Freeview Light on the Backwell (North Somerset, England) transmitter
 | Google map |  | Bing map |  | Google Earth |  | 51.441,-2.724 or 51°26'28"N 2°43'25"W |  | BS48 1NY |
The symbol shows the location of the Backwell (North Somerset, England) transmitter which serves 4,600 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 Backwell (North Somerset, England) transmitter._______
Digital television services are broadcast on a multiplexes (or Mux) where many stations occupy a single broadcast frequency, as shown below.
H/V: aerial position (horizontal or vertical)
The Backwell (North Somerset, England) 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 Freeview channels does the Backwell 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 | C25 (506.0MHz) | 125m | DTG- | 19W |
 1 BBC One (SD) West, 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 | C28 (530.0MHz) | 125m | DTG- | 19W |
 3 ITV 1 (SD) (West), 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 (West), | |||||
| PSB3 BBCB | V max | C22 (482.0MHz) | 125m | DTG- | 19W |
 46 5SELECT, 101 BBC One HD West, 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 | |||||
Are you trying to watch these 44 Freeview channels?
The Backwell (North Somerset, England) 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 Backwell transmitter?
BBC Points West 0.9m homes 3.4%
from Bristol BS8 2LR, 8km east-northeast (75°)
to BBC West region - 60 masts.
ITV West Country News (East) 0.9m homes 3.4%
from Bristol BS4 3HG, 11km east (90°)
to ITV West region - 61 masts.
All of lunch, weekend and 50% evening news is shared with West Country (West)
How will the Backwell (North Somerset, England) transmission frequencies change over time?
| 1984-97 | 1997-98 | 1998-2010 | 2010-13 | 5 Jun 2019 | |||||
| A K T | A K T | A K T | A K T | A K T | |||||
| C22 | BBC1waves | BBC1waves | BBC1waves | BBCB | BBCB | ||||
| C25 | ITVwaves | ITVwaves | ITVwaves | BBCA | BBCA | ||||
| C28 | BBC2waves | BBC2waves | BBC2waves | D3+4 | D3+4 | ||||
| C32 | C4waves | C4waves | C4waves |
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 24 Mar 10 and 7 Apr 10.
How do the old analogue and currrent digital signal levels compare?
| Analogue 1-4 | 94W | |
| BBCA, D3+4, BBCB | (-6.9dB) 19W |
Which companies have run the Channel 3 services in the Mendip transmitter area
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Sunday, 14 April 2024
C
Chris.SE3:39 PM
Paul Dursley:
What I'm not certain of, is how effectively the BBC monitor Relay transmitters such as Backwell. Whilst it looks as though it's an off-air feed from Mendip, that could be just a backup now and it could be line fed or microwave link fed, many Relay transmitters have had links updated in recent times, but that doesn't seem to fit with what has been experienced.
The usual source of such information is sites like mb21 where the question has been asked by someone in the past and the information added to the site.
Out of curiosity, have you asked any neighbours if they found a similar/same problem?
Did you manage to have a look at the condition of your coax?
It's worth remembering that there's always the possibility of degradation of your aerial installation - detail not yet discovered, especially as you mentioned variations with weather (which of course could still be a transmitter issue).
If you aerial is a standard Yagi type, such as similar in appearance to -
https://www.blake-uk.com/aerials-tv-yagi/10-element-contract-pcb-balun-group-k-channels-2148.html maybe with a bigger grid and/or longer OR
https://www.blake-uk.com/aerials-tv-yagi/13-ele9-dir-dig-contract-grp-t-f-type-std-s-caiab162-channels-2160.html
then the gain of these aerials drops with the lower channel numbers, so you'd get less signal, and if it was marginal for some reason (a fault on the installation - eg. ingress of rain, later drying out) this might explain the issue.
If at some future date, you find an issue or decide to replace your aerial installation, then I'd consider something like a Group K Log periodic which will have a flat response across the channels Such as -
https://www.blake-uk.com/aerials-tv-log/28-element-log-periodic-group-k-aerial.html
or if higher gain is needed -
https://www.blake-uk.com/aerials-tv-log/56-element-log-periodic-group-k-aerial-new-double-element-design.html
There are some other manufacturers of Group K Log periodic.
What you certainly don't want is a replacement that is a wideband aerial of any type as this leaves you more vulnerable to possible mobile cell interference, should there be more new/upgraded masts in the future (quite possible). Group K is UHF C21-C48. No TV transmitter in the UK uses any channels above C48 which is now for mobile use.
A decent aerial installer should be able to provided such an aerial and install with quality double screened coax.
