Full Freeview on the Wenvoe (Cardiff, Wales) transmitter
 | Google Streetview |  | Google map |  | Bing map |  | Google Earth |  | 51.460,-3.282 or 51°27'35"N 3°16'57"W |  | CF5 6SA |
The symbol shows the location of the Wenvoe (Cardiff, Wales) transmitter which serves 360,000 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 Wenvoe (Cardiff, Wales) mast?
Wenvoe transmitter - Wenvoe 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 Wenvoe 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 Wenvoe transmitter?
BBC Wales Today 1.2m homes 4.7%
from Cardiff CF5 2YQ, 6km northeast (42°)
to BBC Wales region - 206 masts.
ITV Cymru Wales 1.2m homes 4.7%
from Cardiff CF5 6XJ, 1km east-northeast (74°)
to ITV Wales region - 206 masts.
Are there any self-help relays?
| Abergwesyn | Active deflector | 7 km N Llanwrtyd Wells | 20 homes |
| Barry | Transposer | 10 km SW city centre | 300 homes |
| Celtic Manor | Transposer | 5 km E Newport | 80 homes |
| Pentrebach | Transposer | 3 km S Merthyr Tydfil | 100 homes |
| Ystradfellte | Active deflector | 30 km NE Port Talbot | 20 homes |
How will the Wenvoe (Cardiff, Wales) transmission frequencies change over time?
| 1950s-80s | 1984-97 | 1997-98 | 1998-2010 | 2010-13 | 2013-18 | 2013-17 | 15 May 2019 | ||
| VHF | B E T | B E T | B E T | B E T | B E K T | W T | W T | ||
| C5 | BBCtvwaves | ||||||||
| C30 | LOCAL2 | ||||||||
| C31 | com7 | com7 | |||||||
| C37 | com8 | com8 | |||||||
| C39 | +ArqB | +ArqB | ArqB | ||||||
| C41 | ITVwaves | ITVwaves | ITVwaves | +BBCA | +BBCA | +BBCA | BBCA | ||
| C42 | +SDN | +SDN | +SDN | SDN | |||||
| C44 | BBC1waves | BBC1waves | BBC1waves | D3+4 | D3+4 | D3+4 | D3+4 | ||
| C45 | +ArqA | +ArqA | +ArqA | ArqA | |||||
| C47 | C4waves | C4waves | C4waves | BBCB | BBCB | BBCB | BBCB | ||
| C49tv_off | +ArqB | ||||||||
| C51tv_off | BBC2waves | BBC2waves | BBC2waves | LCF | LCF | ||||
| C55tv_off | com7tv_off | ||||||||
| C56tv_off | 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 3 Mar 10 and 31 Mar 10.
How do the old analogue and currrent digital signal levels compare?
| Analogue 1-4 | 500kW | |
| BBCA, D3+4, BBCB | (-7dB) 100kW | |
| com8 | (-9.7dB) 53.2kW | |
| SDN, ARQA, ARQB | (-10dB) 50kW | |
| com7 | (-10.3dB) 47kW | |
| Mux 1*, LCF | (-17dB) 10kW | |
| Mux 2*, Mux A*, Mux B*, Mux C*, Mux D* | (-20dB) 5kW |
Which companies have run the Channel 3 services in the Wenvoe transmitter area
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Tuesday, 31 December 2019
H
Hywel clatworthy8:32 AM
Chris.SE: Thanks Chris, what you say does make sense, it would be nice if I could prove it by picking up a European channel ! No doubt when Brexit is done we won't get this problem again !!!!!
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C
Chris.SE1:13 PM
Hywel clatworthy:
I like your wit :) You may still get something on FM or DAB but the "tropo" is currently subsiding. However it may return next week :o
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Friday, 21 February 2020
R
Rob7:58 PM
Cardiff
Hi, I am unable to pick up some BBC channels. I can get BBC 1 & 2 Wales perfectly fine. Yet BBC Four, News Channel are both very poor quality. I can also get the English (West) versions of BBC 1 & 2 in the 800s however they are also very poor quality. What I don't understand is how its possible to receive BBC 1 & 2 perfectly okay yet not the other channels when they are in the same multiplex? I am using an indoor aerial in CF24 4QD. Yes I know thats not recommended but I always thought all channels in the same multiplex share the same signal.
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Rob's: mapR's Freeview map terrainR's terrain plot wavesR's frequency data R's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Thursday, 4 March 2021
S
Sam Evans4:35 PM
I live on Gower in a "green" area for Wenvoe. I have indoor amplifiers.
Over the past 6 months, more and more channels have disappeared.
Now I can only get the main BBC channels and a few others.
What happened? What changed? And will they put it back?
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D
David Williams4:54 PM
Chris.SE:
This is really not an adequate response (although it may well be true). Its certainly not a fix.
Surely the real issue a very bad decsion to transmit some channels at one-tenth of the power.
Then blame the weather or the customers or their equipment. No! Turn the power up.
