Freeview: Oxford (Oxfordshire, England) full-Freeview transmitter
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Freeview on the Oxford (Oxfordshire, England) transmitter

Google StreetviewGoogle mapBing mapGoogle Earth51.790,-1.179 or 51°47'25"N 1°10'46"WOX3 9SS

4G at 800MHz (at800) Freeview reception issues

A retune will happen 29 May 2013 to clear C62: COM4 C62 to C50. When 800MHz 4G mobile broadband services start there will be 2 multiplexes in the higher risk range (C21-23, C30, C59-60): C59: ArqA, C60: D3+4
See How do I know if the 4G broadband will overload my Freeview? and Full UK map of 4G issue areas for details.

Transmitter fauls and engineering works



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The symbol shows the location of the Oxford transmitter which serves 410,000 homes.

Other maps:Oxford DABOxford AM/FMOxford regionBBC OxfordCentral (South 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.

Oxford 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.

MuxEffective power level, aerial positionRatingModeWatts
PSB1
BBCA
 horizontal
Maximum64QAM 8K 2/3
24.1Mb/s
DVB-T MPEG2		100,000
Channel icons
1 BBC One Oxford, 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
• as a digital multiplex transmitted on frequency C53+ (730.2MHz) from 295m datum.
PSB2
D3+4
 horizontal
Maximum64QAM 8K 2/3
24.1Mb/s
DVB-T MPEG2		100,000
Channel icons
3 ITV (Central (South micro region)), 4 Channel 4 South ads, 5 Channel 5 Part Network ads, 6 ITV 2, 13 Channel 4+1 South ads, 14 More 4, 28 E4, 33 ITV +1 (Central west),
• as a digital multiplex transmitted on frequency C60- (785.8MHz) from 295m datum.
PSB3
BBCB
 horizontal
Maximum256QAM 32KE 2/3
40.2Mb/s
DVB-T2 MPEG4		100,000
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 South ads, plus 1 others
• as a digital multiplex transmitted on frequency C57 (762.0MHz) from 295m datum.
COM4
SDN
 horizontal
Above average64QAM 8K 3/4
27.1Mb/s
DVB-T MPEG2		50,000
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
• as a digital multiplex transmitted on frequency C62 (802.0MHz) from 295m datum.
COM5
ArqA
 horizontal
Above average64QAM 8K 3/4
27.1Mb/s
DVB-T MPEG2		50,000
Channel icons
 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 C59- (777.8MHz) from 319m datum.
COM6
ArqB
 horizontal
Above average64QAM 8K 3/4
27.1Mb/s
DVB-T MPEG2		50,000
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
• as a digital multiplex transmitted on frequency C55 (746.0MHz) from 319m datum.


Regional news from the Oxford transmitter


BBC South (Oxford) Today 0.4m homes 1.6%
from Oxford OX2 7DW, 6km west-southwest
to BBC Oxford region - 6 masts.

ITV Central News 0.7m homes 2.7%
from Birmingham B1 2JT, 91km north-northwest
to ITV Central (South) region - 25 masts.

How the transmission frequencies change over time

years1950s~851984-971997-981998-20112011-1329/5/13-2013-18
aerial groupVHFC/D EC/D EWC/D EC/D EW
C2BBCtv
C29D
600C31com7
C341
C37com8
C48C
700C49C5C5
C50SDNSDN
C51-Alocal
C52-B
C53C4C4C4+BBCA+BBCA+BBCA
C55ArqBArqBArqB
C57BBC1BBC1BBC1BBCBBBCBBBCB
C59-ArqA-ArqA-ArqA
C60ITVITVITV-D3+4-D3+4-D3+4
800C62SDN
C63BBC2BBC2BBC2
C682

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 14th September and 28th September 2011.

  • Ofcom have projected that a local television service for Oxford including Abingdon, Didcot could use an Interleaved Frequency on the Oxford transmitter using C51
  • COM7, COM8 projected for 2013-16.

