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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
Wednesday, 5 October 2011
Briantist
sentiment_very_satisfiedOwner

8:59 AM

Chris.SE: Sorry, I forgot to enable the delay in the database, it is showing now.

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Briantist's 38,915 posts GB flag
R
Ralph
9:11 AM

Thank you David & Chris.

Yes, I know (from this group and others) that the COM muxes are on restricted power and perhaps it would have been better for the appropriate bodies to inform people of this especially as there is no end of aerial installer vans appearing in our area with many disgruntled consumers wondering why a complete change of equipment, retuning etc makes no difference.

It is sad that a change to different channels / bands has resulted in a complete loss of the ITV, 4, 5 channels whereas in the early stages of the switchover they were all present and clear.

Freesat may well be an option but I feel sorry for the multiple households (including mine) that would now have to pay for the installation of dishes in addition to their shiny new supposed digital high gain aerials.

A sad state of affairs and one that should have been be managed better (as an aside I design RF transmission equipment and so have an insight into what may be occurring at Oxford and elsewhere).

I look forward to receiving a rebate on the license fee so we can all go out and purchase dishes.

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Ralph's 5 posts GB flag
J
jb38
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

9:42 AM

Briantist: Yes, could I also say thanks for updating Oxfords TX power info, as just like Chris.SE I was also aware that you did have this fact mentioned in your "after switchover" notes, but I think that most people checking on power levels possibly didn't notice these qualifications thereby causing confusion.

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jb38's 7,179 posts GB flag
T
Teresa
11:44 AM

@Steve- I work for a TV aerial company and since switchover we have found that there is a particular problem with Philips TV's (the ones that have a yellow bar when scanning). My boss has spoken to Philips technical dept. and they have admitted there is a problem. They were writing some new software asap to get over this problem. We had a customer call us back yesterday to say that he did a software upgrade then a re-tune and now it is working and storing the channels as before DSO. This might work for you?

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Teresa's 3 posts GB flag
J
Jonathan
2:19 PM

Yet another update: my aerial is almost certainly a Vision 48 element as shown at Vision 48 Element High Gain TV Aerial

When installed (replacing an old C/D I think) this greatly improved reception of the outlying multiplexes on C29, C34 and C68. I can see it would be somewhat over the top for current conditions.

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Jonathan's 10 posts EU flag
R
Richard
4:11 PM

Chris
I understand fully your first paragraph which appears to have been written from knowledge not hindsight. Why was the Mendip / Beckley clash never highlighted over the need for new equipment: prior to the temporary mast scenario, I was getting a decent digital picture on an analogue TV via a digital DVD recorder, but when MUX2 disappeared the only advice in these forums (yes I know it is community opinion only) was to get rid of the analogue TV and VCR though to be causing single frequency interference. Why oh why could someone just not say ITV will be bad for 2 years?

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Richard's 10 posts GB flag
J
jb38
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

4:20 PM

Jonathan: Just reading your postings, and I would particularly look forward to reading an update from your tests, especially if you can pick up ArqA / Mux Ch59, and at what level as this seems to be a problem channel by being on lower power(12.5Kw) sited right next to one on 100Kw.(D3&4)

Also, and as you obviously realise, your aerial system is pulling in far too strong a signal, as you are only 5 miles away from the transmitter.

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jb38's 7,179 posts GB flag
C
Chris.SE
sentiment_satisfiedSilver

6:38 PM

Briantist: No problem, thanks for the update, I'm just surprised you manage to keep up with everything.

Jonathan; Thanks for the update, as jb38 I look forward to the results of the testing.

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Chris.SE's 251 posts GB flag
M
Mike Dimmick
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

6:58 PM

Richard: I'm not sure what Mendip clash you're talking about, Mux 2 at Oxford was adjacent to Mendip Mux D before switchover, and the two stations ran like that for ten years since March 2001. Both got subsequent power increases, Oxford in August 2002 and Mendip some time in mid-2003. From January this year, Mendip C67 had a power increase from 10 kW to 26 kW so ArqB could launch in final mode, restoring Sky Sports. This would presumably be the upper limit that could be used.

People out in Swindon might have had a problem on occasion with adjacent channel interference (caused by filtering being imperfect - in the real world, some leakage into adjacent channels is inevitable - and a little cost-saving on using less complex filters where there isn't an adjacent channel at the same site). Someone in or near Beckley itself would be unlikely to have this problem except in incredibly rare weather conditions.

I'm really not sure what your issue was - some local source of interference does seem the most likely. If you're having increased problems now - the same on all multiplexes - I'd look into sources of impulse interference like a thermostat or other motor.

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Mike Dimmick's 2,486 posts GB flag
A
Andrew
7:00 PM
Oxford

We live in a block of flats in central oxford and since the completion of the digital switchover on 28th September, we have lost COM5 and COM6 (as listed in the above channel list), or sometimes referred to C and D. These are the MUXs carrying the likes of Dave, PickTV, Film4 etc.
We received these MUXs before the switchover occurred, the signal was sometimes weak, but now there is nothing there at all, I've even tried a manual tune and it reports there is no signal. I've tried repeated factory resets and checked for interference from other equipment and that all the cables are ok, although I'm pretty sure this isn't the case as the channels just disappeared on the 28th. As we live in a flat with a central aerial source I can't check the aerial at the moment.

I've searched this site but couldn't find a reason why these would drop out in such a way, but if there is please point me to it as I'd love to get these channels back.
Thanks very much.

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Andrew's 1 post GB flag
Andrew's: mapA's Freeview map terrainA's terrain plot wavesA's frequency data A's Freeview Detailed Coverage
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