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Full Freeview on the Waltham (Leicestershire, England) transmitter

first published this on - UK Free TV
sa_streetviewGoogle Streetviewsa_gmapsGoogle mapsa_bingBing mapsa_gearthGoogle Earthsa_gps52.801,-0.801 or 52°48'4"N 0°48'5"Wsa_postcodeLE14 4AJ

 

The symbol shows the location of the Waltham (Leicestershire, England) transmitter which serves 770,000 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 Waltham (Leicestershire, England) mast?

Waltham transmitter - Waltham 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 Waltham 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)442mDTG-50,000W
Channel icons
1 BBC One (SD) East Midlands, 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)442mDTG-50,000W
Channel icons
3 ITV 1 (SD) (Central (East micro region)), 4 Channel 4 (SD) Midlands ads, 5 Channel 5, 6 ITV 2, 10 ITV3, 13 E4, 14 Film4, 15 Channel 4 +1 Midlands ads, 18 More4, 26 ITV4, 28 ITVBe, 30 E4 +1, 35 ITV1 +1 (Central west),

PSB3
BBCB
 H max
C35 (586.0MHz)442mDTG-50,000W
Channel icons
46 5SELECT, 101 BBC One HD East Midlands, 102 BBC Two HD England, 103 ITV 1 HD (ITV Central West), 104 Channel 4 HD Midlands 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)442mDTG-825,000W
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 (602.0MHz)449mDTG-825,000W
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)449mDTG-825,000W
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

LNG
 H -10dB
C41 (634.0MHz)442mDTG-125,000W
Channel icons
from 27th May 2014: 7 Notts TV,

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 Waltham transmitter?

regional news image
BBC East Midlands Today 0.9m homes 3.4%
from Nottingham NG2 4UU, 28km northwest (306°)
to BBC East Midlands region - 17 masts.
regional news image
ITV Central News 0.9m homes 3.4%
from Birmingham B1 2JT, 83km west-southwest (244°)
to ITV Central (East) region - 17 masts.
All of lunch, weekend and 80% evening news is shared with Central (West)

Are there any self-help relays?

BraunstoneTransposer5 km SW Leicester city centre170 homes

How will the Waltham (Leicestershire, England) transmission frequencies change over time?

1984-971997-981998-20112011-132013-182013-174 Mar 2020
C/D EEEWW TW TW T
C26LNGLNG
C29SDNSDNSDNSDN
C31com7com7
C32BBCA
C34D3+4
C35C5wavesC5wavesBBCB
C37com8com8
C41_local
C49tv_off BBCABBCA
C54tv_offC4wavesC4wavesC4wavesD3+4D3+4D3+4
C55tv_offcom7tv_off
C56tv_offArqAArqAArqACOM8tv_off
C57tv_offArqBArqBArqB
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 17 Aug 11 and 31 Aug 11.

How do the old analogue and currrent digital signal levels compare?

Analogue 1-5 250kW
BBCA, D3+4, BBCB(-7dB) 50kW
SDN, ARQA, ARQB(-10dB) 25kW
com8(-12.7dB) 13.4kW
com7(-13.9dB) 10.2kW
Mux 1*(-14dB) 10kW
Mux 2*, Mux A*, Mux B*(-14.9dB) 8kW
Mux C*, Mux D*, LNG(-17dB) 5kW

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

Feb 1956-Jul 1968Associated TeleVision†
Feb 1956-Jul 1968Associated British Corporation◊
Jul 1968-Dec 1981Associated TeleVision
Jan 1982-Feb 2004Central Independent 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. Waltham 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, 13 April 2021
M
Michael Rickman
6:16 PM
Market Harborough

Hello, As district and ward councillor , I have received several comments that for the past 3 or 4 days the reception seems to be poor as the television picture keeps breaking up (pixilating?). Is there a reason for this and if so will it be fixed? I live in LE16 8DT and have the same problems on all channels on both TV's.
Signal ?Aerial?
My aerial is on the roof.
I would appreciate a reply to my email so that I can forward to my residents.
Thank you in advance for a prompt reply.


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Michael Rickman's 1 post GB flag
Michael's: mapM's Freeview map terrainM's terrain plot wavesM's frequency data M's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Wednesday, 14 April 2021
C
Chris.SE
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

12:01 AM

Michael Rickman:

If you are all receiving the Waltham transmitter, your aerials should be pointing pretty much due North with the rods (or "squashed Xs) horizontal. A roof aerial would certainly be recommended as reception of the commercial multiplexes can be variable across your postcode with higher street numbers being better.
Reception of the PSB multiplexes - BBCA/PSB1, D3&4/PSB2, and BBCB HD/PSB3 should normally be good across the postcode.
See Channel listings for Industry Professionals | Freeview for which programmes are carried on which multiplexes. Reception of COM7 and any Local multiplex is very dependent on location and not everyone will be able to receive them.