Comparison of old analogue and current digital signal levels

Analogue 1-4 500kW
com7, com8, BBCA, D3+4, BBCB(-7dB) 100kW
SDN, ARQA, ARQB(-10dB) 50kW
Analogue 5(-11dB) 40kW
Mux 1*, Mux 2*(-17dB) 10kW
Mux C*, Mux D*(-18dB) 8kW
Mux A*, Mux B*(-19.2dB) 6kW

History of Channel 3 in the Oxford transmitter area

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

Paul
Monday 23 January 2012 12:58PM
I know a couple of households near Banbury who have had this problem in the last couple of weeks. Oxford transmitter
John Palmer
Wednesday 25 January 2012 3:20PM
I live at OX76HL & TV is manually tuned to Oxford (auto tuning picks up Birmingham!)
I cannot tune in both ITV1 and Ch 5 at the same time!! If I tune in Ch5 then ITV1 disappears and I get "Adult Blue" in its place! If I tune in ITV1 then Ch5 disappears!
Can anyone help me please!
Dave Lindsay
Wednesday 25 January 2012 3:39PM
John Palmer: Analysis of UHF channels used by Oxford and Sutton Coldfield shows that the former uses those between 53 and 62 and the latter uses 39 to 46.

The trick is to run the automatic tuning scan with the aerial unplugged whilst it scans Sutton Coldfield channels and plugged in for Oxford.

Run the scan with the aerial unplugged and plug in when it gets to 55%.

Note that there will be a retune event for Oxford that will take place some time next year. SDN (ITV3 etc) will change from ch62 to ch50.
Transmitter engineering
Monday 30 January 2012 10:31AM
OXFORD transmitter - Over the next week Oxford main transmitter: TV (digital) Liable to interruption, Radio (analogue) working normally, Radio (digital) working normally. [DUK]
Teresa
Thursday 2 February 2012 9:54AM
What work are they doing to the transmitter this week?
Robert
Thursday 2 February 2012 7:43PM Swindon
This change over is becoming like the little pink bunny, going on and on and on. So a retune next year.

I read somewhere that the entire US changed over the same day.
Briantist
Friday 3 February 2012 6:56AM
Teresa: Detailed information is not provided to the public.
Briantist
Friday 3 February 2012 6:58AM
Robert: The event in 2012, when Oxford - SDN moves from C62 to C50 is to provide 4G mobile broadband services.
Teresa
Friday 3 February 2012 9:35AM
Briantist- do you know when is this 'event' is happening in 2012 or point me in the direction of where I can find details please?
Robert
Friday 3 February 2012 7:10PM Swindon
Brian I appreciate that may be the case but we are still experiencing random drop out of 'coms', mainly itv3,5,31,30. A complete clean tune seems to bring them back, it is not restricted to one aerial but happens on all 4.

A pain to retune 11 televisions.
Dave Lindsay
Friday 3 February 2012 7:43PM
Robert: The COMs from Oxford are on low power until 18th April.

Once it has been established that they are tuned correctly, then don't retune as nothing positive can come from it.
Paul
Wednesday 15 February 2012 7:54PM Aylesbury
HP18 0TQ

I have just acquired a Polaroid TLU-01941CU LCD TV for the above postcode. It was working fine in Sussex (pre digital changeover) on all channels.

I have unplugged the aerial connection from another TV (working perfectly on all channels) and connected it to the Polaroid TV. No matter how many times I perform full autoscans, factory resets, etc., it stubbornly refuses to tune any ITV channel, Channel 4, Channel 5, etc. (in fact any channels on Muxes 2 and A I believe).

I have repeated the process using a second aerial (that operates all channels on another TV perfectly) with the same disappointing results.

As the two separate aerials work perfectly well with the two other TVs (and two PVRs), I suspect that the Polaroid TV tuner is at fault but would appreciate your comments before I consign it to the skip.

Dave Lindsay
Wednesday 15 February 2012 11:16PM
Paul: Try manually tuning to channel 60 for ITV1, ITV2, C4, C5 etc (if there is a manual tuning option).

At 10 miles from a high power transmitter, it could be that the signal level is on the high side and it is that which is causing it not to pick up these channels.

