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Full Freeview on the Bluebell Hill (Medway, England) transmitter

first published this on - UK Free TV
sa_streetviewGoogle Streetviewsa_gmapsGoogle mapsa_bingBing mapsa_gearthGoogle Earthsa_gps51.324,0.520 or 51°19'25"N 0°31'13"Esa_postcodeME5 9RD

 

The symbol shows the location of the Bluebell Hill (Medway, England) transmitter which serves 200,000 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.

This transmitter has no current reported problems

The BBC and Digital UK report there are no faults or engineering work on the Bluebell Hill (Medway, England) transmitter.

Choose from three options: ■ List by multiplex ■ List by channel number ■ List by channel name
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Which Freeview channels does the Bluebell 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.

MuxH/VFrequencyHeightModeWatts
PSB1
BBCA
 H max
C32 (562.0MHz)242mDTG-20,000W
Channel icons
1 BBC One (SD) South East, 2 BBC Two England, 9 BBC Four, 23 BBC Three, 201 CBBC, 202 CBeebies, 231 BBC News, 232 BBC Parliament, plus 16 others

PSB2
D3+4
 H max
C34 (578.0MHz)242mDTG-20,000W
Channel icons
3 ITV 1 (SD) (Meridian (East micro region)), 4 Channel 4 (SD) South ads, 5 Channel 5, 6 ITV 2, 10 ITV3, 13 E4, 14 Film4, 15 Channel 4 +1 South ads, 18 More4, 26 ITV4, 28 ITVBe, 30 E4 +1, 35 ITV1 +1 (Meridian south coast), 71 That’s 60s,

PSB3
BBCB
 H max
C45+ (666.2MHz)242mDTG-20,000W
Channel icons
46 5SELECT, 101 BBC One HD South East, 102 BBC Two HD England, 103 ITV 1 HD (ITV Meridian Southampton), 104 Channel 4 HD South 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 max
C40 (626.0MHz)242mDTG-820,000W
Channel icons
20 U&Drama, 21 5USA, 29 ITV2 +1, 32 5STAR, 33 5Action, 38 Channel 5 +1, 41 Legend, 42 GREAT! action, 57 U&Dave ja vu, 58 ITV3 +1, 59 ITV4 +1, 64 Blaze, 67 TRUE CRIME, 68 TRUE CRIME XTRA, 81 Blaze +1, 83 Together TV, 91 WildEarth, 93 ITVBe +1, 209 Ketchup TV, 210 Ketchup Too, 211 YAAAS!, 251 Al Jazeera English, 255 FRANCE 24 (in English), 265 Rok Sky +1, plus 29 others

COM5
ArqA
 H max
C43+ (650.2MHz)245mDTG-820,000W
Channel icons
11 Sky Mix, 17 Really, 19 U&Dave, 31 E4 Extra, 36 Sky Arts, 40 Quest Red, 43 Food Network, 47 Film4 +1, 48 Challenge, 49 4seven, 60 U&Drama +1, 65 That's TV 2, 70 Quest +1, 74 &UYesterday +1, 76 That's TV 2 MCR, 233 Sky News, plus 13 others

COM6
ArqB
 H max
C46 (674.0MHz)245mDTG-820,000W
Channel icons
12 Quest, 25 U&W, 27 U&Yesterday, 34 GREAT! movies, 39 DMAX, 44 HGTV, 52 GREAT! christmas, 56 That's TV (UK), 63 GREAT! romance mix, 73 HobbyMaker, 75 That's 90s, 82 Talking Pictures TV, 84 PBS America, 235 Al Jazeera Eng, plus 18 others

DTG-8 64QAM 8K 3/4 27.1Mb/s DVB-T MPEG2
H/V: aerial position (horizontal or vertical)

Which BBC and ITV regional news can I watch from the Bluebell Hill transmitter?

regional news image
BBC South East Today 0.8m homes 3.2%
from Tunbridge Wells TN1 1QQ, 28km southwest (218°)
to BBC South East region - 45 masts.
regional news image
ITV Meridian News 0.7m homes 2.7%
from Maidstone ME14 5NZ, 5km south-southeast (155°)
to ITV Meridian (East) region - 36 masts.
All of lunch, weekend and 50% evening news is shared with all of Meridian plus Oxford

How will the Bluebell Hill (Medway, England) transmission frequencies change over time?

1984-971997-981998-20122012-1319 Jul 2018
EEEW TW T
C21_local
C28_local
C32com7
C34com8
C39+ArqA
C40BBC1wavesBBC1wavesBBC1waves+BBCBSDN
C43ITVwavesITVwavesITVwavesD3+4ArqA
C45SDNBBCB
C46BBC2wavesBBC2wavesBBC2wavesBBCAArqB
C54tv_offArqB
C55tv_offcom7tv_off
C56tv_offCOM8tv_off
C65C4wavesC4wavesC4waves

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 13 Jun 12 and 27 Jun 12.

