Full Freeview on the Waltham (Leicestershire, England) transmitter
 | Google Streetview |  | Google map |  | Bing map |  | Google Earth |  | 52.801,-0.801 or 52°48'4"N 0°48'5"W |  | LE14 4AJ |
The symbol shows the location of the Waltham (Leicestershire, England) transmitter which serves 770,000 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.
This transmitter has no current reported problems
The BBC and Digital UK report there are no faults or engineering work on the Waltham (Leicestershire, England) transmitter._______
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 Waltham 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 Waltham transmitter?
BBC East Midlands Today 0.9m homes 3.4%
from Nottingham NG2 4UU, 28km northwest (306°)
to BBC East Midlands region - 17 masts.
ITV Central News 0.9m homes 3.4%
from Birmingham B1 2JT, 83km west-southwest (244°)
to ITV Central (East) region - 17 masts.
All of lunch, weekend and 80% evening news is shared with Central (West)
Are there any self-help relays?
| Braunstone | Transposer | 5 km SW Leicester city centre | 170 homes |
How will the Waltham (Leicestershire, England) transmission frequencies change over time?
| 1984-97 | 1997-98 | 1998-2011 | 2011-13 | 2013-18 | 2013-17 | 4 Mar 2020 | |||
| C/D E | E | E | W | W T | W T | W T | |||
| C26 | LNG | LNG | |||||||
| C29 | SDN | SDN | SDN | SDN | |||||
| C31 | com7 | com7 | |||||||
| C32 | BBCA | ||||||||
| C34 | D3+4 | ||||||||
| C35 | C5waves | C5waves | BBCB | ||||||
| C37 | com8 | com8 | |||||||
| C41 | _local | ||||||||
| C49tv_off | BBCA | BBCA | |||||||
| C54tv_off | C4waves | C4waves | C4waves | D3+4 | D3+4 | D3+4 | |||
| C55tv_off | com7tv_off | ||||||||
| C56tv_off | ArqA | ArqA | ArqA | COM8tv_off | |||||
| C57tv_off | ArqB | ArqB | ArqB | ||||||
| C58tv_off | BBC1waves | BBC1waves | BBC1waves | BBCB | BBCB | BBCB | |||
| C61 | ITVwaves | ITVwaves | ITVwaves | BBCA | |||||
| 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 17 Aug 11 and 31 Aug 11.
How do the old analogue and currrent digital signal levels compare?
| Analogue 1-5 | 250kW | |
| BBCA, D3+4, BBCB | (-7dB) 50kW | |
| SDN, ARQA, ARQB | (-10dB) 25kW | |
| com8 | (-12.7dB) 13.4kW | |
| com7 | (-13.9dB) 10.2kW | |
| Mux 1* | (-14dB) 10kW | |
| Mux 2*, Mux A*, Mux B* | (-14.9dB) 8kW | |
| Mux C*, Mux D*, LNG | (-17dB) 5kW |
Local transmitter maps
Waltham Freeview Waltham DAB Waltham AM/FM Waltham TV region BBC East Midlands Central (East micro region)Which companies have run the Channel 3 services in the Waltham transmitter area
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Monday, 10 August 2020
C
Chris.SE11:39 PM
Bernard Campbell:
In your TV's tuning section, which UHF channel does it end up on for the PSB1/BBCA multiplex?
Is there a setting to auto-update or retune if there's changes or no signal? If so, turn it off.
When you initially first set up the TV from new, did it ask you to enter a postcode or a region at all?
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Tuesday, 1 September 2020
J
Jim fraser3:22 PM
Leicester
Our tv was receiving signal from the Waltham transmitter as we prefer the East Midlands news. The Sutton Coldfield one is a bit nearer to us at le9 6wy but the signal was fine from Waltham. West midlands was on 801. Our recorder box was on west midlands by default and Waltham on one of the 800 channels. Today we switched the tv on and it came up as west midlands on channel one, East midlands had disappeared off the channel list though BBC 2 was fine which I thought was odd as it is on the same frequency. I retuned, no different, changed a cable at the back retuned again, BBC east midlands was on 801 but severely pixelated and then went off altogether with a no signal notice. When it first went to Sutton Coldfield we had not touched anything. I just do not know what is going on. The aerial is a roof one. There is a small tv in the kitchen on a loft aerial and that picks up Waltham with no trouble. Our main tv is only a few months old so do not think that is at fault.
