menuMENU    UK Free TV logo Freeview

 

 

Click to see updates

Full Freeview on the Waltham (Leicestershire, England) transmitter

first published this on - UK Free TV
sa_streetviewGoogle Streetviewsa_gmapsGoogle mapsa_bingBing mapsa_gearthGoogle Earthsa_gps52.801,-0.801 or 52°48'4"N 0°48'5"Wsa_postcodeLE14 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.

Are there any planned engineering works or unexpected transmitter faults on the Waltham (Leicestershire, England) mast?

Waltham transmitter - Waltham transmitter: Possible effect on TV reception week commencing 15/04/2024 Pixelation or flickering on some or all channels Digital tick


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

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.

MuxH/VFrequencyHeightModeWatts
PSB1
BBCA
 H max
C32 (562.0MHz)442mDTG-50,000W
Channel icons
1 BBC One (SD) East Midlands, 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)442mDTG-50,000W
Channel icons
3 ITV 1 (SD) (Central (East micro region)), 4 Channel 4 (SD) Midlands ads, 5 Channel 5, 6 ITV 2, 10 ITV3, 13 E4, 14 Film4, 15 Channel 4 +1 Midlands ads, 18 More4, 26 ITV4, 28 ITVBe, 30 E4 +1, 35 ITV1 +1 (Central west),

PSB3
BBCB
 H max
C35 (586.0MHz)442mDTG-50,000W
Channel icons
46 5SELECT, 101 BBC One HD East Midlands, 102 BBC Two HD England, 103 ITV 1 HD (ITV Central West), 104 Channel 4 HD Midlands ads, 105 Channel 5 HD, 106 BBC Four HD, 107 BBC Three HD, 204 CBBC HD, 205 CBeebies HD, plus 1 others

COM4
SDN
 H -3dB
C29 (538.0MHz)442mDTG-825,000W
Channel icons
20 Drama, 21 5USA, 29 ITV2 +1, 32 5STAR, 33 5Action, 38 Channel 5 +1, 41 Legend, 42 GREAT! action, 57 Dave ja vu, 58 ITVBe +1, 59 ITV3 +1, 64 Blaze, 67 TRUE CRIME, 68 TRUE CRIME XTRA, 78 TCC, 81 Blaze +1, 83 Together TV, 89 ITV4 +1, 91 WildEarth, 209 Ketchup TV, 210 Ketchup Too, 211 YAAAS!, 267 Al Jazeera English, plus 30 others

COM5
ArqA
 H -3dB
C37 (602.0MHz)449mDTG-825,000W
Channel icons
11 Sky Mix, 17 Really, 19 Dave, 31 E4 Extra, 36 Sky Arts, 40 Quest Red, 43 Food Network, 47 Film4 +1, 48 Challenge, 49 4seven, 60 Drama +1, 65 That's TV 2, 70 Quest +1, 74 Yesterday +1, 75 That's 90s, 233 Sky News, plus 11 others

COM6
ArqB
 H -3dB
C31 (554.0MHz)449mDTG-825,000W
Channel icons
12 Quest, 25 W, 27 Yesterday, 34 GREAT! movies, 39 DMAX, 44 HGTV, 52 GREAT! romance, 56 That's TV (UK), 61 GREAT! movies extra, 63 GREAT! romance mix, 71 That’s 60s, 73 HobbyMaker, 82 Talking Pictures TV, 84 PBS America, 235 Al Jazeera Eng, plus 18 others

LNG
 H -10dB
C41 (634.0MHz)442mDTG-125,000W
Channel icons
from 27th May 2014: 7 Notts TV,

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 Waltham transmitter?

regional news image
BBC East Midlands Today 0.9m homes 3.4%
from Nottingham NG2 4UU, 28km northwest (306°)
to BBC East Midlands region - 17 masts.
regional news image
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?

BraunstoneTransposer5 km SW Leicester city centre170 homes

How will the Waltham (Leicestershire, England) transmission frequencies change over time?

