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Full Freeview on the Waltham (Leicestershire, England) transmitter

first published this on - UK Free TV
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The symbol shows the location of the Waltham (Leicestershire, England) transmitter which serves 770,000 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 Waltham (Leicestershire, England) mast?

Waltham transmitter - Waltham transmitter: Possible effect on TV reception week commencing 25/03/2024 Pixelation or flickering on some or all channels Digital tick


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

Which Freeview channels does the Waltham 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.

MuxH/VFrequencyHeightModeWatts
PSB1
BBCA
 H max
C32 (562.0MHz)442mDTG-50,000W
Channel icons
1 BBC One (SD) East Midlands, 2 BBC Two England, 9 BBC Four, 23 BBC Three, 201 CBBC, 202 CBeebies, 231 BBC News, 232 BBC Parliament, plus 17 others

PSB2
D3+4
 H max
C34 (578.0MHz)442mDTG-50,000W
Channel icons
3 ITV 1 (SD) (Central (East 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, 28 ITVBe, 30 E4 +1, 35 ITV1 +1 (Central west),

PSB3
BBCB
 H max
C35 (586.0MHz)442mDTG-50,000W
Channel icons
46 5SELECT, 101 BBC One HD East Midlands, 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, 107 BBC Three HD, 204 CBBC HD, 205 CBeebies HD, plus 1 others

COM4
SDN
 H -3dB
C29 (538.0MHz)442mDTG-825,000W
Channel icons
20 Drama, 21 5USA, 29 ITV2 +1, 32 5STAR, 33 5Action, 38 Channel 5 +1, 41 Legend, 42 GREAT! action, 57 Dave ja vu, 58 ITVBe +1, 59 ITV3 +1, 64 Blaze, 67 TRUE CRIME, 68 TRUE CRIME XTRA, 78 TCC, 81 Blaze +1, 83 Together TV, 89 ITV4 +1, 91 WildEarth, 209 Ketchup TV, 210 Ketchup Too, 211 YAAAS!, 267 Al Jazeera English, plus 30 others

COM5
ArqA
 H -3dB
C37 (602.0MHz)449mDTG-825,000W
Channel icons
11 Sky Mix, 17 Really, 19 Dave, 31 E4 Extra, 36 Sky Arts, 40 Quest Red, 43 Food Network, 47 Film4 +1, 48 Challenge, 49 4seven, 60 Drama +1, 65 That's TV 2, 70 Quest +1, 74 Yesterday +1, 75 That's 90s, 233 Sky News, plus 11 others

COM6
ArqB
 H -3dB
C31 (554.0MHz)449mDTG-825,000W
Channel icons
12 Quest, 25 W, 27 Yesterday, 34 GREAT! movies, 39 DMAX, 44 HGTV, 52 GREAT! romance, 56 That's TV (UK), 61 GREAT! movies extra, 63 GREAT! romance mix, 71 That’s 60s, 73 HobbyMaker, 82 Talking Pictures TV, 84 PBS America, 235 Al Jazeera Eng, plus 18 others

LNG
 H -10dB
C41 (634.0MHz)442mDTG-125,000W
Channel icons
from 27th May 2014: 7 Notts TV,

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 Waltham transmitter?

regional news image
BBC East Midlands Today 0.9m homes 3.4%
from Nottingham NG2 4UU, 28km northwest (306°)
to BBC East Midlands region - 17 masts.
regional news image
ITV Central News 0.9m homes 3.4%
from Birmingham B1 2JT, 83km west-southwest (244°)
to ITV Central (East) region - 17 masts.
All of lunch, weekend and 80% evening news is shared with Central (West)

Are there any self-help relays?

BraunstoneTransposer5 km SW Leicester city centre170 homes

How will the Waltham (Leicestershire, England) transmission frequencies change over time?

1984-971997-981998-20112011-132013-182013-174 Mar 2020
C/D EEEWW TW TW T
C26LNGLNG
C29SDNSDNSDNSDN
C31com7com7
C32BBCA
C34D3+4
C35C5wavesC5wavesBBCB
C37com8com8
C41_local
C49tv_off BBCABBCA
C54tv_offC4wavesC4wavesC4wavesD3+4D3+4D3+4
C55tv_offcom7tv_off
C56tv_offArqAArqAArqACOM8tv_off
C57tv_offArqBArqBArqB
C58tv_offBBC1wavesBBC1wavesBBC1wavesBBCBBBCBBBCB
C61ITVwavesITVwavesITVwavesBBCA
C64BBC2wavesBBC2wavesBBC2waves

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 17 Aug 11 and 31 Aug 11.

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

Analogue 1-5 250kW
BBCA, D3+4, BBCB(-7dB) 50kW
SDN, ARQA, ARQB(-10dB) 25kW
com8(-12.7dB) 13.4kW
com7(-13.9dB) 10.2kW
Mux 1*(-14dB) 10kW
Mux 2*, Mux A*, Mux B*(-14.9dB) 8kW
Mux C*, Mux D*, LNG(-17dB) 5kW

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

Feb 1956-Jul 1968Associated TeleVision†
Feb 1956-Jul 1968Associated British Corporation◊
Jul 1968-Dec 1981Associated TeleVision
Jan 1982-Feb 2004Central Independent Television
Feb 2004-Dec 2014ITV plc
Feb 1983-Dec 1992TV-am•
Jan 1993-Sep 2010GMTV•
Sep 2010-Dec 2014ITV Daybreak•
• Breakfast ◊ Weekends ♦ Friday night and weekends † Weekdays only. Waltham 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.

