menuMENU    UK Free TV logo Freeview

 

 

Click to see updates

Full Freeview on the Waltham (Leicestershire, England) transmitter

first published this on - UK Free TV
sa_streetviewGoogle Streetviewsa_gmapsGoogle mapsa_bingBing mapsa_gearthGoogle Earthsa_gps52.801,-0.801 or 52°48'4"N 0°48'5"Wsa_postcodeLE14 4AJ

 

The symbol shows the location of the Waltham (Leicestershire, England) transmitter which serves 770,000 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 Waltham (Leicestershire, England) mast?

Waltham transmitter - Waltham 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 Waltham 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
C32 (562.0MHz)442mDTG-50,000W
Channel icons
1 BBC One (SD) East Midlands, 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
 H max
C34 (578.0MHz)442mDTG-50,000W
Channel icons
3 ITV 1 (SD) (Central (East micro region)), 4 Channel 4 (SD) Midlands ads, 5 Channel 5, 6 ITV 2, 10 ITV3, 13 E4, 14 Film4, 15 Channel 4 +1 Midlands ads, 18 More4, 26 ITV4, 28 ITVBe, 30 E4 +1, 35 ITV1 +1 (Central west),

PSB3
BBCB
 H max
C35 (586.0MHz)442mDTG-50,000W
Channel icons
46 5SELECT, 101 BBC One HD East Midlands, 102 BBC Two HD England, 103 ITV 1 HD (ITV Central West), 104 Channel 4 HD Midlands 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
C29 (538.0MHz)442mDTG-825,000W
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
C37 (602.0MHz)449mDTG-825,000W
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
C31 (554.0MHz)449mDTG-825,000W
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

LNG
 H -10dB
C41 (634.0MHz)442mDTG-125,000W
Channel icons
from 27th May 2014: 7 Notts TV,

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 Waltham transmitter?

regional news image
BBC East Midlands Today 0.9m homes 3.4%
from Nottingham NG2 4UU, 28km northwest (306°)
to BBC East Midlands region - 17 masts.
regional news image
ITV Central News 0.9m homes 3.4%
from Birmingham B1 2JT, 83km west-southwest (244°)
to ITV Central (East) region - 17 masts.
All of lunch, weekend and 80% evening news is shared with Central (West)

Are there any self-help relays?

BraunstoneTransposer5 km SW Leicester city centre170 homes

How will the Waltham (Leicestershire, England) transmission frequencies change over time?

1984-971997-981998-20112011-132013-182013-174 Mar 2020
C/D EEEWW TW TW T
C26LNGLNG
C29SDNSDNSDNSDN
C31com7com7
C32BBCA
C34D3+4
C35C5wavesC5wavesBBCB
C37com8com8
C41_local
C49tv_off BBCABBCA
C54tv_offC4wavesC4wavesC4wavesD3+4D3+4D3+4
C55tv_offcom7tv_off
C56tv_offArqAArqAArqACOM8tv_off
C57tv_offArqBArqBArqB
C58tv_offBBC1wavesBBC1wavesBBC1wavesBBCBBBCBBBCB
C61ITVwavesITVwavesITVwavesBBCA
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 17 Aug 11 and 31 Aug 11.

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

Analogue 1-5 250kW
BBCA, D3+4, BBCB(-7dB) 50kW
SDN, ARQA, ARQB(-10dB) 25kW
com8(-12.7dB) 13.4kW
com7(-13.9dB) 10.2kW
Mux 1*(-14dB) 10kW
Mux 2*, Mux A*, Mux B*(-14.9dB) 8kW
Mux C*, Mux D*, LNG(-17dB) 5kW

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

Feb 1956-Jul 1968Associated TeleVision†
Feb 1956-Jul 1968Associated British Corporation◊
Jul 1968-Dec 1981Associated TeleVision
Jan 1982-Feb 2004Central Independent 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. Waltham 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
Friday, 14 June 2013
J
jb38
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

5:07 PM

Darren Cotton: As far as the problem affecting both of your media centres is concerned my reply was purely with reference to your query regarding 4G, however I will say that although nothing has been posted on the TX fault reporting site nor is any engineering work taking place at Waltham as far as Freeview transmissions are concerned, albeit it is / was for other services, but though on having checked out some PVR recordings made from Waltham over the last week and in particular one involving daily recordings made on ITV1/PSB2 revealed that glitches of the more severe variety have indeed occurred on quite a number of occasions.

That said, an aspect of these glitches I did find rather interesting was the timing factor involved, insomuch that the glitching always seemed to clear up about 20 seconds or so prior to an advert break, staying that way during the adverts before returning to the previous state when they were over, adverts being sacrosanct as far as NOT giving anyone connected to those who may be paying for same any cause for complaint.

This may of course have been purely coincidental, but without putting too fine a point on it I doubt if coincidence was involved.

