Full Freeview on the Rowridge (Isle Of Wight, England) transmitter
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The symbol shows the location of the Rowridge (Isle Of Wight, England) transmitter which serves 620,000 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 Rowridge (Isle Of Wight, England) mast?
Rowridge transmitter - Rowridge transmitter: Possible effect on TV reception week commencing 29/04/2024 Screen may go black on some or all channels 
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Digital television services are broadcast on a multiplexes (or Mux) where many stations occupy a single broadcast frequency, as shown below.
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 Freeview channels does the Rowridge 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.
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 Rowridge transmitter?
BBC South Today 1.3m homes 4.9%
from Southampton SO14 7PU, 26km north (354°)
to BBC South region - 39 masts.
ITV Meridian News 0.9m homes 3.6%
from Whiteley PO15 7AD, 24km north-northeast (20°)
to ITV Meridian (South Coast) region - 39 masts.
All of lunch, weekend and 50% evening news is shared with all of Meridian plus Oxford
Are there any self-help relays?
| Portsmouth Docks | Transposer | 2 km N city centre | 50 homes Estimate. Group of houses' |
How will the Rowridge (Isle Of Wight, England) transmission frequencies change over time?
| 1950s-80s | 1984-97 | 1997-98 | 1998-2012 | 2012-13 | 2 May 2018 | ||||
| VHF | A K T | A K T | A K T | A K T | W T | ||||
| C3 | BBCtvwaves | ||||||||
| C21 | C4waves | C4waves | C4waves | +BBCB | BBCB | ||||
| C22 | +ArqA | ArqA | |||||||
| C24 | BBC2waves | BBC2waves | BBC2waves | BBCA | BBCA | ||||
| C25 | SDN | SDN | |||||||
| C27 | ITVwaves | ITVwaves | ITVwaves | D3+4 | D3+4 | ||||
| C28 | ArqB | ArqB | |||||||
| C29 | LSO | ||||||||
| C31 | BBC1waves | BBC1waves | BBC1waves | com7 | |||||
| C37 | com8 | ||||||||
| C55tv_off | com7tv_off | ||||||||
| C56tv_off | COM8tv_off |
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 7 Mar 12 and 21 Mar 12.
How do the old analogue and currrent digital signal levels compare?
| Analogue 1-4 | 500kW | |
| PSB1||, PSB1≡, PSB2||, PSB2≡, PSB3||, PSB3≡ | (-4dB) 200kW | |
| COM4≡, COM4||, COM5≡, COM5||, COM6≡, COM6|| | (-10dB) 50kW | |
| com7≡ | (-13.1dB) 24.4kW | |
| Mux 1*, Mux 2*, Mux A*, Mux B*, Mux C*, Mux D* | (-14dB) 20kW | |
| com8≡ | (-14.3dB) 18.4kW | |
| LSO≡ | (-17dB) 10kW |
Local transmitter maps
Rowridge Freeview Rowridge DAB Rowridge TV region BBC South Meridian (South Coast micro region)Which companies have run the Channel 3 services in the Rowridge transmitter area
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Friday, 22 June 2012
T
Tim Collins11:09 AM
Brighton
Hello,
I'm hoping that somebody can shed some light on our occasionally serious Freeview reception problems...
To set the scene (with due apologies for any lack of tech-savvy!) we're in Brighton with a roof-mounted, powered-aerial supplying several RF points around the house. The aerial receives its signal from the Rowridge transmitter, signal from the nearby Whitehawk Hill transmitter being blocked from us by a high-rise building.
Switchover happened in March and generally speaking signal quality massively improved prior to switchover it was so bad that I had to contact Digital UK to ask whether things would get better. However, occasionally we suffer from pixelation and drop-outs, and recently these have become so severe that watching television at these times is impossible.
When I look at the Rowridge transmitter's performance (when I can understand it) it always seems to be working normally, and in posting a message on the BBC's Reception Problems website, their comments in reply were solely aimed at my equipment. So presumably it's not the transmitter but rather something at my end?
We're using two of our RF points with (1) a Freeview TV and (2) a Sharp Freeview+ twin-tuner and a Panasonic DVDR. When the signal breaks up, it breaks up across everything.
