Full Freeview on the Mendip (Somerset, England) transmitter
 | Google Streetview |  | Google map |  | Bing map |  | Google Earth |  | 51.237,-2.626 or 51°14'12"N 2°37'33"W |  | BA5 3LB |
The symbol shows the location of the Mendip (Somerset, England) transmitter which serves 720,000 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 Mendip (Somerset, England) mast?
Mendip transmitter - Mendip transmitter: Possible effect on TV reception week commencing 11/11/2024 Pixelation or flickering 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 Mendip 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 Mendip transmitter?
ITV West Country News (East) 0.9m homes 3.4%
from Bristol BS4 3HG, 23km north (11°)
to ITV West region - 61 masts.
All of lunch, weekend and 50% evening news is shared with West Country (West)
Are there any self-help relays?
| Cheddar | Transposer | 15 km E Weston-super-Mare | 1674 homes |
| Luccombe | Active deflector | 6 km w Minehead | 38 homes |
How will the Mendip (Somerset, England) transmission frequencies change over time?
| 1984-97 | 1997-98 | 1998-2010 | 2010-13 | 2013-18 | 2013-17 | 27 Feb 2018 | |||
| C/D E | E | E | C/D E | C/D E T | W T | W T | |||
| C30 | _local | ||||||||
| C32 | BBCA | ||||||||
| C33 | com7 | com7 | |||||||
| C34 | D3+4 | ||||||||
| C35 | com8 | com8 | |||||||
| C36 | ArqB | ||||||||
| C37 | C5waves | C5waves | |||||||
| C48 | SDN | SDN | SDN | SDN | |||||
| C49tv_off | BBCA | BBCA | |||||||
| C51tv_off | LBS | LBS | |||||||
| C52tv_off | ArqB | ArqB | ArqB | ||||||
| C54tv_off | C4waves | C4waves | C4waves | D3+4 | D3+4 | D3+4 | |||
| C55tv_off | com7tv_off | ||||||||
| C56tv_off | ArqA | ArqA | ArqA | COM8tv_off | |||||
| C58tv_off | BBC1waves | BBC1waves | BBC1waves | BBCB | BBCB | BBCB | |||
| C61 | ITVwaves | ITVwaves | ITVwaves | BBCA | |||||
| C64 | BBC2waves | BBC2waves | BBC2waves |
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 24 Mar 10 and 7 Apr 10.
How do the old analogue and currrent digital signal levels compare?
| Analogue 1-4 | 500kW | |
| Analogue 5 | (-6dB) 126kW | |
| SDN, ARQA, ARQB, BBCA, D3+4, BBCB | (-7dB) 100kW | |
| com7 | (-8.4dB) 72.4kW | |
| com8 | (-8.6dB) 69.1kW | |
| Mux 1*, Mux 2*, Mux A*, Mux B*, Mux C*, Mux D*, LBS | (-17dB) 10kW |
Which companies have run the Channel 3 services in the Mendip transmitter area
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Friday, 22 September 2023
Has HorrorXtra channel and realityXtra channel swapped Mux ?
Transmitter is Mendip. I am in Bristol.
All started Tuesday Night / Wednesday Morning 19th/20th September 2023. In my case EPG swapped between 'RealityXtra' and 'HorrorXtra', but this was corrected a day later.
No 'you may need to retune your equipment - press Yellow to dismiss this message' pop-up, like previously displayed for such changes.
No warnings of re-tune / re-mapping on the usual web sites, though hints of engineering works and reduced power (that were NOT evident) on some sites including this one, week beginning 18th September 2023.
I setup a recording that recorded the other unwanted channel in the pair, presumably due to the EPG swap / error.
It seems to me that the HorrorXtra channel has been relegated to the Local Mux, C30 for Mendip and realityXtra has been elevated to COM4 / SDN, C48 for Mendip. The change was half-completed, or an error on EPG introduced, the first night with full completion the second.
The local MUX C30 is 10,000W and COM4 / SDN C48 is 100,000W for Mendip - so if you cant get the Local channel, "Bristol TV", you'll likely lose HorrorXtra.
Many re-tunes, Factory Resets and swapping the Aerial input lead primary / slave looping between my TWO receivers didn't fix the issues, except I am lucky and one and only one of my receivers is sensitive enough to receive the Local Mux.
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Saturday, 23 September 2023
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Chris.SE2:23 AM
The_Highwayman:
RealityXtra LCN68 is now on SDN/COM4, HorrorXtra LCN69 is now on the Local multiplex.
This was a change made by the broadcaster and even Freeview didn't mention it amongst the other minor channel changes this month. (They never give details of the multiplex in their "updates" in any event, they just talk about "increased coverage" or "decreased coverage" !!