See this page:

www.ukfree.tv link icon Freeview signals: too much of a good thing is bad for you | ukfree.tv - independent free digital TV advice

Get a variable attenuator for £3 or £4 off eBay.
Andrew Wilkins
Thursday 16 February 2012 3:11PM
You show that the ITV1 Oxford HD freeview broadcasts the Meridian programming from Southampton. This is not the case. It broadcasts ITV Central from, Birmingham. Adverts often come from Midlands traders with no connection to the Oxford area and the local news at around 10.30 pm is the Midlands area news. Mind you, the Meridian news on ITV standard chanel is mostly south coast news and of little more interest to Oxford area viewers than the HD Midland news.
Jasper Llama
Friday 24 February 2012 10:37AM
Are there any plans to boost signal from ArqA? My reception of E4+1 and Sky News is dreadful. Everything else comes in fine.
Dave Lindsay
Friday 24 February 2012 2:09PM
Jasper Llama: The power of the commercial channels from Oxford will increase on 18th April.
Stan Herbert
Friday 24 February 2012 3:36PM
My aerial points toward the Oxford transmitter from OX10, and I was happily retuning as requested when we switched over last September. However, a couple of weeks ago I was prompted to retune again by a pop-up on the screen. I can't remember exact dates but this seemed to coincide with the Hannington switchover.

I now get two versions of lots of channels, eg: BBC1 South & BBC1 Oxford. But they are fairly intermittent. Should I remove the masthead amp on the loft mounted aerial?
jb38
Friday 24 February 2012 4:50PM
Stan Herbert: I wouldn't just yet anyway, but what you should do is scrub everything already stored by taking the aerial out and carrying out a re-tune without it, then after this has been done keep the aerial plug in your hand and select to carry out another re-tune observing the progress bar as soon as it starts, then as soon as you see Ch47 being passed "immediately" reinsert the aerial plug again and that will store only Oxfords channels.

If though your TV's tuner doesn't have this type of facility, then after scrubbing everything stored you will need to manually tune in each of Oxfords muxes one at a time, the channels involved being: 53 - 60 - 57(HD) - 62 - 59 - 55.

If after having completed the scan you find that BBC and ITV has developed glitches in various ways then remove the amplifier, as it will likely be a signal overloading that is causing the problem.
Stan Herbert
Friday 24 February 2012 10:01PM
jb38: Thank you for your help - I've just unsuccessfully tried this, but that is due to the limitations of Windows Media Center which receives our TV signal. It doesn't give frequencies and doesn't allow manual tuning. Weirdly it doesn't even seem to work through the frequencies in a logical order as it finds two BBC1's within the first 1% of searching, when the two transmitters seem to broadcast these channels on very different frequencies. Maybe I'll try without the amp and see what we get then!
jb38
Saturday 25 February 2012 12:00AM
Stan Herbert: Its a bit unfortunate, but its in situations such as yours where the design deficiencies in equipment such as Windows Media centres really start to show up, this making it whereby about the only thing left that you can try is removing your amplifier, although I do have doubts about the effectiveness of this measure as both aforementioned stations indicate good reception at levels not that terribly different from each other, or at least on the test code used as your precise location is not known.

Anyway maybe you could post an update on the results of this action.
Stan Herbert
Saturday 25 February 2012 1:38PM
jb38: I worked out another way around the issue within Media Center. Basically, once the tuning is complete you can go through each channel and select which frequency you want to receive it via - the details on this page and that for the Hannington transmitter were invaluable for this! Thereby you can remove duplicates of different regional channels and ensure that the other channels are only viewed using the strongest signal. It's a bit long winded, but if instructions would be useful to anyone I can provide them.
jb38
Saturday 25 February 2012 3:13PM
Stan Herbert: Thanks for that info and pleased to hear that you have found a way around the problem, and one which I will certainly keep in mind as Windows Media centres is one of the few devices that I haven't really been involved with hence being unacquainted with the menu system used in them.

Of course every manufacturer has their own ideas as far as menu systems are concerned, and with quite considerable variations even being found between different models from the same manufacturer, the nature of being from the basic primitive to others that's quite sophisticated to the extent that sometimes they are even inclined to slightly baffle engineers let alone laymen, this being something that makes it difficult to advise people where procedures are involved, as Murphy's law frequently dictates that the most complex of explanations given doesn't apply with the menu system used in their particular TV or box.

