Full Freeview on the Mendip (Somerset, England) transmitter

Brian Butterworth first published this on 1st May 2004 at 08:20 - UK Free TV

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 27/01/2025 Pixelation or flickering on some or all channels

Choose from three options: ■ List by multiplex ■ List by channel number ■ List by channel name

_______

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.

Mux	H/V	Frequency	Height	Mode	Watts
PSB1 BBCA	H max	C32 (562.0MHz)	591m	DTG-	100,000W
	1 BBC One (SD) West, 2 BBC Two England, 9 BBC Four, 23 BBC Three, 201 CBBC, 202 CBeebies, 231 BBC News, 232 BBC Parliament, plus 17 others
PSB2 D3+4	H max	C34 (578.0MHz)	591m	DTG-	100,000W
	3 ITV 1 (SD) (West), 4 Channel 4 (SD) South ads, 5 Channel 5, 6 ITV 2, 10 ITV3, 13 E4, 14 Film4, 15 Channel 4 +1 South ads, 18 More4, 26 ITV4, 28 ITVBe, 30 E4 +1, 35 ITV1 +1 (West), 71 That's TV 3,
PSB3 BBCB	H max	C35 (586.0MHz)	591m	DTG-	100,000W
	46 5SELECT, 57 U&Eden, 101 BBC One HD West, 102 BBC Two HD England, 103 ITV 1 HD (ITV Meridian Southampton), 104 Channel 4 HD South ads, 105 Channel 5 HD, 106 BBC Four HD, 107 BBC Three HD, 203 CBBC HD, 204 CBeebies HD, plus 1 others 66 TBN UK,
COM4 SDN	H max	C48 (690.0MHz)	591m	DTG-8	100,000W
	20 U&Drama, 21 5USA, 29 ITV2 +1, 32 5STAR, 33 5Action, 38 Channel 5 +1, 41 Legend, 42 GREAT! action, 58 ITV3 +1, 59 ITV4 +1, 61 GREAT! mystery, 64 Blaze, 67 TRUE CRIME, 68 TRUE CRIME XTRA, 74 U&DaveJaVu, 81 Blaze +1, 83 Together TV, 91 WildEarth, 93 ITVBe +1, 209 Ketchup TV, 210 Ketchup Too, 211 YAAAS!, 251 Al Jazeera English, 255 FRANCE 24 (in English), 265 ROK, plus 28 others
COM5 ArqA	H max	C33 (570.0MHz)	591m	DTG-8	100,000W
	11 Sky Mix, 17 Really, 19 U&Dave, 31 E4 Extra, 36 Sky Arts, 40 Quest Red, 43 Food Network, 47 Film4 +1, 48 Challenge, 49 4seven, 60 U&Drama 1, 65 That's TV 2, 70 Quest +1, 76 That's Dance, 233 Sky News, plus 13 others
COM6 ArqB	H max	C36 (594.0MHz)	591m	DTG-8	100,000W
	Al Jazeera Eng, 12 Quest, 25 U&W, 27 U&Yesterday, 34 GREAT! movies, 39 DMAX, 44 HGTV, 52 GREAT! romance, 56 That's TV (UK), 63 GREAT! player, 73 HobbyMaker, 75 That's Melody, 82 Talking Pictures TV, 84 PBS America, 207 POP UP, plus 18 others
LBS	H -10dB	C30 (546.0MHz)	591m	DTG-12	10,000W
	from 22nd September 2014: 7 Made in Bristol,

DTG-8 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?

BBC Points West 0.9m homes 3.4%
from Bristol BS8 2LR, 25km north (3°)
to BBC West region - 60 masts.

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		C5_waves	C5_waves
C48				SDN	SDN	SDN	SDN
C49_{tv_off}					BBCA	BBCA
C51_{tv_off}						LBS	LBS
C52_{tv_off}				ArqB	ArqB	ArqB
C54_{tv_off}	C4_waves	C4_waves	C4_waves	D3+4	D3+4	D3+4
C55_{tv_off}							com7_{tv_off}
C56_{tv_off}				ArqA	ArqA	ArqA	COM8_{tv_off}
C58_{tv_off}	BBC1_waves	BBC1_waves	BBC1_waves	BBCB	BBCB	BBCB
C61	ITV_waves	ITV_waves	ITV_waves	BBCA
C64	BBC2_waves	BBC2_waves	BBC2_waves

_{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

Local transmitter maps

Mendip Freeview Mendip DAB Mendip AM/FM Mendip TV region BBC West West

Which companies have run the Channel 3 services in the Mendip transmitter area

Jan 1958-Jul 1968	Television Wales and the West
Jul 1968-Feb 2004	Harlech Television
Feb 2004-Dec 2014	ITV plc

Feb 1983-Dec 1992	TV-am•
Jan 1993-Sep 2010	GMTV•
Sep 2010-Dec 2014	ITV Daybreak•

• Breakfast ◊ Weekends ♦ Friday night and weekends † Weekdays only. Mendip was not an original Channel 3 VHF 405-line mast: the historical information shown is the details of the company responsible for the transmitter when it began transmitting Channel 3.

