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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
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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
Friday, 9 September 2011
W
Wile
12:48 PM

Is there a way of knowing in advance if an HD channel will be transmitting in surround sound?
There are a number of reports on the web that ITV don't use it at all and I don't want to fire up my AV kit for no reason.

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Wile's 5 posts EU flag
B
Billy
sentiment_satisfiedBronze

1:56 PM

Struggling, Coventry, need channel 57 for sky sports, had trouble years ago, before you say it, no, can not get sutton coldfield, despite it being 16 miles away.
Waltham is about 43 miles away, struggled about say 10 or more years back, using amplifier, bad in those days glitch glitch, catch my drift.
However, if willing as I was for the sports to put up with that and wind affecting and fridge and so on, the signal, think, it was what, 5,000, now it is 25,000 and also 50,000.

My question finally, having filled you in, got the log perodic 22 element with 25dbi gain, though suspect only got gain at say 15 dbi, getting channel 61, mux 1 great up to 90% max in signal quality, sometimes down to 60% and yellow, cause of slight wind.

Now according to the above on this page should be able to get what, channel 54, also at 50,000, nothing, nothing on any other channel.
It does say on channel information, East Midlands, and no other channels on 61, that I'm aware of:
Waltham TV Transmitter
scroll down, bottom, see what I mean.

So how on earth can I get 61 at awesome green om average 70% plus, and none of the others, nothing shows, not 1%, weird, well?


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Billy's 50 posts GB flag
B
Billy
sentiment_satisfiedBronze

2:01 PM

See previous posting please:
Ar ha, my antenna is slightly, cause of brackets not being equal so to speak, pointing down, which is why with slight wind also it appears to dive the signal up and down.

So my question now is, or guess, maybe BBC on ch 61 is higher up the mast, or lower, or whatever, anyway, meaning if others at different heights, mean I need to tilt mine back and might improve it more still, cause obvious I can not easily get it, and if necessary, though picking up Allesley Park, strange, must be amplifier, I can increase gain still, but first I'll try tilting it back some.


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Billy's 50 posts GB flag
B
Billy
sentiment_satisfiedBronze

2:47 PM

Wasted money then as I think I found my answer on a web site:

Note how the MUX 5/6 antennas are almost hidden on the NW face of the mast so as not

to broadcast in the direction of Sandy (which is SSE) and cause co channel interference.

A similar situation existed with MUX1 and Emley Moor (to the NNW) and Oxford to the SW,

Information on radiation patterns can be most useful, and I cannot for the life of me understand why it is not more widely publicised.

And of course that's the one I want channel 57, but still not explain then why only one I get is 61, and not 54, both at 50,000 kws and should be facing the same.
Waltham TV Transmitter

In fact they are, all around, but bit lower down the transmitter, so whether that is the factor, but makes no sense, cause I'd least expect something, say red and 20$ or 10% on the reading signal quality meter, get 70% mostly on average on the signal strength one, not sure lowering and increasing gain further might help, maybe.

Or to try Oxford, or whatever else, being in a dip, pot luck and when windy no chance, wish now in hindsight paid for someone to do it on chimney one, but had this hassle years and years back, but with powers increased and amplifiers now allowed as such, surely one would think, great, I stand a chance now of getting something.

Just in case, maybe also, might be that I'm on some relay or something weird, about to check other digital channels that might be on 794mhz ch 61 etc.
But as it says East Midlands, I suspect it is Waltham.

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Billy's 50 posts GB flag
S
Steve
3:27 PM

Does anyone have an accurate idea of when the work to the Waltham tower will actually be finished? I've setup the inlaws and their neighbours to Waltham a couple years ago and gave them the completion dates posted at that time. However, the ongoing issues are causing them (and subsequently me) continual problems and I would like to be able to give them an idea of when it will actually be finished. I understand that it has only been 13 years since this whole process was started, but they wonder if it will be done in time for the 2012 Olympics or if they should get freesat while the deadlines get extended on the freeview changeover. Keeping in mind that as pensioners they are averse to learning new systems

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Steve's 1 post GB flag
B
Billy
sentiment_satisfiedBronze

3:38 PM

YAY, lowered and increased the signal, likely 20db gain now, but might still need max, loaded them, but playing up badly, see previous posts for what I'm on about, anyway problems sorted it seems, now one has to always hope for now wind, lol, fat chance, especially this time of year, :(.

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Billy's 50 posts GB flag
M
Mike Dimmick
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

3:40 PM

Billy: That is old information. ArqB now transmits from the main antenna, which is unrestricted. However, there may be a clash with a relay that uses C57 for a different service. Can you provide a full postcode, so we can check the predictions?

I don't believe that a 20-odd element Log Periodic can have even 15 dBi gain. 6-7 dBd (=8-9 dBi, 0 dBd = 2.15 dBi) is much more likely. You could be reading the front-to-back ratio, which is also very important - this is just measured in dB as it is a ratio, not a quantity.

All relays simply retransmit what they received from the parent transmitter - all relays of Waltham will say 'East Midlands', including Nottingham which is fed via cables rather than off-air.

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Mike Dimmick's 2,486 posts GB flag
M
Mike Dimmick
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

4:33 PM

Steve: The only remaining step published is SDN to change to 8K mode and increase in power (and presumably move to the final antenna) on the 12th of October.

There may be engineering works to dismantle the antennas used for low-power digital services before switchover. The masts are now shared with mobile phone companies and carry DAB and FM radio services, any of which might require new aerials to go up or existing ones to be changed, which might occasionally cause interruptions, but major re-engineering shouldn't be required for another 40 years.

There is also going to be another retune at some time, to free up C61 for 4G mobile phone services. This depends on getting international clearance for whatever channel gets used in its place, so we don't yet know when this will happen or even when we will know.

In the international planning for digital TV, we did ask for C35, but that might still be released for other purposes, or for new multiplexes - it's unlikely to be the new home for BBC A or for one of the COM muxes, if one is bumped out of the way for BBC A to use.

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Mike Dimmick's 2,486 posts GB flag
B
Billy
sentiment_satisfiedBronze

7:21 PM

No it was from maplins, not the advertised one, so better still, at the max now, 22 element log perdodic with 25db gain amplifier.

Ironic, cause only get two well and the one being what I needed for sky sports on ch 57, odd glitch some times but compared to years back, rare.

Off top of my head, yeah think the antenna itself is only 7.5 db gain, it does pick up another station close by despite it being vertical, lol, but it finally works.

Worry is the wind and rain, especially with ex - hurricane Katia coming in, though that's mainly gonna effect northern UK more.

Thank you any way Mike for your kind reply, but, so lucky, out of all of them, the one I really wanted I got and rang top up tv already, no lets just hope it stays that was, being in dip and getting waltham over 40 miles away is a major coup for me, and so much better than over 10 years back.
:).

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Billy's 50 posts GB flag
B
Bob
7:31 PM

I Live in DE3 and since the DSO at Waltham my signal strength has decreased on all multiplexes. I use a high gain wide band aerial and before the DSO had a good signal. Now the signal regularly changes strength and drops out.

I have tried retunung options and checked for excessive power but neither solved the issue any ideas.

Channels 57 and 61 seem the worst.

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Bob's 1 post GB flag
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