Freeview Light on the Backwell (North Somerset, England) transmitter
 | Google map |  | Bing map |  | Google Earth |  | 51.441,-2.724 or 51°26'28"N 2°43'25"W |  | BS48 1NY |
The symbol shows the location of the Backwell (North Somerset, England) transmitter which serves 4,600 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 Backwell (North Somerset, England) transmitter._______
Digital television services are broadcast on a multiplexes (or Mux) where many stations occupy a single broadcast frequency, as shown below.
H/V: aerial position (horizontal or vertical)
The Backwell (North Somerset, England) mast is a public service broadcasting (PSB) transmitter, it does not provide these commercial (COM) channels: 4seven, 5Action, 5STAR, 5USA, Al Jazeera Eng, Al Jazeera English, Blaze, Blaze +1, Challenge, Channel 5 +1, Dave, Dave ja vu, DMAX, Drama +1, E4 Extra, YAAAS!, Film4 +1, Food Network, GREAT! action, GREAT! movies, GREAT! romance mix, GREAT! romance, HGTV, HobbyMaker, ITV2 +1, ITV3 +1, ITV4 +1, ITVBe +1, Legend, PBS America, Quest +1, Quest Red, Really, Sky Mix, Sky News, Talking Pictures TV, TCC, That's 90s, That's TV 2, Together TV, TRUE CRIME, TRUE CRIME XTRA, W, Yesterday +1.
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 Backwell 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 | V max | C25 (506.0MHz) | 125m | DTG- | 19W |
 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 | V max | C28 (530.0MHz) | 125m | DTG- | 19W |
 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), | |||||
| PSB3 BBCB | V max | C22 (482.0MHz) | 125m | DTG- | 19W |
 46 5SELECT, 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, 204 CBBC HD, 205 CBeebies HD, plus 1 others | |||||
Are you trying to watch these 44 Freeview channels?
The Backwell (North Somerset, England) mast is a public service broadcasting (PSB) transmitter, it does not provide these commercial (COM) channels: 4seven, 5Action, 5STAR, 5USA, Al Jazeera Eng, Al Jazeera English, Blaze, Blaze +1, Challenge, Channel 5 +1, Dave, Dave ja vu, DMAX, Drama +1, E4 Extra, YAAAS!, Film4 +1, Food Network, GREAT! action, GREAT! movies, GREAT! romance mix, GREAT! romance, HGTV, HobbyMaker, ITV2 +1, ITV3 +1, ITV4 +1, ITVBe +1, Legend, PBS America, Quest +1, Quest Red, Really, Sky Mix, Sky News, Talking Pictures TV, TCC, That's 90s, That's TV 2, Together TV, TRUE CRIME, TRUE CRIME XTRA, W, Yesterday +1.
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 Backwell transmitter?
BBC Points West 0.9m homes 3.4%
from Bristol BS8 2LR, 8km east-northeast (75°)
to BBC West region - 60 masts.
ITV West Country News (East) 0.9m homes 3.4%
from Bristol BS4 3HG, 11km east (90°)
to ITV West region - 61 masts.
All of lunch, weekend and 50% evening news is shared with West Country (West)
How will the Backwell (North Somerset, England) transmission frequencies change over time?
| 1984-97 | 1997-98 | 1998-2010 | 2010-13 | 5 Jun 2019 | |||||
| A K T | A K T | A K T | A K T | A K T | |||||
| C22 | BBC1waves | BBC1waves | BBC1waves | BBCB | BBCB | ||||
| C25 | ITVwaves | ITVwaves | ITVwaves | BBCA | BBCA | ||||
| C28 | BBC2waves | BBC2waves | BBC2waves | D3+4 | D3+4 | ||||
| C32 | C4waves | C4waves | C4waves |
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 | 94W | |
| BBCA, D3+4, BBCB | (-6.9dB) 19W |
Which companies have run the Channel 3 services in the Mendip transmitter area
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Saturday, 20 April 2024
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Steve Donaldson1:49 AM
Paul Dursley: It's good to hear all Backwell multiplexes have returned to good strength and quality.
