Full Freeview on the Pontop Pike (County Durham, England) transmitter
 | Google Streetview |  | Google map |  | Bing map |  | Google Earth |  | 54.868,-1.771 or 54°52'5"N 1°46'15"W |  | DH9 9AT |
The symbol shows the location of the Pontop Pike (County Durham, England) transmitter which serves 700,000 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 Pontop Pike (County Durham, 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
DTG-12 QSPK 8K 3/4 8.0Mb/s DVB-T MPEG2
H/V: aerial position (horizontal or vertical)
Which Freeview channels does the Pontop Pike 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 Pontop Pike transmitter?
BBC Look North (Newcastle) 1.6m homes 6.0%
from Newcastle NE99 2NE, 15km northeast (42°)
to BBC North East and Cumbria region - 70 masts.
ITV Tyne Tees News 1.4m homes 5.4%
from Gateshead NE11 9SZ, 12km north-northeast (29°)
to ITV Tyne Tees region - 47 masts.
All of lunch, weekend and 50% evening news is shared with Border
Are there any self-help relays?
| Kieldor Dam | Active deflector | 6 homes Holiday complex | |
| Low Haber | Active deflector | West Allen Dale, 18 kn SW Hexham | caravan site |
| North Hartlepool | Transposer | 84 homes |
How will the Pontop Pike (County Durham, England) transmission frequencies change over time?
| 1950s-80s | 1984-97 | 1997-98 | 1998-2012 | 2012-13 | 13 Nov 2019 | ||||
| VHF | C/D E | C/D E | C/D E | C/D E T | W T | ||||
| C5 | BBCtvwaves | ||||||||
| C32 | SDN | ||||||||
| C33 | com7 | ||||||||
| C34 | com8 | ||||||||
| C35 | ArqB | ||||||||
| C39 | BBCA | ||||||||
| C42 | D3+4 | ||||||||
| C45 | BBCB | ||||||||
| C49tv_off | BBCB | ||||||||
| C50tv_off | SDN | ||||||||
| C54tv_off | C4waves | C4waves | C4waves | D3+4 | |||||
| C55tv_off | ArqB | com7tv_off | |||||||
| C56tv_off | LNE | ||||||||
| C58tv_off | BBC1waves | BBC1waves | BBC1waves | BBCA | |||||
| C59tv_off | ArqA | ||||||||
| C61 | ITVwaves | ITVwaves | ITVwaves | ||||||
| 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 12 Sep 12 and 26 Sep 12.
How do the old analogue and currrent digital signal levels compare?
| Analogue 1-4 | 500kW | |
| BBCA, D3+4, BBCB | (-7dB) 100kW | |
| SDN, ARQA, ARQB | (-10dB) 50kW | |
| com8 | (-11.6dB) 34.6kW | |
| com7 | (-11.7dB) 33.8kW | |
| Mux 1*, Mux 2*, Mux A*, Mux B*, Mux C*, Mux D* | (-17dB) 10kW | |
| LNE | (-20dB) 5kW |
Local transmitter maps
Pontop Pike Freeview Pontop Pike TV region BBC North East and Cumbria Tyne TeesWhich companies have run the Channel 3 services in the Pontop Pike transmitter area
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Monday, 28 January 2013
J
joeparkin9:03 PM
Houghton Le Spring
aerial is on the roof, the tuner is a goodmans, and the picture is pixelating slightly and there is a loudish crackle, and the sound level goes down and takes a few seconds to go back to normal. I get the idea that I need to replace the aerial with a CD group one, but how do I know what type of aerial I currently have?