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Monday, 15 April 2024
P
Paul Dursley6:47 PM
Chris.SE:
Hi Chris thanks for your latest response.
I have a pretty standard Yagi style aerial - nothing special.
I've checked as much of the coaxial cable as I can get to including in the loft and it all seems pretty good - no obvious signs of distress or damp on it. Of course I haven't been able to get onto the roof and check at the aerial itself so that remains an unknown in terms of condition.
I think I'm the only one around here locally who has Luddite tendencies and is still using Freeview terrestrial TV. Did check with the local TV shop/installer who said that he had had nobody complaining of a lost terrestrial signal but that probably means not may people are relying solely on terrestrial TV.
I may just consider a new aerial installation and use manual tuning only to get the Backwell signals. However this will mean the loss of some channels I watch quite a bit but come in from Wenvoe.
Presumably there isn't an issue realigning/polarising the existing aerial to Wenvoe and adding a new Group K Log periodic for Backwell and splicing the cables before the wall plate.
It's either that or I may bite the bullet and plump for a Freesat installation!
Any thoughts?
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Tuesday, 16 April 2024
C
Chris.SE2:50 PM
Paul Dursley:
Hi Paul. I'm surprised none of your neighbours watch the Freeview HD channels (if they have aerials pointing at Backwell, and you can't be that much of a luddite if you have an HD TV :)
You could certainly contemplate two aerials BUT you cannot just "splice" the two cables together, they need to be combined properly - these days usually by using a splitter in reverse AND it would need to be a low insertion loss splitter (I'll comment more later). Whilst I don't think I'd be concerned about the Wenvoe signal, you Backwell one may not be quite strong enough, so either a bit of experimentation is needed or some professional checking with a proper professional signal strength meter.
You might not need an aerial pointing at Wenvoe if the signal received of the side of the Backwell aerial is strong enough, as you no doubt have done, you can manually tune the Wenvoe channels you want.
Something else I've not asked, is the TV the only thing connected to the wallplate or does the signal route via a PVR/VHS recorder or similar?
If yes, and the latter, does it have an RF output and what channel is it set to (even if you don't use the RF)?
If you have any HDMI cables, keep them as far away as possible from aerial cables as they have been known to cause interference.
If the signal does route via other equipment, check the signal strength and quality of the multiplexes and then plug the aerial direct to the TV and repeat the measurements.
How many elements (rods & dipole and grid(?) does your aerial have?
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Wednesday, 17 April 2024
P
Paul Dursley5:41 PM
Chris.SE:
Hi Chris - the neighbours I talk with went to satellite pretty quickly on moving here (a new build estate) given the poor Freeview TV selection from Backwell. Most recently satellite is being dropped in favour of internet TV now that we have a decent fibre optic connection. Seems its more reliable than than satellite apparently.
There are no other components between the aerial and the TV so nothing getting in the way there.
The aerial itself is 12 element, rounded dipole (not plate type) and single plate type reflector vertically polarised.
The Backwell signal strength vs insertion loss with a splitter might well be a problem. I think the splitters are cheap enough so I could insert one inline between the wall plate and the TV then check signal strength on the TV set up page(s).
As for having an HD TV, it was all I could get - they were sold out of the Black & White analogue ones!
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Thursday, 18 April 2024
C
Chris.SE1:53 PM
Paul Dursley:
This is the sort of splitter you need, not the cheap ones with a plastic body -
https://www.screwfix.com/…4534
if you have a Screwfix within easy reach, Or for example -
eBay item number:37223707416 OR eBay item number:276418817108
BUT unless you've got another device to connect to the 2nd port you may have a mismatch which could introduce misleading figures.
You'd be better experimenting with an attenuator. And having had a look around I see there are some real rip-off prices being charged for say a 3dB coax attenuator, so unless your local TV/aerial shop has one real cheap, I'd suggest you get one of these, plenty of scope for experimenting -
Close
OR eBay item number:330646460117
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C
Chris.SE1:58 PM
Paul Dursley:
Apologies that Screwfix item may be the wrong connectors but worth a look as I know they got descriptions wrong before. It looks correct with coax, I missed the description.
https://www.screwfix.com/…4534
BUT the description mentions F-connectors. There are others, if it is the wrong type.
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C
Chris.SE2:05 PM
Paul Dursley:
Sorry, I'm not doing very well today! I think I'll go back to bed!!
The first eBay attenuator number has a digit missing, it should be item number 372237074168
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Friday, 19 April 2024
P
Paul Dursley1:13 PM
Chris.SE:
Splitter on the way - won't turn up until midweek next week....
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