Freeview: Hastings (East Sussex, England) full-Freeview transmitter
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Freeview on the Hastings (East Sussex, England) transmitter

Google mapBing mapGoogle Earth50.861,0.565 or 50°51'41"N 0°33'53"ETN34 1LE

4G at 800MHz (at800) Freeview reception issues

When 800MHz 4G mobile broadband services start there will be 3 multiplexes in the higher risk range (C21-23, C30, C59-60): C23: SDN, C30: ArqB, C22: BBCB
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 Hastings transmitter which serves 18,000 homes.

Other maps:Hastings DABHastings AM/FMHastings regionBBC South EastMeridian (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.

Hastings 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
 vertical
Maximum64QAM 8K 2/3
24.1Mb/s
DVB-T MPEG2		1,000
Channel icons
1 BBC One South East, 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 C25 (506.0MHz) from 123m datum.
PSB2
D3+4
 vertical
Maximum64QAM 8K 2/3
24.1Mb/s
DVB-T MPEG2		1,000
Channel icons
3 ITV (Meridian (East 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 (Meridian south coast),
• as a digital multiplex transmitted on frequency C28 (530.0MHz) from 123m datum.
PSB3
BBCB
 vertical
Maximum256QAM 32KE 2/3
40.2Mb/s
DVB-T2 MPEG4		1,000
Channel icons
101 BBC One HD (England no regional news), 102 BBC Two HD (England), 103 ITV HD (ITV Meridian Southampton), 104 Channel 4 HD South ads, plus 1 others
• as a digital multiplex transmitted on frequency C22 (482.0MHz) from 123m datum.
COM4
SDN
 vertical
Above average64QAM 8K 3/4
27.1Mb/s
DVB-T MPEG2		500
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 C23 (490.0MHz) from 121m datum.
COM5
ArqA
 vertical
Above average64QAM 8K 3/4
27.1Mb/s
DVB-T MPEG2		500
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 C26 (514.0MHz) from 123m datum.
COM6
ArqB
 vertical
Above average64QAM 8K 3/4
27.1Mb/s
DVB-T MPEG2		500
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 C30- (545.8MHz) from 123m datum.


Regional news from the Hastings transmitter


BBC South East Today 0.8m homes 3.2%
from Tunbridge Wells TN1 1QQ, 37km northwest
to BBC South East region - 45 masts.

ITV Meridian News 0.8m homes 3.1%
from Maidstone ME14 5NZ, 46km north
to ITV Meridian (East) region - 39 masts.

How the transmission frequencies change over time

years1950s~851984-971997-981998-20122012-132013-182013-182019-
aerial groupVHFA KA KWA KA KA KK
C4BBCtv
C21A
C22BBC1BBC1BBC1BBCBBBCBBBCBSDN
C23SDNSDNSDN
C24-B
C25BBC2BBC2BBC2BBCABBCABBCAArqA
C26ArqAArqAArqA
C27-2
C28ITVITVITVD3+4D3+4D3+4ArqB
C30-ArqB-ArqB-ArqB
600C31-1
C32C4C4C4
C35C5C5
C41BBCB
C44D3+4
C47BBCA
700C60D
800C63C

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 30th May and 13th June 2012.

Comparison of old analogue and current digital signal levels

Analogue 1-4, Analogue 5, BBCA, D3+4, BBCB 1000W
SDN, ARQA, ARQB(-3dB) 500W
Mux 2*, Mux A*, Mux B*, Mux C*, Mux D*(-7dB) 200W
Mux 1*(-10dB) 100W

History of Channel 3 in the Hastings transmitter area

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

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.

Kate
Thursday 28 June 2012 8:27PM
FM is back now, but freeview channels started going off yesterday,and still intermittently. Only have a few channels all the time such as Really,QVC, Yesterday and Dave, but all BBC and Channel 4, 5 are missing.
Dave Lindsay
Thursday 28 June 2012 8:32PM
Kate: I don't know then.

Check that for PSB1 and PSB2 that you are tuned to Hastings.

Bring up the signal strength screen on BBC One and check that it is tuned to UHF channel 25 and for ITV1 that it is C28.

Depending on your location, there are other possible PSB transmitters that your receiver could be picking up instead. Where this is the case, then it needs correcting.
kate
Thursday 28 June 2012 8:40PM
yes, mine was set to UHF channel 24, so have changed it now, have all the BBC channels but they are at the end of the list in the 800's

Thanks for your help
Daniel Badman
Thursday 28 June 2012 8:48PM Hastings
just watching the footy and went no signal on all channels for about 3 to 4 secs but now all back fine so i phoned a few frends and they had the same thing y has this just stared had 2 weeks of perfict tv and now this err any healp wood be use full
Dave Lindsay
Thursday 28 June 2012 8:50PM
kate: The most likely C24 signal is that from Rowridge which on the Isle of Wight and is the main transmitter serving a large portion of the south coast.

