Freeview: Waltham (Leicestershire, England) Full Freeview transmitter
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Full Freeview on the Waltham (Leicestershire, England) transmitter

Google StreetviewGoogle mapBing mapGoogle Earth52.801,-0.801 or 52°48'4"N 0°48'5"WLE14 4AJ

4G at 800MHz (at800) Freeview reception issues

A retune will happen 29 May 2013 to clear C61: PSB1 C61 to C49.
See How do I know if the 4G broadband will overload my Freeview? and Full UK map of 4G issue areas for details.

This transmitter has no current reported problems

The BBC and Digital UK report there are no faults or engineering work on the Waltham (Leicestershire, England) transmitter. Click to recheck

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The symbol shows the location of the Waltham (Leicestershire, England) transmitter which serves 770,000 homes.

Other maps:Waltham DABWaltham AM/FMWaltham regionBBC East MidlandsCentral (East 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.


List by multiplex|List by channel number|List by channel name|See terrain plot

Waltham 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.

MuxAerial positionFrequencyHeightModeWatts
PSB1
BBCA
 horizontal max
C61 (794.0MHz)442m64QAM 8K 2/3
24.1Mb/s DVB-T MPEG2		50,000W
Channel icons
1 BBC One East Midlands, 2 BBC Two England, 7 BBC Three, 9 BBC Four, 70 CBBC Channel, 71 CBeebies, 80 BBC News, 81 BBC Parliament, 301 301, plus 12 others

PSB2
D3+4
 horizontal max
C54- (737.8MHz)442m64QAM 8K 2/3
24.1Mb/s DVB-T MPEG2		50,000W
Channel icons
3 ITV (Central (East micro region)), 4 Channel 4 Midlands ads, 5 Channel 5 Part Network ads, 6 ITV 2, 13 Channel 4+1 Midlands ads, 14 More 4, 28 E4, 33 ITV +1 (Central west),

PSB3
BBCB
 horizontal max
C58 (770.0MHz)442m256QAM 32KE 2/3
40.2Mb/s DVB-T2 MPEG4		50,000W
Channel icons
101 BBC One HD (England no regional news), 102 BBC Two HD (England), 103 ITV HD (ITV Central West), 104 Channel 4 HD Midlands ads, plus 1 others

COM4
SDN
 horizontal -3dB
C29 (538.0MHz)442m64QAM 8K 3/4
27.1Mb/s DVB-T MPEG2		25,000W
Channel icons
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

COM5
ArqA
 horizontal -3dB
C56 (754.0MHz)449m64QAM 8K 3/4
27.1Mb/s DVB-T MPEG2		25,000W
Channel icons
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

COM6
ArqB
 horizontal -3dB
C57 (762.0MHz)449m64QAM 8K 3/4
27.1Mb/s DVB-T MPEG2		25,000W
Channel icons
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



Regional news from the Waltham transmitter


BBC East Midlands Today 0.9m homes 3.4%
from Nottingham NG2 4UU, 28km northwest
to BBC East Midlands region - 17 masts.

ITV Central News 0.9m homes 3.4%
from Birmingham B1 2JT, 83km west-southwest
to ITV Central (East) region - 17 masts.

Self-help relays

BraunstoneTransposer5 km SW Leicester city centre170 homes

How the transmission frequencies change over time

years1984-971997-981998-20112011-1329/5/13-2013-182019-
aerial groupC/D EEWWWWK
C22SDN
C25ArqA
C26local
C28ArqB
C29ASDNSDNSDN
600C312com7
C33B
C35C5C5
C37com8
C39BBCB
C42DD3+4
C45CBBCA
700C491BBCABBCA
C54C4C4C4-D3+4-D3+4-D3+4
C56ArqAArqAArqA
C57ArqBArqBArqB
C58BBC1BBC1BBC1BBCBBBCBBBCB
800C61ITVITVITVBBCA
C64BBC2BBC2BBC2

orange background for multiplexes names moregreen background for transmission frequencieslilac background for power levels in watts800MHz band: 4G mobile to start in 2013700MHz band: possible 4G in 2019 more600MHz 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 17th August and 31st August 2011.

