Full Freeview on the The Wrekin (Telford and Wrekin, England) transmitter
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The symbol shows the location of the The Wrekin (Telford and Wrekin, England) transmitter which serves 280,000 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 The Wrekin (Telford and Wrekin, England) mast?
The Wrekin transmitter - The Wrekin transmitter: Possible effect on TV reception week commencing 22/04/2024 Pixelation or flickering 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
H/V: aerial position (horizontal or vertical)
The The Wrekin (Telford and Wrekin, England) mast is a public service broadcasting (PSB) transmitter, it does not provide these commercial (COM) channels: .
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 The Wrekin 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
H/V: aerial position (horizontal or vertical)
The The Wrekin (Telford and Wrekin, England) mast is a public service broadcasting (PSB) transmitter, it does not provide these commercial (COM) channels: .
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 The Wrekin transmitter?
BBC Midlands Today 2.9m homes 10.9%
from Birmingham B1 1RF, 49km east-southeast (116°)
to BBC West Midlands region - 66 masts.
ITV Central News 2.9m homes 10.9%
from Birmingham B1 2JT, 49km east-southeast (116°)
to ITV Central (West) region - 65 masts.
All of lunch, weekend and 80% evening news is shared with Central (East)
How will the The Wrekin (Telford and Wrekin, England) transmission frequencies change over time?
| 1984-97 | 1997-98 | 1998-2011 | 2011-13 | 27 Feb 2018 | |||||
| A K T | A K T | A K T | W T | K T | |||||
| C23 | ITVwaves | ITVwaves | ITVwaves | D3+4 | D3+4 | ||||
| C26 | BBC1waves | BBC1waves | BBC1waves | BBCA | BBCA | ||||
| C29 | C4waves | C4waves | C4waves | ||||||
| C30 | -BBCB | BBCB | |||||||
| C33 | BBC2waves | BBC2waves | BBC2waves | ||||||
| C35 | C5waves | C5waves | |||||||
| C41 | +SDN | SDN | |||||||
| C44 | ArqA | ArqA | |||||||
| C47 | ArqB | ArqB | |||||||
| C48 | _local | _local | |||||||
| C51tv_off | _local |
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 6 Apr 11 and 20 Apr 11.
How do the old analogue and currrent digital signal levels compare?
| Analogue 1-5 | 100kW | |
| BBCA, D3+4, BBCB | (-7dB) 20kW | |
| SDN, ARQA, ARQB | (-10dB) 10kW | |
| Mux 1*, Mux 2*, Mux A*, Mux B* | (-17dB) 2kW | |
| Mux C*, Mux D* | (-20dB) 1000W |
Which companies have run the Channel 3 services in the The Wrekin transmitter area
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Is the transmitter output the same in all directions?
Radiation patterns withheldMonday, 2 October 2023
Transmitter engineering
5:09 AM
5:09 AM
The Wrekin transmitter - The Wrekin transmitter: Possible effect on TV reception week commencing 02/10/2023 Pixelation or flickering on some or all channels [DUK]
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Transmitter engineering
5:09 AM
5:09 AM
The Wrekin transmitter - The Wrekin transmitter: Possible effect on TV reception week commencing 02/10/2023 Pixelation or flickering on some or all channels [DUK]
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Chris.SE7:30 AM
Ed:
As per my previous reply here (18th September) Arqiva never give the details of the work of how long it will take, especially if any of it is weather dependent. It'll be very rare to see such work detailed locally.
You may not be in the best of reception locations, there could be other reasons, but as you haven't provided a full postcode, we can advise on that. If you retuned at any time when you had no signal or badly pixellated pictures, it may have just cleared your correct tuning, if correctly tuned, it's never advised to retune whatever the cause of loss of signal.
Please give a full p[ostcode and we should be able to advise further.
