved to BS9 3TB. Should my aerial be pointing at Mendip or Bristol Kings Weston ?

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Steve D's 2 posts EU flag
Steve's: mapS's Freeview map terrainS's terrain plot wavesS's frequency data S's Freeview Detailed Coverage
A
Adam B
sentiment_satisfiedBronze

4:26 PM
Dunstable

Steve D: See the post I have just put up on the Kings Weston transmitter page of this website.

Hope this helps,
Adam.

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Adam B's 91 posts GB flag
Adam's: mapA's Freeview map terrainA's terrain plot wavesA's frequency data A's Freeview Detailed Coverage
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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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