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Close up of one of Mendip television transmitters stay tensioning assemblies where it attaches to the anchor block.
Note the £1 coin (to give an idea of the scale) and also the earthing straps.
Also check Mendip`s fifty four smaller repeaters
The frequencies given are for (most) digital MUXES, for analogue channels deduct 3MHz.
* There are a few retune events (temporary MUX reallocations) just before and after DSO which may not be shown on these tables.
please help us increase the number of people reading it.
Mendip television transmitter at dusk, looking towards the South West. Back to the top
Mendip transmitter into the clouds, and out of the top........ Back to the top
Mendip TV transmitter Back to the top
That`s a big piece of concrete (and there`s a lot more of it underground)......
One can imagine how much pull is exerted on the stay lines (particularly in a high wind) by the size of the block required to anchor it. Back to the top
Mendip`s channels in relation to the UHF TV band and the gain curves of the aerials
Mendip has no railways within 12 miles of it now but the old Somerset & Dorset line (from Bath to Bournemouth) used to run only three miles to the west of it. The S & D was opened between 1862 and 1874 but finally closed in 1966, thus no travellers on it would have seen the transmitter as it was opened in 1967 ! Part of the original Great Western line (which ran from Yatton to Witham and ran within two miles of Mendip) does still exist and is used by aggregate traffic from the huge quarry at Merehead. This same line is also used by the
East Somerset Railway which has been based near Shepton Mallet since 1972.
External links
Mendip transmitter page at MB21
Mendip Transmitter page at The Big Tower
Mendip Transmitter page on Wikipedia
Digital UK details of Mendip`s transmitters
High is High ?) and it is identical to Waltham and Bilsdale. It was built in 1967 by British Insulated Callender`s Cables (or B.I.C.C) who were responsible for much of the
infrastructure built in this country from 1945 up to the 1980s. The company is still going but now called Balfour Beatty. The mast is a tubular structure to the top and has in internal lift, though this is thought to be out of use following the accident at Belmont.
Mendip transmitter was originally owned by the BBC before being sold off to Crown Castle then to National Grid Wireless and finally to Arquiva (sic).
Situated 18 miles South of Bristol Mendip has a population coverage of around 1.5 million and its signals are picked up in many towns/cities including Bristol, Bath, Chippenham,
Weston Super Mare and areas of South Wales including Cardiff. In fact there are a lot of houses in Cardiff which can actually see Wenvoe transmitter, but still use Mendip !
I wonder why........
We are more than willing to give advice to those actually purchasing from us.
Could those only seeking information please just find the answer somewhere on this site,
or ring an aerial installer local to them, or call the reception advice phone numbers.
Mendip Transmitter OS Grid Ref ST 564 488
Note, as work takes place on various digital transmitters (to prepare for the DSO) you may
experience problems, e.g. with certain MUXES disappearing. First try rescanning your
TV / set top box (do it manually if possible), but if this fails to work check on transmitter work
or call the reception advice phone numbers. Also see basic digital fault finding.
The transmitter was originally a horizontally polarised C/D group for digital and still is for
all its digital output, see the graph for Mendip. Though this may not apply to some cheap crappy Contract aerials though......
Mendip is a powerful transmitter, joint eighth highest output in the country but it still needs fifty four smaller repeaters to improve its coverage in areas of poor reception.
Note the huge increase in power after the (full) digital switchover.
Mendip`s MUXES 4 to 6 will suffer a slight reduction in error correction data from the 28 Mar 12.
There are two interleaved spectrum channels allocated to Mendip, CH55 and CH59. In addition there is a possibility of 2 or 3 more MUXES being transmitted between CHs 31 and 37. Some of these would only be receivable from a C/D group in a good signal area, fortunately there are alternatives.
For Mendip`s TV Channels/frequencies see its channel allocation guide. This also includes the same information for Rowridge, Stockland Hill, Wenvoe, Ridge Hill, Bristol Kings Weston, Bristol Ilchester, Oxford, Hannington and Salisbury. This data can be of great use in determining possible alternative transmitters to try if Mendip fails to give an adequate signal, see the importance of “Line Of Sight”. Notice how all the transmitters outputs dovetail together particularly
Ridge Hill, Mendip and Wenvoe. The channel allocation guides can also be very useful in
the diagnosis of co-
to be added to your TV setup/distribution system without suffering from co-
For Mendip we recommend the DM log for strong signal areas, the Log 40 for
medium signal areas, the Yagi18CD* or the DY14WB for poor signal areas, and the XB16E for those with the most marginal signals. The dimensions and test performance of the aerials can be found on the relevant tables. If requiring a “high gain aerial” in the loft we recommend the DY14WB over the XB16 because of the former aerial`s smaller size.
* See "covering all eventualities"
