Full Freeview on the Waltham (Leicestershire, England) transmitter
 | Google Streetview |  | Google map |  | Bing map |  | Google Earth |  | 52.801,-0.801 or 52°48'4"N 0°48'5"W |  | LE14 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 22/04/2024 Pixelation or flickering on some or all channels 
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Digital television services are broadcast on a multiplexes (or Mux) where many stations occupy a single broadcast frequency, as shown below.
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 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.
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?
BBC East Midlands Today 0.9m homes 3.4%
from Nottingham NG2 4UU, 28km northwest (306°)
to BBC East Midlands region - 17 masts.
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?
| Braunstone | Transposer | 5 km SW Leicester city centre | 170 homes |
How will the Waltham (Leicestershire, England) transmission frequencies change over time?
| 1984-97 | 1997-98 | 1998-2011 | 2011-13 | 2013-18 | 2013-17 | 4 Mar 2020 | |||
| C/D E | E | E | W | W T | W T | W T | |||
| C26 | LNG | LNG | |||||||
| C29 | SDN | SDN | SDN | SDN | |||||
| C31 | com7 | com7 | |||||||
| C32 | BBCA | ||||||||
| C34 | D3+4 | ||||||||
| C35 | C5waves | C5waves | BBCB | ||||||
| C37 | com8 | com8 | |||||||
| C41 | _local | ||||||||
| C49tv_off | BBCA | BBCA | |||||||
| C54tv_off | C4waves | C4waves | C4waves | D3+4 | D3+4 | D3+4 | |||
| C55tv_off | com7tv_off | ||||||||
| C56tv_off | ArqA | ArqA | ArqA | COM8tv_off | |||||
| C57tv_off | ArqB | ArqB | ArqB | ||||||
| C58tv_off | BBC1waves | BBC1waves | BBC1waves | BBCB | BBCB | BBCB | |||
| C61 | ITVwaves | ITVwaves | ITVwaves | BBCA | |||||
| C64 | BBC2waves | BBC2waves | BBC2waves |
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 |
Local transmitter maps
Waltham Freeview Waltham DAB Waltham AM/FM Waltham TV region BBC East Midlands Central (East micro region)Which companies have run the Channel 3 services in the Waltham transmitter area
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Saturday, 3 November 2012
J
jb387:53 PM
Pete Eyre: Engineering work of an on-going nature has been taking place at Waltham over the last few weeks and with this being the reason for your complaint, unfortunately no estimates have as yet been given for the completion of the work.
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Sunday, 4 November 2012
K
KR10:58 AM
Thanks All,
Sorry for the delay. Looks like you are correct re the signal being too high. On the TVs that work, the signal is now showing 90-100%.
It never used to be that high.
On the problematic TV, the channels that work are actually very low - 30-40% and I get breakups. A few of the others are showing 100% but still working.
I am thinking that this TV cannot handle 100% signals, so instead grabs very weak signals from somewhere else. And some just wont tune.
For some reason I cannot force it to manually tune a single frequency - it always moves on when it doesn't find anything even on manual (Sony?).
Anyway, bottom line is it looks like the signal has got higher and this TV cannot cope.
So my options are a single attenuator on the aeriel, which then gets boosted and sent around the house, or multiple attenuators on each TV. Can anyone advise what size attenuator to use, or even a range if I can buy a kit of several sizes?
I cannot see any way to turn the boost down on my 6 way amplifier unfortunately, though I've not opened it up - is it likely to have an adjustment?
Thanks Again
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K
KR11:04 AM
update:
Amp is a Philex SLx 6-way Aerial distribution amplifier F-plug (might be a slightly different model no)
Specs say 12dB gain per output.
Not sure if this helps on working out attenuation required. Aerial is a maplin freeview aerial from about 7 years ago, and cost about £45 at the time. Its in the loft.
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J
jb385:23 PM
KR: Just to clarify on a point, when you refer to a 100% signal are you meaning the strength or the quality? or does the devices used only offer a single combined indicator bar? the reason I ask is because when Dave Lindsay had referred to potential problems being cause by excessive signal strength it is actual "signal" that's being referred to and not the quality.