Is the transmitter output the same in all directions?

C

Chris.SE

_{sentiment_very_satisfied}Platinum

10:14 PM

Bruce:

Thanks for that info Bruce.
I'm somewhat sceptical about the " gets divided" explanation/excuse, it's sounds more like the memory can't cope/gets itself confused with all the available these days, after all it's an older model.

However, the important point is that by doing that procedure, the issue was fixed.
It'll be interesting to see if the problem returns next time you do a retune and get all the channel installed again.
If so, you'll unfortunately just have to repeat the procedure, but do let us know how it goes in future.
Thanks.

link to this comment

Chris.SE's 4,252 posts GB flag

R

ROGER F C ALBAN
12:49 PM

During the early part of October I experienced tearing on all received from the . During the latter part of October the returned to good. Since then the reception has returned to tearing. As I receive the signal propagation across the Bristol Channel, Is the signal being effected by high/ low pressure, exceptional high/low tides and/or has the ERP from the site been reduced? It may be that I am also receiving at my high Yagi a reflected signal which is reducing the signal received. Do I need to replace the aerial with a Yagi that attenuates the reflected signal. The aerial is in my of a three story house that from the top floor has a view of the Bristol Channel.

link to this comment

ROGER F C ALBAN's 4 posts GB flag

C

Chris.SE

_{sentiment_very_satisfied}Platinum

1:35 PM

ROGER F C ALBAN:

It's likely to be a combination of factors I'm afraid. There's been ongoing at , see post(s) before yours, on and off for some time, and the effects on signals will not always be the same depending on the work at any given time, eg. whether they are on reduced or using the Reserve - details are never given!
There has recently been some tropospheric & temperature inversion conditions which high pressure can sometimes give and this could be quite variable over the coming few days.
Tides and water levels can sometimes also cause quite a variation in signals.

Also, given your general location you could also get from some of the Devon (and maybe elsewhere) transmitters from time to time in certain conditions. For example uses the same UHF for its COM muxes as Mendip for it's PSBs.
Using aerial with narrow beam widths might, but even then there will be no guarantees. Unless you are someone who is prepared to experiment a bit with aerials, you are probably stuck with the situation as it is.
Hopefully the engineering work will be completed soon and things will settle down!

link to this comment

Chris.SE's 4,252 posts GB flag

C

Chris.SE

_{sentiment_very_satisfied}Platinum

1:41 PM

ROGER C ALBAN:

Just to add to my comment about aerials, smaller side lobes may be equally or even more important than beam width. As mentioned it's a case of experimenting if you wish. Changing the direction of the may even, on the other hand it could make things worse!!

link to this comment

Chris.SE's 4,252 posts GB flag

M

Mrs Johanne Sillar
6:15 PM

All gone on two tvs. Received filter from restore tv and still nothing. Have rescanned, unplugged rescanned again and the rescanned when plugged back in, nothing happening. Signal checker says full signal with but tv says . Freeview says no on but restoretv says there is. Help!

link to this comment

Mrs Johanne Sillar's 1 post GB flag

C

Chris.SE

_{sentiment_very_satisfied}Platinum

12:26 AM

Mrs Johanne Sillar:

The is currently listed for Planned , however that shouldn't be causing you to have a total loss of , there is obviously something else amiss.
Current weather conditions will not be helping either however this shouldn't cause total loss, but we do need a full postcode to look at your predicted and then be able to advise in more detail.

Please also tell us where the is located - chimney stack, mounted, etc. and what /signal splitter you have (model number if possible) and where that is located.
Where are you putting the filter - at the back of the TV or before the booster/splitter?

Does your TV Tuning section give Signal Strength and figures for each 's UHF ? If so please post those as well as this may identify a problem.

link to this comment

Chris.SE's 4,252 posts GB flag

R

ROGER F C ALBAN
12:01 PM

During the past few weeks all received from the site have tearing reducing the of the TV channel being received. I live in a three story Victorian house with the Yagi located in the . From the third story, I have a view of the Bristol Channel, Am I receiving a reflected signal at the aerial due to High/Low pressure and/or exceptional High/Low tides . Has the ERP been reduced?

link to this comment

ROGER F C ALBAN's 4 posts GB flag

S

Steve Donaldson

_{sentiment_satisfied}Silver

12:50 PM

ROGER C ALBAN: Refer to the previous page, 219, where a comments have been posted in answer to your earlier question.

link to this comment

Steve Donaldson's 278 posts GB flag

P1

P208

P209