As far as a four way booster is concerned, if your media devices tuners can indicate signal quality then the booster will always improve things so long as the signal quality when observed beforehand is not seen diving to zero.

link to this comment
jb38's 7,179 posts GB flag
C
CC40
5:47 PM

I have been using Waltham for Freeview through Media Centre 7 with no issues until recently, now Channel 5, ITV1,Channel 4+1, ITV2 and various others get found successfully and tuned in but have a black screen and no sound when viewed. Sometimes if you pick another channel and then go back it comes up, like it isn't synching properly to the signal. A retune does nothing, exactly same issue, I have 2 different types of tuners (1 SD, 1HD) all reacting the same. It was so stable until this change, such a shame.

link to this comment
CC40's 4 posts GB flag
V
V Ferris
11:09 PM

Friday about 1945 Ch4 News started to disintegrate then could'nt get ITV channels. I retuned using the Waltham numbers given last week by Humax and got programmes again. Should I try tuning to Sutton Coldfield if this week ahead is going to be bad?

link to this comment
V Ferris's 1 post GB flag
Saturday, 15 June 2013
J
jb38
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

9:20 AM

CC40: Nothing has changed recently as far as the ITV1 mux channel is concerned, but as far as your problem is concerned I can say that what you have described is exactly the main symptom experienced by many with older equipment when first trying to tune in a transmitter channel with a negative offset on its TX frequency, i.e: it transmitting at slightly under the exact frequency associated with the channel number as indeed applies in the case of Waltham's PSB2 / TV1 mux, something which although having no effect on the majority of tuners used by a wide range of equipment can however cause problems on equipment using tuners with a somewhat limited AFC (auto-frequency control) range that resists being pulled downwards past a certain point, this being why the action of notching up a channel then back down again (or vice-versa) can on occasions "catch" the frequency.

Another factor that had an effect on how often a person might experience this problem was connected with the signal strength being received, it being slightly worse on weaker signals, and so I was just wondering what kind of signal strength your Media Centre is operating with? as I feel that the problem you are now experiencing is as a direct result of the action of retuning having exposed a deficiency in the tuners AFC range, this possibly only being revealed now by the signal level received at this present time being at a slightly different level to that applying when you had first tuned it into the station.

I am unaware as to the exact model of tuner used in your Media Centre, but can you recall ever having received messages regarding software up dates? and if so did you carry them out?



link to this comment
jb38's 7,179 posts GB flag
C
CC40
10:27 AM

Hi jb38, many thanks for replying. I have put my aerial connection into my sony digital tv and it shows 100% signal. I also have all the latest drivers for the tuners and media centre. If I look inside media centre for as an example channel5, it gives 100% signal quality on frequency 737.833MHz (that's what I'm tuned to), and also offers 71% quality on 738MHz and 60% quality on 738.167 MHz. The problem channels show perfectly when using the sony digital TV's inbuilt tuner, but when using the media centre tuners they are failing. I use a PCTV 290e with the latest drivers for DVB-T & T2.

link to this comment
CC40's 4 posts GB flag
D
David Shaw
10:51 AM

I live in Derby(DE24). Since the recent work carried out on the Waltham transmitter, we have experienced very intermittent reception on all BBC channels (pixelation occuring on a random basis, starting anywhere between a few seconds and a few minutes from switching on and sometimes making the picture unwatchable). This only occurs with our upstairs TV, which uses a separate digital tuner since it only has an analogue tuner - the downstairs (digital) TV and DVD tuners works fine. I have tried retuning (Full Scan Replace Existing Services) and this makes no difference. Any advice would be welcome.

link to this comment
David Shaw's 4 posts GB flag
Dave Lindsay
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

12:03 PM

David Shaw: If you have a Sky box connected into your aerial system then that could perhaps be a factor.

Confirm that it is tuned to Waltham on UHF channel 49, by viewing the signal strength screen whilst on BBC One. Other possibilities may be the Derby relay transmitter on C48 and Sutton Coldfield on C43.

link to this comment
Dave Lindsay's 5,724 posts GB flag
N
Nick
1:11 PM

David Shaw:
I too have the exactly the same issues. Would like to know who is responsible for the fact I no longer have a tv service since changes made a couple of weeks ago!?

link to this comment
Nick's 1 post GB flag
J
jb38
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

4:09 PM

CC40: Now its known that the tuner in question is a 290e stick and that the frequency has been manually tuned in then obviously the usual reason for the symptom as described in my previous reply will not (or should not) be applicable in this case.

However tuner stick problems are notoriously difficult to diagnose by the fact they are not being used with standard hardware / software combinations such as used in dedicated Freeview devices, and the difficulty you are experiencing has to be caused by something having changed in your system during what I assume was the retune you carried out when Waltham's BBC dropped down to Ch49, because as mentioned in my previous reply the technical aspects of the actual ITV transmission has not changed in any way except possibly for minor changes in its reception strength.

And on the subject of signal strength, what you have reported could suggest that you are located in a high signal strength area or alternatively might be using a booster in line? if you are then I would temporarily try by-passing it so as to reduce the signal going into the tuner, because should it be a little too high on Ch54 this can result in intermittent signal blanking on ITV and other programmes on the same mux.

Another test you could try is to temporarily remove the HD stick just in case the two sticks are pulling the USB sockets power supply down by the current being drawn by them, as although your system might well have previously been working perfectly OK should the signal now being received on Ch54 be a little "over the top" then this would have more of an effect if the stick was operating at a slightly reduced voltage, as indeed any tuner would.

Other than these things mentioned I cant really think on any other reasons for your problem other than going through all the settings on the PC associated with the tuner. (Ch49 be) 

link to this comment
jb38's 7,179 posts GB flag
C
CC40
6:12 PM

Hi jb38, I've put a 20db variable attenuator on the aerial and reduced the signal strength, but the issues stay the same. Also my USB tuners attach to their own USB socket on the motherboard with Windows not complaining about power problems on the USB lines. I'm going to just wait and hope that someone fixes the Waltham signal in the next week or so for 'other' types of tuners. Many thanks for your assistance.

link to this comment
CC40's 4 posts GB flag
Select more comments

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.

UK Free TV is here to help people. If you are rude or disrespectful all of your posts will be deleted and you will be banned.








Privacy policy: UK Free Privacy policy.