menuMENU    UK Free TV logo Freeview

 

 

Click to see updates

Full Freeview on the Mendip (Somerset, England) transmitter

first published this on - UK Free TV
sa_streetviewGoogle Streetviewsa_gmapsGoogle mapsa_bingBing mapsa_gearthGoogle Earthsa_gps51.237,-2.626 or 51°14'12"N 2°37'33"Wsa_postcodeBA5 3LB

 

The symbol shows the location of the Mendip (Somerset, England) transmitter which serves 720,000 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 Mendip (Somerset, England) mast?

Mendip transmitter - Mendip 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 Mendip 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)591mDTG-100,000W
Channel icons
1 BBC One (SD) West, 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)591mDTG-100,000W
Channel icons
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, 28 ITVBe, 30 E4 +1, 35 ITV1 +1 (West),

PSB3
BBCB
 H max
C35 (586.0MHz)591mDTG-100,000W
Channel icons
46 5SELECT, 101 BBC One HD West, 102 BBC Two HD England, 103 ITV 1 HD (ITV Meridian Southampton), 104 Channel 4 HD South 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 max
C48 (690.0MHz)591mDTG-8100,000W
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 max
C33 (570.0MHz)591mDTG-8100,000W
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 max
C36 (594.0MHz)591mDTG-8100,000W
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

LBS
 H -10dB
C30 (546.0MHz)591mDTG-1210,000W
Channel icons
from 22nd September 2014: 7 Made in Bristol,

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 Mendip transmitter?

regional news image
BBC Points West 0.9m homes 3.4%
from Bristol BS8 2LR, 25km north (3°)
to BBC West region - 60 masts.
regional news image
ITV West Country News (East) 0.9m homes 3.4%
from Bristol BS4 3HG, 23km north (11°)
to ITV West region - 61 masts.
All of lunch, weekend and 50% evening news is shared with West Country (West)

Are there any self-help relays?

CheddarTransposer15 km E Weston-super-Mare1674 homes
LuccombeActive deflector6 km w Minehead38 homes

How will the Mendip (Somerset, England) transmission frequencies change over time?

1984-971997-981998-20102010-132013-182013-1727 Feb 2018
C/D EEEC/D EC/D E TW TW T
C30_local
C32BBCA
C33com7com7
C34D3+4
C35com8com8
C36ArqB
C37C5wavesC5waves
C48SDNSDNSDNSDN
C49tv_off BBCABBCA
C51tv_offLBSLBS
C52tv_offArqBArqBArqB
C54tv_offC4wavesC4wavesC4wavesD3+4D3+4D3+4
C55tv_offcom7tv_off
C56tv_offArqAArqAArqACOM8tv_off
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 24 Mar 10 and 7 Apr 10.

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

Analogue 1-4 500kW
Analogue 5(-6dB) 126kW
SDN, ARQA, ARQB, BBCA, D3+4, BBCB(-7dB) 100kW
com7(-8.4dB) 72.4kW
com8(-8.6dB) 69.1kW
Mux 1*, Mux 2*, Mux A*, Mux B*, Mux C*, Mux D*, LBS(-17dB) 10kW

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

Jan 1958-Jul 1968Television Wales and the West
Jul 1968-Feb 2004Harlech 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. Mendip 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
Thursday, 1 December 2022
C
Chris.SE
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

4:18 PM

John Balchin:

The transmitter isn't currently listed for Planned Engineering, nor has it been recently and there don't appear to be any faults listed. As far as I can tell it's operating normally.

As you haven't given a full postcode, I can't check your normal predicted reception which may be marginal in your location under adverse weather conditions, also depending on aerial location.

Your problems with reception are most likely due to current weather conditions causing some "Tropospheric Ducting" resulting in Interference coming from distant transmitters (in Europe or the UK) which is currently affecting some parts of the south and southwest.

link to this comment
Chris.SE's 4,102 posts GB flag
Friday, 2 December 2022
P
Paul Jennings
7:09 PM
Worcester

i continue to get very variable reception at WR5 2HZ no 10. It is in the green area for Mendip.
Is there a good reason why COM7 ARQB and SDN are so unreliable. They appear to be broadcast at the same power as BBC and D3+4 which are fine. The aerial is mounted on the lefthand side of house at a height which I believe is the optimum to avoid the trees in the direction of the aerial. Thank you

link to this comment
Paul Jennings's 2 posts GB flag
Paul's: mapP's Freeview map terrainP's terrain plot wavesP's frequency data P's Freeview Detailed Coverage
S
StevensOnln1
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

11:43 PM

Paul Jennings: COM7 closed at the end of June, perhaps you mean COM5/ArqA? You're 109km away from Mendip and your postcode is predicted to get better reception of the COM4/5/6 multiplexes and similar reception of the PSB1/2/3 muxes from Malvern (only 11km away approximately to the south-west of you) so it may be worth considering having your aerial turned towards Malvern and rotated from horizontal to vertical polarity, or perhaps fit a new wideband type which will perform better on the lower frequencies used for COM4/5 if you're currently using an older grouped aerial (Mendip was historically Group C/D which only covered the higher frequencies of the UHF band).

link to this comment
StevensOnln1's 3,606 posts GB flag
Saturday, 3 December 2022
C
Chris.SE
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

1:14 AM
Worcester

Paul Jennings:

Hi, the reason is you are living in the wrong house, move next door to no:11, ah, but then BBCA and D3&4 could become less reliable,or down the road to no:1 where you might get good reception of all multiplexes from Malvern!!

