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Full Freeview on the Tacolneston (Norfolk, England) transmitter

first published this on - UK Free TV
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The symbol shows the location of the Tacolneston (Norfolk, England) transmitter which serves 330,000 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 Tacolneston (Norfolk, England) mast?

Tacolneston transmitter - Tacolneston 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
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Which Freeview channels does the Tacolneston 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
C40- (625.8MHz)263mDTG-100,000W
Channel icons
1 BBC One (SD) East, 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
C43- (649.8MHz)263mDTG-100,000W
Channel icons
3 ITV 1 (SD) (Anglia (East 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 (Anglia east),

PSB3
BBCB
 H max
C46 (674.0MHz)263mDTG-100,000W
Channel icons
46 5SELECT, 101 BBC One HD East, 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

COM4
SDN
 H max
C42 (642.0MHz)263mDTG-8100,000W
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 max
C45 (666.0MHz)246mDTG-8100,000W
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 max
C39+ (618.2MHz)246mDTG-8100,000W
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

LNR
 H -10dB
C32 (562.0MHz)263mDTG-1210,000W
Channel icons
7 Mustard,

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 Tacolneston transmitter?

regional news image
BBC Look East (East) 0.8m homes 3.2%
from Norwich NR2 1BH, 16km northeast (37°)
to BBC East region - 27 masts.
70% of BBC East (East) and BBC East (West) is shared output
regional news image
ITV Anglia News 0.8m homes 3.2%
from NORWICH NR1 3JG, 16km northeast (38°)
to ITV Anglia (East) region - 26 masts.
All of lunch, weekend and 80% evening news is shared with Anglia (West)

Are there any self-help relays?

Gt YarmouthTransposer1 km S town centre30 homes
Lowestoft (2)TransposerRotterdam Rd125 homes

How will the Tacolneston (Norfolk, England) transmission frequencies change over time?

1950s-80s1984-971997-981998-20112011-132013-182013-1717 Jul 2018
VHFC/D EC/D EC/D EEE TW TW T
C3BBCtvwaves
C31com7com7
C32_local
C37com8com8
C39 +ArqB+ArqBArqB
C40BBCA
C42SDNSDNSDNSDN
C43D3+4
C45ArqAArqAArqAArqA
C46BBCB
C50tv_off BBCBBBCB
C52tv_offC5wavesC5waves
C55tv_offBBC2wavesBBC2wavesBBC2waves-BBCA-BBCA-BBCAcom7tv_off
C56tv_offCOM8tv_off
C57tv_offLNRLNR
C59tv_offITVwavesITVwavesITVwaves-D3+4-D3+4-D3+4
C62BBC1wavesBBC1wavesBBC1wavesBBCB
C65C4wavesC4wavesC4waves

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 9 Nov 11 and 23 Nov 11.

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

Analogue 1-4 250kW
SDN, ARQA, ARQB, BBCA, D3+4, BBCB(-4dB) 100kW
com7(-9.6dB) 27.4kW
com8(-10.2dB) 24kW
Mux 1*, Mux 2*, LNR(-14dB) 10kW
Mux A*, Mux B*, Mux C*, Mux D*(-17dB) 5kW
Analogue 5(-18dB) 4kW

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

Oct 1959-Feb 2004Anglia 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. Tacolneston 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, 14 November 2016
T
Terry Hall
5:53 PM

Recently my signal strength on CH50 from the Tacolneston transmitter varies between weak and absent. All 5 of the other channels register almost 100%. Today I have had a new Labgear LAB450T high gain aerial fitted on a mast clamped to the chimney breast. I live at one of the highest points in Lowestoft, where reception is generally very good. My aerial is fed directly to a TVonics DTR HD-500 PVR. This is connected to the TV via high quality HDMI cable. I don't have any devices that output a UHF signal. I have manually tuned the receiver to avoid picking up any channels from thenearby local transmitter at Lowestoft College. The new aerial has 4G filtering so this rules out any issues there. I don't know what more I can do. Is anyone else having the same problem or know of any reason for this.

link to this comment
Terry Hall's 7 posts GB flag
J
jb38
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

8:50 PM

Terry Hall : The HD reception problem referred to could possibly be caused by one of two reasons, as HD reception is far more vulnerable to being interfered with over that of SD.

1: The HDMI lead referred to being positioned too close to the aerial cable, as radiation from an HDMI lead can interfere with digital reception, said interference being of a selective nature by blocking one single Mux whilst others are unaffected, best keep a minimum of about six inches clearance between HDMI and coax cables.

2: And a more frequent cause of HD reception problems, that of the signal level being excessively high for the DVB-T2 (HD) side of the tuner, as instability resulting from a slightly "over the top" signal level can either completely block HD reception, or alternatively varying levels of intermittent reception, the only way to find out if this is applicable or not in your particular case being to try installing a signal attenuator (around 6 - 9dB) in-line with the coax going into your PVR's aerial socket.

Another point to note, being that the signal strength indications cannot be relied on under the aforementioned conditions, as instability affects the measuring circuitry and with the signal quality usually either being non existent or alternatively observed to rapidly dive up and down.

link to this comment
jb38's 7,179 posts GB flag
Saturday, 19 November 2016
T
Terry Hall
11:37 PM

jb38: I have now solved the issue of poor or no reception of HD channels on ch50 from Tacolneston. Hopefully this may help someone else. I first reset my HD reveiver box which forced me to retune all channels. I selected manual mode so that I could select just ch50 (HD channels). Everything was perfect with full signal strength on all HD channels. The problem returned when I also tuned the remaining channels. The offender being ch55. For some reason, Tacolneston is broadcasting some of the HD channels on ch55 as well as ch50. This may not be an issue on all receivers, but on my TVonics PVR-HDR500 it caused my HD channels on ch50 to constantly drop out. I reset the box again and retunes using only channels 31,37,39,42,45,50 & 59. By leaving out ch55, everything is perfect. If I had allowed autotune it would have included ch55. The only channels of significance that I have lost by not tuning ch55 is BBBC1 & BBC2 non HD. Which is of no loss to me.