The channel allocations of Backwell and Wenvoe COMs lend themselves to combining into one the feeds of an aerial on each transmitter. The main six are: Backwell's PSBs: 22, 25 and 28, and Wenvoe's COMs: 39, 42 and 45. Wenvoe's Cardiff local multiplex is 37 and its PSBs are 41, 44 and 47.
ATV currently lists a single UHF-UHF diplexer[1]. It splits at C38 and according to the photo, is a Fringe Electronics model. Fringe doesn't list such a model on its website[2]. The diplexer attenuates channels neighbouring the split, so this may not be the best one here.
UHF-UHF diplexers are thin on the ground. There is an Antiference UD3437 diplexer listed on eBay. If you put the model number into the eBay search bar you should find it. Its lower input actually goes all the way down to 88MHz, so will pass FM broadcasts too. The UHF channels it passes on the two inputs are 21 to 34 and 37 to 68.
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[1] Diplexer Channel 38 (UHF/UHF) A.T.V. Poles, Brackets, Clamps & Aerials
[2] https://fringeelectronics.co.uk/diplexers.html
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Chris.SE2:35 AM
Steve Donaldson:
Apart from the rarity of diplexers these days, the cost of them is not peanuts, and so there seems little point in spending that sort of money when, as you've pointed out the "split" on one of those is at C38 and Wenvoe's Local mux is on C37, The other one requires F connectors, a further expense.
BUT more to the point, I'd rather check that the strength of Paul's Backwell signal is sufficient for such insertion loss when a low loss splitter in reverse may do the same job at a fraction of the cost. Many have successfully done it that way.
That's assuming that with the "normal" signals he's now getting, they don't allow sufficient signal from Wenvoe of the side of his Backwell aerial, however his post suggests that he does get sufficient signal.
There's little point in spending money on a "perfectionist" solution that's not needed IMHO.
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Steve Donaldson12:52 PM
Chris.SE: Paul's aerial, which appears on Google Street View as if it may be a 13-element contract, was installed in the days of analogue. As I have already identified, Backwell had a doubling of power in 2019 which I believe suggests it may be able to withstand a little more extra loss.
I went looking for diplexers to see what I could find. ATV is always a good starting point. As with any research into products, the question is whether it can be bettered in terms of price, and in this case in terms of splitting at a more suitable channel too.
The Antiference model on eBay does indeed require F-connectors, and these can also be picked up on eBay for a few pounds delivered. This is the best I could find in terms of price which comes in at a little under 20 including delivery and F-connectors from another seller. The seller of the diplexer is open to offers, so it is always worth seeing if he/she is will give a discount.
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Chris.SE3:12 PM
Steve Donaldson:
Paul did say it was over 20 years old, so no doubt a 14-element contract yagi. Interesting side note even though that image is supposedly 2009, the house next door has/had an aerial pointing at Mendip as well! (Yet an image down the road is 2022!).
Yes atv are always a good source of information, often a good starting point.
Considering the age of Paul's aerial, hence my ongoing concern about possible water penetration.
That said, if one is going to continue to rely on the reception of Wenvoe off the side of a Backwell aerial, whilst the 28 element Group K Log Periodic might give adequate Backwell signal, even with a wider beamwidth it might be too good in directional properties for Wenvoe, and because there are differences between vertical and horizontal polarisation, we can't be sure (the 56-element might be worse in this latter respect).
It could be best to rely on something more basic such as
https://www.blake-uk.com/aerials-tv-yagi/14-element-contract-pcb-balun-group-k-channels-2148.html
But this is all where a decent aerial installer would be able to test on location and install the simplest most straight forward aerial setup to achieve the desired results.
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Sunday, 21 April 2024
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Paul Dursley8:26 PM
Chris.SE:
Evening.
I have been following the discourse on aerial types, splitters, diplexers and insertion losses etc and I like to think I have genuinely been educated within this subject area so thank you for that.
Where my TV reception is at currently (excellent on Backwell transmitter and good to very good on Wenvoe) I am really happy with it. So I'm getting my West of England content in preference to Wales content and also getting the selection COMs channels from Wenvoe which give me access to some nationality 'flavourless' commercial channels which aren't available from the Backwell transmitter.
In short this is where I want to be.
