Full Freeview on the Rowridge (Isle Of Wight, England) transmitter

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

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50.676,-1.369 or 50°40'35"N 1°22'7"W

PO30 4HT

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 22/04/2024 Screen may go black 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 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.

Mux	H/V	Frequency	Height	Mode	Watts
PSB1 BBCA	V max H max	C24 (498.0MHz)	320m	DTG-	200,000W 200,000W
	1 BBC One (SD) South, 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	V max H max	C27 (522.0MHz)	320m	DTG-	200,000W 200,000W
	3 ITV 1 (SD) (Meridian (South Coast micro region)), 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 (Meridian south coast),
PSB3 BBCB	V max H max	C21+ (474.2MHz)	320m	DTG-	200,000W 200,000W
	46 5SELECT, 101 BBC One HD South, 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 66 TBN UK,
COM4 SDN	H -6dB V -6dB	C25 (506.0MHz)	299m	DTG-8	50,000W 50,000W
	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 -6dB V -6dB	C22+ (482.2MHz)	302m	DTG-8	50,000W 50,000W
	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 -6dB V -6dB	C28 (530.0MHz)	302m	DTG-8	50,000W 50,000W
	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
LSO	H -13dB	C37 (602.0MHz)	299m	DTG-12	10,000W
	from 22nd December 2014: 7 That's Solent,

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 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	BBCtv_waves
C21		C4_waves	C4_waves	C4_waves	+BBCB	BBCB
C22					+ArqA	ArqA
C24		BBC2_waves	BBC2_waves	BBC2_waves	BBCA	BBCA
C25					SDN	SDN
C27		ITV_waves	ITV_waves	ITV_waves	D3+4	D3+4
C28					ArqB	ArqB
C29						LSO
C31		BBC1_waves	BBC1_waves	BBC1_waves		com7
C37						com8
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 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

Aug 1958-Jan 1992	Southern Television
Jan 1982-Dec 1992	Television South (TVS)
Jan 1993-Feb 2004	Meridian
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. Rowridge 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.

Is the transmitter output the same in all directions?

Transmitter engineering

_{sentiment_very_satisfied}Owner

3:32 PM

- Over the next week Rowridge main transmitter: TV () Liable to interruption, Radio () working normally, Radio (digital) working normally. [DUK]

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Transmitter engineering's 150,874 posts xx flag

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topcatsss
1:23 AM
Chichester

Hmm ok so i think finally they have finished messing with the TV stream.
At 1:30am in the morning after a retune i can not get all the i used to get.
PS nice weather outside

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topcatsss's 4 posts GB flag

topcatsss's: T's Freeview map T's terrain plot T's frequency data T's Freeview Detailed Coverage

Briantist

_{sentiment_very_satisfied}Owner

8:25 AM

... April 18th - retune at Rowridge, Oxford, Stockland Hill and Hannington | ukfree.tv - independent free digital TV advice +

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Briantist's 38,915 posts GB flag

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Derek Green
8:43 AM

Up until today (yes I have retuned today from factory resets!) I got good on most , even all the HD ones. This morning 08.40am all BBC TV and Radio channels are breaking up badly on two different devices. The same applies to most commercial channels. Odd. Is at low power temporarily after final step? If so, hopefully they will boost up to full power.

Anyone else got problems?

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Derek Green's 5 posts GB flag

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Phil K
10:07 AM
Poole

level seems as usual here (Holton Heath, horizontal ), but we've lost SDN/COM4. Have tried retuning, including manually on . Anyone else having problems?

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Phil K's 9 posts GB flag

Phil's: P's Freeview map P's terrain plot P's frequency data P's Freeview Detailed Coverage

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Pete W
10:36 AM

Just done the retune for . Lost programs associated with Com5 on internal . Move the aerial to vertical and hey presto all signals coming in with no variation as people move in front of the aerial. Excellent.
No problems with aerial but will move to vertical soon.
PO11 area

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Pete W's 1 post GB flag

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Sean Marshall
10:39 AM
Halifax

My appear to be OK so far after the final change, but I have got less than full on some of the COM channels. Here's my enquiry I sent to UK on 7th April:

I note from your predictor that my probability of receiving the 6 muxes are currently 99,99,99,99,77,84 (and working well). But after the re-tune on April 18th this will reduce to 99,99,99,21,20,21. Are these figures correct? If so could you please explain why the figures are so much lower after the re-tune? Will I need to have my turned to VP orientation to reliably receive the COM muxes after April 18th? Even with VP, your site still predicts lower than now. Thanks.

And their reply:

Thank you for your email dated 7 April regarding in Meridian.

Your postcode is PO8 9xx which means you are likely to receive your TV signal from the which switched on 21 March 2012.

Our postcode checker predicts that there may be a less reliable digital signal for your postcode after the retune event because in some cases this can be due to from nearby transmitters, both in the UK and in neighbouring countries.

The mux reception on 18 April is only a of variable reception on those three muxes. I would therefore strongly recommend you wait until after switchover to see if your home will actually be affected to avoid having unnecessary work done, i.e. realignment for Rowridge VP transmitter.

You would need to consult a reputable local aerial installer for advice on this option and that of course might incur a cost. If this is your preferred route, I would recommend that you use a Registered Digital Installer (RDI) identified by the 'digital tick' logo. To find a RDI in your area please visit: www.rdi-lb.co.uk.

If you have any further enquiries regarding the digital switchover please visit our website at www.digitaluk.co.uk or call us on 08456 50 50 50.

...So it seems to me that they've kept the power levels the same, but expect interference from France on the new channels. Now we see why they felt the need to introduce VP - they've given the clear channels to !

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Sean Marshall's 12 posts GB flag

Sean's: S's Freeview map S's terrain plot S's frequency data S's Freeview Detailed Coverage

Briantist

_{sentiment_very_satisfied}Owner

10:40 AM

Pete W: That is very interesting to hear.

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Briantist's 38,915 posts GB flag

S

Sean Marshall
10:45 AM
Halifax

...and to avoid any confusion I'm not in as it states at the top of my previous post.

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Sean Marshall's 12 posts GB flag

Sean's: S's Freeview map S's terrain plot S's frequency data S's Freeview Detailed Coverage

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Geoff Smith
10:47 AM

Derek Green: Hi Derek...I'm way across the country from you in , Surrey. I seem to have the same problems apart from 27..ITV. I've lost 21,24 and the new 3 allocated COMS. The signals have been coming and going all morning since about 7:30 on all 5 devices in my house. The strength is either 0 or 87%.(And in a few instances "Too strong" on channel 22) I am assuming that all is not going to plan at . It's really frustrating that the weather is so bad today as well..difficult to assess whether it's Rowridge, weather or what!

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Geoff Smith's 1 post GB flag

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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.

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