Northampton (Northamptonshire, England) DAB transmitter
 | Google map |  | Bing map |  | Google Earth |  | 52.275,-0.888 or 52°16'31"N 0°53'15"W |
Are there any planned engineering works or unexpected transmitter faults on the Northampton (Northamptonshire, England) mast?
No problems on any service. 
UK Free TV shows the coverage area for a radio transmitter as a coloured overlay (orange for FM, other colours for DAB) on the grey map. We have computed the coverage by combining the terrain with the official radiation pattern. A single click will select the transmitter to view the coverage for a single site, and a double click goes to a page showing full details. Click on the buttons in the right-hand corner of the map to choose from different frequencies (or multiplexes for DAB).
Local transmitter maps
Northampton DABSunday, 13 August 2023
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David Nicholls10:17 AM
I keep losing Gold radio and LBC dab signals. The same outside the house on two different radio sets. Been going on for a week or more now near Kingsthorpe Golf club. If I go outsidemy home the problem persists and a re-tune does not help. Today is Sunday morning.
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Chris.SE2:53 PM
David Nicholls:
Firstly, generally retunes will not help if you already have the multiplexes tuned in. If the signals are bad (or no signal) sometimes it can clear your correct tuning - can be set dependant.
The only times retuning is really of any advantage is if a commercial station has been added or removed from a multiplex (removed often being obvious as you don't receive it, whereas all other stations on the multiplex are ok) OR if one of the commercial stations has changed transmission mode (to DAB+). A lot of the commercial stations are now doing this and if your radio is not DAB+ capable, you won't get those stations.
In your area, signals can come from 3 or 4 different transmitters (at least).
The BBC National multiplex 12B is transmitted from Daventry and Northampton.
The Northampton transmitter also has a Local (commercial) multiplex 10C which carries BBC Radio Northampton and Capital UK, Gold Northampton, Greatest Hits UK, Heart Northants, HITS RADIO UK, & Radio Up. None of them are DAB+ and you shouldn't have any problem receiving them and there's no reported faults on any of those transmitters.
Commercial only transmitters are another matter, it's almost impossible to find out if any faults are reported or engineering work taking place.
There are two transmitters I'm aware of carrying the D1 National multiplex 11D, Daventry and one on the east side Wellingborough just to the south of the railway station.
Amongst many other stations it has Gold UK (DAB+), LBC (mono) & LBC News (DAB+).
Most stations on the mutliplex are now DAB+, the following are not according to current listings -
Absolute Radio, Classic FM, Kiss, Kisstory, Magic, and Talksport.
Smooth Radio appears on one listing but that may be an error.
You may get variable reception of the SDL commercial multiplex 11A.
There's a transmitter at Daventry, not sure if you'll get any reception from one at Waltham. I don't know if there any others that may be receivable/nearer as ukdigitalradio's mapping and listing doesn't seem to be working (in 4 different browsers!).
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Steve Donaldson3:58 PM
David Nicholls: I suggest it "might" be engineering works at the Sandy Heath transmitter.
Judging by their location and transmission powers, Daventry and Sandy Heath are the transmitters much responsible for Digital One in your area. Thus, if one is off, you may have only the other.
This is speculative because there is no information as to engineering works on DAB. Freeview reports engineering works at Sandy Heath, with "Pixelation or flickering on some or all channels". This therefore points to works of some description going on at the transmitter site and possibly on the mast itself.
Unlike other broadcast systems, with DAB all the transmitters broadcast on the same frequency for the same multiplex (which carries an ensemble of radio stations). The transmitters send out the signal in time with one another meaning any one receiver could be getting some level of signal from more than one transmitter, varying by location. In such a situation, the signals from each transmitter add up to provide a better signal than had just one or fewer transmitters been available.
The radio stations you mention are carried on the Digital One national multiplex. Assuming you are in Northampton, having consulted a map of the transmitters around the area, Daventry and Sandy Heath are mainly responsible for Digital One in your area.
