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Black Hill (North Lanarkshire, Scotland) digital TV transmitter

55.861,-3.874 or 55°51'40"N 3°52'27"W

ML7 4NZ

Transmitter faults and engineering works

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The symbol shows the location of the Black Hill transmitter. The Black Hill transmitter covers 940,000 homes.

Other maps:

STV Central (Glasgow micro region)

Radiation patterns

Radiation patterns withheld

Map key

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.

Black Hill 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	horizontal	Maximum	64QAM 8K 2/3 24.1Mb/s DVB-T MPEG2	100,000
	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 • as a digital multiplex transmitted on frequency C46 (674.0MHz) from 576m datum.
PSB2 D3+4	horizontal	Maximum	64QAM 8K 2/3 24.1Mb/s DVB-T MPEG2	100,000
	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 576m datum.
PSB3 BBCB	horizontal	Maximum	256QAM 32KE 2/3 40.2Mb/s DVB-T2 MPEG4	100,000
	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 C40 (626.0MHz) from 576m datum.
COM4 SDN	horizontal	Maximum	64QAM 8K 3/4 27.1Mb/s DVB-T MPEG2	100,000
	10 ITV 3, 20 G.O.L.D. (not free), 25 Dave ja vu, 26 Home (not free), 27 ITV 2 +1, 30 5, 31 5USA, 34 ESPN UK (not free*), 38 Quest, 39 The Zone, 44 Channel 5 +1, 72 CITV, plus 22 others • as a digital multiplex transmitted on frequency C41+ (634.2MHz) from 576m datum.
COM5 ArqA	horizontal	Maximum	64QAM 8K 3/4 27.1Mb/s DVB-T MPEG2	100,000
	TV News, TV Stars, 11 PICK TV, 12 Dave, 17 Really, 29 E4+1, 32 Movie Mix, 46 Challenge, 48 Food Network, 82 Sky News, 87 Community Channel, plus 9 others • as a digital multiplex transmitted on frequency C44 (658.0MHz) from 576m datum.
COM6 ArqB	horizontal	Maximum	64QAM 8K 3/4 27.1Mb/s DVB-T MPEG2	100,000
	15 Film 4, 18 4Music, 19 Yesterday, 21 VIVA, 24 ITV 4, 41 Sky Sports 1 (not free), 42 Sky Sports 2 (not free), 47 4seven, 83 Al Jazeera English, 85 RT English , plus 21 others • as a digital multiplex transmitted on frequency C47 (682.0MHz) from 576m datum.

Regional news from the Black Hill transmitter

BBC Reporting Scotland 2.4m homes 9.2%
from Glasgow G51 1DA, 26km west
to BBC Scotland region - 230 masts.

STV News 1.3m homes 4.8%
from Glasgow G51 1PQ, 26km west
to STV Central (Glasgow) region - 94 masts.

How the transmission frequencies change over time

	years	1957~85	1984-97	1997-98	1998-2011	2011-13	2013-18	2013-18
	aerial group	VHF	B E	B E	E	B E K	B E K	W
	C10	ITV
600	C32							com7
	C35							com8
	C37			C5	C5
	C40		BBC1	BBC1	BBC1	BBCB	BBCB	BBCB
	C41				+1	+SDN	+SDN	+SDN
	C43		ITV	ITV	ITV	D3+4	D3+4	D3+4
	C44				+A	ArqA	ArqA	ArqA
	C46		BBC2	BBC2	BBC2	BBCA	BBCA	BBCA
	C47				+2	ArqB	ArqB	ArqB
700	C50		C4	C4	C4
	C51				+B			local
	C55				C
	C56							local
800	C65				D

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 8th June and 22nd June 2011.

Ofcom have projected that a local television service for Glasgow including East Kilbride, Motherwell, Paisley could use an Interleaved Frequency on the Black Hill transmitter using C51
Ofcom have projected that a local television service for Falkirk including Stirling could use an Interleaved Frequency on the Black Hill transmitter using C56
COM7, COM8 projected for 2013-16. COM9 UK-wide SFN

Comparison of old analogue and current digital signal levels

Analogue 1-5	500kW
SDN, ARQA, ARQB, com7, com8, BBCA, D3+4, BBCB	(-7dB) 100kW
Mux 1, Mux 2, Mux A, Mux B, Mux C, Mux D	(-14dB) 20kW
PreDSO-BBCB*	(-17dB) 10kW

Self-help relays

Ardtornish A	Transposer	22 km NW Oban	15 homes
Balquhidder	Transposer	12 km NW Callander	42 homes
Benmore B	Active deflector	50 m WNW Glasgow	7 homes
Blair Drummond	Transposer		5 homes caravan park
Blyth Bridge	Active deflector	30 km SW Edinburgh	50 homes
Glendaruel	Active deflector	40 hotel	40 homes hotel
Glendaruel B	Active deflector		12 homes (second level)

History of Channel 3 in the Black Hill transmitter area

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

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

Your comments: most recent posts are at the bottom

First comments Earlier comments ◊

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.

Bleulander
Monday 15 October 2012 11:41PM

Freeview has been off all day In Cardonald/Hillington area, and there no news of transmitter faults on your site.
Anyone else from this area have this problem?

1 post

Transmitter engineering
Tuesday 15 January 2013 8:02PM

BLACK HILL transmitter - Freeview - No reported problems -. Radio Scotland FM Weak Signal from 10:20 yesterday to 11:54 yesterday. [BBC]

52,200 posts platinum

Transmitter engineering
Tuesday 15 January 2013 8:50PM

BLACK HILL transmitter - Freeview No problems on any service. [BBC]

52,200 posts platinum

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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.

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