Given that we've now had three instances of severe reception problems across the last fortnight I'm trying to identify possible causes, and if all the FV boxes are affected but the transmitter is AOK, then I'm guessing it must be our aerial? But we're talking an intermittent problem...
Given problems on the 7th June prompting my BBC web posting and their reply I've come over all train-spottery and I've started to log what's going on. Signal was appalling Sat 16 June between 20.00 & 22.00 when it was windy, but fine from 22.00 when the wind dropped to gusty, though patchy in the afternoon when it was sunny with a light wind. We suffered minor pixelation on 18/6 when there was no wind and the weather was fine. 21/6 was very windy and we lost signal between 19.30 and 22.15, after which the wind dropped a little and the signal was fine.
So is this wind-related? I can see that the aerial-pole is flexing in the wind, but they all are! Is wind-based aerial movement enough to wreck digital signal reception?
Your thoughts and suggestions would be most welcome.
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Tim's: mapT's Freeview map terrainT's terrain plot wavesT's frequency data T's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Tim Collins: The first thing to do is check that your receivers are tuned (on all channels) to Rowridge, and not another transmitter such as Whitehawk. Being tuned to another transmitter could cause such intermittent reception as the aerial will be pointing the wrong way for signals being received. If this is the case, and you are relying on a tree to reflect the signal back to you, then when the wind blows the tree moves and hence affects your reflected signal.
Refer to this page for a list of multiplexes and services carried on them (those with a bullet in the "E"/England column): DMOL Post-DSO Multiplex Channel Allocations
There are six multiplexes, so check one service from each to see what UHF channel (frequency) it is tuned to. (Previous analogue used one UHF channel per service.) Do this by bringing up the signal strength screen whilst on the service in question.
PSB1 | BBC One | RR=C24 | WH=C60
PSB2 | ITV1 | RR=C27 | WH=C53
PSB3 | BBC One HD | RR=C21 | WH=C51
COM4 | ITV3 | RR=C25 | WH=C57
COM5 | Pick TV | RR=C22 | WH=C56
COM6 | Yesterday | RR=C28 | WH=C48
RR=Rowridge, WH=Whitehawk
For example, go to ITV3 (number 10) and bring up the signal strength screen. It should say that you are tuned to C25 for Rowridge, but will be C57 if it's coming from Whitehawk.
If it turns out that you were tuned to Whitehawk for all or some multiplexes, and these were the ones causing the difficulty, then put the poor reception you experienced down to being tuned to the wrong transmitter.
Because Rowridge channels are low (in the 20s) and Whitehawk's are high (50s and 60), you can unplug the aerial lead at 30% through the automatic tuning scan to miss out Whitehawk.
If you were tuned to Rowridge whilst experiencing poor reception, then this could perhaps be co-channel interference from a transmitter on the Continent. In the days of analogue it was clear to see that another signal was interfering. When particularly bad, the other picture would be imposed over the one you're wanting to receive.
With digital, all you get is nothing. You "may" find that, where the signal strength screen indicates strength and quality, that you have a signal that is as strong as it is normally (might be worth making a note of strength on each multiplex when it's OK so you can compare) but with poor quality.
If the problem is on the COM multiplexes, then switching your aerial to vertical might help. Indeed, the likelihood of co-channel interference could be reduced where the interfering station broadcasts only horizontally.
Rowridge is the only main station that broadcasts horizontally and vertically. The horizontal component is primarily so as to work with existing aerials.
The PSBs are at a power of 200kW horizontally and vertically, whereas COMs are 50kW horizontally and 200kW vertically. One of the possibilities is that the marked difference in strength could be desensitising your receiver (so as to make it less sensitive to the weaker signals). For example, if your receiver is tuned to ITV3 on C25, it is therefore "looking" at C25. On C24 is a much stronger signal. When outside at night, and car headlights shine towards you, your eyes become less sensitive and therefore you are less able to see the darker surroundings until the car passes. This is obviously only a possible issue with receiving the three COMs from Rowridge.
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A
ajsrdg8:06 PM
Re "Do you want to change to HD event?"
See:
https://www.sony-europe.c…6514
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Saturday, 23 June 2012
T
Tim Collins11:43 AM
Brighton
Dave, thanks for your detailed reply.
