Full Freeview on the Rowridge (Isle Of Wight, England) transmitter
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The symbol shows the location of the Rowridge (Isle Of Wight, England) transmitter which serves 620,000 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 Rowridge (Isle Of Wight, England) mast?
Rowridge transmitter - Rowridge transmitter: Possible effect on TV reception week commencing 29/05/2023 Pixelation or flickering on some or all channels 
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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 Rowridge 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 Rowridge transmitter?
BBC South Today 1.3m homes 4.9%
from Southampton SO14 7PU, 26km north (354°)
to BBC South region - 39 masts.
ITV Meridian News 0.9m homes 3.6%
from Whiteley PO15 7AD, 24km north-northeast (20°)
to ITV Meridian (South Coast) region - 39 masts.
All of lunch, weekend and 50% evening news is shared with all of Meridian plus Oxford
Are there any self-help relays?
| Portsmouth Docks | Transposer | 2 km N city centre | 50 homes Estimate. Group of houses' |
How will the Rowridge (Isle Of Wight, England) transmission frequencies change over time?
| 1950s-80s | 1984-97 | 1997-98 | 1998-2012 | 2012-13 | 2 May 2018 | ||||
| VHF | A K T | A K T | A K T | A K T | W T | ||||
| C3 | BBCtvwaves | ||||||||
| C21 | C4waves | C4waves | C4waves | +BBCB | BBCB | ||||
| C22 | +ArqA | ArqA | |||||||
| C24 | BBC2waves | BBC2waves | BBC2waves | BBCA | BBCA | ||||
| C25 | SDN | SDN | |||||||
| C27 | ITVwaves | ITVwaves | ITVwaves | D3+4 | D3+4 | ||||
| C28 | ArqB | ArqB | |||||||
| C29 | LSO | ||||||||
| C31 | BBC1waves | BBC1waves | BBC1waves | com7 | |||||
| C37 | com8 | ||||||||
| C55tv_off | com7tv_off | ||||||||
| C56tv_off | COM8tv_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 7 Mar 12 and 21 Mar 12.
How do the old analogue and currrent digital signal levels compare?
| Analogue 1-4 | 500kW | |
| PSB1||, PSB1≡, PSB2||, PSB2≡, PSB3||, PSB3≡ | (-4dB) 200kW | |
| COM4≡, COM4||, COM5≡, COM5||, COM6≡, COM6|| | (-10dB) 50kW | |
| com7≡ | (-13.1dB) 24.4kW | |
| Mux 1*, Mux 2*, Mux A*, Mux B*, Mux C*, Mux D* | (-14dB) 20kW | |
| com8≡ | (-14.3dB) 18.4kW | |
| LSO≡ | (-17dB) 10kW |
Local transmitter maps
Rowridge Freeview Rowridge DAB Rowridge TV region BBC South Meridian (South Coast micro region)Which companies have run the Channel 3 services in the Rowridge transmitter area
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Wednesday, 20 May 2020
Evening all,
I'm troubleshooting a problem we have at home, currently in a rented flat (in Romsey, Hampshire). We are unable to receive any channels on COM7/8 (yep, that ol' chestnut).
I haven't been able to get any detailed aerial info off the landlord yet, but I have got a photo from ground level (forgive the angle - it's 7 storeys up):
Imgur: The magic of the Internet
I'm trying to find out whether that's a Group A aerial (explaining why we can't get COM7/8), or if it's a wideband aerial (and our problems are elsewhere). Can anyone confirm?
Thanks.
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Thursday, 21 May 2020
C
Chris.SE4:42 AM
Chris:
I'm assuming the receiver you are using does have a T2 HD tuner ;)
It that location I'd have expected that you wouldn't have any problems with reception of any of the multiplexes from Rowridge. It's worth remembering that it has H and V polarised signals, but COMs 7&8 are only horizontal, COMs 4-6 are 1/4 of the power of the PSBs in the horizontal polarisation and COMs 7&8 about half that again!!
As soon as I saw your photo of the aerial, I thought, that looks like a Triax. I'm pretty certain that it's not a Group A, but it could be a Group K rather than a T or Wideband. The thing that adds to the uncertainty so far is the exact style of the reflector doesn't match the number of directors (7) for the Group T/Wideband, I might have to carry on searching.
If you are able to look at the colour of the bungs in the ends of the aerial with binoculars or a telescope, that may give a clue but I've heard of black bungs being used on non-wideband aerials, so that may not help!
