Freeview Light on the Bretch Hill (Oxfordshire, England) transmitter
This transmitter has no current reported problems
The BBC and Digital UK report there are no faults or engineering work on the Bretch Hill (Oxfordshire, England) transmitter.
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The symbol shows the location of the Bretch Hill (Oxfordshire, England) transmitter which serves 7,600 homes.
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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.
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See terrain plotBretch 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.
| Mux | Aerial position | Frequency | Height | Mode | Watts |
PSB1
BBCA | vertical max | C56 (754.0MHz) | 196m | 64QAM 8K 2/3
24.1Mb/s DVB-T MPEG2 | 87W |
| 
1 BBC One West 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 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,
|
PSB2
D3+4 | vertical max | C48 (690.0MHz) | 196m | 64QAM 8K 2/3
24.1Mb/s DVB-T MPEG2 | 87W |
| 
3 ITV (Central (West 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 | vertical max | C52 (722.0MHz) | 196m | 256QAM 32KE 2/3
40.2Mb/s DVB-T2 MPEG4 | 87W |
| 
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 232 The Space,
|
Looking for these 26 channels?
The
Bretch Hill (Oxfordshire, England) 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 Bretch Hill transmitter
How the transmission frequencies change over time
| years | | 1984-97 | 1997-98 | 1998-2011 | 2011-13 | 2013-18 | 2013-18 | |
| aerial group | | C/D E | C/D E | C/D E | C/D E | C/D E | C/D E | |
| C48 | | BBC2 | BBC2 | BBC2 | D3+4 | D3+4 | D3+4 | |
| 700 | C52 | | | | | BBCB | BBCB | BBCB | |
| C55 | | ITV | ITV | ITV | | | | |
| C56 | | | | | BBCA | BBCA | BBCA | |
| 800 | C65 | | BBC1 | BBC1 | BBC1 | | | | |
| C67 | | C4 | C4 | C4 | | | | |
| 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 WItalics for
analogue, digital switchover was Wednesdays 7th September and 21st September 2011.
Comparison of old analogue and current digital signal levels
| Analogue 1-4, BBCA, D3+4, BBCB | 87W | |
History of Channel 3 in the Sutton Coldfield transmitter area
| Feb 1956-Jul 1968 | Associated TeleVision† |
| Feb 1956-Jul 1968 | Associated British Corporation◊ |
| Jul 1968-Dec 1981 | Associated TeleVision |
| Jan 1982-Feb 2004 | Central Independent Television |
| Feb 2004-Dec 2014 | ITV plc |
| | Feb 1983-Dec 1992 | TV-am• |
| Jan 1993-Sep 2010 | GMTV• |
| Sep 2010-Dec 2014 | ITV Daybreak• |
|
• Breakfast ◊ Weekends ♦ Friday night and weekends † Weekdays only. Bretch Hill 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
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.
PaulineTuesday 15 March 2011 5:39PM
Is anyone else having problems with crackling on all four channels and the radio? It started last Friday on BBC2 with this constant crackle and ceefax dialogue missing. Now it is all four channels and the radio stations 2 and 4.Jon LeggTuesday 22 March 2011 10:23PM
The Channel 4 signal hasn't been broadcast for the last couple of days...MarkSaturday 26 March 2011 11:41AM
Banbury Live at OX16 9RY postcode. Since Friday 18th March the picture on Channel 4 has become snowy. Sound is ok but picture is terrible. Was there any work done on the Bretch Hill transmitter to cause this? Grateful for any info? Thanks MarkTuesday 29 March 2011 9:26AM
Banbury Still receiving analogue signal for TV viewing however as stated previously have an unwatchable picture on Channel 4. This has been the case since Fri 18th March. Picture is completely snowy although sound is perfectly clear. Any suggestions? ThanksBRETCH HILL transmitter - Analogue BBC ONE Off Air; DSO related from 10:37 today to 10:56 today BBC TWO Off Air; DSO related from 10:37 today to 10:56 today [BBC] Over the next week Bretch Hill relay: TV (analogue) Service Shutdowns, TV (digital) working normally, Radio (analogue) working normally, Radio (digital) working normally. [DUK] BRETCH HILL transmitter - Analogue BBC ONE Off Air; DSO related from 10:37 yesterday to 10:56 yesterday BBC TWO Off Air; DSO related from 10:37 yesterday to 10:56 yesterday [BBC] Over the next week Bretch Hill relay: TV (analogue) Service Shutdowns, TV (digital) working normally, Radio (analogue) working normally, Radio (digital) working normally. [DUK] BRETCH HILL transmitter - Analogue BBC ONE Off Air; DSO related from 10:37 on 27 May to 10:56 on 27 May BBC TWO Off Air; DSO related from 10:37 on 27 May to 10:56 on 27 May [BBC] Over the next week Bretch Hill relay: TV (analogue) Service Shutdowns, TV (digital) working normally, Radio (analogue) working normally, Radio (digital) working normally. [DUK] John MorganMonday 30 May 2011 11:13AM
Banbury
postode OX16 5HY no digital sinal,very poor most of the time,why eastern news on BBC1?Jay BlancWednesday 21 September 2011 12:25PM
Looks a lot like BBC B HD from Bretch Hill is being interfered with by Mux B from Oxford for me. Bretch Hill's BBC B HD is on UHF 52, and until September 28th Oxford's Mux B is on 52 Offset.Jay Blanc: Seems possible, but the Oxford transmitter is at 90 degrees to your aerial. I would wait until next Wednesday when Oxford moves to new allocations. AliWednesday 21 September 2011 9:17PM
Banbury Hay can't pick up ANY freeview channels in the ox16 0dt area. Was wondering if there is anything I can do.David PinfoldSunday 25 September 2011 7:56PM
Banbury Jay Blanc - you may be right. Since Bretch hill started broadcasting freeview HD on C52 I have had problems picking up MUX B from Oxford. But another 3 days and when switchover at Oxford is complete there should be no more problems.ChrisMonday 26 September 2011 12:13PM
Banbury My postcode is OX16 0EB and I was expecting to pick up BBC HD etc last week. I've retuned my TV (a Samsung with built in freeview HD) a couple of times but without result.