The thought process that says my gran's TV can receive some channels at 10kW transmission power, yet needs 100kW to receive the BBC is simply ludicrous. Its one TV. And one gran. Clearly all channels need to be transmitted at the same power.
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Chris.SE8:03 PM
Sam Evans:
All multiplexes are still transmitted from Wenvoe, nothing has changed. There was some Planned Engineering at Wenvoe back around the beginning of February, but that would have been routine and AFAIK everything is "normal". I can't find any listing of any Faults either by Freeview or the BBC, or any current issues.
As you've been having a problem for some time, there could be a number of reasons.
First perhaps just check that all your coax plugs are properly plugged in, unplug them, check there's no corrosion etc and plug them back in.
Second perhaps to check is that you are tuned to the correct UHF channels for the Wenvoe multiplexes, it's possible you may have got tuned to other transmitters with weak signals at some point when perhaps there there was interference or even no signal from Wenvoe during maintenance or faults.
If you happened to retune (or your set did an automatic one) in such circumstances, it can also just clear the correct tuning.
If you haven't done a retune recently, then try one now, especially if you aren't sure of your technical ability to check things in your TV's tuning section which I'll detail now.
The UHF channels for Wenvoe are C41, C44, C47, C42, C45, C39, C55, C37 that's in the multiplex order BBCA/PSB1, D3&4/PSB2, BBCB HD/PSB3, SDN/COM4, ArqA/COM5, ArqB/COM6, COM7, Local.
(C means UHF channel). See Channel listings for Industry Professionals | Freeview for which programmes are carried on which multiplex.
Your location will determine which of those you can receive, particularly you may not get COM7 or the Local multiplex. Also PSB3 and COM7 are HD multiplexes for which your need a set with an HD/T2 tuner. To comment on predicted reception at your locale, a full postcode is needed.
If you look in your TV's tuning section, maybe there's an option for signal strength or manual tuning, you should be able to see the UHF channel number, Signal strength and Quality. Make a note of the figures for each UHF channel as it might help identify and problems with the aerial installation, and of course check you are tuned to the correct UHF channels.
If you are still having problems, post back with as much information as possible, where your aerial is located, whether you have any distribution amplifier/splitters, a full postcode, check your aerial is still pointing in the correct direction and seems intact, etc. It's possible your aerial installation and downlead may have deteriorated during some of the abysmal weather we've been having in recent times.
If you've changed anything in your installation over the period, moved any leads etc, post detail. Check that you don't have any HDMI leads close to any aerial or flyleads, especially if the aerial and flyleads aren't high quality double screened cable as HDMI has been known to cause interference.
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Chris.SE8:43 PM
David Williams:
As I can't see another post from you here, I'm not certain what your comment refers to, but the context suggests that it's in reference to my reply to Hywel on 30 December 2019!
If so, I'm sorry that you don't appreciate a moderately lengthy technical explanation from this independent (free) helpsite about radio wave propagation and Tropospheric Ducting and how reception can be affected by weather conditions.
You can always talk to some radio amateurs or use your search engine to find similar explanations around the www.
It seems you don't realise that transmitters (of virtually all types) have to share frequencies, not only in the UK, but across Europe and around the world, and this is all subject to international agreements. The transmitter powers have to be such that they don't cause interference to others elsewhere. You can't simply just turn up the power, otherwise you'd have to turn it up somewhere else to make sure their signals weren't wiped out by the other, you'd simply end up in a vicious circle and just wasting electricity to produce the higher powers.
There's also a big difference in making sure that reception of the Public Service Broadcasters is as reliable as possible for I hope obvious reasons, especially if weather conditions could lead to potential interference. Frequency sharing is generally less on the channels the PSB's use. Some of the commercial multiplexes can't have the same "luxury"!
COM7 is a temporary HD multiplex which in any event will be closed by June 2022, and transmits on UHF C55 as a single frequency network shared by the 25 main transmitters that transmit it. Local multiplexes are only intended to cover specific local areas. Both of these multiplexes will be lower power than the main ones.
Briefly, back to Tropospheric Ducting. There just happens to have been some around recently. No doubt climate change has a bearing on it seeming to occur more frequently. Sometimes there is information posted by Freeview and the BBC (poorly explained as it's not just "high pressure" but can often come with it).
There is information at present, but how long before it's removed is unknown, you may find it in the following locations -
Weather affecting reception in Eastern & South Eastern England and the East coast of Scotland | Freeview
https://www.bbc.co.uk/rec…e-uk
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Thursday, 18 March 2021
What will be best aerial to receive from wenvoe
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richard's: mapR's Freeview map terrainR's terrain plot wavesR's frequency data R's Freeview Detailed Coverage
S
StevensOnln110:36 AM
richard k greenfield: A wideband aerial (such as a log periodic type) is generally recommended, unless you are somewhere with a weak signal, where a grouped aerial may perform better. If you provide a full postcode we can check, or any reputable aerial installer should know what reception conditions are like in the local area.
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Friday, 18 June 2021
L
Lewis10:43 PM
Hi
Can I use an indoor aerial in Nelson to pick up transmission from Wenvoe for my YouView box
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