Full Freeview on the Preseli (Pembrokeshire, Wales) transmitter
 | Google Streetview |  | Google map |  | Bing map |  | Google Earth |  | 51.944,-4.661 or 51°56'38"N 4°39'40"W |  | SA41 3QR |
The symbol shows the location of the Preseli (Pembrokeshire, Wales) transmitter which serves 57,000 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 Preseli (Pembrokeshire, Wales) mast?
Preseli transmitter - Preseli 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
H/V: aerial position (horizontal or vertical)
The Preseli (Pembrokeshire, Wales) mast is a public service broadcasting (PSB) transmitter, it does not provide these commercial (COM) channels: .
If you want to watch these channels, your aerial must point to one of the 80 Full service Freeview transmitters. For more information see the will there ever be more services on the Freeview Light transmitters? page.
Which Freeview channels does the Preseli 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
H/V: aerial position (horizontal or vertical)
The Preseli (Pembrokeshire, Wales) mast is a public service broadcasting (PSB) transmitter, it does not provide these commercial (COM) channels: .
If you want to watch these channels, your aerial must point to one of the 80 Full service Freeview transmitters. For more information see the will there ever be more services on the Freeview Light transmitters? page.
Which BBC and ITV regional news can I watch from the Preseli transmitter?
BBC Wales Today 1.2m homes 4.7%
from Cardiff CF5 2YQ, 111km east-southeast (118°)
to BBC Wales region - 206 masts.
ITV Cymru Wales 1.2m homes 4.7%
from Cardiff CF5 6XJ, 110km east-southeast (120°)
to ITV Wales region - 206 masts.
Are there any self-help relays?
| Abergynolwyn | Active deflector | Gwynedd | 84 homes |
| Caerberllan | Active deflector | ||
| Cwmtydu A/d | Active deflector | 17 km NNE Newcastle Emlyn | 10 homes 50 caravans |
| Drefelin | Active deflector | 20 km NNW Carmarthen | 36 homes |
| Poppit Sands | Active deflector | 39 km NE Carmarthen Caravan Park | |
| Rhyd-yr-onnen | Active deflector | 20 km N Aberystwyth | 20 homes caravan site |
How will the Preseli (Pembrokeshire, Wales) transmission frequencies change over time?
| 1962-80s | 1984-97 | 1997-98 | 1998-2009 | 2009-13 | 2013-18 | 2013-17 | 31 Oct 2018 | ||
| VHF | B E T | B E T | B E T | W T | K T | K T | K T | ||
| C8 | ITVwaves | ||||||||
| C30 | _local | _local | _local | _local | |||||
| C37 | C5waves | C5waves | |||||||
| C39 | +ArqB | +ArqB | ArqB | ||||||
| C40 | BBC2waves | BBC2waves | BBC2waves | +BBCB | +BBCB | BBCB | |||
| C42 | -SDN | -SDN | -SDN | SDN | |||||
| C43 | ITVwaves | ITVwaves | ITVwaves | +BBCA | +BBCA | +BBCA | BBCA | ||
| C45 | -ArqA | -ArqA | -ArqA | ArqA | |||||
| C46 | BBC1waves | BBC1waves | BBC1waves | +D3+4 | +D3+4 | +D3+4 | D3+4 | ||
| C49tv_off | +ArqB | ||||||||
| C50tv_off | C4waves | C4waves | C4waves | +BBCB |
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 19 Aug 09 and 16 Sep 09.
How do the old analogue and currrent digital signal levels compare?
| Analogue 1-5 | 100kW | |
| BBCA, D3+4, BBCB | (-7dB) 20kW | |
| SDN, ARQA, ARQB | (-10dB) 10kW | |
| Mux A*, Mux B* | (-17dB) 2kW | |
| Mux 1*, Mux 2*, Mux C*, Mux D* | (-20dB) 1000W |
Which companies have run the Channel 3 services in the Preseli transmitter area
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Monday, 10 August 2020
A
Adam Jackson8:36 PM
PSB2 is now on Ch34 not 46 as stated here.
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C
Chris.SE11:21 PM
Adam Jackson:
I'm afraid you are wrong old chap. It is still on 46.
You are most likely picking up PSB2 from the Fishguard relay which is not too surprising considering your location. If your aerial is still pointing at Trefin you should be getting it on C22. If you've recently retuned, changes in reception might be due to strong Tropospheric Ducting which has intermittently been affecting different parts of the UK in recent days.
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Tuesday, 1 September 2020
C
Chris.SE10:07 AM
All:
I'm guessing Preseli may be on essential engineering maybe due to the above reports as all TV muxes appeared to go off-air just before 1045. All back on air at time of posting. I note that virtually all its relays are on Planned Engineering with "Possible service interuptions".
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Saturday, 5 September 2020
S
Stuart Jones7:26 AM
Tenby
Hi
We are having problems with keeping a signal on our free view box. We are on a caravan site at New Hedges in Tenby SA70 8TR. We have reset numerous times but the picture constantly freezes and goes off regularly to no signal being received.
Our aerial is fitted in the window pointing the same way has all others on the site and I believe this to be the Preseli transmitter.
We have turned off all phones, CD player laptops etc but no improvement.
Could you help in diagnosing the problem.