Comments
Sunday, 17 October 2021
C
Chris.SE
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

11:18 PM

David Rowlandson:

I believe it's also beamed in an ESE direction towards Spalding and maybe as far south as Peterborough, so if you live in an area bounded by them and the transmitter you might be able to receive the Local multiplex. Try a Manual tune on UHF C41 (auto-tune may miss it if the signal is weak but just receivable).
Local multiplexes are only provide at a limited number of main transmitters and signals beamed towards specific largish centres of population due to the limited number of channels available and costs involved in providing commercial services.

link to this comment
Chris.SE's 4,101 posts GB flag
Monday, 25 October 2021
S
Susan Louch
10:41 AM

Hisense smart tv just went off showing weak or no signal on black screen

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Susan Louch's 1 post GB flag
C
Chris.SE
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

12:15 PM

Susan Louch:

The Waltham transmitter had been listed for Planned Engineering a few weeks ago for several weeks. It's possible that some work still needed to be done although the transmitter isn't currently listed. I can't find any faults currently listed either (there could still have been one!).

Do NOT retune, this will most likely just clear your correct tuning and you'll have to repeat the process when signals are normal.

Check with neighbours if they have the same issue, if not, do check your aerial looks intact and is still pointing the correct way, that your downlead looks intact and is not flapping in the wind, and check your coax plug connections etc behind the TV.

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Chris.SE's 4,101 posts GB flag
Friday, 29 October 2021
Transmitter engineering
sentiment_very_satisfiedOwner

2:46 PM

Waltham transmitter - Waltham transmitter: Possible effect on TV reception week commencing 25/10/2021 Screen may go black on some or all channels [DUK]

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Transmitter engineering's 149,799 posts GB flag
J
John A
4:36 PM
Derby

This last week, I have been having problems with a few of my Freeview tv channels. There is a 5G mast (DE22 1FL) about 30 metres away from my property (DE1 3HJ). Are the updates to Waltham in connection with this?
Thank you,
John

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John A's 10 posts GB flag
John's: mapJ's Freeview map terrainJ's terrain plot wavesJ's frequency data J's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Saturday, 30 October 2021
C
Chris.SE
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

1:47 AM

John A:

Which Channels have your problems been with? Has it been continuous or just now and again and roughly how frequently and what sort of duration? What sort of problem - pixellation or no signal?

Arqiva never give any details about the Planned Engineering work - usually routine maintenance - it's very unlikely to be any update - at least not affecting any normal transmission and it's highly improbable to have any connection to a 5G (if it is) mast near you. The mast may not even be operating in the 700MHz band anyway - 5G has several allocated bands.

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Chris.SE's 4,101 posts GB flag
J
John A
6:52 PM

Chris.SE:
Hi Chris,
I notice the problems mainly with channel 39 when I record overnight/early morning shows. I get problems all during the day, though one morning the pictures were fine, then after 9:00am, I had the problems back...

I have problems with channels 11, 39, 56 + 69. Sometimes the pictures are fine, then a hour or so later, I have the bad signal sign, pixelations, picture break up or even no pictures!

I have had the problems before, and a repairman came out, then had to get a fine-tuner to adjust the signal reception and everything was fine for a good while. Then a couple of weeks ago, I noticed the problems had returned. It seems the repairman for the communal aerial doesn't have a fine-tuner... Would it just be simpler to buy a signal filter/booster?
Thanks,
John

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John A's 10 posts GB flag
C
Chris.SE
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

11:05 PM

John A:

First, a quick answer to that last question - No!

All the channels (programmes) you've mentioned are carried on the ArqA/COM5 multiplex, which is on UHF channel C37 at Waltham. Were the previous problems with the same group of channels?
(See Channel listings for Industry Professionals | Freeview for which channels are carried on which multiplex).

Now there's a couple of possibilities here.

The first, you've mentioned you are on a communal system. I'm assuming that the mention of "fine-tuner" to adjust the signal is a reference to that fact that a lot of communal systems (especially larger ones - roughly how many are on your system?) have what's called a channelised distribution system.
The aerial signal is fed to a number of filters and pre-amps specific to each UHF channel in use at a given transmitter. This is so that the signal strength of each UHF channel can be adjusted separately so that they are all as equal as possible and within the correct range when distributed to all the outlets in each of the premises it serves.
They obviously can go faulty from time to time.

Have a look in your set's tuning section for signal strength and quality (or error) figures. Make a note of the figures for UHF 37 when you are not seeing a problem and when you are, and compare to the other UHF channels for the other multiplexes and make a note of them. Whatever the signal strength figures (not overly important as long as they aren't too low (or excessive) as long as the quality figures are 100% (or error figures zero or very low).
I've mentioned "excessive" signal strength - this is why the answer to your question was "No". Just because one channel was/maybe low (when the others are at the correct levels), if you amplify all of them you can overload the front end of your receiver which can produce pixellated pictures, sound break-up etc. Filtering individual channels in a "domestic" set-up it not practical and would be very expensive if you were to try and "emulate" a professional distribution system.

The second possibility is a fault with that multiplex at the transmitter and the reason for the Planned Engineering. Only time will tell. If you post those figures it may give us a clue.


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Chris.SE's 4,101 posts GB flag
Monday, 1 November 2021
Transmitter engineering
sentiment_very_satisfiedOwner

5:46 AM

Waltham transmitter - Waltham transmitter: Possible effect on TV reception week commencing 01/11/2021 Screen may go black on some or all channels [DUK]

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Transmitter engineering's 149,799 posts GB flag
J
John A
9:02 AM

Good morning Chris,
Yesterday the pictures and signal strength were excellent. But this morning, the pictures on the problem channels are all breaking up again! I was hoping that my difficulties were due to Waltham upgrades, but today, I do not what to do...
Thanks,
John

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John A's 10 posts GB flag
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