  • Ofcom have projected that a local television service for Nottingham could use an Interleaved Frequency on the Waltham transmitter using C26
  • COM7, COM8 projected for 2013-16. COM7 and COM8 to operate as Nottingham, Waltham SFN. COM9 UK-wide SFN

Comparison of old analogue and current digital signal levels

Analogue 1-5 250kW
com7, com8, BBCA, D3+4, BBCB(-7dB) 50kW
SDN, ARQA, ARQB(-10dB) 25kW
Mux 1*(-14dB) 10kW
Mux 2*, Mux A*, Mux B*(-14.9dB) 8kW
Mux C*, Mux D*(-17dB) 5kW

History of Channel 3 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.


Your comments: most recent posts are at the bottom

firstFirst comments prevEarlier comments  ◊  Later commentsnext Latest commentslast

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.

Ian
Wednesday 27 October 2010 11:53AM
The BBC is loaded with all the money they get from licence fees, even though many people are on Virgin or Sky ect.. so the BBC is not really their service provider, it is all a bit ridiculous .. so for the money people pay they should at least get those channels without problems..
Transmitter engineering
Wednesday 27 October 2010 1:41PM
WALTHAM transmitter - Freeview BBC Digital TV (One, Two, Three, CBBC, News) FAILURE from 10:50 today to 11:41 today [BBC]
Transmitter engineering
Wednesday 27 October 2010 1:41PM
WALTHAM transmitter - Freeview BBC Digital TV (One, Two, Three, CBBC, News) FAILURE from 10:50 today to 11:41 today [BBC]
Briantist
Wednesday 27 October 2010 2:30PM
Sue/Ian: There was a fault this morning, as above.
Transmitter engineering
Thursday 28 October 2010 4:12AM
WALTHAM transmitter - Freeview BBC Digital TV (One, Two, Three, CBBC, News) FAILURE from 10:50 yesterday to 11:41 yesterday [BBC]
Transmitter engineering
Thursday 28 October 2010 4:12AM
WALTHAM transmitter - Freeview BBC Digital TV (One, Two, Three, CBBC, News) FAILURE from 10:50 yesterday to 11:41 yesterday [BBC]
Jonmat
Thursday 28 October 2010 9:10AM Newark
KJM, Many thanks for your comments posted on the 16th Oct. Problem does seem to have been excessive signal strength. Have removed aerial amplifier and fitted Maplin variable attenuators to TV inputs. Set signal strength on strongest signal to about 90% and not had any the problems since. Used attenuators as I suspect when full power is reached next year, the problem will return.
Your help much appreciated. JWM.
Transmitter engineering
Thursday 28 October 2010 11:11AM
WALTHAM transmitter - Freeview BBC Digital TV (Four, Cbeebies, Parliament, 3... Weak Signal from 10:49 yesterday to 11:43 yesterday [BBC]
Transmitter engineering
Thursday 28 October 2010 11:11AM
WALTHAM transmitter - Freeview BBC Digital TV (Four, Cbeebies, Parliament, 3... Weak Signal from 10:49 yesterday to 11:43 yesterday [BBC]
Gerry Knight
Thursday 28 October 2010 3:49PM
Briantist, it might help if you checked the system before slagging off users and their equipment.
Quote from you "Gerry Knight: It might be annoying, but it is down to you to fix your equipment up to receive the signal that is provided. Complaining will not resolve the problem "
The complaining did help, you found YOU did have a problem, not me or my equipment.
Briantist
Thursday 28 October 2010 10:38PM
Gerry Knight: I had no problem, thanks.
blackfish
Saturday 30 October 2010 9:54PM
Last night and again tonight, all the BBC channels are poor. Jumpy picture, not recordable on PVR. Whilst I can understand the atmospheric effects at play, which will probably get worse during darkness when propagation of signals increases, exacerbating interference from distant transmitters, this is only a recent problem (last couple of months). It has been generally OK since inception of DTV and I haven't changed my aerial or downlead so I suspect weaker signals from Waltham.
FedupMum
Monday 1 November 2010 12:45AM Melton Mowbray
Had freeview for past 2 years mostly ok - nr Melton Mowbray (Waltham). As from yesterday we are now only receiving BBC1, BBC2 & BBC News- try explaining that to a 2 year old that wants Rupert Bear on !! Would try a dish if we didnt live in a conservation area !! Perhaps we should just accept that we don't have TV any more & buy a Rupert DVD !!!
FedupMum
Monday 1 November 2010 9:55AM Melton Mowbray
All Back on this morning - except Rupert!
Transmitter engineering
Wednesday 3 November 2010 4:42AM
WALTHAM transmitter - Freeview BBC Digital TV (One, Two, Three, CBBC, News) FAILURE from 02:10 today to 02:23 today [BBC]
Transmitter engineering
Wednesday 3 November 2010 4:42AM
WALTHAM transmitter - Freeview BBC Digital TV (One, Two, Three, CBBC, News) FAILURE from 02:10 today to 02:23 today [BBC]
Steve
Thursday 4 November 2010 1:08AM
Would it be possible for anyone to put up a projected work schedule for the Waltham tower pre-switchover? Or will guidance remain completion 'sometime late summer 2011'. Disconcerting to have phone calls about 3 minutes missed from 'Holby city' etc and then have to look up to see if anyone's been playing with the tower or a trip out to ensure that everything is as good as when installed. It would be nice to say "might have signal problems on date "x"
Transmitter engineering
Thursday 4 November 2010 4:12AM
WALTHAM transmitter - Freeview BBC Digital TV (One, Two, Three, CBBC, News) FAILURE from 02:10 yesterday to 02:23 yesterday [BBC]
Transmitter engineering
Thursday 4 November 2010 4:12AM
WALTHAM transmitter - Freeview BBC Digital TV (One, Two, Three, CBBC, News) FAILURE from 02:10 yesterday to 02:23 yesterday [BBC]
Mike Dimmick
Thursday 4 November 2010 4:54PM Reading
Steve: There is no technical work outstanding. The new aerials had been erected by June this year and connection work was finished by the end of June.

