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Freeview Light on the Londonderry (Northern Ireland) transmitter

first published this on - UK Free TV
sa_gmapsGoogle mapsa_bingBing mapsa_gearthGoogle Earthsa_gps55.003,-7.370 or 55°0'11"N 7°22'11"Wsa_postcodeBT48 0JS

 

The symbol shows the location of the Londonderry (Northern Ireland) transmitter which serves 37,000 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.

This transmitter has no current reported problems

The BBC and Digital UK report there are no faults or engineering work on the Londonderry (Northern Ireland) transmitter.

Choose from three options: ■ List by multiplex ■ List by channel number ■ List by channel name
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Which Freeview channels does the Londonderry 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
 V max
C29 (538.0MHz)286mDTG-2,000W
Channel icons
1 BBC One (SD) Northern Ireland, 2 BBC Two Northern Ireland, 9 BBC Four, 23 BBC Three, 201 CBBC, 202 CBeebies, 231 BBC News, 232 BBC Parliament, plus 14 others

PSB2
D3+4
 V max
C31 (554.0MHz)286mDTG-2,000W
Channel icons
3 UTV (SD) (UTV), 4 Channel 4 (SD) NI ads, 5 Channel 5, 6 ITV 2, 10 ITV3, 13 E4, 14 Film4, 15 Channel 4 +1 NI ads, 18 More4, 26 ITV4, 28 ITVBe, 30 E4 +1, 35 UTV +1 (UTV),

PSB3
BBCB
 V max
C37 (602.0MHz)286mDTG-2,000W
Channel icons
46 5SELECT, 101 BBC One HD Northern Ireland, 102 BBC Two HD Northern Ireland, 103 UTV HD (UTV), 104 Channel 4 HD NI ads, 105 Channel 5 HD, 106 BBC Four HD, 107 BBC Three HD, 204 CBBC HD, 205 CBeebies HD, plus 1 others

H/V: aerial position (horizontal or vertical)

Are you trying to watch these 44 Freeview channels?

the effected channels
the effected channels
the effected channels
the effected channels

The Londonderry (Northern Ireland) mast is a public service broadcasting (PSB) transmitter, it does not provide these commercial (COM) channels: 4seven, 5Action, 5STAR, 5USA, Al Jazeera Eng, Al Jazeera English, Blaze, Blaze +1, Challenge, Channel 5 +1, Dave, Dave ja vu, DMAX, Drama +1, E4 Extra, YAAAS!, Film4 +1, Food Network, GREAT! action, GREAT! movies, GREAT! romance mix, GREAT! romance, HGTV, HobbyMaker, ITV2 +1, ITV3 +1, ITV4 +1, ITVBe +1, Legend, PBS America, Quest +1, Quest Red, Really, Sky Mix, Sky News, Talking Pictures TV, TCC, That's 90s, That's TV 2, Together TV, TRUE CRIME, TRUE CRIME XTRA, W, Yesterday +1.

If you want to watch these channels, your aerial must point to one of the 80 Full service Freeview transmitters. For more information see the will there ever be more services on the Freeview Light transmitters? page.

Which BBC and ITV regional news can I watch from the Londonderry transmitter?

regional news image
BBC Newsline 0.6m homes 2.5%
from Belfast BT2 8HQ, 1,052km northeast (50°)
to BBC Northern Ireland region - 46 masts.
regional news image
UTV Live 0.6m homes 2.5%
from Belfast BT7 1EB, 1,052km northeast (50°)
to UTV region - 46 masts.

How will the Londonderry (Northern Ireland) transmission frequencies change over time?

1950s-80s1984-971997-981998-20122012-134 Sep 2019
VHFB E TW TW TB E TW T
C2BBCtvwaves
C29BBCA
C31C5wavesC5wavesD3+4
C37BBCB
C41ITVwavesITVwavesITVwavesD3+4
C44BBC2wavesBBC2wavesBBC2wavesBBCA
C47C4wavesC4wavesC4wavesBBCB
C51tv_offBBC1wavesBBC1wavesBBC1waves_local_local

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 10 Oct 12 and 24 Oct 12.

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

Analogue 5 10kW
Analogue 1-4(-4.9dB) 3.2kW
BBCA, D3+4, BBCB(-7dB) 2kW

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

Oct 1959-May 2006Ulster Television
May 2006-Dec 2014UTV plc
Feb 1983-Dec 1992TV-am•
Jan 1993-Sep 2010GMTV•
Sep 2010-Dec 2014ITV Daybreak•
• Breakfast ◊ Weekends ♦ Friday night and weekends † Weekdays only. Londonderry 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, 28 October 2012
M
Mark
12:11 PM
Londonderry

Briantist that makes some very interesting reading. This transmitter in Limavady is a joke because if it was positioned somewhere else it could have covered Derry, Limavady, Coleraine etc and have a much higher viewer count.

