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Full Freeview on the Oxford (Oxfordshire, England) transmitter

first published this on - UK Free TV
sa_streetviewGoogle Streetviewsa_gmapsGoogle mapsa_bingBing mapsa_gearthGoogle Earthsa_gps51.790,-1.179 or 51°47'25"N 1°10'46"Wsa_postcodeOX3 9SS

 

The symbol shows the location of the Oxford (Oxfordshire, England) transmitter which serves 410,000 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 Oxford (Oxfordshire, England) mast?

Oxford transmitter - Oxford 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 Oxford 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
C41+ (634.2MHz)295mDTG-100,000W
Channel icons
1 BBC One (SD) South (Oxford), 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
C44- (657.8MHz)295mDTG-100,000W
Channel icons
3 ITV 1 (SD) (Meridian/Central (Thames Valley micro region)), 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 (Central west),

PSB3
BBCB
 H max
C47 (682.0MHz)295mDTG-100,000W
Channel icons
46 5SELECT, 101 BBC One HD South (Oxford), 102 BBC Two HD England, 103 ITV 1 HD (ITV Central West), 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 -3dB
C29 (538.0MHz)295mDTG-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
C37- (601.8MHz)319mDTG-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
C31 (554.0MHz)319mDTG-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

LOX
 H -10dB
C46 (674.0MHz)295mDTG-1210,000W
Channel icons
from 22nd December 2014: 7 That's Oxford,

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 Oxford transmitter?

regional news image
BBC South (Oxford) Today 0.4m homes 1.6%
from Oxford OX2 7DW, 6km west-southwest (258°)
to BBC South (Oxford) region - 6 masts.
BBC South (Oxford) Today shares 50% content with Southampton service
regional news image
ITV Meridian News 0.9m homes 3.4%
from Whiteley PO15 7AD, 102km south (182°)
to ITV Meridian/Central (Thames Valley) region - 15 masts.
Thames Valley opt-out from Meridian (South). All of lunch, weekend and 50% evening news is shared with all of Meridian+Oxford

How will the Oxford (Oxfordshire, England) transmission frequencies change over time?

1950s-80s1984-971997-981998-20112011-132013-182013-1723 May 2018
VHFC/D EC/D EC/D EC/D EC/D E TW TW T
C2BBCtvwaves
C29SDN
C31com7com7
C37com8com8
C41BBCA
C44D3+4
C46_local
C47BBCB
C49tv_offC5wavesC5waves
C50tv_off SDNSDN
C51tv_offLOXLOX
C53tv_offC4wavesC4wavesC4waves+BBCA+BBCA+BBCA
C55tv_offArqBArqBArqBcom7tv_off
C56tv_offCOM8tv_off
C57tv_offBBC1wavesBBC1wavesBBC1wavesBBCBBBCBBBCB
C59tv_off-ArqA-ArqA-ArqA
C60tv_offITVwavesITVwavesITVwaves-D3+4-D3+4-D3+4
C62SDN
C63BBC2wavesBBC2wavesBBC2waves

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 14 Sep 11 and 28 Sep 11.

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
Analogue 5(-11dB) 40kW
com8(-14.7dB) 17.1kW
com7(-14.8dB) 16.4kW
Mux 1*, Mux 2*, LOX(-17dB) 10kW
Mux C*, Mux D*(-18dB) 8kW
Mux A*, Mux B*(-19.2dB) 6kW

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

Feb 1956-Jul 1968Associated TeleVision†
Feb 1956-Jul 1968Associated British Corporation◊
Jul 1968-Dec 1981Associated TeleVision
Jan 1982-Dec 2006Central Independent Television
Dec 2006-Feb 2009ITV Thames Valley
Feb 2009-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. Oxford 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
Saturday, 29 January 2022
C
Chris.SE
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

7:36 AM

Roger Turner:

This is most likely to be due to current weather conditions. The current high pressure weather system has been accompanied by some "Temperature Inversion/Tropospheric Ducting" where signals from distant transmitters are carried further than normal, due to the particular layers of the atmosphere. It causes interference to your wanted signals. This can result in changes to received signal strength and quality.
The problems can last for seconds, minutes ,hours, sometimes even longer. Do NOT retune, you are likely to just lose your correct tuning.
There are currently no reported transmitter faults or listed Planned Engineering for Oxford.
As the conditions vary you should see changes in those figures and current predicted suggest that it all may clear over the next couple of days.
If you continue to see problems, post back with some more specific figures for each multiplex.

