Full Freeview on the Caldbeck (Cumbria, England) transmitter
Google Streetview | Google map | Bing map | Google Earth | 54.773,-3.091 or 54°46'21"N 3°5'28"W | CA7 8DW |
The symbol shows the location of the Caldbeck (Cumbria, England) transmitter which serves 120,000 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.
This transmitter has no current reported problems
The BBC and Digital UK report there are no faults or engineering work on the Caldbeck (Cumbria, England) transmitter._______
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
H/V: aerial position (horizontal or vertical)
Which Freeview channels does the Caldbeck 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
H/V: aerial position (horizontal or vertical)
Which BBC and ITV regional news can I watch from the Caldbeck transmitter?

BBC Look North (Newcastle) 1.6m homes 6.0%
from Newcastle NE99 2NE, 97km east-northeast (77°)
to BBC North East and Cumbria region - 70 masts.

ITV Lookaround 0.2m homes 0.7%
from Carlisle CA1 3NT, 17km northeast (45°)
to ITV Border England region - 33 masts.
All of lunch, weekend and 50% evening news is shared with Tyne Tees
Are there any self-help relays?
Boreland | Active deflector | 25 km NE Dumfries | 22 homes School |
Carsphairn | Transposer | 35 km SE Ayr | 84 homes |
Crosby Garrett | Active deflector | 35 km N Dumbarton | 42 homes |
Deepdale | Active deflector | 20 km SW Penrith | 20 homes |
Eskdalemuir B | Active deflector | 45 km NW Carlisle | 31 homes |
Keld | Active deflector | 30 km E Sedbergh | 17 homes |
Stainton | Transposer | 8km W Penrith | 251 homes (low lying area of housing) |
How will the Caldbeck (Cumbria, England) transmission frequencies change over time?
1961-80s | 1984-97 | 1997-98 | 1998-2009 | 2009-13 | 25 Mar 2020 | ||||
VHF | A K T | W T | W T | W T | A K T | ||||
C11 | ITVwaves | ||||||||
C22 | -BBCB | BBCB | |||||||
C23 | -SDN | SDN | |||||||
C24 | -D3+4 | ||||||||
C25 | -BBCA | BBCA | |||||||
C26 | -ArqA | ArqA | |||||||
C27 | -BBCA | ||||||||
C28 | ITVwaves | ITVwaves | ITVwaves | -D3+4 | D3+4 | ||||
C29 | -ArqB | LOCAL2 | |||||||
C30 | BBC1waves | BBC1waves | BBC1waves | -BBCB | ArqB | ||||
C32 | C4waves | C4waves | C4waves | com7 | |||||
C33 | _local | ||||||||
C34 | BBC2waves | BBC2waves | BBC2waves | ||||||
C35 | com8 | ||||||||
C56tv_off | C5waves | C5waves | _local |
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 Jun 09 and 22 Jul 09.
How do the old analogue and currrent digital signal levels compare?
Analogue 1-4 | 500kW | |
BBCA, D3+4, BBCB, PSB3 sc | (-7dB) 100kW | |
SDN, ARQA, ARQB, PSB1 sc, PSB2 sc | (-10dB) 50kW | |
com8 | (-11.5dB) 35.8kW | |
com7 | (-12dB) 31.9kW | |
Mux 2*, Mux A* | (-15.2dB) 15kW | |
Analogue 5, Mux 1* | (-17dB) 10kW | |
Mux B* | (-21.9dB) 3.2kW | |
Mux C*, Mux D* | (-24.9dB) 1.6kW |
Local transmitter maps
Caldbeck Freeview Caldbeck DAB Caldbeck TV region BBC North East and Cumbria Border (England)Which companies have run the Channel 3 services in the Caldbeck transmitter area
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Is the transmitter output the same in all directions?
Radiation patterns withheldFriday, 20 April 2012
CALDBECK transmitter - Freeview BBC Digital TV Off Air from 20:27 yesterday to 20:36 yesterday [BBC]
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CALDBECK transmitter - Freeview BBC Digital TV Off Air from 20:27 yesterday to 20:36 yesterday [BBC]
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Saturday, 21 April 2012
CALDBECK transmitter - Freeview BBC Digital TV Off Air from 20:27 on 19 Apr to 20:36 on 19 Apr [BBC]
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CALDBECK transmitter - Freeview BBC Digital TV Off Air from 20:27 on 19 Apr to 20:36 on 19 Apr [BBC]
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Tuesday, 28 August 2012
S
simon osman12:45 PM
Annan
Hi,
Can you tell me if the Caldbeck transmitter is sometimes referred to as West Borders, because my LG tv identifies the transmitter it is tuned to as West Borders, so am wondering if my aerial is out of alignment?
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simon osman: I don't know; I've never found a list of transmitter/network identifications.
A check of Digital UK and Wolfbane suggests that you will only be able to receive from Caldbeck (certainly easily anyway).
Caldbeck broadcasts Scottish variants of the three PSB channels. I wonder whether they will identify the transmitter differently to the English ones.
The way to find out is to check the UHF channel numbers that it is tuned to. Bring up the signal strength screen on one service from each multiplex.
The COM channels (ITV3, Pick TV, Yesterday etc) are on low power until 24th October so as to protect against interference with Northern Ireland, until it completes switchover. I'm not sure that this will cause you difficulty at your location.
According to Digital UK, the COM channels are carried on "Caldbeck" (the English variant), and not "Caldbeck Scotland". If the Enlish and Scottish variants have differing identifications, then maybe you will end up with PSBs and COMs with differing identifications (assuming that you wish to tune to the Scottish regional PSB variants).
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Wednesday, 29 August 2012
S
simon osman7:43 PM
Hi Dave,
Thanks for the information. The reason I asked about Caldbeck being West Borders is I hav e a reception problem on ITV1. approx 2 to 3 times a night, the picture freezes then goes blank and comes back on after 2 seconds. The signal level according to the tv is 90% and quality is 100%, could this be too high?
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Thursday, 27 September 2012
Briantist: According to Ofcom and DUK Postcode Checker, Caldbeck's COMs are at 15kW until 24th October. Presumably this is to protect against interference with Divis.
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Sunday, 21 October 2012
D
Dave5:16 PM
Whitehaven
Hi does caldbeck transmitter go to full power on Wednesday 24 October
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J
jb385:27 PM
Dave: According to DUK's trade predictor yes! but it only applies to the three commercial muxes as the BBC / BBC HD / ITV1 are already on high power, the commercials changing from 15Kw up to 50Kw.
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