1984-971997-981998-20112011-132013-182013-174 Mar 2020
C/D EEEWW TW TW T
C26LNGLNG
C29SDNSDNSDNSDN
C31com7com7
C32BBCA
C34D3+4
C35C5wavesC5wavesBBCB
C37com8com8
C41_local
C49tv_off BBCABBCA
C54tv_offC4wavesC4wavesC4wavesD3+4D3+4D3+4
C55tv_offcom7tv_off
C56tv_offArqAArqAArqACOM8tv_off
C57tv_offArqBArqBArqB
C58tv_offBBC1wavesBBC1wavesBBC1wavesBBCBBBCBBBCB
C61ITVwavesITVwavesITVwavesBBCA
C64BBC2wavesBBC2wavesBBC2waves

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

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

Feb 1956-Jul 1968Associated TeleVision†
Feb 1956-Jul 1968Associated British Corporation◊
Jul 1968-Dec 1981Associated TeleVision
Jan 1982-Feb 2004Central Independent Television
Feb 2004-Dec 2014ITV plc
Feb 1983-Dec 1992TV-am•
Jan 1993-Sep 2010GMTV•
Sep 2010-Dec 2014ITV Daybreak•
• Breakfast ◊ Weekends ♦ Friday night and weekends † Weekdays only. Waltham 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.

Comments
Saturday, 20 July 2013
Dave Lindsay
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

8:33 PM

jb38: Mine was recording Film4 (COM6) when it went off. It continued recording a blank screen.

Prior to going blank the picture went upwards once or twice, just as in the days of analogue without a vertical hold - for that reason I first suspected that the tuner had gone.

link to this comment
Dave Lindsay's 5,724 posts GB flag
J
jb38
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

8:34 PM

brian: I have a sneaking suspicion that a few others who have also experienced this problem might well be trying out your procedure for themselves albeit with the qualification of nothing being guaranteed, but though so long as they remember NOT to use the channels numbers you have mentioned (Ch29 / Ch56) but the COM4/ SDN then COM5/ArqA channel numbers used by the station they receive from.

link to this comment
jb38's 7,179 posts GB flag
J
jb38
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

8:57 PM

Dave Lindsay: Yes, and can fully understand the reason for you having suspected that your tuner had packed in, because if it had the symptoms would have been exactly the same.

I have to say though, that when I first seen these problems being mentioned this morning I wondered what your own findings would be, as I had only noticed late yesterday evening that you had previously made a posting commenting on a suspected EPG problem you were experiencing, and had typed out a short reply (not in the reply box as I copy and paste into it) along the lines that I felt the problem was more likely to be caused by a software glitch within the actual box rather than the data sent out by the transmitters involved.

However after having seen the sheer numbers of people complaining I decided to scrub what I had previously typed out as it wouldn't really have added to that already known.

link to this comment
jb38's 7,179 posts GB flag
Dave Lindsay
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

9:22 PM

jb38: My Sony is recording at present so I might have a go tomorrow and see if tuning in the PSB channels only makes a difference.

If you are referring to the issue I had with timer recordings set for LCN001 (BBC One) where the EPG Link was on and where, seemingly, at random intervals it decided to record from one of the BBC Ones in my 800s instead then I don't think this has anything to do with the current widespread issue:

Emley Moor (Kirklees, England) Full Freeview transmitter | ukfree.tv - 11 years of independent, free digital TV advice

We also have a Pioneer DVR-440HX and the colour scheme of its EPG has also changed, along with the now and next box and the information box which gives the blurb for the current or next programme.

link to this comment
Dave Lindsay's 5,724 posts GB flag
Dave Lindsay
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

11:49 PM

The issue only appears when COM5 is tuned.

I tried running Easy Setup (having set the country back to UK), doing the unplug aerial trick so as to store only PSB2 on C44 (Emley Moor). The EPG worked fine and the broadcast pictures were available (no black screen). I then added PSB1, COM4, COM6 and then COM5 at which point it gave up. Prior to adding COM5 the EPG was available, complete with programme titles. Having added it the EPG has no programme titles.