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Chris.SE's 4,101 posts GB flag
Wednesday, 27 April 2022
M
Mal McGar
3:50 PM

Hi I am in Milton Keynes but due to terrain I have to receive your service via the Oxford Transmitter. However since the last update I am no longer able to watch all the channels I did previously. Before I proceed, please can you tell me which channels I should be able to see.

The list provided here is far from user friendly, therefore can you either send me a channel list or a suitable link.

Thank you in anticipation

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Mal McGar's 1 post GB flag
S
StevensOnln1
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

4:24 PM

Mal McGar: This website has nothing to do with operating any channel or transmitter, this is an independent technical help website. If you provide a full postcode we can check what you are predicted to receive. There is a full list of channels including which multiplex carries each channel on the Freeview corporate website (see link below). If you can tell us which channels you are no longer able to receive that may help identify the cause.

Channel listings for Industry Professionals | Freeview

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StevensOnln1's 3,605 posts GB flag
Monday, 18 July 2022
C
Chris.SE
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

4:41 PM

All:

As the listings at the top of this page aren't fully updated, for the sake of clarity, here is the current data -
In the multiplex order BBCA/PSB1, D3&4/PSB2, BBCB HD/PSB3, SDN/COM4, ArqA/COM5, ArqB/COM6
Oxford UHF channels are -
The main multiplexes are C41, C44, C47, C29, C37, C31
The Local mux L-OFD is on C22.

Note - COM7 has now closed.

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Chris.SE's 4,101 posts GB flag
Tuesday, 19 July 2022
A
Aerialman
sentiment_satisfiedSilver

3:33 PM

Local mux L-OFD is also on channel 40 as well with directional petal.
Absolutely,agree! if you are going to have a site that gives information of TV Transmitters,channel numbers,frequencies Kw powers it's most important that they are accurate and kept up to date with.
If not then this site is not useful to anyone!and can be misleading.
The owner of this site in passed years has decided not to keep up with transmitter technical changes
and that is not a responsible position!

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Aerialman's 140 posts GB flag
C
Chris.SE
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

10:47 PM

Aerialman:

Thanks for pointing out the extra petal for the Oxford Local mux. I recall seeing it mentioned in an OFCOM document I read some 18months+ ago but had forgotten since.
According to OFCOM and Freeview/DUK documents it is actually on UHF C46 (not 40) and beams due E.
The petal on C22 beams both NW and a little less to the SW.
Both petals use 10kW each.

I'm not sure that "decided" is the right word for the lack of some site updates by the owner, I think it's more a case of not having had sufficient time, as you probably know there are over 1100 transmitters in the UK many of which had changes with the 700MHz clearance. I know that updating is a tedious job because the updates from OFCOM documents have to be entered into the database manually as the source documents are all .pdf so not a task I would relish!
Nevertheless it is rather a shame that there hasn't been some progress on updating at least the 80+ main transmitters where needed. I know the site owner has been in hospital recently with pneumonia which obviously isn't helpful to the cause.

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Chris.SE's 4,101 posts GB flag
Tuesday, 6 September 2022
T
Terry Chapman
9:51 AM
Chipping Norton

I am having problems with the reception of HD channels at OX7 5JR. The aerial is situated on the roof and then distributed round the building. When it is working, which is intermittently, the signalstrength on HD is below 20%. Other channels are at a good level at 80% plus.

link to this comment
Terry Chapman's 1 post US flag
Terry's: mapT's Freeview map terrainT's terrain plot wavesT's frequency data T's Freeview Detailed Coverage
C
Chris.SE
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

2:46 PM

Terry Chapman:

Just beyond the west side of Chipping Norton is out of the coverage area for the main Oxford transmitter according to the Freeview predictor and one of the coverage maps. This is no doubt due to the local terrain.

Your predicted transmitter is the Over Norton relay 2km away at bearing 16 degrees (that's slightly N of NNE) and the aerial rods (or squashed Xs) should be vertical.
The UHF channel there for the PSB3/BBCB HD multiplex is C36.
The PSB1/BBCA multiplex is on C48, and PSB2/D3&4 is on C33.

Now, predictions aren't always 100% and you may also get signals from other transmitters which could be weak or unreliable, but especially because of recent weather conditions causing interfering signals from distant transmitters to be received. If you retuned recently under such conditions you may not be tuned to the correct UHF channels. From what you describe that sounds like a possibility for the PSB3 multiplex.
Check in your TV Tuning section which UHF channels you are tuned to.

