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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, 2 February 2013
Ian
sentiment_satisfiedGold

10:06 PM
Hinckley

I live in the LE10 area and my reception is strong. Always has been. He lives in the LE9 area his reception was fine before and after switch over then suddenly for about 10 days reception on some stations was bad, then without doing anything its fine again. Lot's of people have reported the same thing from Walthem. Digital just isn't as reliable as the old analogue was, you only have to read this forum to see that.

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Ian's 497 posts GB flag
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J
jb38
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

11:58 PM

Ian: Of course it isn't! as analogue reception can work right down to near zero signal level when the picture can barely be picked out from the background speckles, whereas with digital reception a picture can "only" resolved from between two set levels, namely the lower and upper thresholds, the problem being that under the lower as well as over the upper results in exactly the same symptoms and why set procedures have to be used to determine which applies.

The DUK's reception predictor in common with anything associated with RF signal prediction is never guaranteed to be 100% accurate as RF signals in the frequencies used by Freeview etc cannot ever be accurately predicted, but when transmitter coverage maps do not indicate that the signal being radiated from a certain transmitter covers an area then any reports of bad reception from the said area has to be associated with the fact of it not officially being covered, and as such anything that might be received could be classed as being purely through good fortune.



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jb38's 7,179 posts GB flag
Sunday, 3 February 2013
Ian
sentiment_satisfiedGold

1:43 PM
Hinckley

Another reason satellite is far better

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Ian's 497 posts GB flag
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K
Keith Tyler
5:07 PM
Leicester

Aerial is positioned on chimney of bungalow. We experience severe signal disruption most days. When retuning topbox signal strength never exceeds 90%. Can you please advise?
POST CODE LE9 2DJ

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Dave Lindsay
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

6:00 PM

Keith Tyler: The signal strength is perfectly healthy.

If this is a variable signal quality issue, then I would suggest that the most likely cause is traffic on the motorway which is crossing the signal path. Multiple lanes means more traffic at any given time which might increase the potential over a single carriageway.

Might traffic tie in with when you experience poor reception? How was it on Christmas Day when, presumably, there wouldn't have been many large vehicles (typically HGVs) about?

Clearly in situations where you have objects crossing the signal path then getting the aerial higher might stand you in better stead to see over them, or at least mitigate the degree to which they may degrade the signal. A bungalow is therefore not as best placed as a house in this respect.

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

6:16 PM

Keith Tyler: If you haven't already done so,c check that your receiver is tuned to Waltham for all channels and not Sutton Coldfield or Belmont, although if it were so for BBC One or ITV then you know about it because you would get West Midlands or Yorkshire/Lincs programming instead of East Midlands.

Bring up the signal strength screen on each of the following and see whether it is tuned to the UHF/RF channel of Waltham:

BBC One = C61 (Sutton Coldfield=C43, Belmont=C22)
ITV = C54 (Sutton Coldfield=C46, Belmont=C25)
BBC One HD = C58 (Sutton Coldfield=C40, Belmont=C28)
ITV3 = C29 (Sutton Coldfield=C42, Belmont=C30)
Pick TV=C56 (Sutton Coldfield=C45, Belmont=C53)
Film4 = C57 (Sutton Coldfield=C39, Belmont=C60)


For example, BBC One it should be tuned to C61 and not 43 or 22.

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Dave Lindsay's 5,724 posts GB flag
J
jb38
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

7:47 PM

Ian: Exactly!! as although it cannot be denied that lots of people find Freeview to be perfectly OK for their requirements and especially those who have TV's or boxes fitted in a number of rooms, as it simply involves using an aerial splitter or distribution amp and running a single coax to each of the remote locations, whereas with Freesat or Sky each location requires its own individual feed from the dish, or x 2 to each location if a PVR is involved.

But though convenient as Freeview might be it still it doesn't take away from the fact that reception via terrestrial digital is by its very nature not near so robust as when received via a satellite system where the signal arrives from above, and as such is for 99% of the time impervious to being interfered with, this unlike in the case of Freeview reception where the signal from the mast frequently experiences obstructions of various sorts along the way then when it arrives at the receiver it (the receiver) has to battle with such things as atmospheric induced (or otherwise) co-channel interference etc as well as a whole host or other types of problems that are too numerous to mention, many of them not being of a rectifiable nature.

The problem with the aforementioned being that the situation will never improve, and indeed could get worse for some as channels are squeezed into a smaller area for the purpose of allowing the bands that they were operating in to be sold off for mobile phone use, something I intensely disagree with.

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jb38's 7,179 posts GB flag
Ian
sentiment_satisfiedGold

9:46 PM
Hinckley

It's all been a total cop out in my opinion.

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Ian's 497 posts GB flag
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Wednesday, 20 February 2013
P
Paul
1:47 PM

I'm struggling to get ITV3 and 5* and 5USA from Waltham, so I presume I have a problem with Channel 29. I receive all of the other channels ok. I have tried a signal booster to no avail. Any other suggestions?

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Paul's 2 posts GB flag
Dave Lindsay
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

1:53 PM

Paul: Without a clue as to where you are, we are guessing. So I'll offer a guess: If you live in the Sutton-in-Ashfield/Clay Cross area you may find that Chesterfield transmitter is an issue as it is co-channel for on C29, but not co-channel on others.

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Dave Lindsay's 5,724 posts GB flag
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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.

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