Full Freeview on the Mendip (Somerset, England) transmitter

Brian Butterworth first published this on 1st May 2004 at 08:20 - UK Free TV

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51.237,-2.626 or 51°14'12"N 2°37'33"W

BA5 3LB

The symbol shows the location of the Mendip (Somerset, England) transmitter which serves 720,000 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 Mendip (Somerset, England) mast?

Mendip transmitter - Mendip transmitter: Possible effect on TV reception week commencing 05/06/2023 Pixelation or flickering on some or all channels

Choose from three options: ■ List by multiplex ■ List by channel number ■ List by channel name

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Which Freeview channels does the Mendip 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	C32 (562.0MHz)	591m	DTG-	100,000W
	1 BBC One (SD) West, 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 16 others
PSB2 D3+4	H max	C34 (578.0MHz)	591m	DTG-	100,000W
	3 ITV 1 (SD) (West), 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, 30 E4 +1, 35 ITV1 +1 (West),
PSB3 BBCB	H max	C35 (586.0MHz)	591m	DTG-	100,000W
	56 5SELECT, 101 BBC One HD (England no regional news), 102 BBC Two HD (England), 103 ITV 1 HD (ITV Meridian Southampton), 104 Channel 4 HD South ads, 105 Channel 5 HD, 106 BBC Four HD, 109 BBC Three HD, 204 CBBC HD, 205 CBeebies HD, plus 1 others 66 TBN UK,
COM4 SDN	H max	C48 (690.0MHz)	591m	DTG-8	100,000W
	20 Drama, 21 5USA, 29 ITV2 +1, 32 5STAR, 33 5Action, 41 Legend, 42 GREAT! movies action, 46 Channel 5 +1, 58 ITVBe +1, 59 ITV3 +1, 64 Blaze, 67 CBS Reality, 74 Dave ja vu, 78 TCC, 81 Blaze +1, 89 ITV4 +1, 203 CITV, 208 Pop Player, 209 Ketchup TV, 210 Ketchup Too, 211 YAAAS!, plus 15 others
COM5 ArqA	H max	C33 (570.0MHz)	591m	DTG-8	100,000W
	11 Sky Arts, 17 Really, 19 Dave, 31 E4 Extra, 36 pick, 40 Quest Red, 43 Food Network, 47 Film4 +1, 48 Challenge, 49 4seven, 57 Smithsonian Channel, 60 Drama +1, 70 Quest +1, 75 Yesterday +1, 83 Together TV, 233 Sky News, plus 9 others
COM6 ArqB	H max	C36 (594.0MHz)	591m	DTG-8	100,000W
	12 Quest, 25 W, 27 Yesterday, 34 GREAT! movies, 39 DMAX, 44 HGTV, 71 Quest Red +1, 73 HobbyMaker, 82 Talking Pictures TV, 84 PBS America, 88 Classic Hits, 235 Al Jazeera Eng, plus 19 others
LBS	H -10dB	C30 (546.0MHz)	591m	DTG-12	10,000W
	from 22nd September 2014: 7 Made in Bristol,

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 Mendip transmitter?

BBC Points West 0.9m homes 3.4%
from Bristol BS8 2LR, 25km north (3°)
to BBC West region - 60 masts.

ITV West Country News (East) 0.9m homes 3.4%
from Bristol BS4 3HG, 23km north (11°)
to ITV West region - 61 masts.
All of lunch, weekend and 50% evening news is shared with West Country (West)

Are there any self-help relays?

Cheddar	Transposer	15 km E Weston-super-Mare	1674 homes
Luccombe	Active deflector	6 km w Minehead	38 homes

How will the Mendip (Somerset, England) transmission frequencies change over time?

	1984-97	1997-98	1998-2010	2010-13	2013-18	2013-17	27 Feb 2018
	C/D E	E	E	C/D E	C/D E T	W T	W T
C30							_local
C32							BBCA
C33						com7	com7
C34							D3+4
C35						com8	com8
C36							ArqB
C37		C5_waves	C5_waves
C48				SDN	SDN	SDN	SDN
C49_{tv_off}					BBCA	BBCA
C51_{tv_off}						LBS	LBS
C52_{tv_off}				ArqB	ArqB	ArqB
C54_{tv_off}	C4_waves	C4_waves	C4_waves	D3+4	D3+4	D3+4
C55_{tv_off}							com7_{tv_off}
C56_{tv_off}				ArqA	ArqA	ArqA	COM8_{tv_off}
C58_{tv_off}	BBC1_waves	BBC1_waves	BBC1_waves	BBCB	BBCB	BBCB
C61	ITV_waves	ITV_waves	ITV_waves	BBCA
C64	BBC2_waves	BBC2_waves	BBC2_waves

_{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 Mar 10 and 7 Apr 10.