OK, I jest somewhat, however predicted reception across your postcode is VERY variable. Being more serious , you are rather a long way from Mendip - 109km but nevertheless the Freeview & BBC predictors suggests good reception of a variety of multiplexes but which ones depends on where you are in the postcode and that even for your most likely transmitter Malvern (also the closest).

I started compiling this reply a while ago and got interrupted. I see StevensOnln1 has made some suggestions.
It's obvious you live in a very awkward spot. The question we don't know the answer two is are you using Mendip because you want the West Region, whereas Malvern is Central, but with hills and trees you might not get reliable reception. The reason it can be so variable is not just the very local obstructions and terrain, but the path to the transmitter of interest as well as paths to other transmitters that might give interfering signals.

A knowledgeable (must know your specific area!) local aerial installer should know what might be achieved, an aerial even in a different location on your house could give different reception! Using street=view, I see someone down the end of your road seems to be getting their signals from Waltham on a very tall mast!
Looking at the Freeview predictor, Malvern, Mendip and Waltham are the only potentially serious contenders for likely reliable reception.

I would not however use a wideband aerial. I would choose a high-gain Group K Log-periodic. There are now a few manufacturers doing Grouped Log-periodics. Group A and Group K are both available, but you need Group K (for whichever of those main transmitters is going to give you the best reception).

If you are finding things too variable, you might consider Freesat. A lot of modern TVs have a satellite tuner built-in so you'd only need a dish and LNB.

link to this comment
Chris.SE's 4,102 posts GB flag
Chris.SE's: mapC's Freeview map terrainC's terrain plot wavesC's frequency data C's Freeview Detailed Coverage
S
StevensOnln1
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

11:11 AM

Chris.SE: Isn't a Group K log periodic the same as a wideband log periodic but with some of the elements removed?

link to this comment
StevensOnln1's 3,606 posts GB flag
C
Chris.SE
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

2:56 PM

StevensOnln1:

Not as I understand it from the performance curves and manufacturers statements that I've seen. Quite a few still have the same number of elements. There's a definite cut-off above C48 690MHz as the design has been "tuned". How exactly they do that I don't know as I'm no expert in aerial design but it's the claimed performance that's important.

As you know Log-periodics have the advantage of a flat (+/-) performance over the frequency range so will do a bit better at the lower frequencies is you have the gain. Whereas a traditional (yagi) wideband, & even grouped, see a fall-off in gain at the lower frequencies.
There's been a significant increase in Log-periods appearing in many places (and certainly round here) especially in the lead up to the COM7 closure and since. They also have the advantage of less side lobes.

link to this comment
Chris.SE's 4,102 posts GB flag
B
bruce tearle
sentiment_satisfiedBronze

3:24 PM

Had set reorder for snooker on channel 12. got screen msg saying retune necessary, did this and found Quest was on 790. did a full return on recorder to get thing right only to find 790 gave a blank screen which 12 was showing r snooker.

What the heck is happening

regards Bruce

link to this comment
bruce tearle's 55 posts GB flag
S
StevensOnln1
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

5:45 PM

bruce tearle: Quest moved from COM4 to COM6 recently. The old version which was temporarily moved to 790 to give viewers time to retune now appears to have been removed.

link to this comment
StevensOnln1's 3,606 posts GB flag
C
Chris.SE
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

5:45 PM

bruce tearle:

There was a change with some "minor" channels on the 23rd November. What Freeview didn't mention was that Quest moved from SDN/COM4 to ArqB/COM6. Only those that did a full retune discovered that after finding nothing or a retune message at LCN12.
The 790 LCN is the old COM4 version which will disappear at a future date.
The lists on this site have yet to be updated by the site owner.

link to this comment
Chris.SE's 4,102 posts GB flag
Wednesday, 18 January 2023
A
alan paterson
2:13 PM

last 48 hours lost all channels except channel 32, carried out all retune methods as usual, still only have channel 32 , transmitter is Mendips in somerset approx 40km away, have your mobile mast filter fitted, all equipment is in good order.
Any ideas ?
Thank you.

link to this comment
alan paterson's 4 posts US flag
Select more comments

Your comment please
Please post a question, answer or commentIf you have Freeview reception problems before posting a question your must first do this Freeview reset procedure then see: Freeview reception has changed, Single frequency interference, and Freeview intermittent interference.

If you have no satellite signal, see Sky Digibox says 'No Signal' or 'Technical fault'

If you have other problems, please provide a full (not partial) postcode (or preferably enter it in box at the top right) and indicate where if aerial is on the roof, in the loft or elsewhere.

UK Free TV is here to help people. If you are rude or disrespectful all of your posts will be deleted and you will be banned.








Privacy policy: UK Free Privacy policy.