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Full Freeview on the Pontop Pike (County Durham, England) transmitter

first published this on - UK Free TV
sa_streetviewGoogle Streetviewsa_gmapsGoogle mapsa_bingBing mapsa_gearthGoogle Earthsa_gps54.868,-1.771 or 54°52'5"N 1°46'15"Wsa_postcodeDH9 9AT

 

The symbol shows the location of the Pontop Pike (County Durham, England) transmitter which serves 700,000 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 Pontop Pike (County Durham, England) mast?

Pontop Pike transmitter - Pontop Pike 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 Pontop Pike 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
C39 (618.0MHz)447mDTG-100,000W
Channel icons
1 BBC One (SD) North East and Cumbria, 2 BBC Two England, 9 BBC Four, 23 BBC Three, 201 CBBC, 202 CBeebies, 231 BBC News, 232 BBC Parliament, plus 16 others

PSB2
D3+4
 H max
C42 (642.0MHz)447mDTG-100,000W
Channel icons
3 ITV 1 (SD) (Tyne Tees), 4 Channel 4 (SD) North ads, 5 Channel 5, 6 ITV 2, 10 ITV3, 13 E4, 14 Film4, 15 Channel 4 +1 North ads, 18 More4, 26 ITV4, 28 ITVBe, 30 E4 +1, 35 ITV1 +1 (Tyne Tees),

PSB3
BBCB
 H max
C45 (666.0MHz)447mDTG-100,000W
Channel icons
46 5SELECT, 101 BBC One HD North East and Cumbria, 102 BBC Two HD England, 103 ITV 1 HD (ITV Granada), 104 Channel 4 HD North 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
C32 (562.0MHz)447mDTG-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
C34 (578.0MHz)447mDTG-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
C35 (586.0MHz)447mDTG-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

LNE
 H -13dB
C33 (570.0MHz)447mDTG-125,000W
Channel icons
from 22nd September 2014: 7 Made in Tyne and Wear,

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 Pontop Pike transmitter?

regional news image
BBC Look North (Newcastle) 1.6m homes 6.0%
from Newcastle NE99 2NE, 15km northeast (42°)
to BBC North East and Cumbria region - 70 masts.
regional news image
ITV Tyne Tees News 1.4m homes 5.4%
from Gateshead NE11 9SZ, 12km north-northeast (29°)
to ITV Tyne Tees region - 47 masts.
All of lunch, weekend and 50% evening news is shared with Border

Are there any self-help relays?

Kieldor DamActive deflector6 homes Holiday complex
Low HaberActive deflectorWest Allen Dale, 18 kn SW Hexham caravan site
North HartlepoolTransposer84 homes

How will the Pontop Pike (County Durham, England) transmission frequencies change over time?

1950s-80s1984-971997-981998-20122012-1313 Nov 2019
VHFC/D EC/D EC/D EC/D E TW T
C5BBCtvwaves
C32SDN
C33com7
C34com8
C35ArqB
C39BBCA
C42D3+4
C45BBCB
C49tv_offBBCB
C50tv_offSDN
C54tv_offC4wavesC4wavesC4wavesD3+4
C55tv_offArqBcom7tv_off
C56tv_offLNE
C58tv_offBBC1wavesBBC1wavesBBC1wavesBBCA
C59tv_offArqA
C61ITVwavesITVwavesITVwaves
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 12 Sep 12 and 26 Sep 12.

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
com8(-11.6dB) 34.6kW
com7(-11.7dB) 33.8kW
Mux 1*, Mux 2*, Mux A*, Mux B*, Mux C*, Mux D*(-17dB) 10kW
LNE(-20dB) 5kW

Which companies have run the Channel 3 services in the Pontop Pike transmitter area

Jan 1959-Feb 2004Tyne Tees 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. Pontop Pike 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, 1 December 2012
L
Les Waters
3:16 PM

NE51YP
I live to the West of Newcastle and have my aerial pointed to Pontop Pike. I can receive all ordinary TV channels on my Freeview TV except the HD ones, these I understand can be found on channel 49. However, on autoscan or indeed a manual scan I cannot receive any HD channels. Is it a problem with my TV? I have already tried a factory reset but this has not changed anything.

link to this comment
Les Waters's 2 posts GB flag
Dave Lindsay
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

3:23 PM

Les Waters: The most common answer to this sort of question is that the TV does not have a DVB-T2 tuner in which is the format HD signals use. Standard definition pictures in the UK are broadcast using DVB-T.

What is the model number? We can check the specifications.

link to this comment
Dave Lindsay's 5,724 posts GB flag
Monday, 3 December 2012
L
Les Waters
9:18 AM

It is a Samsung LE37B551A6WQXU marked as HDTV 1080P. Surely if it is badged as such it has a DVB-T2 tuner.

Many thanks for your prompt reply.

link to this comment
Les Waters's 2 posts GB flag
Dave Lindsay
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

11:01 AM

Les Waters: It appears that this model does not contain a DVB-T2 tuner.