OR your aerial isn't pointing at the Over Norton transmitter, if that's the case, please advise which way it's pointing (as accurately as you can) and which UHF channels you are tuned to.
IF it happens to be pointing at the Oxford transmitter, signals may be unreliable especially with current weather conditions.
In the multiplex order BBCA/PSB1, D3&4/PSB2, BBCB HD/PSB3, SDN/COM4, ArqA/COM5, ArqB/COM6
Oxford UHF channels are -
The main multiplexes are C41, C44, C47, C29, C37 & C31
If you can get the Local mux L-OFD it is on C22 in your direction.
(Unfortunately the lists at the top of the page haven't been fully updated by the site owner since the 700MHz Clearance programme).

See Channel listings for Industry Professionals | Freeview for which channels are carried on which multiplex.
Note there are no COM or Local multiplexes at Over Norton., it's a PSB only (Light) Relay transmitter.

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Chris.SE's 4,101 posts GB flag
Saturday, 26 November 2022
P
Philip Chadwin
5:02 PM
Swindon

For 3 months now I am and have experienced pixelation and sometimes no HD channels from the Oxford transmitter. I had my aerial checked, fitted with a booster and nothing works. According to my Humax I get a strong signal but Zero Quality, so I cannot watch any HD channel. I am told by the aerial fitter that the Oxford Transmitter is down on power and therefore cannot receive HD channels. Its been like this for 3 months. I have a new Sony Smart TV and new Humas Aura 4K box and this has been a complete waste of money. Could you advise when the oxford transmitter will be back to full power. I live in Swindon SN3 6NN. Before this I had no problems with Freeview, I am considering Freesat, but I may have additional problems.

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Philip Chadwin's 3 posts GB flag
Philip's: mapP's Freeview map terrainP's terrain plot wavesP's frequency data P's Freeview Detailed Coverage
C
Chris.SE
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

11:21 PM

Philip Chadwin:

If you were recently told by the aerial fitter that Oxford is down on power, then I'm afraid he is not correct. There was Planned Engineering in the middle of August for a week and again for 3 weeks in the last part of September when there could have been "Pixelation or flickering on some or all channels".
It's not been listed for Planned Engineering since then and there are currently no faults listed for Oxford, the latter being checked with the Radio and Television Interference Service and the BBC Reception Checker.

You are 47km from the transmitter, have line of sight, and according to the BBC and Freeview's reception checker you should get good reception of the 6 main multiplexes and reception of the Local Multiplex (possibly variable) on UHF C22.
What make and model aerial have you got? In your location, it should be pointing at compass bearing 53 degrees - that's 8 degrees east of NE, and its rods (or squashed Xs) should be horizontal.

Now assuming there are no faults on your aerial installation and the coax is a high quality double screened type such as CT100, then there could be two possibilities here.

If that booster was fitted and set up when there was Planned Engineering, it's now possible that you have too much signal. One of the symptoms of that can be appearing to have a strong signal, but having 0% Quality! If the booster has a variable gain control - turn it down. You do NOT need 100% signal (which could be much lower) but you should have 100% Quality. Is this a splitter/booster with several outputs?

If there is not a variable gain control, try unplugging the aerial from the input and connect it straight to the feed for your TV and then check (& report) the Signal Strengths and Quality for each of Oxford UHF channels (see my post just before yours).

One other possibility is new interference from a mobile phone mast that was "upgraded" or installed in August. There were 3 which are about 0.5/0.6km from you in roughly a NNW direction and another 1.2km away in roughly a NNNE direction. These ought not to be giving you a problem but with excess amplifier gain they might, and of course a new mast could have been installed as well.
According to restoretv.uk your postcode won't have received a postcard warning of such problems BUT I've heard of several cases where cards have not been sent.

If turning the booster gain down doesn't solve the problem, or your checks without the booster don't produce 100% quality on all multiplexes, then it would be worth contacting restoretv.uk to obtain a free filter.

Put restroretv.uk into your web browser address bar. Play around with their website if you wish, but it can tend the take you round in circles!

From the home page, click on FAQs at the bottom centre of the page, then on the FAQ page click "About Restore TV" towards the bottom right and select "Do I have to pay to call Restore TV?" which will open a window showing their freephone number 0808-1313-800.

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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.

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