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

Analogue 1-4 30kW
SDN, ARQA, ARQB, BBCA, D3+4, BBCB(-1.8dB) 20kW
com8(-7.8dB) 5kW
com7(-8.1dB) 4.7kW
Mux 1*, Mux B*, Mux C*, Mux D*(-10dB) 3kW
Mux 2*, Mux A*(-11.8dB) 2kW

Which companies have run the Channel 3 services in the Bluebell Hill transmitter area

Sep 1955-Jul 1968Associated-Rediffusion†
Sep 1955-Jul 1968Associated TeleVision◊
Jul 1968-Dec 1981Thames†
Jul 1968-Dec 1981London Weekend Television♦
Jan 1982-Dec 1992Television South (TVS)
Jan 1993-Feb 2004Meridian
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. Bluebell Hill 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
Thursday, 8 March 2018
S
StevensOnln1
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

8:38 PM

Tina: There are no faults or recent engineering work showing for Bluebell Hill. If water had gotten in to your aerial or cabling it may have caused a loss of signal, which then returns when it dries out. If that is the case then the problem will likely repeat itself when it rains again.

link to this comment
StevensOnln1's 3,671 posts GB flag
Friday, 9 March 2018
M
Mike Weatherley
2:41 PM

The only one who sounds like a 5 year-old, Mike B. is you. Perhaps if you answered questions civilly & helpfully in the first place, you wouldn't make anyone angry. There obviously ARE problems with the Bluebell Hill transmitter recently, as others have attested. With my TV, it's always BBC 1&2 reception that gets lost first, with ITV & Channel 4 being the last to go - so try blaming that on the receiving equipment! Also, BBC HD signals last longer than BBC ones before cracking-up. Years ago I had a similar thing, and the movie I was watching on Channel 4 kept cracking-up but the commercial breaks in between were perfect reception (well, we wouldn't want to upset the commercial sponsors, now would we). It turned out that engineering works on the transmitter were being done, but they made sure they stopped every time the adverts came on...

link to this comment
Mike Weatherley's 5 posts GB flag
T
Tina
3:32 PM

Many thanks for your answer StevensOnln1. That makes sense to me. Recently the aerial firm had to install a new power unit in my home to enable to powered out splitter on the chimney stack. This cured the no TV signal at the time ... but I did wonder why it had gone wrong in the first place. They were reluctant to check the aerial etc on the roof at the time. Now what with the snow and ice having defrosted would point to the answer you have mentioned.
I think the cable may still be ok because my TV signal came back fine last night ... but I have a feeling I will have to call them back to sort out the rest of it when we get our next lot of wet weather.
Thanks once again ... you have been most helpful.

link to this comment
Tina's 2 posts GB flag
Thursday, 10 May 2018
G
graham
8:17 PM

is the blue bell hill transmitter down in the area of isle of Sheppey because we cant get nothing

link to this comment
graham's 1 post GB flag
Friday, 11 May 2018
MikeP
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

1:25 PM

Graham:

Lok at the posts immediately above and below yours. That should give you a clue.



link to this comment
MikeP's 3,056 posts GB flag
Wednesday, 16 May 2018
K
kevin john hicks
5:18 PM

Today wednesday 16/05/18 was the bluebell hill transmitter off air between 11am-12noon? as i could not tune my television in from postcode ME15-9LE ?

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kevin john hicks's 4 posts GB flag
A
A Greenoakes
6:02 PM

Please can you tell me why KMTV - TV Made for Kent on Freeview 7 in the North Kent, West Kent and Medway areas is not listed here? It broadcasts to 250,000 homes on Freeview 7 (and Virgin 159)

link to this comment
A Greenoakes's 1 post GB flag
Monday, 11 June 2018
T
Tim
7:14 PM

Dear Sir, Madam,

I am voluntary Chaplain to South East Coast Ambulance Service and I have just published a children's book called Paramedic Chris which is based upon a prank call.

I have just received an award at Westminster Central Methodist Hall for my voluntary services to the Ambulance Service and was broadcast to Premier Christian Radio, on top of this I shall be on BBC Songs of Praise in July to celebrate the 70th Anniversary of the NHS.

I am sending this email to yourselves out of interest for my book and also for the general work I do and my colleagues within the Ambulance Service.

Copies of the book can be found at:

Paramedic Chris: Amazon.co.uk: Tim Parsons: 9781787196490: Books

I have episode being published later this year which is based upon mental health.

Kindest Regards,

link to this comment
Tim's 1 post GB flag
Sunday, 8 July 2018
P
Philip
2:01 PM

The signal on both DAB radio and Freeview TV channels have been terrible over the last few weeks with the high barometric pressure which we have enjoyed this summer. I have a narrow band aerial which my local installer said would improve reception, but it has not. He also added a band pass filter in the down lead which he said would improve adjacent channel interference.
Disappointed that Digital TV is not more resilient, at least in the old analogue days you might get snow or lines but at least you still received something.

link to this comment
Philip's 1 post GB flag
Friday, 13 July 2018
M
Mike Weatherley
11:39 AM

Philip, you're quite right about the high pressure weather conditions destroying the T.V. signal from Bluebell Hill. I've said the same, here myself, recently (asking if anyone else had the same problem), but got a rather snotty reply from someone (an engineer?) who asked why people complain about the signal reception instead of getting new T.V.s or aerials (at extra cost & fitting charge of course). He even tried to blame the periodic loss of the digital T.V. signal (usually in hot weather at this time of year) on "...rainwater getting into the aerial lead on your roof and then taking days to dry out again..." which was a complete red herring. And since we've had a recurrence of the problem recently in North Kent - in the absence of any rain for the last month - that explanation can be seen to have been a load of cobblers. I actually notice it worst if the sky is clear (perversely) ie no clouds, in the evening when the Sun has just set. And since I'm directly east of Bluebell Hill, I'm wondering if the Sun's radiation directly *behind* the transmitter is swamping/disrupting the relatively weaker T.V. signal with electromagnetic 'noise'. At least, as a trained scientist, that's my current theory. And yes Philip, you're right: we never did have this problem before T.V. went digital!

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Mike Weatherley's 5 posts GB flag
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