Should I receive the freeview HD channels after the switchover at Oxford or something else amiss?Adam BMonday 26 September 2011 1:03PM
Dunstable Chris: As from this Wednesday (28/9/11) you should be able to receive HD channels once you have retuned - Don't know what time the relays start the service, but by the end of the day you should be OK.
Hope this helps,
Adam.David PinfoldMonday 26 September 2011 4:46PM
Banbury Chris - Judging by your location you should be on the Bretch Hill Transmitter. If so until wednesday both Bretch Hill & oxford are using Channel 52 (MUX B & Freeview HD respectively). I now have problems receiving mux b in the Austin Drive area although the transmissions from bretch hill are not really focussed my way. Should be OK from Wednesday.BRETCH HILL transmitter - Freeview BBC Digital TV Off Air from 10:39 on 11 Oct to 10:45 on 11 Oct HD Digital TV Off Air from 10:39 on 11 Oct to 10:45 on 11 Oct [BBC] PeckettChapTuesday 1 November 2011 6:08PM
Banbury Hello,
Following the second stage switchover in September, I found my integrated TV could receive about eleven channels, with no issues.
However, over the past week or so there has been intermittent loss of ITV1/2, and all the C4/E4 and C5 channels. It is now so bad that for most of the time the TV displays a 'no signal' notice, in between occassional glimpses of 'broken' pictures.
The BBC channels are fine (at the moment !).
I think I receive off the Bretch Hill transmitter.
My aerial (fitted last year with new coax) is on the house gable end wall, above the line of the eaves.
Re-tuning the TV makes no difference.
Is anyone else experiencing similar intermittent signal loss in this area ?PeckettChapMonday 7 November 2011 8:35PM
Banbury Briantist: I have checked out the suggestions on that link, but they do not seem to apply (my TV is only a year or so old; there are no duplicate channels; etc.), and I do not think the issue is too strong a signal.
Over the past few days I have tried to note the signal strength and quality of various channels, and this can be summarised thus:-
For all the BBC channels, sig.strength is around 60-70 (on a scale of 0-100), while quality is around 2 (on a scale of 0-10). However, for the ITV/C4/C5 channels, the respective figures vary quite a lot. Sig.strength is around 25-35, and quality fluctates from 3-5 to 6-10.
Do these differences relate to the BBC channels being off one transmitter 'mux'/aerial and the others off another ? If so, is there likely to be a significant height difference between the 'mux'/aerials on the tranmitter tower, and my TV aerial is better aligned to one rather than both ?
(Sorry for the amount of text here.)PeckettChap: A look around your street on Google Streetview shows most (all?) aerials pointing at Bretch Hill.
Number 102 has the aerial vertically mounted with the rear reflector fitted horizontally!
Have you checked that the TV is tuned to the correct UHF channels? BBC=C56 ITV/C4/C5=48 HD=52 PeckettChapWednesday 9 November 2011 9:30PM
Banbury Briantist: I shall see about getting a 'surge protection' lead for the TV, but I rather doubt the issue is interference from other household appliances, owing to the variable rate at which the picture is viewable or not. Also, there is no interference from a mobile phone as there isn't one here (!).
Dave Lindsay: I believe my aerial is pointing to the Bretch Hill transmitter, and yes, the TV is tuned to C56 for the BBC channels, and C48 for ITV/C4/C5.PeckettChapTuesday 6 December 2011 7:39PM
Banbury Briantist: I have been trialling use of a surge protector with the TV for the last couple of weeks. It makes no difference to the interference I experience on the ITV/C4/C5/etc. chasnnels. All BBC channels continue to be fine.
This week I have noticed that the signal strength for ITV/etc. has dropped down to around 20-25%, with 10 out of 10 bit error, which unsurprisingly has resulted in no ITV/etc. pictures.
Any ideas at all ?
PeckettChapWednesday 7 December 2011 10:42PM
Banbury Briantist: Ok, thanks for your previous suggestions. I'll have a trawl through the phone directories for a tradesperson.
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