Many thanks
Mr Jones
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Stuart's: mapS's Freeview map terrainS's terrain plot wavesS's frequency data S's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Sunday, 6 September 2020
C
Chris.SE2:18 AM
Stuart Jones:
The predicted transmitter for your location is indeed Preseli which should give you the most reliable signals. The COM multiplexes may be slightly less reliable than the PSBs. The aerial should have its rods horizontal and be pointing at a bearing of 8 degrees (that's east of due N).
You can also receive a number of other transmitters in that location with less releibale signals that may be more variable or poor.
I suggest the first thing to check is that you are tuned to the correct UHF channels for Preseli by going to your set's tuning section, they are C43, C46, C40, C42, C45, C39 in the order BBCA/PSB1, D3&4/PSB2, BBCB-HD/PSB3, SDN/COM4, ArqA/COM5, ArqB/COM6.
You may be able to check best in Manual tuning if you have that option, but you may have others such as Signal Test or similar. (Ignore PSB3 if your set hasn't got an HD/T2 tuner).
If you find you are not tuned to these UHF channels, unplug the aerial and carry out an automatic retune which should clear all previous tuning as nothing should be found. Plug the aerial back in an ideally carry out a manual tune for the correct UHF channels.
If you are tuned to the correct channels, then check your aerial connections and coax plug for any poor or broken connections. Is your aerial a Wideband or Group B suitable for Preseli and does it have a similar number of elements to others there that are receiving satisfactory signals?
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Wednesday, 22 December 2021
A
Adam Jackson4:28 PM
I've been having problems with one mux for about a week now, all others are fine. Going from usual signal levels to extremely low signal strength/quality to nothing at all. Aerial and cabling seems to be fine so unsure what's happening. The mux in question is PSB2 CH22.
The other muxes PSB1 CH25, PSB3 CH28 Freeview and SV1 CH23 and SV2 CH26 Saorview all unaffected.
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Thursday, 23 December 2021
C
Chris.SE3:50 AM
Adam Jackson:
There has been moderate Temperature Inversion/Tropospheric Ducting affecting large parts of the UK for several days, it sometimes accompanies high pressure.
Do NOT retune, it will more likely remove your correct tuning.
These conditions are predicted to ease late on Wednesday by the end of the night
Despite the incorrect spelling, this link does work - simple technical explanation
https://www.bbc.co.uk/rec….jpg
Essentially it results in interfering signals from other transmitters in the UK or Europe reaching you and so your wanted signals are disrupted. It won't necessarily affect all multiplexes or necessarily at the same time if more than one. It can last for seconds, minutes, sometimes hours or longer.
The BBC have had a warning on their Works and Warnings page for a few days, and Freeview had added one on Wednesday (better late than never!) but at that time it was then mainly affecting the S & SE.
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Wednesday, 13 December 2023
A
Alexander Scott9:57 AM
Signal the last couple of months has been horrendous ; sometimes non existant our aerial is outside on a pole in the field. Postcode SA311TX
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A
Alexander Scott10:03 AM
Last few months signal has been very poor ,sometimes non exiistant we live in Elim Road Carmarthen .our aerial is outside on a pole in the field.Postcode SA311TX
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S
Steve Donaldson2:35 PM
Alexander Scott: The first thing to check is that your TV is in fact tuned to Preseli and not Carmel, which would mean that the broken or non-existent picture you have been watching is actually from Carmel. The other thing to note is that there is a mobile phone mast which could potentially (but in no way definitely) be interfering with TV reception at your postcode. There are other possible causes of the issue, such as a problem with your aerial system, but I will expand on these two for now.
You may know this and be familiar, as it is a common issue, even back in the days of analogue. At your location Carmel is in the opposite direction to Preseli and it is on lower UHF channels, thereby being found before Preseli during the TV's automatic tuning scan.
The channels for Preseli are:
PSB1 - BBC One - C43
PSB2 - ITV - C46
PSB3 - BBC One HD - C40
COM4 - QVC - C42
COM5 - Sky Mix - C45
COM6 - Quest - C39
Check the signal strength screen for the programme channels shown above to see that the UHF channel numbers, prefixed 'C', are those of Preseli.
For reference, Carmel's in the same order are: 23, 26, 29, 33, 36, 48
If the TV is tuned to Carmel then this needs correcting. Manually tuning the six Preseli channels may be the only way to achieve this effectively and easily.
The other observation I have made is that Restore TV says it sent postcards to your postcode notifying you of the fact that a mobile phone base station in your area had begun operating in the 700MHz or 800MHz bands, these previously used for TV, and that this could potentially cause interference with TV reception. Restore TV is the organisation charged with alleviating such issues and will send out a free filter to block the higher frequencies now used by mobile phones.
I note there is the nearby lattice tower at the fire station with mobile phone antennae on. While it is supposition and isn't forced to be this mast, it is nonetheless close by.
If you have an amplifier (masthead amp) with your aerial then the filter will need to be fitted before it, so that the mobile phone signal does not enter the amplifier. In cases where someone has a masthead amp then a waterproof outdoor filter is supplied, and you will need to tell Restore TV this when you ring them. They usually send an engineer to fit it. However, this is usually on the rooftop, and if your aerial is on a pole I have no idea whether they can do this, if it means climbing the pole to access it.
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