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C
Chris.SE5:20 AM
Chris:
This is Triax's Group T https://www.triax.uk/prod…-box
Here is the Group K but it only has 6 directors https://www.triax.uk/prod…-box
Note the difference in the reflectors, but that doesn't mean the Group T hasn't had the other style reflector at some time.
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C
Chris7:14 AM
Romsey
Hi Chris,
Thanks for the quick response. Yep, I've checked and everything here (except one older device) is DVB-T2 capable - they pick up the T2 stuff on 470MHz no problem, too.
Those are the closest looking matches I've seen so far so you could be on to something there. It may well be a group K aerial then - it would fit in with the channels I can/can't receive. I don't have any binoculars, just the 40x zoom camera which got that photo, so that's about as good a view as I can get - the bungs certainly look black (or very very dark grey, to quote Lego Batman) rather than any of the other bright colours used.
Thanks again. I can't imagine the landlord would be keen on replacing it anyway, but at least it (probably) answers the question of why I can't get the channels!
Chris
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Sunday, 24 May 2020
Do we know yet if the latest changes at Rowridge will still take place during June,
will com7/8 be removed as stated and where will those channels be moved to.
For some time now my reception on com7/8 has been variable, funnily they seem to cut out at around 10pm most nights.
My postcode is BH255QB (New Milton)
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S
StevensOnln110:06 AM
TIMOTHY WARDLAW: There have been no changes to COM7 & COM8 announced for June and they will not be moving to any other frequency as there are none available. Ofcom have previously announced that they will remain on UHF channels 55 & 56 in the centre gap of the new 700MHz mobile band until these frequencies are required by whichever mobile network secures them in the 700MHz auction, which has been delayed due to COVID-19 and may now not take place until next year.
In short, nothing is changing with COM7 & COM8 and they will simply close once their currently frequencies are no longer available, they will not move elsewhere. Some channels may move to other multiplexes, however nothing has been announced.
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Monday, 25 May 2020
C
Chris.SE12:34 AM
Chris:
I've had a good scout round. I'm sure that's the Group T version that you've got.
Quite a few of these newer K Band aerials (various makes) have this extra "element" on the front of the dipole connection box. I've never had my hands on one, so not sure if it's a director or connected to the dipole in some way.
I wonder if your lack of COMs7&8 signal might be due to any loss if the output is being split anywhere, or any 4G filtering - some of the cheaper ones might have a fair bit of attenuation still at C55 & C56?
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Thank you for your reply,
however on this very site under the section " How will Rowridge transmission frequencies change over
time" it clearly states that Coms7 and 8 will be removed by 30th June 2020 to make way for 5G use.
Where does that come from?
Tim Wardlaw
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S
StevensOnln110:38 AM
TIMOTHY WARDLAW: The owner of this website has not been able to keep up with the all of changes taking place at over 1,000 transmitters and doesn't seem to have found a way to show that COM7&8 will continue on those frequencies until an as yet unknown date, whereas the rest of the 700MHz band was due to be cleared by the end of May (although the final clearance work is now on hold due to COVID-19).
More information can be found on Ofcom's website:
Maximising the benefits of 700MHz clearance - Ofcom
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C
Chris.SE1:15 PM
TIMOTHY WARDLAW:
The date June 2020 was a date by which OFCOM wanted to try and have the frequencies cleared, Arqiva wanted the dates pushed back and subsequently it was never formally agreed.
Additionally the key words in the link that StevensOnln1 has provided are " ...we have also decided to allow the interim multiplexes to continue operating in this spectrum until at least 1 May 2020, or until mobile downlink services in this spectrum are deployed."
It was only on March 13th this year that OFCOM announced all the rules for the auction of the 700MHz spectrum, no date for the auction was or has yet been specified and the whole thing is now on hold because of covid-19.
As the whole process will take some time when it eventually takes place, the MNOs that purchase the relevant parts of the spectrum will still have to get equipment developed, handset manufacturers will need to develop handsets capable of using these SDL/SDO frequencies, it's unlikely that any need to close COMs 7&8 will occur before 2022. Indeed there is some DUK documentation that suggest they may be here until 2025.
It's always been believed that at some point Arqiva will start to convert some of their COM multiplexes to T2 HD which would then make room for some of these other channels. It's been suggested elsewhere that they may start with COM6. BUT this is all total speculation and will continue to be so until clearance has been completed, the auction held, and the MNOs that purchase those frequencies give an indication about when they may want to use the frequencies, and OFCOM make formal announcements. At present OFCOM have suggested that the relevant MNOs would give Arqiva 3 months notice to use the frequencies.
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