Sometimes it's possible to unplug the aerial for part of the automatic tuning scan to miss out unwanted signals. However, Rowridge and Hastings all use neighbouring channels.

If you can wipe your tuner's memory, and manually tune to Hastings, then that is probably the best thing to do. Whether you can do that depends on the design of the device.

For Hastings you need to manually tune:

25, 28, 22(HD), 23, 26 and 30

See above for which services each carries.
Kate
Thursday 28 June 2012 9:18PM
Thanks, i did a factory reset and manually added them in, all working now. Thanks for all your help.
Mark Fletcher
Friday 29 June 2012 12:34AM Hastings
Daniel Badman.Hastings TN35 5EF.
Thanks for correcting me concerning your location,i sometimes make wee errors in leaving a nearby location when i assist others on this forum as such.
As for your earlier text dated Thursday 28 June 2012,8.48pm,was there a brief electrical fault or a thunderstorm in your locality that caused the brief loss of signal you mentioned while you watched the footy ?
Mark Fletcher
Friday 29 June 2012 12:39AM Lytham St. Annes
Just like i did to my above post.St Annes not Hastings i am currently at.Sorry !
Adrian Durrant
Friday 29 June 2012 10:43AM
So... we see above what channels Hastings is broadcasting but what we can RECIEVE is another matter... having made an idiot of myself writing to the local paper saying I don't know what people are complaining about, I now see that despite being shown as broadcast from Hastings, 5USA and Film4 have actually gone from my screen. And yes, I have done automatic and manual re-scans, unplugged the power supply and aerial and tried again... it's unbelievable that neighbouring transmitters are using the same frequencies. Probably not worth re-aligning to Heathfield, will probably just be swapping those missing channels for others. What a shambles.
Adrian Durrant
Friday 29 June 2012 11:09AM
Sorry... please delete that, and this post. In fact, all is well. The jewellery show is just playing on those channels until something better comes on, I panicked and thought they'd replaced those two channels. ooops!!
Dave Lindsay
Friday 29 June 2012 11:26AM
Adrian Durrant: Unfortunately the UK now has a two-tier terrestrial transmitter network.

Those who can only receive from Eastbourne South Cliff Tower will only ever receive the Public Service (PSB) channels, as will around 8.5% of the population. This is because the 1,000 or so small relays like Eastbourne only carry those channels and of the 81 transmitters that do carry a full service, some viewers will only pick up the Public Service channels. The transmission power of the COM channels from Hastings is lower than that of the PSBs.

The general plan is that Public Service channels are receiveable after switchover without need to change aerial. Some people will require a different aerial to receive COM channels as well.

As part of switchover, UHF channels 31 to 37 were ringfenced to be sold off to three more Commercial operators, whose future networks will no doubt mirror those of the current quasi-national Commercial networks.

Had these channels not been set aside, then there would have been more available and hence clashes like which exists in the Eastbourne area with reception of the COM signals from Hastings transmitter would have been less likely.
Dave Lindsay
Friday 29 June 2012 11:36AM
Adrian Durrant: Digital reception either works or it doesn't; there is very little in the middle, hence people talk about the "cliff-edge".

You may find that sometimes it works and at other times it doesn't, either because the interference from Eastbourne is a little stronger or because the signal isn't quite as good from Hastings or a bit of both.

If you are in an area with good reception of Heathfield, then that might be a better bet. If your Hastings aerial is a Group A one, then it won't really be suitable for Heathfield. However, as Hastings' pre-switchover digital signals were not all in Group A, I suspect that there is a fair chance that you have a wideband aerial, and this will be suitable for Heathfield, so long as it is sensitive on its Group B channels.

Failing that, you may be able to have the aerial mounted where it gets sufficient signal from Hastings, but where it is screened from Eastbourne, for example by mounting it on one side of the house and using the house to block the unwanted signal.

Obviously any changes should only be carried out by someone who is proficient at going up on to the roof in a safe manner.
Adrian Durrant
Friday 29 June 2012 11:57AM
Dave, many thanks, very interesting & great advice generally for anyone with problems of the nature discussed; I do apologise profusely, as I said above, I CAN actually receive all the channels. I can actually SEE both the Heathfield and Hastings channels from my roof and yet as I say, it turns out after all that I have no problems or at least am getting at least everything I did before, possibly since Eastbourne transmitter is behind my aerial and Heathfield is sideways-on and the wrong polarisation... as I said, I wrote to the local rag then saw the problems people were talking about here and paniicked that i'd got my facts wrong. But seems all is well, thanks again.
Adrian Durrant
Friday 29 June 2012 11:59AM
PS Regarding re-aligning, best in my case to leave well alone for the time being; my aerial is the Triax 100 which I reckon probably has too high gain to be pointed at Heathfield.
Dave Lindsay
Friday 29 June 2012 12:34PM
Adrian Durrant: If you do decide to realign your aerial to Heathfield, then you could always add attenuation if the signal level received turns out to be too high.

