Freeview Light on the Dorking (Surrey, England) transmitter
 | Google map |  | Bing map |  | Google Earth |  | 51.221,-0.327 or 51°13'16"N 0°19'39"W |  | RH4 2AW |
The symbol shows the location of the Dorking (Surrey, England) transmitter which serves 3,700 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 Dorking (Surrey, England) transmitter._______
Digital television services are broadcast on a multiplexes (or Mux) where many stations occupy a single broadcast frequency, as shown below.
H/V: aerial position (horizontal or vertical)
The Dorking (Surrey, England) mast is a public service broadcasting (PSB) transmitter, it does not provide these commercial (COM) channels: 4seven, 5Action, 5STAR, 5USA, Al Jazeera Eng, Blaze, Blaze +1, CBS Reality, Challenge, Channel 5 +1, CITV, YAAAS!, Dave, Dave ja vu, DMAX, Drama +1, E4 Extra, Film4 +1, Food Network, GB News, GREAT! movies, GREAT! movies action, HGTV, HobbyMaker, ITV2 +1, ITV3 +1, ITV4 +1, ITVBe +1, Legend, PBS America, pick, Pop Player, Quest +1, Quest Red, Really, Sky News, Smithsonian Channel, Talking Pictures TV, TCC, That's TV (UK), Together TV, W, Yesterday +1.
If you want to watch these channels, your aerial must point to one of the 80 Full service Freeview transmitters. For more information see the will there ever be more services on the Freeview Light transmitters? page.
Which Freeview channels does the Dorking 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.
| Mux | H/V | Frequency | Height | Mode | Watts |
| PSB1 BBCA | H max V -3.1dB | C44 (658.0MHz) | 149m | DTG- | 9W 4W |
 1 BBC One (SD) London, 2 BBC Two England, 9 BBC Four, 23 BBC Three, 201 CBBC, 202 CBeebies, 231 BBC News, 232 BBC Parliament, 250 BBC Red Button, plus 15 others | |||||
| PSB2 D3+4 | H max V -3.1dB | C41 (634.0MHz) | 149m | DTG- | 9W 4W |
 3 ITV 1 (SD) (London), 4 Channel 4 (SD) London ads, 5 Channel 5, 6 ITV 2, 10 ITV3, 13 E4, 14 Film4, 15 Channel 4 +1 London ads, 18 More4, 26 ITV4, 30 E4 +1, 35 ITV1 +1 (London), | |||||
| PSB3 BBCB | H max V -3.1dB | C47 (682.0MHz) | 149m | DTG- | 9W 4W |
 56 5SELECT, 101 BBC One HD (England no regional news), 102 BBC Two HD (England), 103 ITV 1 HD (ITV London), 104 Channel 4 HD London ads, 105 Channel 5 HD, 106 BBC Four HD, 109 BBC Three HD, 204 CBBC HD, 205 CBeebies HD, plus 1 others | |||||
Are you trying to watch these 43 Freeview channels?
The Dorking (Surrey, England) mast is a public service broadcasting (PSB) transmitter, it does not provide these commercial (COM) channels: 4seven, 5Action, 5STAR, 5USA, Al Jazeera Eng, Blaze, Blaze +1, CBS Reality, Challenge, Channel 5 +1, CITV, YAAAS!, Dave, Dave ja vu, DMAX, Drama +1, E4 Extra, Film4 +1, Food Network, GB News, GREAT! movies, GREAT! movies action, HGTV, HobbyMaker, ITV2 +1, ITV3 +1, ITV4 +1, ITVBe +1, Legend, PBS America, pick, Pop Player, Quest +1, Quest Red, Really, Sky News, Smithsonian Channel, Talking Pictures TV, TCC, That's TV (UK), Together TV, W, Yesterday +1.
If you want to watch these channels, your aerial must point to one of the 80 Full service Freeview transmitters. For more information see the will there ever be more services on the Freeview Light transmitters? page.
Which BBC and ITV regional news can I watch from the Dorking transmitter?
BBC London 4.9m homes 18.4%
from London W1A 1AA, 35km north-northeast (19°)
to BBC London region - 55 masts.
ITV London News 4.9m homes 18.4%
from London WC1X 8XZ, 37km north-northeast (22°)
to ITV London region - 55 masts.
How will the Dorking (Surrey, England) transmission frequencies change over time?
| 1984-97 | 1997-98 | 1998-2012 | 2012-13 | 31 Mar 2018- | |||||
| B E T | B E T | B E T | B E K T | B E K T | |||||
| C41 | ITVwaves | ITVwaves | ITVwaves | D3+4 | D3+4 | ||||
| C44 | BBC2waves | BBC2waves | BBC2waves | BBCA | BBCA | ||||
| C47 | C4waves | C4waves | C4waves | BBCB | BBCB | ||||
| C51tv_off | BBC1waves | BBC1waves | BBC1waves |
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 4 Apr 12 and 18 Apr 12.
