menuMENU    UK Free TV logo Freeview

 

 

Click to see updates

Full Freeview on the Waltham (Leicestershire, England) transmitter

first published this on - UK Free TV
sa_streetviewGoogle Streetviewsa_gmapsGoogle mapsa_bingBing mapsa_gearthGoogle Earthsa_gps52.801,-0.801 or 52°48'4"N 0°48'5"Wsa_postcodeLE14 4AJ

 

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
_______

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
Saturday, 6 July 2013
J
jb38
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

1:50 PM

MikeB: Re: Samsung BD-E8900 HD problem, many thanks for your confirmation on the issue of the tuner as I did note you mention in your original reply to MikeB as having had dealings with these models in one way or another, this being in contrast to myself who has not.

I fully agree with that said in the last paragraph of your posting, as on having read a few reports from owners of these devices they certainly seem to attract complaints.

link to this comment
jb38's 7,179 posts GB flag
Monday, 8 July 2013
T
Thomas
6:35 PM
Leicester

What's happening with the WMC issue not picking up the 738MHz multiplexer which includes e4 ITV etc.

link to this comment
Thomas's 3 posts GB flag
Thomas's: mapT's Freeview map terrainT's terrain plot wavesT's frequency data T's Freeview Detailed Coverage
J
John
10:40 PM

Hi Thomas,

You've been lurking, hoping for a solution :-)

No such luck I'm afraid. I took the matter up with ITV, pointing them to this forum and the number of people complaining. After completing some requested detail I received a response today. The interesting bit reads:

Quote
The mast operator is reporting no issues with the signal from Waltham and I can confirm that we have received no similar complaints from viewers.

As you suspect, this does appear to be a specific issue with your own equipment and I can only suggest that you contact your service supplier to see if they have a solution. Please be assured, however, that I have passed your details to our Infrastructure team and if they have any information for you I will be in touch again.
End quote..

For 'issue with your equipment' read Windows Media Centre and for 'service supplier', (given the information I gave them) they can only mean Microsoft... From Stef's email above (4 July) 'Please await until Microsoft release new update for this issue.'

Or everyone could email ITV on viewerservices@itv.com


link to this comment
John's 20 posts GB flag
Tuesday, 9 July 2013
C
Carl
7:36 AM

I live in Duffield, Derbyshire and use the Waltham transmitter. Have lost all Freeview services overnight on both TVs, and noticed that the repeater aerials in Derbyshire are all operating on reduced power, yet it shows no Engineering work or faults on Waltham. Is anyone else suffering also ? Have they reduced the signal strength at Waltham ?

link to this comment
Carl's 4 posts EU flag
T
Thomas
10:02 AM

For the WMC users that are having problems with the waltham transmitter, i have managed to tune the PSB2 channels to the Belmont tansmitter ie. 506MHz for those channels as i had around 56% signal strength (I live in central leicester). You could always point your aerial to the sutton transmitter aswell and that should bring back those channels.

link to this comment
Thomas's 3 posts GB flag
J
John Pilkington
11:36 AM

John: I have emailed as you suggested, with the stream info from my post of 24 June. I've had an auto-reply.

link to this comment
John Pilkington's 15 posts GB flag
S
Stuart
11:22 PM
Loughborough

Dominic, you can't be the only compliant because I followed the links you gave to complain too. /the swift response amounted to get lost and take it up with microsoft (its their software that is not freeview compliant). I had already logged an issue with microsoft who told me since it was a frequency change that caused the issue that the broadcaster is at fault.

This is really annoying because I can now get itv1 on HD but not on SD and HD is not compatible with our extenders! also we cannot get Five at all.

If someone out there has an answer or work around please post it. If the broadcasters or Microsoft is listening please fix the situation. Either party must be able to remedy the issue because everything worked flawlessly before the retune was required.

Here's hoping this get resolved swiftly.

link to this comment
Stuart's 4 posts GB flag
Stuart's: mapS's Freeview map terrainS's terrain plot wavesS's frequency data S's Freeview Detailed Coverage
J
jb38
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

11:40 PM

John: I have been following this WMC / tuning stick saga right from the very start and noting all that has been said, but though the one main thing that really stands out is the absence of any reception tests having being made from another station that also operates with one of its multiplex channels transmitting on a negative offset frequency such as in the case of Waltham's PSB2, as although this transmitter is being singled out by WMC users as somehow being defective its certainly not as a far as Freeview branded devices are concerned as witnessed by no complaints whatsoever have been made from any viewers of Waltham's ITV1 on mux Ch54 irrespective of what type of Freeview TV or box is being used, and indeed I even coupled up an old Vestel chassis PVR that's known to be highly critical of negative offset channels and yet no adverse results were observed on it after having been retuned.

This being the case, then dependant on your particular location within the Vale of Belvoir as I realise that this covers a very large area, but should you be located where Belmont can be received then purely for purposes of elimination (of thoughts on the matter) I would be most interested to know the results if you tuned in Belmont's mux Ch30 on 545.8Mhz or alternatively mux Ch60 on 785.8Mhz, both these transmitters having a negative offset on the standard frequency that's officially associated with the channel number, the offset being a variation of the norm which on modern Freeview devices is adequately catered for by the tuners automatic frequency control (AFC) range, a facility which "might" not be incorporated in the circuitry used on some of these tuner sticks albeit with this being impossible to verify this either way, and simply because detailed technical information or a schematic diagram of the tuners circuitry is not obtainable.

Another aspect I would have liked to have been able to check concerns the scanning system used by the tuner in these sticks, the reason for saying this being that just because a tuner allows you to enter the exact offset frequency its not by any means a guarantee that when the scan "is actually taking place" that the tuner is scanning the offset frequency that has been entered and has not just defaulted to the frequency that's officially listed as associated with the channel number (as happens on some devices) which if it does could explain why the notching up / down on a blank screens EPG channel then back onto the one that's required can sometimes result in a picture being seen, this being a classic symptom of a tuner not latching onto a frequency due to its AFC circuitry being on the tight side.

Still that's beside the point, as it all depends on the results obtained from scanning Belmont's Ch30 or Ch60, although it does have to be said that although these two Belmont muxes are transmitting with negative offsets of the standard frequency, they are not technically identical to Waltham's PSB2 in other respects.

link to this comment
jb38's 7,179 posts GB flag
Wednesday, 10 July 2013
I
Ian from notts
sentiment_satisfiedSilver

7:04 AM
Bakewell

Briantist- Although I was never confident in the advice, I was under the impression that Atmospherics wouldn't affect Digital signals?
Freeview boxes in the NG16 / DE55 region on Waltham picked up BBC London or BBC Cambs and Berks yesterday !!

link to this comment
Ian from notts's 253 posts GB flag
Ian's: mapI's Freeview map terrainI's terrain plot wavesI's frequency data I's Freeview Detailed Coverage
C
Clive Johnson
10:45 AM
Leicester

Like Carl, yesterday, Tuesday 9th.July, at breakfast time, we had no Freeview signal from Waltham on any channel. This was the case with two independent receivers from two separate aerials. The night before everything was perfect. Later, mid-morning, everything was back to normal. We had not done anything to cause this.

There were "no reported problems." How come no-one else has reported this including Waltham?

link to this comment
Clive Johnson's 18 posts GB flag
Clive's: mapC's Freeview map terrainC's terrain plot wavesC's frequency data C's Freeview Detailed Coverage
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.