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Mark's 2 posts GB flag
Mark's: mapM's Freeview map terrainM's terrain plot wavesM's frequency data M's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Briantist
sentiment_very_satisfiedOwner

12:16 PM

Mark: But the transmitters have been there for a long time ... they can't be moved without a lot of expensive construction work.

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Briantist's 38,915 posts GB flag
P
Patrick
12:31 PM
Londonderry

Thanks Dave for the info.Im getting great UK signals on HD READY tv but can't pick up any RTE stations.I heard you need a full HD tv to get Saorview tv,is this correct?.Many thanks.Patrick

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Patrick's 7 posts IE flag
Patrick's: mapP's Freeview map terrainP's terrain plot wavesP's frequency data P's Freeview Detailed Coverage
S
seamus o'doherty
12:35 PM
Strabane

And Omagh has a main transmitter all to itself, Brougher Mountain, to cover 36,000 households.




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seamus o'doherty's 6 posts GB flag
seamus's: mapS's Freeview map terrainS's terrain plot wavesS's frequency data S's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Dave Lindsay
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

1:03 PM

Patrick: Most probably you need a Freeview HD receiver for Saorview.

The reason being that there are two types of picture format used for digital broadcasts: MPEG2 and the later MPEG4.

Freeview standard definition uses MPEG2 whereas Saorview uses MPEG4. Consequently Freeview standard definition receivers don't tend to have the capability to resolve MPEG4 pictures. Freeview HD uses MPEG4 and therefore will show Saorview.

To receive Saorview you will need a separate aerial pointing to Holywell Hill which is on a bearing of 244 degrees with your aerial horizontal (elements flat). If you received RT analogue and have an appropriate aerial, then this should work for Saorview. There is no harm in seeing if it will work with your current set. Holywell Hill broadcasts on UHF channel 30, so if it has manual tuning, try tuning to C30.

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Dave Lindsay's 5,724 posts GB flag
Dave Lindsay
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

1:17 PM

Mark: The network was designed in an era when all transmitters carried the same number of channels. Thus it didn't make any difference to whether one received from a main station or a relay.

The decision was made to allow a two-tier network which now leaves some at a disadvantage as far as range of channels is concerned. It is this decision which has produced the outcome we have rather than poor design of the network in the first place.

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Dave Lindsay's 5,724 posts GB flag
K
KMJ,Derby
sentiment_satisfiedGold

5:39 PM

Mark: A look at the history of some of the transmitter sites explains why some of them came to be positioned where they are. The Limavady mast dates from the 1950s when it was built as a link station to receive the Divis signal and then feed the Londonderry relay. A low power relay at Maddybenny More used to supply 405 line BBC TV and BBC FM radio to Coleraine. The BBC FM services were transfered to Limavady in 1986, since then a local commercial FM transmitter brought the Maddybenny mast back into use and a BBC national DAB transmitter has been added. The ITA built the Black Mountain and Strabane masts to serve nearly all of Ulster with 405 line ITV. However it was not possible to serve the same area at UHF from Strabane as had been achieved at VHF, hence the use of several existing BBC masts (Limavady, Londonderry and Brougher Mountain) to serve the area.

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KMJ,Derby's 1,811 posts GB flag
P
Patrick
6:06 PM
Londonderry

Ok Dave,looks like i need a tv with full HD as the one i have is HD ready and won't pick up Saorview.Many thanks for clearing this up for me.Take care, Patrick

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Patrick's 7 posts IE flag
Patrick's: mapP's Freeview map terrainP's terrain plot wavesP's frequency data P's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Monday, 29 October 2012
D
David Burke
10:55 AM

BT47 3TJ

Can you please help

I have 3 Triax Freeview HD boxes and before switchover I was watching RTE Saorview. After re-tuning I am receiving all Freeview from Londonderry Transmitter but no Saorview.

I have 2 eternal roof mounted ariels, 1 for North and 1 for RTE.

What am I doing wrong?

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David Burke's 1 post GB flag
P
Patrick
11:19 AM
Londonderry

I think you have to manually tune them in on channel 30.Hope this helps Dave.

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Patrick's 7 posts IE flag
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