Any advice would be welcome.
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Jim's: ...
Wednesday, 2 September 2020
C
Chris.SE2:24 AM
Jim fraser:
According to the Freeview Detailed Coverage Checker, you are equidistant from both Sutton Coldfield and Waltham, but Waltham is a lower power transmitter so its signals are predicted to be very marginally less relaible at your location, this also may be why the checker suggests that Sutton Coldfield is the most likely transmitter!
For Waltham (which should give perfectly good reception for you on all multiplexes), the aerial should be pointing at a bearing of 41 degrees (4 degrees N of NE) at your location. Sutton Coldfiled is at 281 degrees, that's 11 degrees N of due W.
It's possible that your set(s) automatically retuned and the Waltham signals were off-air or not as strong at the time due to weather conditions, transmitter engineering or possibly interference. It's advised to turn off all automatic updating/retuning for the very reasons you've experienced. Look in your set's Tuning section for such a setting, you may find it under a setting such as "Programme List Update" or similar depending on make/model of set.
In normal circumstances, as devices tune from the lowest channels first, they should find the Waltham transmitter first as these multiplexes are on lower channels than Sutton Coldfield, but some devices will ask which region you want when you get more than one, some will infuriatingly put weaker signals in the 800s whatever region! Look out for settings that may determine region (even such as asking for a postcode).
Aerials can/do pick up signals other than the transmitter they are pointing at, but these are usually much weaker unless they happen to be in the beamwidth of the aerial, Sutton Coldfield is not in your case so should be weaker.
Making sure all automatic updating is turned off, one way of usually resolving the issues you have is to first retune with the aerial unplugged which should clear memory of all previous tuning as no channels are found, then plug the aerial back in and do a manual tune for your selected transmitter's UHF channels. This trick doesn't work on some devices such as Youview boxes where memory isn't cleared and manual tuning isn't available, so sometimes a "reset" is needed. If it's a PVR you may need to reset scheduled recordings.
In the order PSBs1-3, COMs4-7 the UHF channels for Waltham are C32, C34, C35, C29, C37, C31, C55.
Predicted reception for Waltham at your location is Good for PSBs1-3 but could be very slightly less good for COMs4-7 (as they are lower power at Waltham), especially COM7. There's also a Local mux at Waltham on C41 which you may get but may not always be reliable.
Let us know if that works.
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Thursday, 3 September 2020
J
Jim fraser6:34 PM
Thanks for your comprehensive answer to my problem a couple of days ago. I had already tried retuning with aerial out and then in again but Waltham on 1 still broke up. My Sony does not have auto updates only software updates via internet but mine is not on. Tried the manual tune for channel 32 for bbc and it was ok from Waltham on channel 1 but only for 45 minutes then it pixelated out again. It was fine this morning again for the news, on for about 2 hours. Ok again at lunchtime when it was on for some of the news again. This evening it was ok for about 10 minutes then broke up again. It is baffling me. Any more advice as to what could be causing it?
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Friday, 4 September 2020
C
Chris.SE4:22 AM
Jim fraser:
Assuming that your aerial is still pointing in the correct direction and looks intact, it's rods horizontal then there's the possibility that there's some Planned Engineering taking place - even though it's not listed - it does happen that the list isn't correct! Check with neighbours receiving Waltham to see if they've got similar prolems.
Your next bet perhaps would be to check all your connections for breaks, corrosion, any other damage - especially things like flyleads which sometime have breaks at the back of a moulded connector, if your aerial connection is via a wall plate, check that for corrosion etc. Check the downlead as best you can especially if it's old. If you have any splitter/distribution amp, check everything there and if possible try the aerial direct to the one TV and see if things become stable which then may lead you to a problem. I will emphasise that bad connections don't always affect all multiplexes, they can be frequency dependent due to standing waves in the cable that result.
As C32 is the BBCA multiplex, if there was a transmitter fault (as opposed the Planned work where there can be low signal during the work) then I would have expected one to be listed by the BBC by now but there is nothing.
If after you've done all the checks then if it's still continuing and you've not changed anything else in your installation, and your neighbours aren't having a problem, it could be a connection problem at the aerial or with the downlead.
Post back with the outcome from those checks.
