Full Freeview on the Black Hill (North Lanarkshire, Scotland) transmitter
 | Google Streetview |  | Google map |  | Bing map |  | Google Earth |  | 55.861,-3.874 or 55°51'40"N 3°52'27"W |  | ML7 4NZ |
The symbol shows the location of the Black Hill (North Lanarkshire, Scotland) transmitter which serves 940,000 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 Black Hill (North Lanarkshire, Scotland) mast?
Black Hill transmitter - Black Hill transmitter: Possible effect on TV reception week commencing 11/11/2024 Screen may go black 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
DTG-12 QSPK 8K 3/4 8.0Mb/s DVB-T MPEG2
H/V: aerial position (horizontal or vertical)
Which Freeview channels does the Black Hill 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
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 Black Hill transmitter?
BBC Reporting Scotland 2.4m homes 9.2%
from Glasgow G51 1DA, 26km west (271°)
to BBC Scotland region - 230 masts.
STV News 1.3m homes 4.8%
from Glasgow G51 1PQ, 26km west (271°)
to STV Central (Glasgow) region - 94 masts.
Are there any self-help relays?
| Ardtornish A | Transposer | 22 km NW Oban | 15 homes |
| Balquhidder | Transposer | 12 km NW Callander | 42 homes |
| Benmore B | Active deflector | 50 m WNW Glasgow | 7 homes |
| Blair Drummond | Transposer | 5 homes caravan park | |
| Blyth Bridge | Active deflector | 30 km SW Edinburgh | 50 homes |
| Glendaruel | Active deflector | 40 hotel | 40 homes hotel |
| Glendaruel B | Active deflector | 12 homes (second level) |
How will the Black Hill (North Lanarkshire, Scotland) transmission frequencies change over time?
| 1957-80s | 1984-97 | 1997-98 | 1998-2011 | 2011-13 | 3 Oct 2018 | ||||
| VHF | B E T | B E T | B E T | E T | W T | ||||
| C10 | ITVwaves | ||||||||
| C30 | _local | ||||||||
| C32 | com7 | ||||||||
| C35 | com8 | ||||||||
| C37 | C5waves | C5waves | |||||||
| C40 | BBC1waves | BBC1waves | BBC1waves | BBCB | BBCB | ||||
| C41 | +SDN | SDN | |||||||
| C43 | ITVwaves | ITVwaves | ITVwaves | D3+4 | D3+4 | ||||
| C44 | ArqA | ArqA | |||||||
| C46 | BBC2waves | BBC2waves | BBC2waves | BBCA | BBCA | ||||
| C47 | ArqB | ArqB | |||||||
| C50tv_off | C4waves | C4waves | C4waves | ||||||
| C51tv_off | LG | ||||||||
| C55tv_off | com7tv_off | ||||||||
| C56tv_off | _local | COM8tv_off |
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 8 Jun 11 and 22 Jun 11.
How do the old analogue and currrent digital signal levels compare?
| Analogue 1-5 | 500kW | |
| SDN, ARQA, ARQB, BBCA, D3+4, BBCB | (-7dB) 100kW | |
| com7 | (-10.7dB) 42.9kW | |
| com8 | (-11.1dB) 39.2kW | |
| Mux 1*, Mux 2*, Mux A*, Mux B*, Mux C*, Mux D* | (-14dB) 20kW | |
| LG | (-20dB) 5kW |
Local transmitter maps
Black Hill Freeview Black Hill DAB Black Hill TV region BBC Scotland STV Central (Glasgow micro region)Which companies have run the Channel 3 services in the Black Hill transmitter area
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Tuesday, 12 May 2020
S
StevensOnln110:27 AM
Sarah-Jane Morris: Your mother's house is connected to a communal aerial system which receives the signal from the transmitter and distributes it via cable to each property (either underground or running from house to house and not related to the Virgin Media cable TV network). You need to get whoever is responsible for that system to send someone to investigate and fix it properly, not just keep resetting whatever is tripping. Only the council (or whoever is responsible for the communal aerial system) can do that, it isn't something that the transmitter company or anyone else can fix.
