Full Freeview on the Pontypool (Torfaen, Wales) transmitter

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

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51.685,-3.037 or 51°41'7"N 3°2'14"W

NP4 5XJ

The symbol shows the location of the Pontypool (Torfaen, Wales) transmitter which serves 19,000 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 Pontypool (Torfaen, Wales) mast?

PONTYPOOL transmitter - DAB: Off the air due to a fault from 5 Jun 20:03 until 5 Jun 20:06. . FM: Off the air due to a fault from 5 Jun 20:03 until 5 Jun 20:06. .

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

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Which Freeview channels does the Pontypool 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	V max	C23+ (490.2MHz)	294m	DTG-	50W
	1 BBC One (SD) Wales, 2 BBC Two Wales, 9 BBC Four, 23 BBC Three, 201 CBBC, 202 CBeebies, 231 BBC News, 232 BBC Parliament, 250 BBC Red Button, plus 13 others
PSB2 D3+4	V max	C26+ (514.2MHz)	294m	DTG-	50W
	5 Channel 5, 6 ITV 2, 10 ITV3, 14 Film4, 15 Channel 4 +1 South ads, 18 More4, 26 ITV4, 30 E4 +1, 35 ITV1 +1 (Wales),
PSB3 BBCB	V max	C29+ (538.2MHz)	294m	DTG-	50W
	56 5SELECT, 101 BBC One HD Wales, 102 BBC Two HD (England), 104 Channel 4 HD South ads, 105 Channel 5 HD, 106 BBC Four HD, 110 Channel 4 HD (Wales), 204 CBBC HD, 205 CBeebies HD, plus 1 others 66 TBN UK,
COM4 SDN	V max	C25- (505.8MHz)	294m	DTG-8	50W
	E4 (Wales), 20 Drama, 21 5USA, 29 ITV2 +1, 32 5STAR, 33 5Action, 41 Legend, 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 14 others
COM5 ArqA	V max	C22- (481.8MHz)	294m	DTG-8	50W
	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	V max	C28- (529.8MHz)	294m	DTG-8	50W
	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

DTG-8 64QAM 8K 3/4 27.1Mb/s DVB-T MPEG2
H/V: aerial position (horizontal or vertical)

Are you trying to watch these 0 Freeview HD channels?

The Pontypool (Torfaen, Wales) mast is not one of the extended Freeview HD (COM7 and COM8) transmitters, it does not provide these high definition (HD) channels: .

If you want to watch these HD channels, either use Freesat HD, or move your TV aerial must point to one of the 30 Full Freeview HD transmitters. For more information see the want to know which transmitters will carry extra Freeview HD? page.

Which BBC and ITV regional news can I watch from the Pontypool transmitter?

BBC Wales Today 1.2m homes 4.7%
from Cardiff CF5 2YQ, 25km southwest (214°)
to BBC Wales region - 206 masts.

ITV Cymru Wales 1.2m homes 4.7%
from Cardiff CF5 6XJ, 30km southwest (215°)
to ITV Wales region - 206 masts.

How will the Pontypool (Torfaen, Wales) transmission frequencies change over time?

	1984-97	1997-98	1998-2010	2010-13	29 Jun 2019
	A K T	A K T	A K T	A K T	A K T
C21	BBC1_waves	BBC1_waves	BBC1_waves
C22				-ArqA	ArqA
C23				+BBCA	BBCA
C24	ITV_waves	ITV_waves	ITV_waves
C25				-SDN	SDN
C26				+D3+4	D3+4
C27	BBC2_waves	BBC2_waves	BBC2_waves
C28				-ArqB	ArqB
C29				+BBCB	BBCB
C31	C4_waves	C4_waves	C4_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 3 Mar 10 and 31 Mar 10.

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

Analogue 1-4	250W
SDN, ARQA, ARQB, BBCA, D3+4, BBCB	(-7dB) 50W
Mux 1, Mux 2, Mux A, Mux B	(-11dB) 20W
Mux C, Mux D	(-14dB) 10W

Local transmitter maps

PONTYPOOL Freeview PONTYPOOL DAB Wenvoe TV region BBC Wales Wales

Which companies have run the Channel 3 services in the Wenvoe 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. Pontypool 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?

J

Jamie
3:53 PM
Cwmbran

Hi I upgraded to Freeiview HD at christmas time 2010 and since doing so the HD have been very unreliable they will be fine for weeks then out of the blue they will be or unwatchable due to break ups.
The SD channels are perfect but all the HD channels currently are no signal or unwatchable and this has been the case since approx 5:00pm Saturday 18th March.
Since then I have had no HD channels either no signal or stutter stutter stutter.
My equipment is fine I have had it tested so it must be signal strength reduction or unplanned work for the past few weeks if this doesn't improve I have no choice but to go to for proper reliable HD channels.
Any input appreciated.
Cwmbran.
NP44 7AY.

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Jamie's 8 posts

M

Mike Dimmick

_{sentiment_very_satisfied}Platinum

5:17 PM
Reading

Jamie: UK's predictor suggests that it should get better in May, presumably after , and complete .

Normally at a distance of 5 km with clear line of sight to the you wouldn't have a problem, but 's transmitting is designed to cover the area to the east. You are due south of it, so you get less than if you were due east.

The transmitter forms a Single- with Pontypool (for the PSB multiplexes), and transmits to the north and north-. However, there is some terrain blocking your sight of it.

It's possible that rotating the aerial a bit to the west could reduce pickup of unwanted signals and pick up more signal from Mynydd Machen in addition to Pontypool. Aerials do have a fairly wide 'acceptance angle' and this tends to be wider for vertical polarization than for horizontal.

In some weather conditions, signals can travel further than planned, and this can cause . This is probably the source of the problem and why it changes over time.

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Mike Dimmick's 2,486 posts

J

Jamie
2:29 PM

Hi Mike thanks for the post.
I just don't understand why this has happend because I have an indoor which has worked fine for HD up intil the date above. I have not made any additions electrically i.e. new heating system, wireless devices etc
Anyway if you are confident that what ever is occuring at present will likley disappear in May than I will hold out till then rather then mess with my antenna. Then if its still dead I will adjust my antenna or maybe think about relocating to the .

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Jamie's 8 posts

J

Jamie
3:57 PM
Cwmbran

The are viewable now but not reliable enough to watch or record from so I am guessing I will have to have a play with the arial or just give up and go with .
The annoying thing is they were perfect then no channels at all then back but not reliblae enough to watch or record from :(

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Jamie's 8 posts

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