Full Freeview on the Pontop Pike (County Durham, England) transmitter
 | Google Streetview |  | Google map |  | Bing map |  | Google Earth |  | 54.868,-1.771 or 54°52'5"N 1°46'15"W |  | DH9 9AT |
The symbol shows the location of the Pontop Pike (County Durham, England) transmitter which serves 700,000 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 Pontop Pike (County Durham, England) mast?
Pontop Pike transmitter - Pontop Pike 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 Pontop Pike 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 Pontop Pike transmitter?
BBC Look North (Newcastle) 1.6m homes 6.0%
from Newcastle NE99 2NE, 15km northeast (42°)
to BBC North East and Cumbria region - 70 masts.
ITV Tyne Tees News 1.4m homes 5.4%
from Gateshead NE11 9SZ, 12km north-northeast (29°)
to ITV Tyne Tees region - 47 masts.
All of lunch, weekend and 50% evening news is shared with Border
Are there any self-help relays?
| Kieldor Dam | Active deflector | 6 homes Holiday complex | |
| Low Haber | Active deflector | West Allen Dale, 18 kn SW Hexham | caravan site |
| North Hartlepool | Transposer | 84 homes |
How will the Pontop Pike (County Durham, England) transmission frequencies change over time?
| 1950s-80s | 1984-97 | 1997-98 | 1998-2012 | 2012-13 | 13 Nov 2019 | ||||
| VHF | C/D E | C/D E | C/D E | C/D E T | W T | ||||
| C5 | BBCtvwaves | ||||||||
| C32 | SDN | ||||||||
| C33 | com7 | ||||||||
| C34 | com8 | ||||||||
| C35 | ArqB | ||||||||
| C39 | BBCA | ||||||||
| C42 | D3+4 | ||||||||
| C45 | BBCB | ||||||||
| C49tv_off | BBCB | ||||||||
| C50tv_off | SDN | ||||||||
| C54tv_off | C4waves | C4waves | C4waves | D3+4 | |||||
| C55tv_off | ArqB | com7tv_off | |||||||
| C56tv_off | LNE | ||||||||
| C58tv_off | BBC1waves | BBC1waves | BBC1waves | BBCA | |||||
| C59tv_off | ArqA | ||||||||
| C61 | ITVwaves | ITVwaves | ITVwaves | ||||||
| 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 12 Sep 12 and 26 Sep 12.
How do the old analogue and currrent digital signal levels compare?
| Analogue 1-4 | 500kW | |
| BBCA, D3+4, BBCB | (-7dB) 100kW | |
| SDN, ARQA, ARQB | (-10dB) 50kW | |
| com8 | (-11.6dB) 34.6kW | |
| com7 | (-11.7dB) 33.8kW | |
| Mux 1*, Mux 2*, Mux A*, Mux B*, Mux C*, Mux D* | (-17dB) 10kW | |
| LNE | (-20dB) 5kW |
Local transmitter maps
Pontop Pike Freeview Pontop Pike TV region BBC North East and Cumbria Tyne TeesWhich companies have run the Channel 3 services in the Pontop Pike transmitter area
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Wednesday, 28 March 2012
J
jb3811:11 PM
Gary: DSO (digital switchover) work of an on-going nature is taking place at the station in preparation for its high power switchover in September, and as such no completion dates can really be given.
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Wednesday, 4 April 2012
C
Chris Hylton1:33 AM
I am not on digital yet. Still have a 20" 4:3 set. Since ~turn of the year, we have nor been getting full picture. The times on the skiing (Eurosport) were not visisble on the RHS of the screen and now on F1 (BBC, analogue or cable) the names of the drivers are not visible on the LHS. Will this be cured if I get a Freeview box or do I need Wide screen. The UK Digital info says I do NOT need a new TV?
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M
Mike Dimmick1:43 AM
Chris Hylton: It should be possible to set up the cable box to letterbox the picture rather than cut off the sides, but of course you'll have black bars top and bottom.
The BBC's standard has been 14:9-safe for many years - it's a compromise between 4:3 and 16:9 widescreen which has smaller black bars, top and bottom on a traditional screen and at the sides on a widescreen. They actually broadcast like this on analogue - check whether your TV is set to 'zoom' this picture. On digital, they broadcast 16:9 but all captions are supposed to be within the 14:9 area (i.e. nothing within the areas cut off for the analogue broadcast).
Over time, it's likely that they'll migrate to using the full 16:9 screen, so a widescreen would be a good upgrade at some point.
Analogue is switched off starting from the early hours of 12 September. If you need a backup to your cable box, you'll need to get a Freeview box. I'd recommend getting a Freeview HD box now even before upgrading the TV to HD. You may also find that there are channels available for free on Freeview which have to be purchased on cable.
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D
Dale10:21 PM
Sunderland
Are there any problems with the freeview hd transmitter as i have lost all 4 channels. I'm in Sunderland and using a Sony tv. Never had a problem until tonight.Rescanned and no joy. Any help would be highly appreciated or is it just a case of wait and see. Thanks
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Dale's: mapD's Freeview map terrainD's terrain plot wavesD's frequency data D's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Dale: Transmitter engineering work in preparation for switchover is taking place at Pontop Pike. The answer in such situations as you found yourself is not to retune as that simply wipes the receiver's memory leaving it without the channels. You will now have to repeatedly tune until you get them back. If you have manual tuning, then you should use it (HD services on channel 63).
For Pontop Pike it is not necessary to retune until 12th September and you would be best advised to refrain from doing so.
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D
Dale11:53 PM
Sunderland
Thanks Dave and yeah you are spot on about losing my hd channels as i've already tried to retune it and they've gone. Whoops. Thought it might have been my aerial as we've had quite high winds. You live and learn hah. Oh well i'll just keep retuning and keeping my fingers crossed. Thanks again Dave it's much appreciated
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Dale's: mapD's Freeview map terrainD's terrain plot wavesD's frequency data D's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Friday, 6 April 2012
I
Iain3:16 PM
Chester Le Street
The ITV1+1 from Pontop Pike is now broadcasting ITV1+1 Tyne Tees which has replaced the previous ITV1+1 Yorkshire version
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Iain's: mapI's Freeview map terrainI's terrain plot wavesI's frequency data I's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Friday, 27 April 2012
T
Terry8:14 PM
I'm getting a good signal for most channels, but not itv 1 and 2. Is this a ariel problem or a digi box?
Postcode ne13 9be.
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Terry: Bring up the signal strength screen and check that it is tuned to C55 and not C22 which is Fenham.
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Tuesday, 1 May 2012
G
Glen9:23 AM
Whitley Bay
I am in Whitley Bay and have excellent signal strength from ITV, Ch 4 & 5 with all at 65% usually. BBC 1 & 2 and BBC News 24 are usually only 45% with occasional breakup of picture in the evening. Is the BBC on low power?
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Glen's: mapG's Freeview map terrainG's terrain plot wavesG's frequency data G's Freeview Detailed Coverage
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