Apparently, although the channels swapped multiplexes, the broadcaster forgot to swap the EPG immediately so had the listings for the sister channel.
They appear to be correct now.
You must be in a poor reception location to not get the Local mux (you haven't given a full postcode so I can't advise on that). Because of the transmission mode used by the Local multiplex it will propagate almost as well as the main signals using less power.
It looks as though the Planned Engineering is likely to continue next week.
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Chris.SE2:31 AM
The_Highwayman:
As far as receiving the Local mux is concerned, it's not a case of sensitivity of the receiver, I should have added that the Local mux is beamed roughly north-north-easterly from Mendip, not a very wide beam, see the Red plot on the polar diagram towards the top of the page. So if you off to the East or the West you may not get a signal.
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Friday, 29 September 2023
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Chris11:28 AM
Hi, can anyone help please, we are having problems with pixel breakup or complete channel loss, all other channels are fine, some days the problem channels are ok, that's what's strange, been going on for years, so that's why in the last week we bought a new aerial and cable and booster(still same problem), the channels we have problems with, are all on the same C48 (690.0MHz) COM4 SDN, and i have listed all the problem channels below, and where we live, thx
My location: Trowbridge, Wiltshire, BA14
Channels below we have problems with:
20 Drama, 21 5USA, 29 ITV2 +1, 32 5STAR, 33 5Action, 38 Channel 5 +1, 41 Legend, 42 Great! Movies Action, 57 Dave ja vu, 58 ITVBe +1, 59 ITV3 +1, 64 Blaze, 67 CBS Reality, 69 HorrorXtra, 78 TCC, 81 Blaze +1, 89 ITV4 +1, 91 WildEarth, 203 CITV, 208 Pop Player, 209 Ketchup TV, 210 Ketchup Too, 211 YAAAS!, Racing TV, Kiss Chat & Date, Proud Dating, ADULT Xpanded2, 16 QVC, 22 TJC, 37 QVC2, 237 TalkTV, 263 SonLife, 264 VisionTV, 265 On Demand 365, 269 Arise News, 670 ADULT Section (start), 724 Capital, 727 Absolute Radio, 728 Heart,
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Steve Donaldson2:37 PM
Chris: Could it be an interfering mobile phone mast, I wonder? C48 is the highest channel now available for TV use, and thus closest to mobile phone signals.
Restore TV is the organisation responsible for resolving TV interference issues caused by mobile phone masts. Enter your postcode to see if they think you might be affected:
https://restoretv.uk/post…ure/
That your postcode does not show up does not necessarily mean that it isn't caused by a phone mast as such issues aren't so easy to determine. I would certainly question whether there may be masts that could be the cause, particularly to the front of your aerial.
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Chris.SE3:02 PM
Chris:
If you provide a full postcode we could have a look at your predicted reception for C48. Unfortunately some locales may be vulnerable to poorer reception of some multiplexes. BA14 is a large area and terrain can also have a big effect.
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Chris4:47 PM
Trowbridge
Thx for reply's, full postcode BA14 0EY , thx
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Chris's: mapC's Freeview map terrainC's terrain plot wavesC's frequency data C's Freeview Detailed Coverage
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Steve Donaldson5:57 PM
Chris: Restore TV has you down as having been sent a postcard, and therefore a mobile base station in the area potentially causing interference to TV reception. Speak to Restore TV and they should send out a filter to you. Let us know whether this cures the issue or not:
https://restoretv.uk/
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Chris6:12 PM
Hi Steve, yeh i had that sent last year to me, was no help, then i also bought a booster recently with filter in it, no joy, i have a compass here, do i point the aerial 50 degrees ? thx
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Steve Donaldson7:04 PM
Chris: According to the Freeview predictor, Mendip is pretty much the only transmitter available in your area, so all aerials should be pointing the same way. Mendip is on a bearing of 254 degrees. 50 degrees would be almost the opposite direction. The elements on the aerial should be flat, meaning it is horizontally polarised. If the elements are "X" shape rather than straight/flat then the longer parts should be closer to horizontal than vertical.
Use the signal strength/quality screen on your TV and/or box. Don't just rely on whether the picture becomes visible or not. If you have more than one receiver (e.g. a box and a TV) then survey them all to see what information they give. Some might be more helpful than others in terms of the detail they give, as in quality and errors.
If there are any HDMI cables behind your TV, try moving them away from the aerial cable because they can interfere, potentially with one or two but not all channels.
Does the issue happen at particular times? Is it constant (when it does happen) or is it intermittent? Are there times when it doesn't happen?
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