Full Freeview on the Sandy Heath (Central Bedfordshire, England) transmitter
 | Google Streetview |  | Google map |  | Bing map |  | Google Earth |  | 52.130,-0.242 or 52°7'47"N 0°14'33"W |  | SG19 2NH |
The symbol shows the location of the Sandy Heath (Central Bedfordshire, England) transmitter which serves 920,000 homes. 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.
Are there any planned engineering works or unexpected transmitter faults on the Sandy Heath (Central Bedfordshire, England) mast?
Sandy Heath transmitter - Sandy Heath transmitter: Possible effect on TV reception week commencing 04/11/2024 Pixelation or flickering on some or all channels 
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Digital television services are broadcast on a multiplexes (or Mux) where many stations occupy a single broadcast frequency, as shown below.
64QAM 8K 3/4 27.1Mb/s DVB-T MPEG2
H/V: aerial position (horizontal or vertical)
Which Freeview channels does the Sandy Heath transmitter broadcast?
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.
64QAM 8K 3/4 27.1Mb/s DVB-T MPEG2
H/V: aerial position (horizontal or vertical)
Which BBC and ITV regional news can I watch from the Sandy Heath transmitter?
BBC Look East (West) 1.0m homes 3.7%
from Cambridge CB4 0WZ, 29km east-northeast (65°)
to BBC Cambridge region - 4 masts.
70% of BBC East (East) and BBC East (West) is shared output
ITV Anglia News 1.0m homes 3.7%
from Norwich NR1 3JG, 119km east-northeast (60°)
to ITV Anglia (West) region - 5 masts.
All of lunch, weekend and 80% evening news is shared with Anglia (East)
How will the Sandy Heath (Central Bedfordshire, England) transmission frequencies change over time?
| 1965-80s | 1984-97 | 1997-98 | 1998-2011 | 2011-13 | 12 Feb 2020 | ||||
| VHF | A K T | K T | K T | W T | W T | ||||
| C6 | ITVwaves | ||||||||
| C21 | C4waves | C4waves | C4waves | +BBCB | BBCB | ||||
| C24 | ITVwaves | ITVwaves | ITVwaves | D3+4 | D3+4 | ||||
| C27 | BBC2waves | BBC2waves | BBC2waves | BBCA | BBCA | ||||
| C31 | BBC1waves | BBC1waves | BBC1waves | ||||||
| C32 | com7 | ||||||||
| C33 | SDN | ||||||||
| C34 | com8 | ||||||||
| C35 | _local | ||||||||
| C36 | ArqA | ||||||||
| C39 | C5waves | C5waves | |||||||
| C43 | _local | ||||||||
| C48 | ArqB | ArqB | |||||||
| C51tv_off | SDN | ||||||||
| C52tv_off | ArqA | ||||||||
| C55tv_off | com7tv_off | ||||||||
| C56tv_off | COM8tv_off |
tv_off Being removed from Freeview (for 5G use) after November 2020 / June 2022 - more
Table shows multiplexes names see this article;
green background for transmission frequencies
Notes: + and - denote 166kHz offset; aerial group are shown as A B C/D E K W T
waves denotes analogue; digital switchover was 30 Mar 11 and 13 Apr 11.
How do the old analogue and currrent digital signal levels compare?
| Analogue 1-4 | 1000kW | |
| BBCA, D3+4, BBCB | (-7.4dB) 180kW | |
| SDN, ARQA, ARQB | (-7.7dB) 170kW | |
| com7 | (-13dB) 49.6kW | |
| com8 | (-13.1dB) 49.1kW | |
| Mux 1*, Mux 2*, Mux A*, Mux B*, Mux C*, Mux D* | (-17dB) 20kW | |
| Analogue 5 | (-20dB) 10kW |
Which companies have run the Channel 3 services in the Sandy Heath transmitter area
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Tuesday, 20 December 2022
C
Chris.SE8:44 PM
J Mitchell :
To be clear, you used to have TV channels at LCNs 101-106/109 in your EPG? Are they still there with just no signal?
When did the problem start?
Have you changed anything in your equipment set-up?
Does the aerial look intact and is it still pointing in the correct direction?
The BBCB HD/PSB3 multiplex which carries the HD channels is on UHF channel C21 at Sandy Heath.
Can you check in your TV Tuning section which UHF channels you are tuned to? The correct UHF channels are in the very top section of this page.
Can you post the signal strength and quality (or BER/Error) figures for each UHF channel?
You could be getting interference as a result of weather related Tropospheric Ducting which has been very intermittent and variable. There appears to be some predicted at present which may be affecting reception for some in East Anglia. It doesn't normally affect all multiplexes (and so the TV channels carried on them), usually just one or two, but it does depend on where the interfering signals are coming from.
If you provide a full postcode, we can check your predicted reception.
