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Full Freeview on the Oxford (Oxfordshire, England) transmitter

first published this on - UK Free TV
sa_streetviewGoogle Streetviewsa_gmapsGoogle mapsa_bingBing mapsa_gearthGoogle Earthsa_gps51.790,-1.179 or 51°47'25"N 1°10'46"Wsa_postcodeOX3 9SS

 

The symbol shows the location of the Oxford (Oxfordshire, England) transmitter which serves 410,000 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 Oxford (Oxfordshire, England) mast?

Oxford transmitter - Oxford 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 Oxford 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
C41+ (634.2MHz)295mDTG-100,000W
Channel icons
1 BBC One (SD) South (Oxford), 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
C44- (657.8MHz)295mDTG-100,000W
Channel icons
3 ITV 1 (SD) (Meridian/Central (Thames Valley 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 (Central west),

PSB3
BBCB
 H max
C47 (682.0MHz)295mDTG-100,000W
Channel icons
46 5SELECT, 101 BBC One HD South (Oxford), 102 BBC Two HD England, 103 ITV 1 HD (ITV Central West), 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 -3dB
C29 (538.0MHz)295mDTG-850,000W
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- (601.8MHz)319mDTG-850,000W
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)319mDTG-850,000W
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

LOX
 H -10dB
C46 (674.0MHz)295mDTG-1210,000W
Channel icons
from 22nd December 2014: 7 That's Oxford,

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 Oxford transmitter?

regional news image
BBC South (Oxford) Today 0.4m homes 1.6%
from Oxford OX2 7DW, 6km west-southwest (258°)
to BBC South (Oxford) region - 6 masts.
BBC South (Oxford) Today shares 50% content with Southampton service
regional news image
ITV Meridian News 0.9m homes 3.4%
from Whiteley PO15 7AD, 102km south (182°)
to ITV Meridian/Central (Thames Valley) region - 15 masts.
Thames Valley opt-out from Meridian (South). All of lunch, weekend and 50% evening news is shared with all of Meridian+Oxford

How will the Oxford (Oxfordshire, England) transmission frequencies change over time?

1950s-80s1984-971997-981998-20112011-132013-182013-1723 May 2018
VHFC/D EC/D EC/D EC/D EC/D E TW TW T
C2BBCtvwaves
C29SDN
C31com7com7
C37com8com8
C41BBCA
C44D3+4
C46_local
C47BBCB
C49tv_offC5wavesC5waves
C50tv_off SDNSDN
C51tv_offLOXLOX
C53tv_offC4wavesC4wavesC4waves+BBCA+BBCA+BBCA
C55tv_offArqBArqBArqBcom7tv_off
C56tv_offCOM8tv_off
C57tv_offBBC1wavesBBC1wavesBBC1wavesBBCBBBCBBBCB
C59tv_off-ArqA-ArqA-ArqA
C60tv_offITVwavesITVwavesITVwaves-D3+4-D3+4-D3+4
C62SDN
C63BBC2wavesBBC2wavesBBC2waves

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 14 Sep 11 and 28 Sep 11.

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

Analogue 1-4 500kW
BBCA, D3+4, BBCB(-7dB) 100kW
SDN, ARQA, ARQB(-10dB) 50kW
Analogue 5(-11dB) 40kW
com8(-14.7dB) 17.1kW
com7(-14.8dB) 16.4kW
Mux 1*, Mux 2*, LOX(-17dB) 10kW
Mux C*, Mux D*(-18dB) 8kW
Mux A*, Mux B*(-19.2dB) 6kW

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

Feb 1956-Jul 1968Associated TeleVision†
Feb 1956-Jul 1968Associated British Corporation◊
Jul 1968-Dec 1981Associated TeleVision
Jan 1982-Dec 2006Central Independent Television
Dec 2006-Feb 2009ITV Thames Valley
Feb 2009-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. Oxford 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
Monday, 17 June 2013
P
Paul
7:50 AM

If the wind and rain make your TV reception worse, are there trees between the transmitter and your aerial? Wet moving leaves can cause problems.
I don't know: what was the line about digital TV providing a superior service [to analogue]? Digital has more channels than analogue and no ghosting, but digital TV's behaviour with a weak signal is more annoying that analogue TV's behaviour.

link to this comment
Paul's 1 post GB flag
Briantist
sentiment_very_satisfiedOwner

8:42 AM

Brennig/Paul: The most common explanation for rain causing degradation to Freeview viewing is that rainwater is getting into the cables.