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Terry Hall's 7 posts GB flag
Sunday, 20 November 2016
J
jb38
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

10:54 AM

Terry Hall : Good news then! At least up to a point anyway, as although its pleasing to know that you have found a way around the problem, although the method used to alleviate same can suggest that it's really being caused by varying levels of instability in the tuner, your previous report of C50 levels varying between 60% and zero being inclined to back this up. Therefore, although not wishing to say - "upset the apple cart" - I would really be interested in the result of carrying out the following test based on you having previously reported an aerial lead reading of 76dB, as although this level is generally perfectly OK on the majority of recently manufactured Freeview devices, it's possibly a tad high for your slightly older TVonics, as the "in practice" target levels are 51 - 71dB, Ofcom recommended levels being 45 - 65dB.

The test involves reinstalling the attenuator and adjusting same to give a reading of 70dB followed by carrying out a manual tune on Mux55, should this knock out C50, reduce the attenuator to 65% followed by carrying out an "auto" retune. If though none of these tests achieve the desired result, then unfortunately have no option other than to revert to retuning the box minus C55.

link to this comment
jb38's 7,179 posts GB flag
T
Terry Hall
3:23 PM

jb38: Thank you for the reply and suggestions. I should have clarified that the aerial fitters reading of 76db was at the aerial not the cable end. Although the very highest grade of coax was used, I doubt it would be 76db at the cable end. After a successful retune with all channels at near max strength, I then spent some considerable time re-ordering the channel list. This is quite a lengthy and time consuming task on the DTR-HD500. I am therefore reluctant to carry out any further testing, as the only channels I have missing are BBC1 & BBC2 non-hd. My main aim has been to restore all HD channels which has now been achived. But I would like to thank you for your interest and taking the time to respond.

Kind regards

Terry Hall

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Terry Hall's 7 posts GB flag
Monday, 21 November 2016
J
jb38
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

6:56 PM

Terry Hall : No problem! Fully understandable, as I did have my doubts as to whether or not you would actually welcome the idea of possibly having to repeat the admittedly time consuming task of re-installing what you have already done, especially when purely for test purposes, and of course I fully appreciate the fact of you have already expressed the view that you aren't particularly bothered about losing BBC1's SD channels.

Anyway, should at any time you ever have second thoughts on the matter use the procedure as mentioned in my previous reply but with the following change, being to select ITV (Mux 59) followed by reinstalling the attenuator then *slightly* reducing the signal level indicated on same (e.g: if 90% reduce to 85 or 80%) before manually tuning in the BBC SD mux on C55, this action required now it's known that the 76dB previously referred to was taken by the aerial installer and not by yourself. If though this procedure fails to cure the problem then abandon the test, as the whole issue is really down to a tuner or software problem.

Bye the way, regarding the 76dB aerial end signal strength, this would only be expected to have reduced by about 1.5dB or so on high grade cable run of around 30 feet, should this distance be representative of your installation.



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jb38's 7,179 posts GB flag
Tuesday, 22 November 2016
T
Terry Hall
4:23 PM

jb38: Great call on the attenuator. although I was somewhat reluctant to retune again, I have now done so for a couple of reasons. Mainly because of experiencing some spurious pixelation on HD channels. Not the kind that you would normally associate with drop out due to poor signal, as the signal remained constant. And nothing I have ever experienced before. I now believe that this is due to my received signal being to strong for my Tvonics receiver as you suggested it might be. The other reason was the loss of BBC regional news coverage. So I reset the receiver and retuned to Tacolneston channels 31,37,39,42,45,50,55 & 59 after inserting a fixed 6db attenuator. Problem solved and all channels excellent. Signal strength as measured by the receiver is still very high on all channels apart from a slight drop on ch59. So sincere thanks for your suggestions and encouraging me to look at it again.

Apart from too high a signal strength, I believe I have now got to the bottom of what has been causing an issue for some time, and may be of some help to other users in some parts of Lowestoft. I live at one of the highest parts Lowestoft and my aerial points near enough west towards Tacolneston. Directly east about 1/2 mile away is the Lowestoft local transmitter on the college. When I tried to tune Tacolneston ch55, the available programs list also showed 4HD channels that I had already tuned on ch50. I stupidly beleived that these were being transmitted from Tacolneston. I now believe that these were picked up on the back end of my aerial on ch56 from the nearby Lowestoft transmitter. It would appear that the 6db attenuation is just enough to prevent this from happening and also enough to prevent the receiver overload on my HD channels. I'm sure other people in my area must be having similar issues. Especially if they allow their receivers to auto tune, which will just pick up everything. So thanks again for all your help and advice.

Kind regards

Terry Hall


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Terry Hall's 7 posts GB flag
T
Terry Hall
10:52 PM

jb38: I appear to have just responded to a post by you dated last Wednesday. I have only just come across it so it's no longer relevant so please ignore it. Apologies for any confusion.

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Terry Hall's 7 posts GB flag
Friday, 23 December 2016
T
Tristan
11:38 AM

Why does the signalon ALL mux die almost every night between 1am and 2am??

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Tristan's 4 posts GB flag
S
StevensOnln1
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

12:13 PM

Tristan: You are most likely suffering from some form of local interference, probably caused by something in either your (or a neighbours) home operating on a timer switch.

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StevensOnln1's 3,605 posts GB flag
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