Full Freeview on the Ridge Hill (County of Herefordshire, England) transmitter

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

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51.997,-2.540 or 51°59'49"N 2°32'25"W

HR8 2PG

The symbol shows the location of the Ridge Hill (County of Herefordshire, England) transmitter which serves 270,000 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 Ridge Hill (County of Herefordshire, England) mast?

Ridge Hill transmitter - Ridge Hill transmitter: Possible effect on TV reception week commencing 29/05/2023 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 Ridge Hill 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	C28 (530.0MHz)	363m	DTG-	20,000W
	1 BBC One (SD) West Midlands, 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 18 others
PSB2 D3+4	H max	C25 (506.0MHz)	363m	DTG-	20,000W
	3 ITV 1 (SD) (Central (West micro region)), 4 Channel 4 (SD) Midlands ads, 5 Channel 5, 6 ITV 2, 10 ITV3, 13 E4, 14 Film4, 15 Channel 4 +1 Midlands ads, 18 More4, 26 ITV4, 30 E4 +1, 35 ITV1 +1 (Central west),
PSB3 BBCB	H max	C22+ (482.2MHz)	363m	DTG-	20,000W
	56 5SELECT, 101 BBC One HD (England no regional news), 102 BBC Two HD (England), 103 ITV 1 HD (ITV Central West), 104 Channel 4 HD Midlands 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 -3dB	C21+ (474.2MHz)	361m	DTG-8	10,000W
	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 -3dB	C24 (498.0MHz)	366m	DTG-8	10,000W
	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 -3dB	C27 (522.0MHz)	361m	DTG-8	10,000W
	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
PSB2 D3+4west	H max	C29 (538.0MHz)	352m	DTG-	20,000W
	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),

DTG-8 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 Ridge Hill transmitter?

BBC Midlands Today 2.9m homes 10.9%
from Birmingham B1 1RF, 69km northeast (39°)
to BBC West Midlands region - 66 masts.

ITV Central News 2.9m homes 10.9%
from Birmingham B1 2JT, 69km northeast (39°)
to ITV Central (West) region - 65 masts.
All of lunch, weekend and 80% evening news is shared with Central (East)

Are there any self-help relays?

Whitton

Transposer

35 km NW Hereford

40 homes

How will the Ridge Hill (County of Herefordshire, England) transmission frequencies change over time?

	1968-80s	1984-97	1997-98	1998-2011	2011-13	1 Mar 2018
	VHF	A K T	A K T	A K T	W T	W T
C6	ITV_waves
C21					+SDN	SDN
C22		BBC1_waves	BBC1_waves	BBC1_waves	+BBCB	BBCB
C24					ArqA	ArqA
C25		ITV_waves	ITV_waves	ITV_waves	D3+4	D3+4
C27					ArqB	ArqB
C28		BBC2_waves	BBC2_waves	BBC2_waves	BBCA	BBCA
C29					D3+4
C30					_local
C32		C4_waves	C4_waves	C4_waves		com7
C34						com8
C35			C5_waves	C5_waves
C51_{tv_off}					_local	_local
C55_{tv_off}						com7_{tv_off}
C56_{tv_off}						COM8_{tv_off}

_{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 6 Apr 11 and 20 Apr 11.

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

Analogue 1-5	100kW
BBCA, D3+4, PSB2 iw, BBCB	(-7dB) 20kW
com7	(-9.8dB) 10.5kW
SDN, ARQA, ARQB	(-10dB) 10kW
com8	(-10.1dB) 9.8kW
Mux 1, Mux 2, Mux A, Mux B, Mux C, Mux D	(-17dB) 2kW

Local transmitter maps

Ridge Hill Freeview Ridge Hill DAB Ridge Hill AM/FM Ridge Hill TV region BBC West Midlands Central (West micro region)

Which companies have run the Channel 3 services in the Ridge Hill transmitter area

Feb 1956-Jul 1968	Associated TeleVision†
Feb 1956-Jul 1968	Associated British Corporation◊
Jul 1968-Dec 1981	Associated TeleVision
Jan 1982-Feb 2004	Central Independent 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.

Is the transmitter output the same in all directions?

Radiation patterns withheld

J

John
4:53 PM

Sorry, I should have been clearer. This has been happening for around 6-8 weeks.

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John's 2 posts

N

Nigel Owen
9:04 AM
Hereford

MikeP:
My full postcode is HR3 6EY, goes from perfectly watchable, about 70% on weakest , to zero signal strength and quality. Often poor early in the day or on a Sunday! Does the signal strength alter on some i wonder?

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Nigel Owen's 5 posts

MikeP

_{sentiment_very_satisfied}Platinum

4:45 PM

Nigel Owen:

The is not relevant, it is the signal strength that is of greatest importance. The transmitted signal strength does not vary at all at any time, unless the engineers are working on the or system on the . There is currently no work being done on the transmitter.

However, if you look at Coverage Checker - Detailed View you will see the predicted for your location. the BBCA, BBCB and D3&4 multiplexes are expected to be good and reliable. The SDN, ARQ A and ARQ B multiplexes are expected to be variable.

If your problem affects the transmissions on 28 (BBC A), 25 (D3&4) and 22 (BBC B) then you should carefull check all your aerial connections and ensure the is undamaged. There is nothing you can do about reception on channels 21, 24 and 27. the on COM7 and COM 8 are not available at your location.

It appears that you are in a difficult reception location. It may be worth considering ?

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MikeP's 3,056 posts

Transmitter engineering