With reference to potential water ingress with the original aerial fitment there is some decent rain due here tomorrow so there will be an opportunity to see if we suffer any signal degradation through the afternoon/evening. It has been dry for the last few days so we should get a positive indication one way or the other.
My eBay splitter should be turning up by midweek so I can also do a test for insertion loss vs signal strength/quality later in the week.
Assuming no signal degradation due to water ingress I would suggest given that the relative lack of sophistication of my aerial installation seems to support my viewing tastes with the availability of transmitted channels from Backwell and Wenvoe I would argue that less, if not more, is at least enough in this case.
Worst case scenario would be re installation of current aerial or new low tech Yagi type installation.
I'll copy this to Steve D.
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Paul Dursley8:29 PM
Steve Donaldson:
Evening.
I have been following the discourse on aerial types, splitters, diplexers and insertion losses etc and I like to think I have genuinely been educated within this subject area so thank you for that.
Where my TV reception is at currently (excellent on Backwell transmitter and good to very good on Wenvoe) I am really happy with it. So I'm getting my West of England content in preference to Wales content and also getting the selection COMs channels from Wenvoe which give me access to some nationality 'flavourless' commercial channels which aren't available from the Backwell transmitter.
In short this is where I want to be.
With reference to potential water ingress with the original aerial fitment there is some decent rain due here tomorrow so there will be an opportunity to see if we suffer any signal degradation through the afternoon/evening. It has been dry for the last few days so we should get a positive indication one way or the other.
My eBay splitter should be turning up by midweek so I can also do a test for insertion loss vs signal strength/quality later in the week.
Assuming no signal degradation due to water ingress I would suggest given that the relative lack of sophistication of my aerial installation seems to support my viewing tastes with the availability of transmitted channels from Backwell and Wenvoe I would argue that less, if not more, is at least enough in this case.
Worst case scenario would be re installation of current aerial or new low tech Yagi type installation.
I've copied this to Chris
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Chris.SE8:46 PM
Paul Dursley:
Hi again. Any immediate degradation after the rain could certainly suggest water ingress, however if engineering work is still listed (we won't know until tomorrow) then maybe judgement over a longer period would be a good idea.
If at the end of the day the existing aerial is in good enough condition for reinstallation, I'd strongly recommend brand new double screened coax for the downlead.
We eagerly await await further updates.
(PS. no need to repeat a seperate post, we both see all the posts).
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Tuesday, 23 April 2024
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Paul Dursley11:45 AM
Chris.SE:
Morning all.
So some rain yesterday, not copious amounts but enough over a number of hours to possibly initiate some water ingress if there is a serious barrier problem with the cable at the aerial.
Channel reception figures today (all out of 10) below for your information:-
Backwell -
CH22 - quality 9; strength 10
CH25 - quality 10; strength 10
CH28 - quality 10; strength 10
Wenvoe -
CH39 - quality 8.5; strength 6
CH41 - quality 10; strength 7
CH42 - quality 10; strength 5
CH44 - quality 10; strength 5
CH45 - quality 10; strength 5
CH47 - quality 10; strength 6
Reception has been consistently at these levels for a few days now. Not too shabby.
The splitter should be turning up soon so I can pop that inline and see if it makes any obvious difference. Watch this space.
Thanks
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Chris.SE2:41 PM
Paul Dursley:
Thanks for the update. Wenvoe and Mendip still listed, god knows what they are doing!
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Thursday, 25 April 2024
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Paul Dursley9:17 AM
Chris.SE:
Morning - splitter has turned up just in time for the Wenvoe signal to be dropping off dramatically and the Backwell signal relayed from Mendip to be dipping somewhat.
The Wenvoe signal has dropped dramatically to the point of being almost unwatchable on some of the multiplexes (C39, C42 and C44).
The Backwell signal has dropped anything from 10 to 20 per cent in strength and quality but is still providing decent enough reception.
I haven't played with the splitter yet - think I'll wait until Wenvoe and Mendip have finished whatever it is they are doing and signals have stabilised.
Weather wise some rain earlier in the week as previously reported otherwise dry, bright and sunny at times especially yesterday when the signals started dropping off.
Stay tuned for updates.
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