Regards / jb.
Jack Cottham
Monday 27 February 2012 9:34PM Buckingham
Roof mounted aerial. Have been getting excellent reception on all channels .Approx a week ago, suddenly am getting " nosignal on channel 9, BBC4, no events available on channel 12 "Yesterday" similarly channel 15, 18,21,22,24 and 40.
Signal strength and quality is shown as excellent. What has happened?
mst
Tuesday 28 February 2012 8:18AM
@Jack - Hannington has just gone through DSO - maybe you were getting some channels from there? Suggest you do the full reset and channel scan and check Mux frequencies as above
David Pinfold
Friday 2 March 2012 12:17PM Banbury
Hi Briantist - Just noticed that in the channel list for the SDN mux, ITV3 (Channel 10) seems to be missing from the list. Just a small point I know. Just wondering if there was a reason for this.
Richard
Monday 5 March 2012 3:02PM Bicester
Jim: Since switchover, i've been getting good Freeview reception on all channels from the Oxford TX. Recently, however, D3+4 channels are continously subject to picture and sound breakup while there's no problem with the rest. I can't find any fault reports on this - can you advice, please? My postcode is OX25 6JQ.
mst
Monday 5 March 2012 9:26PM
The Oxford COM power up and mode change to SDN mux that is planned for 18 Apr 12 will not affect the already high power D3+4 on C60- so check you are actually receiving Oxford and not Sutton Coldfield off the back of your aerial - its almost exactly 180 degrees off and C46 passed first in most box auto-tuning!
Paul
Tuesday 6 March 2012 7:49AM
Could Richard have accidentally tuned to Hannnington? From Bicester, Hannington is roughly the same direction as Bicester.
Ralph
Wednesday 7 March 2012 10:24PM
Please advise whether the main switchover work is complete or not. Since this work started I have gradually lost all channels except for the BBC ones (1, 2, 3 & 4) despite multiple retunes (aerial pointing Oxford). Aerial installers confirm there is virtually no signal at this location (Swindon SN5) despite the high gain aerial. This is a sad sate of affairs when considering ITV and some others were receivable back in the analogue days.

Thank you.
Paul
Thursday 8 March 2012 7:56AM
"...From Bicester, Hannington is roughly the same direction as Bicester."
Why did I write that?
I meant to say that, from Bicester, Hannington and Oxford are roughly the same direction.
mst
Thursday 8 March 2012 10:18AM
@Ralph: see above MUX info, the COM muxes are currently on low power 12.5kW ERP, and using a less robust broadcast config, but work on the MUX with ITV1 is allegedly complete - so do check you are tuned to the Oxford C60- MUX. I'm much closer to the TX than you but it seems the BBC MUX comes through with much higher apparent power, it may be my aerial system, the higher frequencies or the fact that C60- is very close to C59- and both are 'negative offsets'. Might also be interference from the low power Hemel Hempstead analogue TX is broadly the same direction.

Once London Crystal Palace and all its dependent transmitters have gone through DSO (18th April 2012) the COM channels will be increased to 50kW ERP - the 6dB increase might be able to take your signal above the digital cliff-edge, but don't expect miracles - bad weather, atmospherics, leaves on trees are all potential disturbances to which you will not have much safety margin.

And then you will only have a few years till 4g mobiles start using C61-C69 - have you considered Freesat?
Ralph
Thursday 8 March 2012 11:26AM
Thanks for the reply mst.

Only ch53 shows any signal and that is poor, manually tuning / searching all other channels shows nothing. New high-gain antenna, all cables and tuner checked and replaced. Sure there are other methods of receiving broadcasts but I think its a sad to go from 6 working channels (showing different content) before any digital work was started to 4 channels (all basically the same because they are BBC) after. Sadly More4, Film4 and ITV etc were receivable earlier this year.

What surprises me is how anybody thinks this is half acceptable and is probably why the UK lags behind most other countries when it comes to anything technical.

I like the allegedly clause and if anyone reads these posts who is actually doing the switchover work then perhaps they could present a true picture of what is actually happening and when so people don't have to go and buy their own satellite just to get basic TV reception (in the very small rural backwater that is Swindon).

I am sure everyone living in Oxford is ecstatic with their reception.



mst
Friday 9 March 2012 1:54AM
@Ralph - use "change address" on this official site to real predictions - which claims plenty of choice in SN5 - but almost exactly in between Oxford and Mendip

www.digitaluk.co.uk link icon Postcode Checker - Trade View

Also has details of dates when things change, but doesn't always make clear what/why!
Ralph
Friday 9 March 2012 8:35AM
Thank you mst. This shows Mendip as the better choice so will try that before Freesat as a last resort.