What you're now waiting for is the very slow rollout of switching services over. The authorities have decided to be pretty conservative and only do relatively small areas at a time. To an extent, there are dependencies between areas which mean that some areas have to switch before others can.

The actual switchover work will be done in under six hours on the morning of 17 August 2011, and a second phase on the morning of 31 August 2011, also taking under six hours. Officially they start switching at midnight but most sites haven't gone off-air until much later; they're supposed to be finished by 6am.

There do seem to have been a lot of failures of the low-power digital equipment lately, but this isn't planned engineering work. The new high-power digital equipment should be better, as it will have more redundancy - standby equipment that automatically kicks into action when the main transmitter fails.
Michelle Walker
Sunday 7 November 2010 7:05PM Melton Mowbray
We have bought a tv and an indoor aerail. At first we received all the channels but some were dependant on the weather. We now seem to have lost BBC1 and BBC2. We are not receiving C49 regularly and others fluctuate. I bought a better indoor aerial, but still living 3.9 miles from Waltham Mast, it doesn't work. What type of indoor aerial do i need?
Paul Jewell
Monday 8 November 2010 5:03PM
I live within two miles of the Waltham mast. Currently am without any ITV1,2,3 C4 and C5 on Freeview, normally can see all of these. Anyone know why this is?
Colin Baines
Monday 8 November 2010 8:40PM Sleaford
On Waltham transmitter for freeview. Signal strength at 50-85 and bit error levels at 5+ on Multiplex channel 23C (mainly ITV/C4/
C5 channels)causing pixilation of picture and sound interruptions. Appears signal strength increased after 6.00pm and same over past few days. BBC channels okay.
Any ideas what is going on and if I can remedy it? Hope this makes sense - too technical for me really. Thanks
Gary
Wednesday 10 November 2010 11:38AM
I live in Waltham and the ITV/C4 channels have gone. Resetting my freeview box usually works. Not now..
Briantist
Wednesday 10 November 2010 5:16PM
Michelle Walker: Indoor aerials are not suitable for Freeview reception, you need a rooftop one - please see www.ukfree.tv link icon Freeview reception - all about aerials | ukfree.tv - independent free digital TV advice .
Mandy Clark
Monday 15 November 2010 3:36PM
My digital aerial is 2 years old, my Sony TV was new this spring and reception was OK until last few weeks - most digital channels are now completely un-watchable with continually fragmented picture and on/off sound. Last night I had to watch analogue which has a poor picture but at least I could see what was happening (which is the point with TV isn't it?) So when is digital actually going to improve?
My mother's Samsung is only a year older than my TV and she watches analogue too.
jb38
Tuesday 16 November 2010 5:49PM Stamford
I reside approximately 15 miles S/South East of Waltham and have also experienced some problems recently, insomuch that one of my households favourite channels, namely ITV3 on channel 26, has now dropped below the receivability threshold to great annoyance of all concerned (albeit thankfully I also use Freesat) plus in the last couple of weeks there has been short breaks in transmission affecting the main stations.

