Freeview: Brighton transmitters will be in BBC South East from 7th March 2012 | Digital switchover
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Brighton transmitters will be in BBC South East from 7th March 2012

No longer will Brighton terrestrial viewers get their 'local' news from 60-miles-away Southampton, but from Tunbridge Wells, after switchover.

No longer will Brighton terrestrial viewers get their 'local' n
Published on by on UK Free TV

Back on 3 September 2001, the BBC split the old Newsroom South East region.

The Oxford part had became an opt-out of South Today from Southampton in October 2000, and in late 2001 the rest of this large region was then split into two: a service for "M25" London (www.bbc.co.uk link icon BBC London News) and another one for Kent and East Sussex.

This new service, which is based at studios in Tunbridge Wells, is called www.bbc.co.uk link icon South East Today.



The city of Brighton and Hove, which is located in East Sussex, is just 33 miles from Tunbridge Wells, did not switch to this new service on analogue or Freeview, but Sky, Virgin Media cable and Freesat viewers have enjoyed South East Today for many years.

Central London is closer - and better connected - to Brighton than Southampton, Hampshire. Brighton and Hove's 250,000 population makes it the largest city in the South East Today region, larger than Canterbury's and Maidstone's 150,000.

Brighton and Hove is served by one main transmitter on Whitehawk Hill, and eight relays at Bevendean, Brighton (Central), Coldean, Hangleton, Ovingdean, Portslade, Patcham, and Saltdean; historically some viewers in the west of the city had their aerials pointing at the Rowridge transmitter on the Isle of Wight.



At switchover, all the transmitters in Brighton and Hove will switch to the South East Today region on Freeview.







Your comments: most recent posts are at the bottom

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Your comments are always welcome. Please use the form below to add your thoughts or questions to this page. We will get back to you as soon as we can.

Dave Lindsay
Friday 30 March 2012 2:15PM
Derek Sanderson: As part of switchover, the power of the Findon transmitter was increased. This now provides a greater coverage and it still broadcasts BBC South as it is a relay of Rowridge.

Depending on your location you may be able to receive either from Findon or directly from Rowridge.

Be aware that Findon is a Public Service only transmitter so you will not get all the channels, so you may need to retain your current aerial for them.

Whilst it's probably not quite the news you were hoping for, it may nonetheless give you an opportunity to receive BBC South again.

If you provide your location, preferably in the form of post code, an assessment can be made as to the likelihood of reception from another transmitter that carries BBC South.
John Clemence
Friday 30 March 2012 3:14PM Brighton
I have to say that I really prefer the coverage from the South East. It better matches where I live and work than the old BBC South coverage tended to do.
Briantist
Monday 9 April 2012 6:10PM
LORRAINE: You are incorrect. Brighton and Hove became a Unitary Authority after the Local Government Commission for England (1992) review - and came into being in 1997.

The city status was given by HM Queen as part of the millennium celebrations in 2000.

Whilst unitary authorities do not take any governance from the County Council, addresses (as set by Royal Mail) within the UA remain in the "ceremonial county", which for Brighton and Hove is East Sussex.
Briantist
Monday 9 April 2012 6:15PM
Ray France: The digital switchover has nothing to do with Virgin Media at all - the Virgin system has been fully digital for a long time.
Briantist
Monday 9 April 2012 6:19PM
John Clemence: I can't disagree with that. I never found the "news for Southampton and Portsmouth" of massive personal relevance.
Philip Hemsley
Thursday 12 April 2012 4:30PM
I miss South To Day. The South East news doesn't even show Brighton on there weather map.
And most of the news is about Kent. why can't I have the option as to which I receve, and why cant I have it in HD. Phil from Brighton
alan tilbury
Friday 13 April 2012 10:23AM
Philip Hemsley:
Hi, I live in Margate and often complain because BBC South East shows a lot of Brighton news so I guess it is swings and roundabouts. BBC local news is not shown in HD even on Sky.
Mike Pritchard
Thursday 24 May 2012 12:39PM
I have every sympathy with viewers who for no other reason that a TV shop or engineer has erected an aerial directed towards Brighton.
Indeed I have noticed that even as far west as Littlehampton, there are vertical aerials on chimney pots facing east.
BBC South East is primarily concentrating on Kent and East Sussex and very rarely strays into West Sussex territory--BBC South however despite the geographical nonsense about coming from Southampton covers West Sussex news superbly every night.