I have to say though, that I do have doubts about you actually suffering from this type of problem when you are located at 21 miles from the transmitter and use a loft aerial, and although it does no harm to try a test using an attenuator but if you can easily access the distribution amplifier (if in loft) then you should try a test on the problematic set by taking the set in questions feed out of the aerial amplifier and temporarily connecting it directly onto the aerial.
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Monday, 5 November 2012
K
KR12:22 PM
Hi,
I will double check tonight, but where it shows both, I am reporting strength rather than quality. Some just show a single figure though.
Could that not be the case if I am boosting each input by 12db?
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K
KR9:57 PM
I've looked at a few TVs.
The one where I am missing channels says Signal Strength 100%.
Downstairs I'm getting quality 100%, strength around 92%
My PVR shows strength around 70, quality 100%
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J
jb3811:47 PM
KR: Well I feel that the receiver displaying the 100% signal strength has a somewhat over enthusiastic indicator system, unless that is you are located in a "hot spot" for reception as places like that do exist, and are using a Humax box, as these devices have a more accurate indicator system by far over most other equipment, and likewise if its indication a 100% signal then it is!
But though the proof of the pudding, so to say, is by connecting the TV in questions aerial feed directly onto the actual aerials downlead that would normally be connected into the SLX, then viewing the channels for about 15 minutes or so to assess if anything has changed.
You have to remember though that Waltham still has ongoing work taking place and which does cause disturbance to reception, with myself having temporarily tuned my Waltham PVR to Belmont because of this to avoid the aforementioned problems spoiling recordings.
I would be interested to know the model numbers of your TV / PVR, this to enable an assessment of the signal measurement accuracy, as although unaware of the PVR model you have its indications are more in line with what would be expected from a Humax device "if" receiving the same level of signal as the TV's involved, i.e: all fed from the SLX.
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Tuesday, 6 November 2012
K
KR4:35 PM
No problem. My PVR is indeed a humax , Fox T2 HDR. This has duplicate channels, but no missing ones.
Plugged into that is a LG 670T showing 100/92%. Seems OK.
The one I'm missing channels on is a 5yr old Sony KDLD3000. Missing channels, and some with very low signal and breakups.
I will try messing about with a direct connection over the weekend. I can't go banging around up in the loft on week nights once the kids are in bed or I'll wake them up, and the wife would kill me!
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K
KR4:37 PM
to clarify on the KDLD3000 this reports some channels as 100%, with good reception. Others are ~30% and breaking up, some channels are missing.
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Wednesday, 7 November 2012
KR: The thing with digital reception is that there is a lower threshold above which the picture resolves*. There is an upper threshold over which receivers are overloaded (with too high a signal level).
* This assumes a good quality signal. If a poor quality signal (i.e. effectively the digits that make up the picture are corrupted) is received, even if the magnitude is within the window between the lower and upper thresholds, then the picture will be poor or non-existant.
And so, theoretically, the target is to have the signal somewhere within the window such that natural variances in level (e.g. caused by the weather) don't result in it dropping below the lower threshold or pushing it above the upper one.
Running at almost the top of the window provides no benefit from a picture quality point of view over running it mid-window, for example. The only downside is that it might go OTT which causes break-up which is largely the same effect as caused by too little a signal. Oh, and of course your wife won't be happy either.
The manual for the Philex SLx6 distribution amplifier is here:
http://www.philex.com/ass….pdf
Under the "Troubleshooting" heading it mention that too much signal can be problematic for digital reception. However, it doesn't, apparently, offer any adjustment on its amplification level (which is +12dB per output) which is surely required!
I'm not an aerial professional, just a technical bod. However, if the signal coming out of your aerial (and being fed into the amp) is at a suitable level, then the six output feeds are +12dB up. There are obviously losses in the downleads, but unless you live in a mansion where there are long runs to the outlets, then I don't think that they will anywhere near cancel out this increase.
The strength meters on receivers are nowhere near scientific measurements and therefore vary between models. Using the same receiver on different outlets provides for a more accurate comparison. The Humax box is a good model to use for testing purposes.
A 100% (or anywhere near) strength may be verging on the top of the window of acceptability. Therefore a lower reading may be better.
As jb38 says, it is worth bypassing the amp by connecting the feed from the aerial directly to each room feed in-turn.
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