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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 15/04/2024 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 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
Saturday, 14 March 2015
Dave Lindsay
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

3:35 PM

Melvin Pearson: I think you'll be pushing your luck (going by the Digital UK Coverage Checker), although the path looks quite good were it not for the terrain up to just over 1 mile out.

The path to Emley Moor at 38 miles looks pretty clear, the main doubt being that the high ground at Bolsover and objects on the ground there could cause difficulty:


Terrain between ( m a.g.l.) and (antenna m a.g.l.) - Optimising UK DTT Freeview and Radio aerial location


The path to Waltham at 28 miles is clear were it not for the terrain up to and including Harlow Wood:


Terrain between ( m a.g.l.) and (antenna m a.g.l.) - Optimising UK DTT Freeview and Radio aerial location


Perhaps this is why Digital UK doesn't "think" it's a good bet.

You're in a no man's land as far as regional news goes. Emley Moor with BBC Look North (Yorkshire) is the most likely to be the best signal, followed by Belmont with BBC Look North (East Yorkshire & Lincolnshire) and then Waltham.

You're not likely to get Notts TV unfortunately. See "Is the transmitter output the same in all directions?" immediately above the "Comments" heading for the radiation pattern.

Also, in the good old days of four-channel analogue it was often possible to combine feeds from two aerials on different transmitters, owing to the way in which UHF channels were allocated. Even if you can pick up Waltham you won't be able to combine with Emley. That may not be a big issue as keeping them separate would just mean you would need a separate set-top box for watching East Midlands programming (or use the TV's tuner). That is, you would have two aerials and feed each one into a different tuner (box or TV).

Also be aware that the COM channels use a signal mode that may make them more difficult to pick up, plus from Waltham they are at half power with respect to the PSBs. The point here being: don't necessarily rely solely on Waltham probably use it only for regional programmes on the PSB channels.

Your other possibility is to get a cheap Freesat box, and install a dish if you don't have one, this giving you access to all regional opt-outs across the country.

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Dave Lindsay's 5,724 posts GB flag
Dave Lindsay
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

4:10 PM

Melvin Pearson: You can "try" and see what you get from Waltham with your Emley Moor-facing aerial, Waltham being in almost exactly the opposite direction and the rear of the aerial being the most sensitive behind the sensitivity of the front.

Go to the manual tuning screen and enter the UHF channel number but don't press the button to scan/add services. Instead, wait and observe what the strength and quality is like and whether this is stable or not. It's also worth pointing out that while it might be stable at one time, at a different time of day, time of year or different weather it might not be so.

For Waltham channels are:

PSB1 - BBC One - C49 (698MHz)
PSB2 - ITV - C54 (737.8MHz or 738MHz)

I looked on Streetview -- photos taken in September -- and there are a few Waltham-facing aerials, and most of these houses also have an Emley Moor aerial, so that might be the route you'd like to go down.

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Dave Lindsay's 5,724 posts GB flag
MikeP
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

9:57 PM

Dave Lindsay

One possible alternative to get around the channel allocation similarities between Waltham and Emley is to use a coaxial switch with one aerial on Emley and the other on Waltham, the output being connected to the TV/box/etc. I successfully used one such for many years living in Swindon and getting both Oxford and Mendip signals. The advantage of a switch is that there are no significant losses and no common or adjacent channel problems. The down side is that you have to manually change the switch over to swap between sources, so you could not record programmes from both transmitters while the equipment is unattended (a common reason for recording) and you would need to remember to operate the switch at the right time if you were present. Having said that, two separate aerials feeding separate TV/PVR combinations os not such a problem - if you have the equipment and other household members do not mind the extra boxes and associated cabling!

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MikeP's 3,056 posts GB flag
Monday, 23 March 2015
Transmitter engineering
sentiment_very_satisfiedOwner

10:31 AM

WALTHAM transmitter - MainPossible service interruptions [DUK]

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Transmitter engineering's 150,643 posts xx flag
Saturday, 28 March 2015
Joe
7:44 PM

Living in Rainworth connected to Waltham Transmitter. Had all services working clearly up until Thursday when the BBCB Mux has ceased to work, all other channels have brilliant signal. Have tried a manual scan on Ch. 58 but still coming back with no channels :( the COM7 Mux is still working, which confirms to me its not an issue with the HD Engine on the TV. Any thoughts on fixes would be greatly appreciated? Many Thanks, Joe!

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Joe's 3 posts GB flag
J
jb38
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

9:52 PM

Joe: Engineering work has been taking place at the Waltham transmitter all of this past week, therefore your BBC B problem is most likely to have been as a result of this action. However, have you tried a manual scan this evening?, as a signal check carried out on Mux58 (I also use Waltham) indicates as normal.

I will say though, that Belmont is indicated as providing a somewhat superior signal in the Rainsworth area compared to that from Waltham, meaning that any slight reduction in TX power at the Waltham transmitter will have a more significant effect on reception.

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jb38's 7,179 posts GB flag
Monday, 13 April 2015
Transmitter engineering
sentiment_very_satisfiedOwner

9:09 AM

WALTHAM transmitter - MainPossible weak signal [DUK]

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Transmitter engineering's 150,643 posts xx flag
Tuesday, 21 April 2015
Transmitter engineering
sentiment_very_satisfiedOwner

4:30 AM

WALTHAM transmitter - MainPossible weak signal [DUK]

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Transmitter engineering's 150,643 posts xx flag
Monday, 27 April 2015
Transmitter engineering
sentiment_very_satisfiedOwner

10:30 AM

WALTHAM transmitter - DAB: BBC National DAB Radio Weak Signal from 09:26 today. [BBC] MainPossible weak signal [DUK]

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Transmitter engineering's 150,643 posts xx flag
Transmitter engineering
sentiment_very_satisfiedOwner

4:30 PM

WALTHAM transmitter - DAB: BBC National DAB Radio Weak Signal from 15:42 today. [BBC] MainPossible weak signal [DUK]

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Transmitter engineering's 150,643 posts xx flag
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