In any case you will probably be able to split the signal to serve multiple rooms using an unpower splitter:

www.aerialsandtv.com link icon Television Aerial Boosters / Amplifiers, Splitters, Diplexers & Triplexers
Adrian Durrant
Friday 29 June 2012 1:51PM
Many thanks, I will see how things go, see if it turns out that re-aligning's the way to go. If that situation comes about it would indeed be a good idea to use a splitter; could then do away with my amplified splitter.
Dave Lindsay
Sunday 1 July 2012 11:28PM
Malcolm Wood: If you're reading this, I've just read the article you provided a link to written by Bill Wright about phased arrays. Have you tried it out and are you in business?
Adrian Durrant
Wednesday 11 July 2012 10:43PM
Dave, the 'wattage' figure for the transmitters (at the right), is that what we used to call 'ERP' (Effective Radiated Power)?
Dave Lindsay
Wednesday 11 July 2012 10:51PM
Adrian Durrant: Yes they are ERPs.

According to Digital UK predictor and Ofcom's "Digital Switchover Transmitter Details", all of Hastings' six multiplexes are at 1kW:

stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk link icon Ofcom | Digital Switchover Transmitter Details


However, the multiplex licences published by Ofcom, version 7 (27 January 2012) says that the PSBs are 1kW and the COMs are 0.5kW:

licensing.ofcom.org.uk link icon Ofcom | Supplementary licence documents in relation to DSO

I understand that the information at the top of this page is sourced from the licences document.
Adrian Durrant
Wednesday 11 July 2012 11:46PM
Many thanks Dave, still considering the idea of realigning my Triax Unix 100 to Heathfield instead of Hastings, and I'm comparing the power of the transmitters. It would actually be quite a big fiddly job and the only benefit would be that I could use an unpowered splitter instead of the powered one I have. Also I guess Heathfield signals might be less affected by co-channel interference during high atmospheric pressure... It's a tough call, jury's still out I guess!
Adrian Durrant
Wednesday 25 July 2012 10:40AM Eastbourne
Dave; Many thanks for your advice, having thought about it I decided to realign to Heathfield; it was tricky because it meant dismantling the six-year-old aerial and mast and moving it to another corner of the chimney (to keep birds'-muck off the chimney), I took a few hours quite laborious and fiddly work and disaster loomed when I found a couple of vital nuts were rusted... however engine grease got them loosened. Pleased to say it was a job worth doing because it makes more sense to use the more powerful transmitter and I have been able to do what you suggested and use an unpowered splitter and have binned my old powered one. I located the Heathfield transmitter with binoculars and beamed the Triax 100 straight at it! Plenty of signal to split four ways and reception's excellent.
Dave Lindsay
Wednesday 25 July 2012 12:22PM
Adrian Durrant: Good to hear that you have success. It's great when a plan comes together!
Malcolm Wood
Monday 13 August 2012 6:01PM Eastbourne
Dave Lindsay

Not yet tried the array. I have been pondering what to do all this time.

I haves decided to site a Log periodic below roof hight in the gap between my house and next door, the houses line up almost exactly with Hastings. I’m hoping this will provide sufficient shielding from South Cliff tower especially as this may also bring the line of trees in the park behind my house in to play. If this does not work I will invest in another log to add in an array.

I thought I would go for logs as the reflectors on a pair of vertical Yagis might foul each other and limit accurate spacing of the array. Also less windage.

I probably won't get this done until September and will report the results.

In the mean time I would be very interested in your thoughts.
Geoff Mynn
Saturday 8 September 2012 8:13PM Eastbourne
Problems with Freeview from Hastings today. BBC channels disappeared this morning and the ITV signal strength was pretty bad this afternoon.
Tonight, all of the Hastings multiplexes went for about 10 minutes. There were also a number of continental channels appearing this morning. I have performed several retunes on 2 DTRs, but at the moment the signal is very 'hit and miss'.
mandy
Monday 8 October 2012 4:28PM St. Leonards-on-sea
my postcode is tn37 6bz there are 24 flats in my building and we all have no signal at the moment can you tell me whats wrong please
Dave Lindsay
Monday 8 October 2012 4:41PM
mandy : The aerial system will have a powered amplifier for distribution of the feed from the aerial. The likely answer is that either it has failed or there is no power to it. Either way it is down to the party responsible for the aerial system to put it right or have it put right. It may be worth speaking to your landlord, although clearly there isn't likely to be anything done about it today.
Steve
Wednesday 17 October 2012 8:17PM
The HD channels from the Hastings transmitter flicker from time to time, very quick to a black screen then back to output. It doesn't affect the sound just picture. Is this a problem experienced by anyone else?
Transmitter engineering
Tuesday 15 January 2013 8:02PM
HASTINGS transmitter - Freeview - No reported problems -. [BBC]
Transmitter engineering
Tuesday 15 January 2013 8:50PM
HASTINGS transmitter - Freeview No problems on any service. [BBC]
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