UKTX

Icomb Hill

England · TV and DAB

Position
51.904188, -1.707798
Grid reference
SP20202289
Nation
England
Ground height
241 m
Antenna height
48 m
Aerial group
Group A — C21–37, the low end of the band
Polarisation
Vertical
BBC region
South
ITV region
Meridian
ITV news region
Meridian Thames Valley
Parent transmitter
Oxford
Ofcom site number
10219

How far it reaches

Two different questions, and the map below can be switched between them. Reaches is everywhere this mast puts a usable signal; strongest is the much smaller slice where nothing else does it better.

BandReachesStrongest in
Television216 of 238,895 Output Areasunder 0.1% of UK Output Areasa relay, serving a local area
DAB radio0.4% of UK Output Areasunder 0.1% of UK Output Areasa relay, serving a local area
More detail

Most places can receive several transmitters — a median Output Area hears twelve — and only one of them can be the best, which is why the two columns are so far apart. Reach counts an area once the model clears the reception threshold there at all, and it inherits the sweep's screen: only the strongest twenty candidates per area are stored, so a mast lying twenty-first somewhere does not count as reaching it. Both are a share of areas, deliberately, and not a number of homes: checked against Ofcom's own coverage the model ranks transmitters correctly (Spearman 0.861) but over-states how far each one gets by a median factor of 2.5. A share is a ranking statement and survives that; a household count would not. How this is worked out.

On the map

Everywhere Icomb Hill is predicted to reach for television and DAB radio, shaded by how much signal is left over. Other transmitters reach most of this ground too.

The lines are how far the signal is modelled to get: solid while the margin still clears 10 dB, dashed out to where it last clears 0 dB. The real edge sits inside them — every point inherits the model's measured optimism of about 17 dB.

How the rings were drawn

It is an envelope, not a boundary: terrain can still block reception well inside it, and it is an edge, not a fill — the colour says how far the signal gets, not that every spot under it works. Zoom in and the shading gives way to the per-area prediction, which is the same question answered Output Area by Output Area. The television and DAB radio rings were contoured from the stored predictions, which keep only the strongest candidates for each area — the true edge can extend beyond what is drawn [I].

The modelled outer edge drawn above: television about 40 km toward the north but barely beyond the mast toward the west; DAB radio about 46 km toward the south but barely beyond the mast toward the west [I].

Open this transmitter on the full mapreach, the aerial direction, and everything else within range

Television

Multiplexes transmitted from this site, as published by Ofcom.
MuxFreeview nameChannelFrequencyERPSystemOperator
PSB1BBC AC28530 MHz22 WDVB-TBBC
PSB2D3&4C25506 MHz22 WDVB-TDigital 3&4 (ITV/Channel 4)
PSB3BBC BC22482 MHz22 WDVB-T2BBC

DAB radio

DAB ensembles carried here.
EnsembleBlockFrequencyERPHeightAreaEIdServices
Gloucestershire10C213.360 MHz1.0 kW40 mStow-on-the-WoldC1B79
SDL National11A216.928 MHz139 W40 mBourton-on-the-WaterC1CE31
BBC National DAB12B225.648 MHz1.0 kW40 mStow-on-the-WoldCE1516

Gloucestershire — block 10C

BBC GloucesterHeartSunshineGrt Hits GlosFun KidsHits Radio GlosHits Radio PrideAbsolute 00sKISS DANCE

SDL National — block 11A

Jazz FMTalktalkSPORT2Virgin RadioMagic ClassicalMellow MagicAbsolute 90sPlanet RockAbsolute 80sSunrise RadioPremierChristianPremier PraiseVirgin LegendsVirgin ChilledTimes RadioBoom Radio UKFix RadioCapXTRA ReloadedRadio X Class RkMagic SoulKerrang!Absolute RockMagic MusicalsAbsolute CountryHits Radio ChilSmooth 80sCapital AnthemsKisstory R&BGrt Hits Rad 60sSunrise HitsBFBS UK

BBC National DAB — block 12B

BBC Radio 1BBC GuideBBC Radio 2BBC TravelBBC Radio 3BBC Radio 4Radio 5 LiveRadio 5 ExtraBBC Radio 6MusicBBC Radio 1XtraBBC WorldServiceBBC AsianNetworkBBC Radio 4ExtraBBC Radio1AnthmsBBC Radio1DanceBBC Radio3Unwind

Gloucestershire — radiation pattern

0 dB10 dB20 dBNESW200°

Radiates most strongly toward the south (200°), as published by Ofcom.

More detail

Each ring is 10 dB of attenuation below the pattern's own peak; the outer rim is the peak itself and anything 30 dB down or deeper is drawn at the centre rather than off the edge of the chart, so a very deep null reads as “weak” and not as a hole in the picture. The shape says which direction radiates harder relative to the mast's own peak, not the absolute field strength there or how far it reaches — that is what the coverage map and the postcode lookup are for.

SDL National — radiation pattern

0 dB10 dB20 dBNESW200°

Radiates most strongly toward the south (200°), as published by Ofcom.

More detail

Each ring is 10 dB of attenuation below the pattern's own peak; the outer rim is the peak itself and anything 30 dB down or deeper is drawn at the centre rather than off the edge of the chart, so a very deep null reads as “weak” and not as a hole in the picture. The shape says which direction radiates harder relative to the mast's own peak, not the absolute field strength there or how far it reaches — that is what the coverage map and the postcode lookup are for.

BBC National DAB — radiation pattern

0 dB10 dB20 dBNESW200°

Radiates most strongly toward the south (200°), as published by Ofcom.

More detail

Each ring is 10 dB of attenuation below the pattern's own peak; the outer rim is the peak itself and anything 30 dB down or deeper is drawn at the centre rather than off the edge of the chart, so a very deep null reads as “weak” and not as a hole in the picture. The shape says which direction radiates harder relative to the mast's own peak, not the absolute field strength there or how far it reaches — that is what the coverage map and the postcode lookup are for.

Other transmitters nearby

Ascott9.2 km ESE · TV/FMGuiting Power10.1 km W · TVOver Norton11.9 km ENE · TV/DABChipping Norton11.9 km ENE · FMLong Compton13.7 km NE · TVCharlbury14.6 km ESE · TV

Every structure Ofcom list within 40 km, nearest first. Close is not the same as an alternative: most of these are single-service relays, and one of them may radiate a thousandth of this mast's power in a direction that misses you.