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Ed9:38 AM
Stourbridge
Chris.SE:
Thanks Chris. My postcode is DY8 2DU. The powered aerial was fitted 13 years ago and I had no problems until now. Normally, both signal strength and signal quality was a steady 100%. About 4 to 5 weeks ago I noticed intermittent, bad pixilation on most channels but only for a few hours. But since around 10th Sept there is very bad permanent pixilation or 'No Signal' on all channels except BBC SD. My TV is saying the signal strength is 100% but signal quality is low (10%) and fluctuating. I haven't manually retuned during this period.
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Ed's: mapE's Freeview map terrainE's terrain plot wavesE's frequency data E's Freeview Detailed Coverage
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Chris.SE2:32 PM
Ed:
Thanks for the additional information. Two things immediately stand out - 100% Signal, 10% fluctuating Quality and this with the signal booster you mentioned in your first post. This is an immediate red flag for probable interference. This is not helped by the Wrekin appearing not to be your best choice of transmitter these days (unless you have some very local obstructions on the line of site to Brierley Hill).
If you click on the link now on the RHS bottom of your last post "Freeview Detailed Coverage" you'll see for yourself - good prediction figures are in green with higher numbers, and of course Brierley Hill is very close. Strangely, the BBC reception predictor gives good reception for The Wrekin for all 6 multiplexes, so there may be some local line of sight aspects.
That all said, TVs can "sometimes" do their own thing tuning :o so the first thing to check, is in your TV Tuning section that it is still correctly tuned to the Wrekin's UHF channels.
Also check that your aerial still looks intact and is still correctly pointing for The Wrekin, almost NW, compass bearing 312 degrees. Check the downlead isn't flapping in the wind and looks undamaged, that the coax connections at the TV and anywhere else accessible are good with no corrosion or water. You haven't mentioned where the "booster" is. If it's mounted on the pole, check the power unit is plugged in and correctly connected. If it's in the loft, check it has power.
Assuming all that is ok, going back to the most likely problem - I mentioned interference, it's possible that a new/upgraded mobile phone mast is now causing inference to your reception.
At some point you should have received a postcard from Restore TV although we've encountered cases where they haven't been received/sent! Check here https://restoretv.uk/post…ure/
Give then a call on 0808-1313-800 as noted on the contact us page. Tell them since they sent postcards you are now getting severe interference to your reception, you used to have no problems whatsoever (I wouldn't go into elaborate detail).
If your booster is on the mast, tell them so that they need to send an engineer.
If it's internal, loft/back of set, they can send a Free Filter, which you fit (plug in) between the aerial cable and the input to the booster.
If they need to send an engineer, then when on site, they should consider which transmitter is best in your location and install a new aerial etc if needed.
Hope that helps, tell us how you get on.
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Tuesday, 3 October 2023
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Ed9:51 AM
Thanks again Chris. I phoned RestoreTV and they said a telephone mast is a possible cause. They will call me in the next 5 days to arrange an engineer visit to check my system and establish what the fault is. In the meantime they are sending me filters to see if that resolves the issue.
I don't know anything technical about how the aerial is powered. There is a small box on my internal lounge wall that had an LED and sockets for TV and DAB. A lead comes from that box and is plugged into a wall power socket.
I am on a hill and Brierley Hill is the other side, so several nearby houses have aerials pointing to the Wrekin. I always tune my TVs manually by selecting the only channel numbers for the Wrekin (23, 26, etc), and this is when I see the 'Signal Quality' figures fluctuating wildly.
Perhaps it is just coincidence that engineering work begun on The Wrekin transmitter when the problems started? The advice on the engineering page is basically to put up with any pixilation or loss of signal until the engineering works is complete. The Wrekin engineering appears to have been ongoing for 4 weeks and counting.
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Chris.SE2:00 PM
Ed:
That sounds like some decent progress there Ed, good that they'll be arranging an engineer for you.
I suspected there might be an issue relating to Brierly Hill reception, anyway they should resolve it all for you.
I think it probably is unfortunate that you started getting the problems whilst engineering work was taking place, but sometimes this can be the only time the full extent of an issue becomes noticeable.