The Northampton DAB transmitter carries the BBC National multiplex only, hence it won't help you with Digital One in the event of any reduction or outage of the Sandy Heath transmitter.
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Steve Donaldson5:34 PM
David Nicholls: Further to the above, here is some more information.
Taking the Kingsthorpe Golf Course as the sample location (don't ask me which hole) I have come up with the following transmitters. For each there is distance in kilometres, distance in miles, bearing in degrees, total effective radiated power and attenuation in direction of the sample location. They are ordered in what I think are the level of signal contributed to the sample location:
Daventry 17.4km 10.8mls 267deg 9.7kW -3dB
Sandy Heath 46.4km 28.8mls 108deg 4.7kW -2dB
Bow Brickhill 32.8km 20.4mls 153deg 2.6kW -2dB
Peterborough 45.9km 28.5mls 53deg 5kW 0.5dB
With respect to Waltham, it is 60.3km or 37.4mls away on a bearing of 5degrees (so 185deg out from the transmitter). The ERP is 8.8kW, and at 180deg it is 6.2dB down and at 190deg is 2.6dB down. At 170deg it is 11.9db down and at 200deg it is 6.5dB down.
Line-of-sight is badly blocked to Peterborough, so the conclusion to my findings reaffirms what I said previously, which is that Daventry and Sandy Heath are mainly responsible for the Digital One signal in Northampton.
If it's Sandy Heath that's off air then siting the radio somewhere where there is a clearer path to Daventry might help reception. If Daventry is off then siting the radio where there is a clearer path to Sandy Heath might help reception.
"Clearer path" is to mean, for example, at the side of the house facing the transmitter, and even better at an upstairs window. Daventry and Sandy Heath are in opposite directions. With all this information, if you go to a window that faces westwards to Daventry and get a better signal than one that faces eastwards to Sandy Heath then this may indicate the latter is off air or on reduced power, if indeed a DAB transmitter is ever put on "reduced power".
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Steve Donaldson5:43 PM
David Nicholls: There is a report just in on this website reporting weak signal on Digital One in Leamington Spa. This is, of course, the other side of Daventry and therefore, unless another transmitter is off or being worked on, we might suspect that it is Daventry that is the cause of your issue.
I repeat my suggestion that you try siting the radio somewhere east-facing and west-facing to see which works better.
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Steve6:29 PM
My dad, father in law and myself are having the same issues with Gold UK in the Northampton area. We all live un different parts of the town. Must be an issue with the transmitter in the area.
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Steve6:33 PM
My Dad, father in law and myself are all having the same issues with Gold UK in Northampton .We all live in different parts of the town . Must be an issue with the transmitter.
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Chris.SE10:29 PM
Steve Donaldson:
What about the relay transmitter at Wellingborough which carries the D1 multiplex which should give adequate coverage in Northampton?
I've just posted this on the Daventry DAB page -
Whilst it could be the Daventry transmitter, there is a relay at Wellingborough which would provide coverage in Northampton, so this doesn't necessarily fit with reports there. I'm thinking this could be a synchronisation issue.
Whatever, we are making our best guesses, and in view of the lack of detailed information about commercial multiplexes, my advice is, as I've previously suggested -
PHONE the Radio station you are having reception problems with and tell them, tell them there are other reports around the area and ask them to contact the transmitter people to check out the problem.
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Chris.SE10:30 PM
Steve:
See my post above. PHONE the station you are having a problem with.
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Monday, 14 August 2023
Research says 11D is the multiplex, maps show the DAB mast at the top of Boughton toward Mouton for nearest DAB radio transmission. My TV is although not is the best place, has an aerial towards Sandy Heath but it is almost in line of site to the 5G mobile transmission near Morrisons Kettering rd.
I started of thinking it was RF interference hence walkabout with the dab radio.
It strange how only a few stations are effected. Two seperate radios same problem. Yet not all are saying why I cannot get LBC DAB radio. And Gold Radio. Perhaps it is the Wellingborough transmission fault?
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