Your explanation of multiplexes and the reduction to 6 representative UHF channels is very good and I can almost say that, for now, I get it!
I've taken a look at all three FV tuners to determine what UHF channels I'm getting. The TV is next to impossible to fathom, but the FV+ box and the DVDR are much easier to read, though they're offering slightly different strength and quality info...
Here's what the DVD reports...
MUX | Channel | UHF | strength | quality
PSB1 | BBC ONE | 24 | 10 | 10
PSB2 | ITV1 | 27 | 10 | 10
PSB3 | BBC1HD | | |
COM4 | ITV3 | 25 | 10 | 7
COM5 | Pick TV | 22 | 10 | 7
COM6 | Yesterday | 28 | 10 | 7
FYI, here's what the FV+ says
PSB1 | BBC ONE | 24 | 9 | 8
PSB2 | ITV1 | 27 | 9 | 8
COM4 | ITV3 | 25 | 8 | 8
COM5 | Pick TV | 22(+1) | 7 | 7/8
COM6 | Yesterday | 28 | 8 | 8
So this confirms that we're tuned to Rowridge. As this is effectively a problem free moment I'll save these numbers and see how they compare when we suffer issues.
It's interesting that you mention cross-channel interference back in the analogue days we did suffer occasional ghosting, though I was never able to work out what might be appearing or where from...
Looking at what you've said whilst the problem may be interference, without knowing what station is interfering, in order to confirm their horizontal or vertical broadcasting, my switching to a vertical aerial may not necessarily fix the problem? Or have I got that wrong?
Reflection? That sounds like a can of worms!
I'd appreciate hearing your thoughts now we're a little clearer on where my signal is coming from.
Thanks again...
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Tim's: mapT's Freeview map terrainT's terrain plot wavesT's frequency data T's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Tim Collins: We can't be totally sure that this is co-channel interference. Even if the interfering signal were to be strong enough to show a picture, it won't because your receiver is waiting for the signal from Rowridge.
If you are tempted to rescan, then you "might" find a foreign multiplex on the channel that you are having difficulty. Obviously retuning isn't advised in such circumstances as it will leave you without the receiver tuned to what you want, so it's up to you.
The thing with inversion is that it isn't that the signal travels further, but that the signal which normally goes up into space gets bounced back down to earth:
High pressure causing channel loss through "Inversion" | ukfree.tv - independent free digital TV advice
This page might be of interest:
Rowridge Transmitter
This PDF lists transmitters in France:
http://tvignaud.pagespers….pdf
Most are horizontally polarised and those that are vertically polarised are low power ones, so won't be an issue with inversion. The "PAR" column gives the power in kW. R1 through to R6 and L8 are the multiplexes.
Having your aerial vertically polarised should help "rejection" of interfering horizontal signals.
Obviously get in a professional or at least someone who is proficient in going on the roof safely.
The reflection I was thinking of was that of Whitehawk, perhaps on another building reflecting back to your aerial (which faces the other way), although I said that without thinking that Whitehawk is vertical only and your aerial is horizontal, so that's unlikely.
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Sunday, 24 June 2012
Good post! The transmitter engineering works really impressed me much. I think it will help in detection of place, humidity, temperature etc. These information's are much needed for me. Thanks for the allocation. :lol:
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Monday, 25 June 2012
ROWRIDGE transmitter - Freeview HD Digital TV Off Air from 09:50 on 20 Jun to 09:56 on 20 Jun [BBC]
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ROWRIDGE transmitter - Freeview HD Digital TV Off Air from 09:50 on 20 Jun to 09:56 on 20 Jun [BBC]
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ROWRIDGE transmitter - Freeview HD Digital TV Off Air from 09:50 on 20 Jun to 09:56 on 20 Jun [BBC] Over the next week Rowridge main transmitter: TV (digital) Liable to interruption, Radio (analogue) Possible weak signal, Radio (digital) working normally. [DUK]
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ROWRIDGE transmitter - Freeview HD Digital TV Off Air from 09:50 on 20 Jun to 09:56 on 20 Jun [BBC] Over the next week Rowridge main transmitter: TV (digital) Liable to interruption, Radio (analogue) Possible weak signal, Radio (digital) working normally. [DUK]
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