The user manual is here:

http://downloadcenter.sam….pdf

The only mention of "DVB" is on page 2 under the heading "Digital TV Notice". No mention is made of DVB-T2 - only DVB-T does. It states that the set meets the standards of DVB-T as at August 2008.

According to Wikipedia, DVB-T2 prototype tuners were demonstrated in September 2008, so therefore DVB-T2 didn't exist (or certainly wasn't finalised) when the TV was designed.

DVB-T2 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

link to this comment
Dave Lindsay's 5,724 posts GB flag
Monday, 17 December 2012
N
Nick Hayes
11:09 PM
Durham

My mother has lost ITV3 since the final retune in October 2012. It was her favourite channel. She lives at DH1 3DB and has a shared aerial so there is no opportunity for moving it. No-one else seems to have a problem with this channel which seems to come from Pontop Pike. Any suggestions?

link to this comment
Nick Hayes's 2 posts GB flag
Nick's: mapN's Freeview map terrainN's terrain plot wavesN's frequency data N's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Tuesday, 18 December 2012
J
jb38
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

12:22 AM

Nick Hayes: This could suggest that your mothers TV or box has tuned to the local (very, less than 1 mile) Durham relay and which as a PSB only station does not transmit commercial channels.

The problem is that the usual procedure of removing the aerial connector during an auto tune then reconnecting it at a certain point along the scale might not work at your mothers location, as the gap between the channels used by Durham and Pontop Pike are too close for accuracy, but if all other channels are coming in OK then it might be possible just to add ITV3 by going into the tuning menu / manual tune selecting and then scanning on mux Ch50, this being used by a number of different programme operators, although to test if this is already stored see if you can receive EPG Ch38 Quest, as Quest uses the same multiplex as ITV3.

Further info dependant on results.



link to this comment
jb38's 7,179 posts GB flag
N
Nick Hayes
12:54 PM

Many thanks for your very useful comments.

Unfortunately my mother is in Durham and I am in London so this will have to wait until the Christmas visit next week. So that I have all I need, can I ask:

1. is there any reason why a 2012 Samsung 323" LED set would not offer manual tuning?

2. do I only need to know that I am tuning to mux Ch50 or are there other details I need, eg frequency, ....?

Crystal Palace seems very easy, and Sky even more so!

Best wishes.

NH

link to this comment
Nick Hayes's 2 posts GB flag
Friday, 4 January 2013
K
keith
3:32 PM
Blaydon-on-tyne

i am debating whether to opt for a indoor aerial for my kids bedroom instead of tapping into the outdoor aerial just for ease, do you know the signal stength for ne21 5ey thanks

link to this comment
keith's 1 post GB flag
keith's: mapK's Freeview map terrainK's terrain plot wavesK's frequency data K's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Dave Lindsay
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

4:09 PM

keith: Whilst there should always be caution with an indoor aerial, and you should not take anything for granted, it would appear that you are in an excellent signal area.

Bear in mind that objects reduce and refract signals, so if your son's room is on the side of the house that faces away from the transmitter, then you would be receiving the signal that has come through more bricks and morter and reflections from other buildings.

Fenham would appear to be the best at your location, although if that doesn't work, it appears that Pontop Pike might be worth a shot.

I went on Google Streetview and placed myself on Pickering Drive and looked in the direction of Fenham. It would appear that the transmitter is visible on the horizon:

NE21 5EY - Google Maps

I have one of these Labgear aerials that I use when a fixed aerial isn't available (other suppliers are available):

SLx Indoor Digital Aerial ANR310 UHF DAB Fully Flexible Caravan Motorhome | eBay

For Fenham it should be set vertically (the photo shows it almost vertical). The narrower end, where the cable is attached, should be directed at the transmitter.

Ideally, before you connect the aerial to the TV in order to site it, you need the TV tuned. If your roof-top aerial points to Fenham, then use it to tune in the TV. Ensure that all channels are tuned correctly to Fenham (so you aren't unwittingly receiving from another transmitter). Do this by viewing the strength screen whilst on each of the following and checking that the tuned UHF channel is correct:

PSB1 - BBC One - C27
PSB2 - ITV1 - C24
PSB3 (if applicable) - BBC One HD - C21
COM4 - ITV3 - C25
COM5 - Pick TV - C22
COM6 - Film4 - C28

If you try Pontop Pike, then the aerial will need to be set horizontally. The channel numbers for it are shown at the top of this page.

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Dave Lindsay's 5,724 posts GB flag
Monday, 7 January 2013
D
David Cook
6:19 PM

Location:- Chester le Street
Transmitter:- Pontop Pike
I am experiencing "drop outs" ( 1 to 2 seconds) in TV and Radio reception at various times of the day on 3 TV,s all with their own Aerial. My Ext.hard drive recorder shows a signal strength of 72% (whatever this means) Any Help PLEASE???

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David Cook's 1 post GB flag
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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.

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