This can happen if the aerial has been moving around and opened up part of the construction, or - as is more common - the cable has deteriorated.

It's often best to use satellite-grade cable from the aerial to the receiver as this higher quality cable keeps out water much better.

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Briantist's 38,915 posts GB flag
Brennig
6:10 PM

@Paul, @Briantist

Thanks for getting back to me on my gripe.

My aerial is in the loft. There is no external installation.

There are no trees or other objects obstructing line of sight (outside the house).

This is a new (5 year old) house. When I had the aerial checked because of pixelation on the switchover to digital, the installer said I had a strong signal, and he removed the booster. Pixelation stopped, at that stage.

When the picture/sound deteriorated the other day, I had a quick (far from exhaustive) flick around the channels and deterioration was obvious on:
film4
viva
itv4
yesterday
4music

Cheers,

B.

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Brennig's 12 posts GB flag
Dave Lindsay
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

6:23 PM

Brennig: The terrain plot suggests that objects on the ground at High Cogges could be an issue:


Terrain between ( m a.g.l.) and (antenna m a.g.l.) - Optimising UK DTT Freeview and Radio aerial location


Also, what about the industrial estate near to you. Has a building recently gone up, or been modified in some way?

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Dave Lindsay's 5,724 posts GB flag
Friday, 21 June 2013
A
Algy
5:14 PM

We have loss of whole groups of channels when
certain weather conditions occur.
Is it called "inversion"?

Caused by low power on the commercial channels
from Oxford and unless they increase the power it will never get better I am told!

GL544EB; 750' above sea level with new
outside aerial.

link to this comment
Algy's 1 post GB flag
Dave Lindsay
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

6:14 PM

Algy: There is, since switchover, a two-tier terrestrial television transmitter network.

The coverage of the Public Service (PSB) channels (in theory) mirrors that of the former four-channel analogue network.

The Commercial (COM) channels fit in where possible and where the licensees wish to pay for transmitters. The channels/frequencies given to them are re-used in closer proximity than the PSB channels are re-used. Consequently, they are more likely to be limited in their coverage by interference. This is where the signal is present, but that there is another transmitter that is co-channel and so degrading (interfering with) the wanted signal. This is why the transmission power of the COMs is lower than the PSBs.

The Andoversford relay transmitter is co-channel with Oxford's COMs, albeit vertically polarised. Perhaps its signals are carrying further, at times, and this is what's causing your difficulty, although they are on very low power. It might be worth seeing if neighbours have the same issue.

You are, as you say, high up and appear to have quite a clear path to Oxford so the lower power COM channels may be otherwise perfectly adeqate to reach you.

The high ground at Blackheath Clump, north of Burford, is in your first Freznel zone (look it up), as the terrain plot shows:


Terrain between ( m a.g.l.) and (antenna m a.g.l.) - Optimising UK DTT Freeview and Radio aerial location


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Dave Lindsay's 5,724 posts GB flag
Brennig
6:20 PM

@Dave, thanks for getting back to me. No. There's been no development on any estates near me. I don't understand how high ground could affect some channels and not all channels, and even then, only in certain weather conditions, that seems odd to my technical brain.

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Brennig's 12 posts GB flag
A
Algy
sentiment_satisfiedBronze

9:11 PM

Thanks Dave for the explanation however, I wonder if it might be Icomb Hill that is causing the problem.

Algy.

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Algy's 23 posts GB flag
Saturday, 22 June 2013
Dave Lindsay
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

6:36 PM

Algy: Icomb Hill uses different channels to Oxford and therefore couldn't possibly be the issue.

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

6:42 PM

Brennig: The high ground means that you may not have line-of-sight, owing perhaps to objects on the ground. Also, that high ground appears to be in your first Fresnel zone (see the terrain plot and look-up Fresnel Zone).

Different frequencies get refracted to differing degrees due to travelling through objects, hence not all channels are received at exactly the same level even though they are being radiated from the same point.

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Dave Lindsay's 5,724 posts GB flag
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