If you were correctly tuned then do not retune if you have pixellated pictures or no signal as this usually just clears the correct tuning. If you need to correct your tuning, do a manual tune of the UHF channels listed.
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Wednesday, 18 January 2023
I
Ian Leslie Jackson1:09 PM
I am currently having pixalation problems and have been loosing all dvb channels all weekend. Are you aware of this? My Panasonic TV is only 6 months old
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C
Chris.SE4:06 PM
Ian Leslie Jackson:
As you haven't given a full postcode, we can't check your predicted reception and there's always the possibility that weather conditions might affect it if you are in a marginal area.
There are currently no reported faults for Sandy Heath and it's not currently listed for Planned Engineering.
Check that your aerial looks intact and is still pointing in the correct direction and that the downlead is secure and not flapping in the wind. Check all your coax connections behind the TV etc.
Have you altered/changed anything about with your equipment recently? Do you have any distribution amp/splitter etc.?
You are never advised to retune when you have no signal or badly pixellated pictures as this usually just clears the correct tuning. So whilst signal is steady, try a manual retune on Sandy Heath's UHF channels to ensure you are correctly tuned.
Post back with a full postcode if you are still having problems.
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Monday, 13 February 2023
H
Hater4life9:56 PM
Terrible transmitter have nothing but issues.
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S
StevensOnln111:30 PM
Hater4life: Rather than assuming that the transmitter is at fault (if it was hundreds of people would be complaining) have you done any investigation into whether something at your end might be causing whatever issue you are having? Simple things like checking and unplugging/reconnecting cables can often help track down the cause. Another thing to check is whether a new or upgraded 4G/5G mast might be causing interference - put your postcode into the checker on https://restoretv.uk/ and they'll send you a free filter if interference is predicted.
If none of that helps, let us know your full postcode so that we can see the predicted signal strength at your location.
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C
Chris.SE11:36 PM
Hater4life:
If you provide a full postcode, we might be able to offer some constructive advice or comment.
However, suggest you read the post about Planned Engineering just before yours.
Taken from the official list -
Planned engineering works by region
Region Transmitter Name Main/Relay Possible effect on TV reception week commencing 13/02/2023
Anglia Sandy Heath Main Pixelation or flickering on some or all channels
Apart from which, current weather conditions currently accompanying the high pressure will not be helping, for a simplistic explanation, see -
https://www.bbc.co.uk/rec…sure
This tends to happen more in summer, but can occur at other times.
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Tuesday, 28 February 2023
D
David Brown5:57 PM
St. Neots
what is the signal strength in Stonely, PE19 5EG? How much antenna gain do I need for good reception please?
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David's: mapD's Freeview map terrainD's terrain plot wavesD's frequency data D's Freeview Detailed Coverage
C
Chris.SE8:26 PM
David Brown:
You are about 20km from Sandy Heath, compass bearing 150 degrees (that's almost SSE) and the rods (or squashed Xs) should be horizontal.
Considering the transmitter powers used at Sandy (182/170kw PSB/COM multiplexes) you should have very good reception, and a medium gain aerial used externally would probably be adequate if good quality double screened coax is used feeding just one set (and not an excessive cable run!).
I'd think about something like 28 to 36 element K Group Log periodic types (yes grouped log-periodics are now made!).
Eg. something like the Blake BLA-LP28K if you have an unobstructed line-of-sight view, but check what your neighbours are using or get specialist advice from an installer that knows your area well.
(Details from Blake's website https://www.blake-uk.com/…tml)
Whilst Group T/Wideband aerials would do, they give no protection to mobile interference if you should get a mast near you and you'd probably need to add a filter.
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Friday, 17 March 2023
S
Steve Cook7:04 PM
Hi,
I am on the Sandy Heath transmitter (mk16 8FD)
and to my knowledge when I sue.e.turner@outlook.com up my tv it was receiving 100 channels plus. I have just retuned my tv due to the lack of signal and I am now getting 10 tv and 16 radio. What's happened?
Thanks
Steve
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C
Chris.SE10:16 PM
Steve Cook:
I can find no current reported faults for the transmitter BUT as per the post immediately before yours, the Transmitter is listed for Planned Engineering.
I'm afraid the last thing you should do when you have no signal is to retune as this will usually just clear the correct tuning. It's more than likely that only one multiplex was transmitting at the time you retuned (probably BBCA/PSB1).
You will need to retune again and if signals are back to normal then hopefully you will have all the channels back.
If signals are not back to normal, you may well have to try several times as, because the tuning of any missing multiplexes has been cleared, you won't know when they are back to normal!
If this is unsuccessful, check all your connections behind the TV etc, check that your aerial looks intact and is still pointing in the correct direction. Check that your downlead is secure and not flapping in the wind.
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