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C
Chris.SE1:34 PM
Sarah-Jane Morris:
With the extra information I totally concur with what StevensOnln1 has said, whatever is tripping needs to be fixed properly or replaced, it's totally unacceptable that so many vulnerable individuals have to suffer this isolation.
There may be other problems with the system if it's that old, cable deteriorating etc. and I could imagine the council may not be keen on spending money on something that's no longer serving council tenants.
You said you are in a bit of a dip and (when you were a teenager) the signal was never good, but are/were you talking about pre-1970s when there was only VHF analogue ITV transmitted from the Black Hill Mast? (BBC at the time came from a nearby mast). And of course transmitters have changed somewhat since then, first with UHF Analogue in the late 60s and of course digital since 2011.
Using Street view, I didn't get the impression that there was that much of a dip in the whole of your postcode and although the Detailed Coverage Checker can't be guarantee to be 100% correct, it does give the impression that a good signal is available from Black Hill all around the postcode.
So it could depend on how much of dip you are actually in. Have a look at nearby neighbour's aerials. It may be worth your mum considering having her own aerial installed on the chimney which of course would eliminate the current issue, but may be tricky at the current time because of covid-19 situation, and of course it will cost, but if you go down that route, get several quotes and preferably use a contractor that has been recommended by a trustworthy person that knows they are ok.
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S
Sarah-Jane Morris11:45 PM
Thank you both. Yes, the crux of the question is that no one is admitting responsibility for it so I don't know who to speak to to get it rebooted. It's cable connected to the houses. I walked down today and noticed that all the houses have that box built into the structure of the house. I have spoken to the housing association and to our local councillor and so he is going to try to find out as well. The MSP had an auto reply on his email saying it would be 5 - 10 days before there might be an answer to any emails!
Chris - no not pre 1970's , we didn't move here until 1976 and I wasn't a teenager until the 80's . At800 did say they had a note of a 4 G mast in the area that does cause problems too. Hopefully the councillor might be able to help a member of staff gain access to the building tomorrow, fingers crossed.
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Chris.SE11:50 PM
Sarah-Jane Morris:
Well good luck with that.
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Wednesday, 13 May 2020
S
Sarah-Jane Morris7:19 PM
I have managed to track down the person who is responsible for the mast and they are trying to get someone to fix it with help from our MSP.
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Thursday, 14 May 2020
C
Chris.SE1:04 AM
Sarah-Jane Morris:
Well done, don't suppose you know what exactly the problem is/what causes it?
Certainly make sure your mum has their contact details in case it happens when you aren't available.
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Monday, 1 June 2020
D
Dylan9:17 PM
I'm having some problems with Coms 7 and 8 at KA6 area. Can confirm atleast two different houses are missing all channels on those frequencies. I suspect this may be due to the higher than normal temperature right now. One households aerial is on the roof, the other in the loft. Loft one may not be optimally directed, but is good enough to pick up all other channels.
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Tuesday, 2 June 2020
C
Chris.SE5:36 AM
Dylan:
There has been some Tropospheric Ducting around affecting different parts of the UK at different times throughout the last few days and this may have been the cause of your issues. On the other hand, the Black Hill transmitter was listed last week for Planned Engineering with "Possible service interruptions" that work might still be ongoing even though the transmitter isn't listed this week!
But furthermore, coverage from Black Hill is very patchy is significant parts of the KA6 area and we'd need a Full postcode to see what the Freeveiw Detailed Coverage checker was giving for predicted reception at your location. Other multiplexes may seem ok but COMs 7&8 might not be predicted to be good.
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Monday, 22 June 2020
M
Margaret Murphy12:47 PM
My television is not finding any channels, it was ok yesterday. Telling me to check antenna?? Have only got socket on wall with Blackhill transmission, can anyone tell me how to fix ?
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C
Chris.SE4:45 PM
Margaret Murphy:
Firstly don't retune under no signal conditions, it just clears all correct tuning.
Unfortunately the transmitter is currently listed for Planned Engineering with "Possible service Interruptions" so you will experience loss of signals maybe a few times.
The signals will return at various stages during the maintenance. IF you retuned when you had no signal, you will have to retune again once the signals have returned. You may have to do this several times if you don't get all channels back the first time, as all the multiplexes may not be back on at the same moment.
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