According to Freeview, the Waltham transmitter is currently listed for Planned Engineering with the likely effect being "Pixelation or flickering on some or all channels". This is normally caused by reduced power whilst work is being done on the transmitter. Unfortunately, Arqiva, who do the maintenance, do not say how long this sort of work will take, so whether it's completed this week is not currently known.

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Chris.SE's 4,102 posts GB flag
Monday, 26 April 2021
J
John Pykett
5:33 AM

anybody else having problems trying to load up any channel from the channebox iptv portal such as clubland?

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John Pykett's 7 posts GB flag
C
Chris.SE
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

11:14 AM

John Pykett:

There are some reports around and it seems to be due to the fact that some more recent sets, especially LG, no longer have support for MHEG turned on in the UK, these sets only have support for HbbTV turned on. Channelbox was still using MHEG when I last checked, but is reportedly going to start using HbbTV in the next few weeks.
On the other hand, if you have an older set that has no HbbTV support, you may have problems after they change.
You can check if you have HbbTV support (and it's turned on) by going to Freeview LCN100. If you get a plain text summary then HbbTV is not supported or turned on (check in your settings, probably somewhere in Programmes and Tuning etc.).
If it is a recent LG set, you could try hassling LG Support for a firmware update that has MHEG turned on for the UK. The support is there in the set, but not enabled for the UK eg. like it is for Eire!!

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Chris.SE's 4,102 posts GB flag
Tuesday, 27 April 2021
J
John Pykett
3:21 PM

Chris.SE: so once clubland switches from mpeg to hbbtv the error should be fixed?

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John Pykett's 1 post GB flag
Monday, 3 May 2021
C
Chris.SE
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

8:48 PM

John Pykett:

That is the situation as I've understood it.

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Chris.SE's 4,102 posts GB flag
Sunday, 6 June 2021
M
Michael Brown
4:04 PM

I live in DE5 3 postcode and receive my Freeview signal via a rooftop aerial from the Waltham transmitter, as do the majority of people around me. I have been having problems at certain times of the day, with no signal/pixilation etc., particularly on Mux PSB2 (channel 34). I have just re-tuned as per the recommendations on this site (i.e. emptying channel line-up first) and can receive all Muxes without any problem EXCEPT PSB2. An auto re-tune did not even pick-up the channel 34 services and I had to tune these in manually, but they are still either pixillated or have no signal. They may well become available later in the day though. I have checked the suggested interference items on this site, but other than a PVR, I do not have any of the other items in my house (i.e.Sky box, games console etc.). However I am wondering if such items in adjacent properties (detached) could affect my signal. If this is not possible what other causes could affect my signal particularly for Mux PSB2. Many thanks in anticipation of your advice.


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Michael Brown's 3 posts GB flag
C
Chris.SE
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

9:46 PM

Michael Brown:

I can't find any Faults or Planned Engineering listed for the Waltham transmitter but your description sounds like it could be periodic reduced power at the transmitter due to some maintenance! That said, because none is listed we don't know but the lists unfortunately aren't always 100% accurate.

There are other possibilities such as interference which could come from some distance away down the power lines, but it's quite unusual that interference of that sort only affects one multiplex. There are some other more likely possibilities.

Have you altered anything about in your installation recently? Make sure you don't have any HDMI leads near unscreened/poorly screened flyleads/aerial leads as HDMI has been known to cause interference.

I would check that your aerial seems intact and pointing in the correct direction and that your downlead looks undamaged (especially if it is old). Also check all your coax plugs, connections, flyleads etc, unplug connectors check for corrosion or other problems and reconnect them. Flyleads are a common problem, try swapping/changing them.

See what signal strengths and quality you are getting for the multiplexes (groups of channels) shown in your TV's tuning section.
Problematic connections, water ingress etc. can seem to affect reception of just an individual or several multiplexes.
Low quality could suggest a problem with the installation or interference.

As a general rule, it's not a good idea to retune when you have no signal or bad pixellation as the frequent outcome is just to clear the correct tuning. If you are now picking up the PSB2 multiplex even with problems, I'd advise against further retuning.

Post back with some more detail if the problem persists.

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Chris.SE's 4,102 posts GB flag
Tuesday, 15 June 2021
S
Steve
3:36 PM

Are there any plans to move the Waltham COM7 transmissions at 746mhz to below 700mhz and if so, when?

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Steve's 1 post GB flag
S
StevensOnln1
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

4:16 PM

Steve: The COM7 licence is set to expire at the end of June 2022 and the multiplex is expected to close by that date. It will not be moved to another frequency at any transmitter. Nothing has been announced yet regarding what will happen to any of the channels currently broadcasting on COM7.

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StevensOnln1's 3,606 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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