Perhaps there needs to be a focus on residents investing in a new Group A aerial pointing towards Rowridge??
Amelia
Saturday 7 July 2012 10:17PM Faversham
How come I am not receiving newsroom southeast but am getting look east. And I live in Kent ?
Mark Fletcher
Saturday 7 July 2012 10:53PM Halifax
Amelia.Faversham,ME13 0NW.
Are you using Bluebell Hill or Dover main transmitter if your aerial is polarised horizontally ?
Did you perform an automatic scan instead of a manual scan as auto scan often picks up incorrect transmissions from neighbouring mast more so in overlap regions ?
In this instance you picked up BBC Look East transmissions from Sudbury on the BBCA multiplex on frequency 44 !
If you know which of the two main transmitters in Kent yer using,delete all your current set up then manually scan all available multiplexes from either Bluebell Hill or Dover mast whichever yer using.
This way you will rid the unwanted BBCA multiplex from Sudbury (fr 44) itself and at your location preferably manual scanning instead of automatic scanning will in future prevent wrong transmissions being received.
piglet
Tuesday 24 July 2012 9:31AM Brighton
Hello
I wonder if anyone can throw some light on the best way to go for Freeview reception in Patcham, Brighton. About a year ago putting the postcode BN1 8RA into the official Feeview site, the Patcham relay was the only transmitter shown as viable for this postcode - the main Whitehawk transmitter was no go. Now a postcode search gives both Patcham relay and Whitehawk as viable, and a quick test with a vertically polarised aerial out of the bedroom window gave reasonable results from the Whitehawk direction, certainly as good as Patcham relay, horizontally polarised. The advantage of Whitehawk is the wider range of content. I noticed that a number of new aerials are also pointing in the Whitehawk direction. Has something happened recently that makes Whitehawk a possibility?
Thanks
Dave Lindsay
Tuesday 24 July 2012 10:31AM
piglet: Prior to switchover, the low power Freeview signals, and maybe analogue Channel 5 were too low a power to be useable at your location. Thus, even "if" the four analogue channels could be received from Whitehawk, there would be nothing to gain over the choice offered by Patcham which was probably a much better signal anyway.

Post-switchover, the equivalent transmission power of Whitehawk is twice that of the former four-channel analogue.

The difficulty is the high-ground that is in the way:


Terrain between ( m a.g.l.) and (antenna m a.g.l.) - Optimising UK DTT Freeview and Radio aerial location
HoveActually
Thursday 16 August 2012 6:00PM
Before the digital changeover I used to receive BBC South for my local news. Now I get BBC South East which is all about Kent. We have much more in common with Worthing, Chichester, Bognor etc that are all within 40 miles of Hove. BBC South has always covered West Sussex and often East Sussex.

BBC South East often doesnt even have Brighton on the weather map.

Why dont we get South Today and BBC South anymore ?
Alex
Wednesday 22 August 2012 7:14PM Worthing
I prefer BBC South East, despite the fact that the coverage stops just short of Worthing, at Shoreham by Sea (although Worthing is frequently on the weather map).

South Today was always useless in my opinion - it just couldn't help but rabbit on about Hampshire and Dorset, whilst completely ignoring West Sussex three-quarters of the time.

I'm pleased to an extent - if only BBC South East could just move a few miles to the west.


Dave Lindsay
Wednesday 22 August 2012 7:48PM
Alex: Digital UK Postcode Checker suggests that you might have a good chance of reception from Whitehawk Hill, which would allow you to watch BBC South East. A look at your road on Streetview shows a fairly even mix of aerials on Whitehawk and aerials on Rowridge.

If you decide to have an aerial fitted for Whitehawk whilst retaining the Rowridge one, whilst the installer is up there, it might be worth getting the Rowridge aerial switched for vertical polarisation so as to take advantage of the stronger Commercial multiplexes (which are stronger vertically).
Dave Lindsay
Wednesday 22 August 2012 7:52PM
Dave Lindsay: I assumed that the "coverage" you were referring to was that of the signal. I wonder now if you were in fact referring to the area that the news reports relate to.
phil hemsley
Friday 24 August 2012 6:58PM
I Think BBC South East is only interested in kent.Its very rare that any news starts with a Brighton subject.It's all about Kent with the odd mention of Brighton.And still not on the weather map.It's a joke.
Is it not posible to move my arial to get South today.
WHY ARE WE NOT GIVEN THE CHOICE
phil hemsley
Friday 24 August 2012 7:08PM
Just watched South To Day at daughters ,and there was more news on Brighton then any over the last week on South East. And no one in Brighton is watching!!!
Mick Carter
Friday 21 September 2012 9:45AM
These people that are complaining that BBC South East does not give much news about Brighton, must be asleep most of the time. I have found that Brighton gets far more coverage on BBC South East than on BBC South which seems to concentrate on Southampton, Hampshire, Dorset and any opportunity to show something with sailing in it. I was really please when I started getting BBC South East in March, but last night a notice came on my TV to say it needed re-tuning. Now I'm stuck with BBC South again, which is of very little interest to me. Please let us have news from the South East again.
Dave Lindsay
Friday 21 September 2012 10:36AM
Mick Carter: In which case your TV must have tuned to a transmitter other than your own.