Ralph
Ellie Yeomans
Wednesday 14 March 2012 6:33PM
My 93yr old Mum is having problems in Buckingham, signal keeps dropping out. Does anyone know if there is work still ongoing in the Buckingham area? If so is it until 18 April 2012?
Sarah
Thursday 15 March 2012 10:56AM Newbury
We usually pick up a signal from the Oxford transmitter from RG20 9EH have aerial on the roof. Have had loss of signal continuously over the last 2 days. I have returned my 2 freeview boxes and now pick up programmes from the North (Hull, Goole, etc). Has something happened to the Oxford transmitter ?
Robert
Friday 16 March 2012 8:25AM
Once again for the last week we have been losing channels on the IYV and channel 5 type.

This has almost like scheduling from 9pm until about 10/10.30.

Retuning gives me a variety of different frequencies, as many as 8 and as few as 3. As someone else said it's about time the UK Authorities came clean.

I know that most of the channels affected are running at reduced power so lets hope that the promised resolution in April finally works.
Robert
Friday 16 March 2012 8:27AM
PS. Why do they never give an actual date for the engineering work, is this week from today yesterday etc and when will it actually finish.
Paul
Monday 19 March 2012 8:19AM
Eliie Yeomans, do you know whether your mother uses the Oxford ( BBC South/Oxford, ITV Meridian ) or the Sandy Heath ( BBC East, ITV Anglia ) transmiiter. I could presume that, as you are asking on this web page, she uses Oxford. Would this be a correct presumption?
Jean
Thursday 22 March 2012 9:42AM Cheltenham
we have a sony digital DVD recorder sony bravia tv.every day when I switch on the DVD a notice comes up, a new channel has been found.the screen on the DVD shows D--- so I have to retune before I can go onto the guide to record a program. we have a new roof top aerial.
Jean
Thursday 22 March 2012 4:25PM Cheltenham
DO you know why my tv is saying it has found another channel every day. I cannot use my DVD until I re-tune. we are on the Oxford transmitter. we have a new roof top aerial
digital tv & DVD player/recorder.
Dave Lindsay
Thursday 22 March 2012 5:17PM
Jean: Can you give the model number of the DVD recorder that is causing the problem?

Perhaps the issue is caused by it finding too many channels than it can hold in the memory, which causes it to "forget" some and therefore regard them as "new" when it is turned on. It is quite possible that some of these channels that are clogging up the memory are ones from another transmitter (Hannington, Mendip) and not Oxford. Are there channels stored in the 800s and if so, how high do they go (what is the highest)?

There may be an option in the menu to turn of notifications of new services if you cannot cure the problem another way.
Jean
Thursday 22 March 2012 7:22PM Cheltenham
hi Dave the model no of DVD is RDR-HXD870 with 160GB Hard Drive-with Freeview. The channels go up to 939. a lot of them are duplicated and they say NO EVENT information next to the duplicated ones
Charmian Martin
Monday 26 March 2012 1:52PM Faringdon
Hi, anyone out there. I note comments that the power will increase on the Oxford COMs on 18 April. Does that mean that I will need to retune my TV after that or will it just steady things down a bit? My reception (SN7 7HY) is generally very good on all channels, but high pressure is causing break up on some channels at the moment - like everyone else.
Dave Lindsay
Monday 26 March 2012 2:57PM
Charmian Martin: The COMs will remain on the same channels and they are all in 8k mode now, so you shouldn't need to do anything.

The Forward Error Correction for SDN (ITV3 etc) will change on 18th April, but receivers usually don't require retuning when that happens, so you will probably have to do nothing.
Charmian Martin
Tuesday 27 March 2012 10:06AM
Dave Lindsay: Many thanks!
Simon
Wednesday 28 March 2012 3:16PM Tewkesbury
MENDIP 28th March: ARQ A mux is now on Ch56 and ARQ B mux is on ch52. All 6 muxes are the same level now. NB both ARQ A & ARQ B muxes are using FEC=3/4.
Mike Miles
Monday 2 April 2012 8:52PM
Will the COM4/5/6 channels ever be uprated above 12.5 Kwatts? I occasionally suffer signal degradation from the Oxford transmitter in Princes Risborough.
Dave Lindsay
Monday 2 April 2012 8:59PM
Mike Miles: Yes, the restriction will be lifted on 18th April when they will go up to their full final power of 50kW each.



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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