Today everything seems to be normal except of course for channel 26 which is still under the so called digital cliff.
blackfish
Tuesday 16 November 2010 10:09PM
Reception from Waltham still has issues. BBC1 and BBC2 sound dropping out, picture freezing/jumping. Seems worse at weekends (though probably watch more TV at weekend so more likely to notice). Had to watch Grand Prix on analogue. Other days it seems OK so I am disinclined to blame my aerial or equipment. I have a grid aerial and a fairly recent PVR and TV with Freeview tuner.

If it is really due to "atmospherics", can some techy advise whether it will all be fine after switchover next August?

blackfish
jb38
Wednesday 17 November 2010 4:09PM Stamford
Its almost guaranteed that come switchover many of these niggling problems presently experienced with Waltham will (or should!) vanish with the dramatic increase in power that will be made.

Just for info purposes the six transmitters or "multiplexes" as they care to call them presently operate with an ERP (effective radiated power) of 10kw-8kw-8kw-8kw-5kw-5kw, whereas after switchover this will be 50kw-50kw-50kw-25kw-25kw-25kw, which can be seen is quite a significant increase which should help take care of most of the presently experienced problems.
Briantist
Wednesday 17 November 2010 5:24PM
jb38: As shown above under "Comparison of analogue and digital signal levels".
It is called a multiplex because that's what it is, a multiplex. en.wikipedia.org link icon Multiplexing - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Also see www.ukfree.tv link icon How digital television works | ukfree.tv - independent free digital TV advice .
jb38
Thursday 18 November 2010 12:52PM Stamford
Well yes Briantist! I fully appreciate and accept that this is the title that has been adopted for these devices as and such what in general terms they are usually referred to, but however the fact remains that these six devices are still basically radio frequency transmitters albeit sending out digitally modulated signals on their carrier frequencies, so to a person like myself with an RF background they are still transmitters but of the "digital multiplex" variety.

I suppose its just that the modern trend of established names for devices, or even components used therein, being either abbreviated or changed all together is something I don't really subscribe to, with this especially so in the case of RF transmission equipment being given a different I.D. purely because of the signals passing through them, with a digital broadcast transmitter being called a "multiplex" or a "transponder" being used to describe a transmitter used in satellite applications, albeit this latter term is really stretching it!

To reiterate though, I realise that the term "multiplex" is an accepted terminology used to identify the type of "transmitter" a person might be referring to and likewise refrain from adhering to the basic name should I be making a reference to any of these devices.
Briantist
Thursday 18 November 2010 2:49PM
jb38: I'm sorry, I came over the concept of the multiplex first in maths, then as a computing concept, all back in the 1980s.

TDM ("time division multiplexing") and SM ("statistical multiplexing") are the most very basic of data processing concepts.

It only got applied to transmission later, although you might argue that the teletext system was a multiplex (more a carousel).