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J
Jim fraser3:37 PM
Chris.SE: Hi again Chris, I have sussed problem to pvr box I think. It is a Sagemcom bought in 2011. I plugged the main aerial directly into tv and Waltham bbc was fine, left in on for 30 mins to see if picture broke up but was ok. Put the signal back through the pvr and pixelated straight away then lost the signal. Funny thing is the other mux groups from Waltham seem ok, just the bbc ones affected. Any idea why this should be? Maybe need a new box but need to be sure it is the box at fault as new recorders are not cheap. If it is the box could it be repaired do you think. We have loads of films recorded on it waiting to be viewed so am reluctant to ditch it.
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J
Jim fraser5:06 PM
Chris.SE: Hi again Chris, I have sussed problem to pvr box I think. It is a Sagemcom bought in 2011. I plugged the main aerial directly into tv and Waltham bbc was fine, left in on for 30 mins to see if picture broke up but was ok. Put the signal back through the pvr and pixelated straight away then lost the signal. Funny thing is the other mux groups from Waltham seem ok, just the bbc ones affected. Any idea why this should be? Maybe need a new box but need to be sure it is the box at fault as new recorders are not cheap. If it is the box could it be repaired do you think. We have loads of films recorded on it waiting to be viewed so am reluctant to ditch it.
Later, ignore last message. I plugged aerial into tv direct for 6pm news, started to break up more or less straight away. I will have to get someone in to test signal strenths etc as this is too puzzling for me
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Saturday, 5 September 2020
C
Chris.SE12:35 AM
Jim fraser:
I would wait until next week when we might have a better idea if there has been unlisted engineering at Waltham that may be affecting the signal.
A far as your Sagemcom PVR is concerned, IF it were faulty I would not contemplate having it repaired as the cost would likely be a significant proportion of the cost of a new PVR, and even then as it is old it MIGHT become unreliable again.
As long as it is capable of playing back what you have already recorded then there's no need to ditch it.
Whilst the PVR is powered, either on or in standby, then the aerial "pass through" should have no effect on the signal to the TV. If you remove power/unplug the PVR from the mains the signal to the TV will reduce dramatically.
You should be able to check this by looking at your TV tuning section, possibly in Manual Tuning or may be it may have a Check Signal option. Where it displays the strength and the quality. Look at those numbers when the aerila goes through the PVR and compare to when connected direct to the TV. There should be no significant difference.
Having checked the above, you can also check if the PVR is still recording OK by doing so, and checking it plays back ok. If it's all ok, I wouldn't worry about it unless you start to see record or playback problems.
If all the above checks out ok, then it could be the signal from the aerial either due to unlisted engineering as mentioned at the start of this reply, or water degredation at the aerial connector or in the coax downlead.
Hope that helps.
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Wednesday, 16 September 2020
J
jj1:12 PM
hello, last couple of nights on signal from waltham, have had pixilating and weak signal after 10pm, cant see that there is weather conditions to affect the 25kw and 10kw mux's? this is really annoying as the bbc and itv on 50kw mux's never affected by weather so far!
so is there work being carried out after 10pm? but if it is weather, why cant the signal be upped to 50kw, or at the very least when there is potential for atmospheric effect, temporarily up these 25kw and 10kw mux's to 50kw same as bbc and itv mux?
i have a loft ariel in central peterborough PE1 with no problem ever with bbc or itv on 50kw, waltham is my best bet, as low urban sprall in that direction.
to many high rises and brick walls to go through for sandy heath direction.
the only common denominator seems to be difference between mux's signal power at the transmitter?
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Thursday, 17 September 2020
C
Chris.SE6:52 AM
jj:
It isn't just "weather conditions" that you may physically observe, it's "Tropospheric Ducting" that can occur under certain atmospheric conditions. Indeed there were some strong tropospheric conditions in different parts of the country Monday and Tuesday, and more predicted later in the week, but like weather forecasts, predictions can change.
The further you are from a transmitter (as well as how strong/weak the signals are) and the specific frequency will determine how likely interference from any distant transmitter (Europe or UK) might be at any given time.
If you are finding that this becomes a more frequent issue, (climate change isn't something anyone has direct control over) maybe best firstly to check your installation hasn't deteriorated in any way (aerial moved a bit, coax degraded, other objects in/on/around the loft or roof causing signal reception to be different), but then secondly to consider an improved aerial installation.
As you haven't provided a full postcode, I can't comment on the predicted reception at your location.
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