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

Analogue 1-4	500kW
Analogue 5	(-6dB) 126kW
SDN, ARQA, ARQB, BBCA, D3+4, BBCB	(-7dB) 100kW
com7	(-8.4dB) 72.4kW
com8	(-8.6dB) 69.1kW
Mux 1, Mux 2, Mux A, Mux B, Mux C, Mux D, LBS	(-17dB) 10kW

Local transmitter maps

Mendip Freeview Mendip DAB Mendip TV region BBC West West

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

Jan 1958-Jul 1968	Television Wales and the West
Jul 1968-Feb 2004	Harlech Television
Feb 2004-Dec 2014	ITV plc

Feb 1983-Dec 1992	TV-am•
Jan 1993-Sep 2010	GMTV•
Sep 2010-Dec 2014	ITV Daybreak•

• Breakfast ◊ Weekends ♦ Friday night and weekends † Weekdays only. Mendip 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.

Is the transmitter output the same in all directions?

C

Chris.SE

_{sentiment_very_satisfied}Platinum

12:55 AM

Terry: David is very unlikely to respond to your query as his post is very very old, and his problem appears to be due to having an old band C/D .
In your case it's as StevensOnln1 explains, you will get ITV Central instead. This is because of the way ITV distributes the HD to transmitters - it's separate from the SD distribution.

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Chris.SE's 3,464 posts

W

wes.w
3:03 PM

If you've lost in the last month it has moved. Its now on PSB2 (/738.0MHz) same as ITV, ITV2 and .

I was very pleased to see that the software on my TV (Bush Play HD 32" Argos special, bought just before Xmas) now has two options if you go for a full retune - the usual "replace all " and a new "update all channels" which keeps the channels in the order I want, rather than the muddled order they used to come in.

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wes.w's 1 post

S

SJ Dunnett
7:39 PM
Wellington

TA21 8BH
Hello, I wish to get a For top of stairs ,next to bathroom, and receive TV , so need distance as crow flys and good brand for weak area.

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SJ Dunnett's 1 post

G

Gary Colby
9:23 PM

Just to update.

Got an guy from Aerial Express to come round and replace my aerial. Don't know the make or model, but the problem has gone, and I'm getting a strength of 10 where as before it was just one.

So sorted.

Thanks for the guys.

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Gary Colby's 5 posts

S

StevensOnln1

_{sentiment_very_satisfied}Platinum

11:04 PM

SJ Dunnett: There is no such thing as a . An aerial is a piece of metal which receives radio waves and does not know or care whether they are or digital. The for your postcode shows that you should get a good from the , although you are 52km away so you would be better off having an aerial fitted on the (of maybe in the ) rather than trying to use an indoor aerial.

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StevensOnln1's 3,512 posts

J

Jackie Webb
9:12 PM

Since the change over I have problems with a bad for ?

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Jackie Webb's 3 posts

S

StevensOnln1

_{sentiment_very_satisfied}Platinum

11:31 PM

Jackie Webb: is on the COM5 which moved to a new a couple of months ago, which is outside the range that a Group C/D (which you are likely to be using for ) was designed to receive. If you don't have or you may be eligible to have a replacement aerial fitted free of charge, which can be arranged by contacting the Freeview Advice Line (see link below).

Important changes to Freeview TV signals | Freeview

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StevensOnln1's 3,512 posts

C

Chris.SE

_{sentiment_very_satisfied}Platinum

1:05 AM

SJ Dunnett: In addition to what has already been said by StevensOnln1, you heed a high(ish) (group T) or log periodic (log36) aerial. You have line of sight to the so should not have any problems. You should not need anything as big and clumsy as a Tri-beam or a 22 element. Unless you are planning to the aerial yourself, I would seek the advice of a CAI registered aerial installer.

Jackie Webb: A lot will depend on your location (need your postcode to see what predicted is for your location) and how old your current aerial is. After Ch.5 (UHF35) started transmitting from (long before digital), there were some "enhanced" C/D group aerials produced which weren't too bad at the 30's UHF channel range. It would be a good idea to check that you are actually tuned to the correct UHF channel for COM5. See my post Tuesday, 6 March 2018 3:55 PM for detail. Check your TV manual for how to do this & manual tuning.

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Chris.SE's 3,464 posts

A

A G Hearn
11:12 AM

Hello,
Since the change in frequencies I have been unable to receive and .
I have installed what I thought was an upgraded wide band Screwfix high 48 element code30515 but no better. I note both are on channel 36 ARQA.
I also have a Tevion 14dB amp in circuit.

Can you advise further please. Aerial is on . Thought of higher pole as on bungalow.

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A G Hearn's 2 posts

J

js

_{sentiment_satisfied}Gold

11:26 AM

A G Hearn: ARQ A is on UHF 33 from . see:

Coverage Checker - Detailed View

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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.

If you have no satellite signal, see Sky Digibox says 'No Signal' or 'Technical fault'

If you have other problems, please provide a full (not partial) postcode (or preferably enter it in box at the top right) and indicate where if aerial is on the roof, in the loft or elsewhere.

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