How do the old analogue and currrent digital signal levels compare?
| Analogue 1-4 | 33W | |
| PSB1≡, PSB2≡, PSB3≡ | (-5.6dB) 9W | |
| PSB1||, PSB2||, PSB3|| | (-8.8dB) 4.4W |
Which companies have run the Channel 3 services in the Crystal Palace transmitter area
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Thursday, 19 April 2012
DORKING transmitter - Freeview BBC Digital TV Off Air; DSO related from 12:54 yesterday to 13:27 yesterday BBC Digital TV Off Air; DSO related from 00:23 yesterday to 02:07 yesterday [BBC]
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DORKING transmitter - Freeview BBC Digital TV Off Air; DSO related from 00:23 yesterday to 02:07 yesterday BBC Digital TV Off Air; DSO related from 12:54 yesterday to 13:27 yesterday [BBC]
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Friday, 20 April 2012
DORKING transmitter - Freeview BBC Digital TV Off Air; DSO related from 00:23 on 18 Apr to 02:07 on 18 Apr BBC Digital TV Off Air; DSO related from 12:54 on 18 Apr to 13:27 on 18 Apr [BBC]
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Monday, 28 May 2012
DORKING transmitter - Freeview HD Digital TV Off Air from 14:49 today [BBC]
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Tuesday, 29 May 2012
DORKING transmitter - Freeview HD Digital TV Off Air from 14:49 yesterday [BBC]
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Wednesday, 30 May 2012
DORKING transmitter - Freeview HD Digital TV Off Air from 14:49 on 28 May [BBC]
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Wednesday, 20 February 2013
M
Mike9:58 AM
I live in Claygate Road, Dorking, just behind the Glory Woods, and having just moved into the house from about 1 mile away in North Holmwood I was surprised to find that the tv signal is far worse, despite being higher up on a hill (less channels are received and the signal quickly degrades to become unwatchable, pictures freeze etc and then disappear to be replaced by 'no signal' or 'signal cannot be decoded' messages). I am assuming that the hills and woods in the area may be responsible, despite the house being situated higher up than my old house. The aerial on the house appears to be the old style yagi type, and it is much lower down than neighbouring houses (they are on poles about 6-8 feet higher). Would I benefit from switching to a high gain aerial on a longer pole, and roughly how much might this cost? I don't particularly want to have to get cable or Sky, although the previous owneres had Sky, possibly because of the freeview signal issues, as I am content with the channels offered by Freeview, or would be if I could watch them!!.
Thanks
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Mike: Firstly, looking at the aerials on Claygate Road via Streetview, there are a number of transmitters being used. The first thing to do is ensure that the TV is tuned to the transmitter to which the aerial faces.
The Dorking relay transmitter is close by:
mb21 - The Transmission Gallery
It is within the trees and is visible from Streetview. It could be that your TV has tuned to it for PSB channels and it is this that you need to correct.
If you're on another transmitter, then I guess that it's likely to be Crystal Palace or Reigate. The tower blocks may be acting to block these transmitters for some of the houses on Claygate Road.
Crystal Palace and Reigate broadcast all Freeview channels, and Dorking only carries PSB channels. For a list of Freeview services (including which are PSB and which are COM) see:
DTG :: DTT Services by Multiplex
Dorking broadcasts on 44, 41 and 47(HD)
Crystal Palace's are 23, 26, 30(HD), 25, 22, 28
Reigate's are 60, 57, 53(HD), 21, 24, 27
These numbers are the UHF channel numbers of each multiplex (mux): PSB1, PSB2, PSB3(HD), COM4, COM5, COM6, respectively. Most receives give UHF/RF channel numbers, but some anti-quated ones only give frequencies in MHz, so you will have to convert. The frequencies are given by this website on each transmitter's page.
Whilst viewing one service from each mux, bring up the signal strength. So check BBC One, ITV, BBC One HD, ITV3, Pick TV and Film4 (these are the first services from each mux).
If you find that the PSBs from Dorking have been tuned in when they should be from Reigate or Crystal Palace, then unplugging the aerial during the middle part of the scan should hopefully do. I say "hopefully" because it might be that the signal from Dorking is that strong that it picks them up with no aerial, for that reason it's probably best to unplug the aerial lead where it goes into your TV/box rather than at the wall socket.
Crystal Palace's channels are in the bottom third of the band, so unplugging at 30% and leaving it out until the end of the scan will do. For Reigate, unplug at 30% and then plug in again at 58% so as to miss out Dorking, in the middle.
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Mike: The bearings for the transmitters are:
Crystal Palace 36 degrees, aerial horizontal
Reigate 65 degrees, aerial vertical
There also appear to be a few horizontally-polarised aerials pointing to Heathfield which is at 123 degrees. The Streetview photos were taken before switchover, in March 2009. If I'm correct, number 22 and a few others may have found that PSB3, COM5 and COM6 are unavailable as they are co-channel with Dorking's.
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M
Mike1:52 PM
Thanks Dave, I'll have a look and see where my aerial is pointing and go from there. I'm pretty sure it's not pointing towards the dorking relay as that is opposite the front of my house and up the hill behind the trees. I think it's pointing out from the back of the house, sort of south east ish, so possibly it's looking over to the Heathfield array. Once I know where it's looking, I'll see if I can retune using your method above and see if that helps. I have noticed when retuning when I moved in that I ended up with about 5 channels for a couple of days, and then it picked up more; sometimes what I can actually see does vary, not sure why that is but I guess it could just be a poor signal area. Anyway, I'll let you know how I get on - no doubt I'll probably have more questions ;-)
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