So, you can call it what you like, but after several decades of accepted usage you are probably fighting against the grain.
Transmitter engineering
Friday 19 November 2010 12:13PM
WALTHAM transmitter - Analogue BBC ONE Weak Signal from 09:46 today [BBC]
Transmitter engineering
Friday 19 November 2010 12:13PM
WALTHAM transmitter - Analogue BBC ONE Weak Signal from 09:46 today [BBC]
Transmitter engineering
Friday 19 November 2010 3:13PM
WALTHAM transmitter - Analogue BBC ONE Weak Signal from 09:46 today to 10:33 today [BBC]
Transmitter engineering
Friday 19 November 2010 3:13PM
WALTHAM transmitter - Analogue BBC ONE Weak Signal from 09:46 today to 10:33 today [BBC]
Transmitter engineering
Saturday 20 November 2010 9:13AM
WALTHAM transmitter - Analogue BBC ONE Weak Signal from 09:46 yesterday to 10:33 yesterday [BBC]
Transmitter engineering
Saturday 20 November 2010 9:13AM
WALTHAM transmitter - Analogue BBC ONE Weak Signal from 09:46 yesterday to 10:33 yesterday [BBC]
mr hopwood
Thursday 25 November 2010 6:13PM Sleaford
every evening I repeat every evening at 1749hrs the signal iterrupts for approximately 30 seconds Why???
Briantist
Thursday 25 November 2010 6:14PM
mr hopwood: Please see Freeview intermittent interference | ukfree.tv - independent free digital TV advice for some suggestions.
Transmitter engineering
Friday 3 December 2010 4:06PM
WALTHAM transmitter - Analogue BBC TWO Weak Signal from 14:22 today to 14:25 today [BBC]
Transmitter engineering
Friday 3 December 2010 4:06PM
WALTHAM transmitter - Analogue BBC TWO Weak Signal from 14:22 today to 14:25 today [BBC]
Transmitter engineering
Friday 3 December 2010 6:52PM
WALTHAM transmitter - Analogue BBC TWO Weak Signal from 19:56 yesterday to 11:23 today [BBC]
Transmitter engineering
Friday 3 December 2010 6:52PM
WALTHAM transmitter - Analogue BBC TWO Weak Signal from 19:56 yesterday to 11:23 today [BBC]
Transmitter engineering
Saturday 4 December 2010 2:35PM
WALTHAM transmitter - Analogue BBC TWO Weak Signal from 19:56 on 02 Dec to 11:23 yesterday [BBC]
Transmitter engineering
Saturday 4 December 2010 2:35PM
WALTHAM transmitter - Analogue BBC TWO Weak Signal from 19:56 on 02 Dec to 11:23 yesterday [BBC]
Transmitter engineering
Wednesday 8 December 2010 6:14PM
WALTHAM transmitter - Analogue BBC ONE Off Air from 10:09 today to 10:13 today [BBC]
Transmitter engineering
Wednesday 8 December 2010 6:14PM
WALTHAM transmitter - Analogue BBC ONE Off Air from 10:09 today to 10:13 today [BBC]
Transmitter engineering
Thursday 9 December 2010 11:49AM
WALTHAM transmitter - Analogue BBC ONE Off Air from 10:09 yesterday to 10:13 yesterday [BBC]
Transmitter engineering
Thursday 9 December 2010 11:49AM
WALTHAM transmitter - Analogue BBC ONE Off Air from 10:09 yesterday to 10:13 yesterday [BBC]
Transmitter engineering
Thursday 9 December 2010 12:55PM
WALTHAM transmitter - Analogue BBC ONE Weak Signal from 06:21 today to 06:30 today BBC TWO Off Air from 10:09 yesterday to 10:13 yesterday [BBC]
Transmitter engineering
Thursday 9 December 2010 12:55PM
WALTHAM transmitter - Analogue BBC ONE Weak Signal from 06:21 today to 06:30 today BBC TWO Off Air from 10:09 yesterday to 10:13 yesterday [BBC]



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.

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