Without knowing where you are or which transmitter you have your aerial directed to, I cannot be very certain.

However, if your aerial is directed to Whitehawk Hill, then Rowridge may have been tuned in instead. You can find this out by viewing the signal strength screen whilst on BBC One. For Whitehawk it will say that it is tuned to UHF channel 60, whereas for Rowridge it will be tuned to C24. Other channels (those other than the BBC) may also be tuned incorrectly for the same reason.

Rowridge uses all low UHF channels (frequencies) and Whitehawk, high ones. Thus, if you do find that you are tuned to Rowridge when you require Whitehawk, run the automatic tuning scan with the aerial unplugged for the first 50%.
Mick Carter
Saturday 29 September 2012 7:04AM Brighton
Dave Lindsay, I'm in Mile Oak, Portslade, high up on the hill, and my digital antenna (same type as in the picture at the side of this page), is pointed towards Whitehawk Hill. Unfortunately (for me)a local booster has come on-line in Portslade which I believe may be getting it's signal from Rowridge. So now on channel one I get BBC South, although if I go to channel 800 I can still get BBC South East, but the South East programme is suffering from break-ups now.
Dave Lindsay
Saturday 29 September 2012 10:34AM
Mick Carter: Portslade transmitter relays Whitehawk and therefore carries BBC South East. Its presence should, once tuned correctly, play no part in your reception.

You say that you have BBC One South (on UHF channel 24) from Rowridge on logical channel number (LCN) 1. But with Portslade carrying BBC One South East, as Whitehawk, then you will probably find that there is another BBC One South East further up in your 800s. As Whitehawk uses higher channels (frequencies) than Portslade, it will have been "found" after Portslade which is why it's higher up. The thing to do is bring up the signal strength screen and identify which is which; Portslade's BBC is on C41 and Whitehawk's is C60.

The channels used by each of these three transmitters are:

- PSB1: BBC One
-- Rowridge=C24
-- Portslade=C41
-- Whitehawk=C60

- PSB2: ITV1
-- Rowridge=C27
-- Portslade=C47
-- Whitehawk=C53

- PSB3: BBC One HD
-- Rowridge=C21
-- Portslade=C44
-- Whitehawk=C51

- COM4: ITV3
-- Rowridge=C25
-- Whitehawk=C57

- COM5: Pick TV
-- Rowridge=C22
-- Whitehawk=C56

- COM6: Film4
-- Rowridge=C28
-- Whitehawk=C48

There may always be others, but these are all those suggested by Digital UK.

Portslade only carries PSB channels, so viewers who cannot receive from another full-service transmitter will only be able to view those channels. For this reason, even though Portslade is a better signal, you will probably want to stick with Whitehawk.

In order to tune to Whitehawk's six multiplexes, wipe the memory and manually tune to them (five if it's not a HD receiver). You should hopefully be able to wipe the memory by doing a scan with the aerial unplugged (failing that, some sort of reset maybe). If your receiver allows manual tuning, then you can do it that way.


Or you can aim to have the aerial unplugged on the lower channels used by Rowridge and Portslade. If there is no manual tuning then this is probably your only option.

The scan runs channels 21 to 69. It will be tricky because Portslade's highest is 47 (PSB2) and Whitehawk's lowest is 48 (COM6).

If there is a function to scan for "new" services/channels, whilst not wiping what's already stored, then you might use this to capture 48 later. In which case, run a full scan (not "add channels") and aim to get the aerial in for Whitehawk's lowest PSB channel of 53 (51 if it's a HD receiver). This gives you a bigger target gap (48 to 52 or 48 to 50) to get your aerial in for. Plug in at 56% (if it turns out that you get C47 from Portslade tuned then you will have to try again leaving it a little later). Once you've done this, you should have all of Whitehawk's multiplexes except perhaps COM6 on 48. Then run the "add new services" but have the aerial unplugged for the first 50% and (hopefully) it will add the other channels. As it will probably pick up Portslade, but these should go into the 800s as the proper LCNs are now occupied by those of Whitehawk (which was the purpose of the initial scan). Unplugging the aerial for the first 50% is to prevent it putting COM6 from Rowridge on the main LCNs and sticking Whitehawk's in the 800s.
Dave Lindsay
Saturday 29 September 2012 10:50AM
Mick Carter: Some receivers retune when unattended so as to add new channels. If this is a full scan, it may put you back to square one. Not all receivers allow this to be disabled, but if you can, you might want to disable it. If you can't and it does as it pleases, then you will have to cross that bridge when you get to it.
Mick Carter
Friday 5 October 2012 6:59PM Brighton
Hi Dave, thanks for all the information, I'll try to stick with the Whitehawk transmitter, as it seems to be the best for everything I need. Appreciate your help.
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