Are there any part or model numbers marked on this box on your lounge wall?
It could provide the clue as to how your aerial system is set up.
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Steve Donaldson2:18 PM
Ed: Since digital switchover, The Wrekin, Bromsgrove and Lark Stoke have been operating as a single-frequency network (SFN). This is where they all share (and broadcast on) the same UHF channels (frequencies). They must be in sync (in time) with one another.
I wonder if your aerial picks up Bromsgrove to some degree and that the poor signal quality is as a result of the two signals being too out of time, i.e. one degrading the other turning the signal to mush. A more in-depth explanation of single-frequency networks follows.
From digital switchover (DSO), all six multiplexes of these three transmitters changed to being on the same channels (i.e. operating as a SFN). At 700MHz Clearance in 2018, Bromsgrove and Lark Stoke changed the three COM channels to 33, 36 and 48. The Wrekin did not change, and retains 41, 44 and 47 to this day. Consequently, the PSBs are the same and the COMs are different. The Wrekin is on 26*, 23*, 30*, 41, 44 and 47. Bromsgrove and Lark Stoke are on 26*, 23*, 30*, 33, 36 and 48. The asterisks denote that they are SFN. The other channels aren't SFN.
While not scientific, it may be interesting to see if any signal is available on 33, 36 and 48 as if there is then it/they must be coming from Bromsgrove 7 miles away. It might be indicative of 26, 23 and 30 being received from Bromsgrove at your aerial, those shared with The Wrekin. While Bromsgrove is vertically polarised (and your aerial is horizontally polarised for The Wrekin), it is in almost the opposite direction to The Wrekin, just 22 degrees of being so.
The Wrekin is 23 miles away. You would have line-of-sight were it not for Ridgehill and the trees on it at 1.5 miles out.
To return to the point about The Wrekin and Bromsgrove PSB muxes (26, 23 and 30) being SFN, you are in the area of overlap where both signals may be available. Those, say, in Wolverhampton and Telford are far enough away from Bromsgrove (and Lark Stoke) that they will receive only The Wrekin.
None of this is to say that your issue is down to the SFN. The SFN is one possibility to consider, another being the phone mast.
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- Signal Frequency Networks -
As an example, DAB radio uses SFNs. A SFN is different to the more familiar multi-frequency network such as FM radio, where each transmitter broadcasts on its own channel, one which is different to neighbouring transmitters because they would interfere with one another otherwise. I should say that in most cases that the current digital TV transmitters do operate as a multi-frequency network, not as SFN. Here we have one of a few cases of them working as a SFN.
Of course, with a SFN what is received and when varies by location. By this, I mean where more than one transmitter in the SFN can be received then usually one is received first and then the other (as with a sound echo). The one that is received the first is the closest, signals travelling at the speed of light. Were one to be exactly half way between the two, the signal from each would arrive at exactly the same time and therefore the receiver would get a larger-magnitude signal than with just one of the transmitters alone.
It follows then that the degree of echo between the two (or more) transmitters will vary by location. Digital receivers are fine with receiving two or more signals that don't arrive at exactly the same instant -- they are fine up to a point, hence why the transmitters must be in time with one another. If they are not then there will be locations where the two overlapping signals are too much out of sync, meaning the delay/echo is too long, which means the receiver can't decipher it and the signal is "mush".
Think stood in a railway station with a huge arching roof and trying to listen to the announcement over the PA system. You are close to one of the speakers and can hear the speaker were it not for the fact that the echo of previous words are bouncing off the roof and walls being so loud and drowning it out.
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Steve Donaldson2:55 PM
Ed: Having read your posting again, I see it's most channels that are the problem, not just the one BBC channel which I had incorrectly understood it to be when I wrote about the SFN. That it affects the COM channels means it cannot be anything to do with the SFN.
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Chris.SE3:06 PM
Steve Donaldson:
A very interesting technical read though Steve.
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