Sorn (East Ayrshire, Scotland) digital TV transmitter

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55.506,-4.285 or 55°30'23"N 4°17'5"W

KA5 6JS

Transmitter faults and engineering works

The symbol shows the location of the Sorn transmitter. The Sorn transmitter covers less than 500 homes.

Other maps:

Darvel region

BBC Scotland

STV Central (Glasgow micro region)

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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.

Sorn transmitter Freeview broadcasts

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. The rating shown takes in account the output power level and the various Freeview transmission modes and do not indicate an ongoing fault.

Mux	Effective power level, aerial position	Rating	Mode	Watts
PSB1 BBCA	vertical	Maximum	64QAM 8K 2/3 24.1Mb/s DVB-T MPEG2	2
	1 BBC One Scotland, 2 BBC Two Scotland, 7 BBC Three, 8 BBC Alba, 9 BBC Four, 70 CBBC Channel, 71 CBeebies, 80 BBC News, 81 BBC Parliament, 301 301, plus 14 others 200 BBC Red Button, 700 BBC Radio 1, 701 BBC 1Xtra, 702 BBC Radio 2, 703 BBC Radio 3, 704 BBC Radio 4, 705 BBC Radio 5 Live, 706 BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra, 707 BBC 6 Music, 708 BBC Radio 4 Extra, 709 BBC Asian Network, 710 BBC World Service, 719 BBC Radio Scotland, 720 BBC Radio nan Gaidheal, • as a digital multiplex transmitted on frequency C46 (674.0MHz) from 177m datum.
PSB2 D3+4	vertical	Maximum	64QAM 8K 2/3 24.1Mb/s DVB-T MPEG2	2
	3 STV (STV Central (Glasgow micro region)), 4 Channel 4 Scotland ads, 5 Channel 5 Scotland ads, 6 ITV 2, 13 Channel 4+1 Scotland ads, 14 More 4, 28 E4, 33 STV+1 (STV Edinburgh), • as a digital multiplex transmitted on frequency C43 (650.0MHz) from 177m datum.
PSB3 BBCB	vertical	Maximum	256QAM 32KE 2/3 40.2Mb/s DVB-T2 MPEG4	2
	101 BBC One HD Scotland, 102 BBC Two HD (England), 103 STV HD (STV West), 104 Channel 4 HD Scotland ads, plus 1 others 232 The Space, • as a digital multiplex transmitted on frequency C50 (706.0MHz) from 177m datum.

Looking for these 26 channels?

The Sorn (East Ayrshire, Scotland) mast is a public service broadcasting (PSB) transmitter, it does not provide these commercial (COM) channels: 4Music, 4seven, 5*, 5USA, Al Jazeera English, Challenge, Channel 5 +1, CITV, Community Channel, Dave, Dave ja vu, E4+1, Film 4, Food Network, ITV 2 +1, ITV 3, ITV 4, Movie Mix, PICK TV, Quest, Really, RT English , Sky News, The Zone, VIVA, Yesterday.

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.

Regional news from the Sorn transmitter

How the transmission frequencies change over time

	years		1984-97	1997-98	1998-2011	2011-13	2013-18	2013-18
	aerial group		B E	B E	B E	B E	B E	B E
	C40		BBC1	BBC1	BBC1
	C43		ITV	ITV	ITV	D3+4	D3+4	D3+4
	C46		BBC2	BBC2	BBC2	BBCA	BBCA	BBCA
700	C50		C4	C4	C4	BBCB	BBCB	BBCB

orange background for multiplexes names more

green background for transmission frequencies

lilac background for power levels in watts

800MHz band: 4G mobile to start in 2013

700MHz band: possible 4G in 2019 more

600MHz band: new or moved digital TV services more

Notes: + and - denote 166kHz offset; aerial group are shown as A B C/D E K W
Italics for analogue, digital switchover was Wednesdays 11th May and 25th May 2011.

Comparison of old analogue and current digital signal levels

Analogue 1-4	6W
BBCA, D3+4, BBCB	(-4.8dB) 2W

History of Channel 3 in the Darvel transmitter area

Aug 1957-Jun 1997 Scottish Television Jun 1997-Dec 2014 STV plc

• Breakfast ◊ Weekends ♦ Friday night and weekends † Weekdays only. Sorn 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.