So I tried again, this time picking up PSB2 only during the scan. I then added COM5 manually and it the fault showed.

Interestingly there is something with the picture when it goes wrong when that picture is black. What happens seems a bit random but the effect is something appearing momentarily (split second) on the screen such as a coloured line at the top of the screen or some other momentarily blip, blob or pixel of colour/white.

I've just done it again, storing PSB2 and then adding COM5. Having exited the menu (having added COM5) ITV displayed momentarily with the picture stopping and jumping back and forward a frame about three times, this reminding me of the pause function on VHS. The screen then went blank although the EPG screen is accessible, it having no programmes even though it did when only PSB2 was stored.


I repeat that when it failed yesterday evening it was recording from COM6 and so couldn't possibly have been tuned to COM5. Why then does it appear that the fault lies with COM5?

The only possibility I can think of is that this has something to do with the fact that the same EPG data is broadcast on all muxes and that something which relates to a service on COM5 is corrupted or otherwise doesn't agree with these models.

link to this comment
Dave Lindsay's 5,724 posts GB flag
Sunday, 21 July 2013
J
jb38
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

10:27 AM

Dave Lindsay: These tests that you have carried out somewhat backs up Brian's (located within the Waltham area's) findings insomuch that something associated with COM5 (no matter where its received from) is triggering the problem in the Sony, this being why that the Sony apparently works OK when its been set up on France, simply because no EPG containing the suspect COM5 data has been stored.

This in theory meaning that if the Sony box is set up as normal in UK followed by manually tuning in each of the muxes one at a time "with the exception of COM5" this will result in EPG listings been seen as normal minus everything associated with COM5.

In other words if the BBC mux is stored first the EPG will only indicate LCN numbers relating to all BBC programmes carried by BBCA and nothing above this (meaning numbers), the additional LCN numbers being added to as they are being picked up from each of the muxes subsequently scanned, which of course is the way that LCN numbers are stored in the first place, because if you scrub everything stored and then tune in the SDN mux the EPG listings will start from LCN 010 and with no numbers below this being seen.


link to this comment
jb38's 7,179 posts GB flag
I
Ian
11:46 AM

Thanks for your post this has really helped me I went to record a programme last night on my Sony HXD-890 and found no channel numbers, I had purchased a 5 year warranty and was going to invoke it but I have followed your procedure and mine is working fine now, I hope Sony send out a patch/fix for this as I suspect many others in the Waltham area are in the same situation.

link to this comment
Ian's 1 post GB flag
Dave Lindsay
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

11:46 AM

jb38: QUOTE: "This in theory meaning that if the Sony box is set up as normal in UK followed by manually tuning in each of the muxes one at a time "with the exception of COM5" this will result in EPG listings been seen as normal minus everything associated with COM5."

Until the next Update, that is, because there is apparently no way of preventing this device from adding any new multiplex it finds.

link to this comment
Dave Lindsay's 5,724 posts GB flag
Dave Lindsay
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

12:53 PM

It's all working again!

The EPG colours have returned to how they were on the Sony, although those on the Pioneer DVR-440HX are still the "new" cyan (although it hasn't been given a retune which I don't know whether makes any difference).

link to this comment
Dave Lindsay's 5,724 posts GB flag
P
peter
1:30 PM

Hi. Old Sony recorder locked in update. Could not do anything. Read a post and held start button down till hard drive booted and now back to normal. Thanks to whoever. Norfolk.

link to this comment
peter's 1 post GB flag
Select more comments

Your comment please
Please post a question, answer or commentIf you have Freeview reception problems before posting a question your must first do this Freeview reset procedure then see: Freeview reception has changed, Single frequency interference, and Freeview intermittent interference.

If you have no satellite signal, see Sky Digibox says 'No Signal' or 'Technical fault'

If you have other problems, please provide a full (not partial) postcode (or preferably enter it in box at the top right) and indicate where if aerial is on the roof, in the loft or elsewhere.

UK Free TV is here to help people. If you are rude or disrespectful all of your posts will be deleted and you will be banned.








Privacy policy: UK Free Privacy policy.