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K
KMJ,Derby9:51 PM
joeparkin: In the first instance I would check that the tuner has tuned in the frequencies for the transmitter that the aerial is pointing to. Bilsdale or Fenham frequencies could have been stored with the aerial pointing to Pontop Pike, for example. To check what group of aerial is in use it is often a matter of looking at the coloured plastic stopper in the end of the boom. Group C/D is green, wideband is black. It is worth mentioning that within a few years it is possible that all transmitters will be either group A or group K, so ideally replacing an aerial at the present time should only be done if absolutely necessary when using a group C/D transmitter. Yes, a wideband type could be fitted which would be suitable for future frequency changes at the transmitter, but such an aerial would also be liable to unnecessary reception of 4G or 5G mobile signals, which for some viewers could require replacing in the same way as a group C/D one will be.
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Tuesday, 23 April 2013
J
jamie8:44 PM
When c55 will be maximum signal ? Right now i can see it's not maximum signal because channels i watch never break up is maximum signals but on film4 keep breaking up i know that will be solved when they change to maximum signal do u know when it will happen ?
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K
KMJ,Derby9:37 PM
jamie: ArqB on C55 is intended to be transmitted at half the power of the PSB services on C49/C54. This will continue at least until about 2018 when the COM muxes might be allocated different frequencies and also, possibly, the network reconfigured.
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jamie: Can you not receive from Bilsdale, being in Harrogate 'n' all? It is only 30 miles away.
Pontop Pike is 61 miles away and there is high ground near Ripon which prevents it from being seen from your location.
The terrain plotter suggests there may be no obstructions to Bilsdale.
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Monday, 27 May 2013
alex blackburn
11:02 AM
11:02 AM
Since retuning after switch-over I no longer receive audio in 5.1 on the HD channels, including BBC HD. My set top box is Digital Stream DHR 8205U. Why is that?
I am tuned to Pontop - no problem viewing
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alex blackburn: According to Freeview
/ Home
/ Resolutions
/ About Freeview HD
/ Can I get 5.1 surround sound with Freeview HD?
"It is an essential broadcast requirement to support Audio Description services. As a consequence even though Freeview HD supports surround sound the broadcast signals require trans-coding to support most legacy AV amplifiers. If you have a modern HDMI input to your AV amplifier then you can receive multi-channel surround sound from your Freeview HD receiver however some older AV amplifiers will require the broadcast audio to be converted to Dolby AC3 format to enable signals to pass over existing connections.
Some manufacturers support this already and some have provided an over-air download to receivers to provide Dolby AC-3 transcoding gives viewers multi-channel sound. When connected to a compatible AV amp in a home cinema surround sound system, viewers will experience 5.1 surround sound.
Dolby AC-3 transcoding will become a mandatory requirement in all Freeview HD products launched after April 2011.
Manufacturers are not always able to develop solutions at the same time due to existing commitments to manufacturing and planning for models later in any year. Consequently, the introduction of new features is not always synchronous and manufacturers will take varying degrees of time to make their products compliant in some cases this compliance comes in the next model."
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alex blackburn
2:13 PM
2:13 PM
Briantist: The AV receiver is 5 days old and connected via HDMI and working perfectly The HD pvr Digital Stream DHR 8205U is less than 2 years old and connected to AV via optical. Prior to switch over it inputted and outputted 5.1 from HD channels but now only 2.1.Manufacturer says if the 5.1 icon is not lit then it's because 5.1 is not being transmitted - but it was before switchover?
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M
MikeB4:12 PM
alex blackburn: Looking on the net, there seems to be some confusion as to whats in 5.1, and what will be BBC regional HD not carrying Dolby Digital? - Freesat - Digital Spy Forums
One of the Welsh contributors did contact BBC Wales, and the answer was ' 5.1 is not yet available but it is being provisioned in the "very near future". ' - which might be your answer!
BTW - I've always been told that its best to output the TV's optical, rather than the box, to avoid any mismatches between picture and sound. If you've tried both, is there actually a difference?
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alex blackburn
6:47 PM
6:47 PM
MikeB: My Panasonic HD TV doesn't have an optical output and its inbuilt freeview is not HD hence the connection to the Digital Stream HD pvr. The sync.is good.
I haven't contacted BBC N.E. but logically if I had the 5.1 service before switchover then I should have it afterwards.
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