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Full Freeview on the Heathfield (East Sussex, England) transmitter

first published this on - UK Free TV
sa_streetviewGoogle Streetviewsa_gmapsGoogle mapsa_bingBing mapsa_gearthGoogle Earthsa_gps50.976,0.229 or 50°58'34"N 0°13'45"Esa_postcodeTN21 0UG

 

The symbol shows the location of the Heathfield (East Sussex, England) transmitter which serves 170,000 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 Heathfield (East Sussex, England) mast?

Heathfield transmitter - Heathfield transmitter: Possible effect on TV reception week commencing 11/11/2024 Pixelation or flickering on some or all channels Digital tick


Choose from three options: ■ List by multiplex ■ List by channel number ■ List by channel name
_______

Which Freeview channels does the Heathfield 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.

MuxH/VFrequencyHeightModeWatts
PSB1
BBCA
 H max
C41 (634.0MHz)298mDTG-20,000W
Channel icons
1 BBC One (SD) South East, 2 BBC Two England, 9 BBC Four, 23 BBC Three, 201 CBBC, 202 CBeebies, 231 BBC News, 232 BBC Parliament, plus 16 others

PSB2
D3+4
 H max
C44 (658.0MHz)298mDTG-20,000W
Channel icons
3 ITV 1 (SD) (Meridian (East micro region)), 4 Channel 4 (SD) South ads, 5 Channel 5, 6 ITV 2, 10 ITV3, 13 E4, 14 Film4, 15 Channel 4 +1 South ads, 18 More4, 26 ITV4, 28 ITVBe, 30 E4 +1, 35 ITV1 +1 (Meridian south coast), 71 That’s 60s,

PSB3
BBCB
 H max
C47 (682.0MHz)298mDTG-20,000W
Channel icons
46 5SELECT, 101 BBC One HD South East, 102 BBC Two HD England, 103 ITV 1 HD (ITV Meridian Southampton), 104 Channel 4 HD South ads, 105 Channel 5 HD, 106 BBC Four HD, 107 BBC Three HD, 204 CBBC HD, 205 CBeebies HD, plus 1 others

COM4
SDN
 H max
C40 (626.0MHz)298mDTG-820,000W
Channel icons
20 U&Drama, 21 5USA, 29 ITV2 +1, 32 5STAR, 33 5Action, 38 Channel 5 +1, 41 Legend, 42 GREAT! action, 57 U&Dave ja vu, 58 ITV3 +1, 59 ITV4 +1, 64 Blaze, 67 TRUE CRIME, 68 TRUE CRIME XTRA, 81 Blaze +1, 83 Together TV, 91 WildEarth, 93 ITVBe +1, 209 Ketchup TV, 210 Ketchup Too, 211 YAAAS!, 251 Al Jazeera English, 255 FRANCE 24 (in English), 265 Rok Sky +1, plus 29 others

COM5
ArqA
 H max
C43 (650.0MHz)300mDTG-820,000W
Channel icons
11 Sky Mix, 17 Really, 19 U&Dave, 31 E4 Extra, 36 Sky Arts, 40 Quest Red, 43 Food Network, 47 Film4 +1, 48 Challenge, 49 4seven, 60 U&Drama +1, 65 That's TV 2, 70 Quest +1, 74 &UYesterday +1, 76 That's TV 2 MCR, 233 Sky News, plus 13 others

COM6
ArqB
 H max
C46 (674.0MHz)300mDTG-820,000W
Channel icons
12 Quest, 25 U&W, 27 U&Yesterday, 34 GREAT! movies, 39 DMAX, 44 HGTV, 52 GREAT! christmas, 56 That's TV (UK), 63 GREAT! romance mix, 73 HobbyMaker, 75 That's 90s, 82 Talking Pictures TV, 84 PBS America, 235 Al Jazeera Eng, plus 18 others

DTG-8 64QAM 8K 3/4 27.1Mb/s DVB-T MPEG2
H/V: aerial position (horizontal or vertical)

The Heathfield (East Sussex, England) mast is a public service broadcasting (PSB) transmitter, it does not provide these commercial (COM) channels: .

If you want to watch these channels, your aerial must point to one of the 80 Full service Freeview transmitters. For more information see the will there ever be more services on the Freeview Light transmitters? page.

Which BBC and ITV regional news can I watch from the Heathfield transmitter?

regional news image
BBC South East Today 0.8m homes 3.2%
from Tunbridge Wells TN1 1QQ, 17km north (6°)
to BBC South East region - 45 masts.
regional news image
ITV Meridian News 0.7m homes 2.7%
from Maidstone ME14 5NZ, 41km north-northeast (31°)
to ITV Meridian (East) region - 36 masts.
All of lunch, weekend and 50% evening news is shared with all of Meridian plus Oxford

How will the Heathfield (East Sussex, England) transmission frequencies change over time?

1984-971997-981998-20122012-132013-182013-1719 Jul 2018
C/D EC/D EC/D EW TW TW TK T
C29_local_local_local_local
C40SDN
C41ArqBArqBArqBBBCA
C42SDNSDNSDN
C43ArqA
C44ArqAArqAArqAD3+4
C46ArqB
C47BBCBBBCBBBCBBBCB
C49tv_offBBC1wavesBBC1wavesBBC1wavesD3+4D3+4D3+4
C52tv_offBBC2wavesBBC2wavesBBC2wavesBBCABBCABBCA
C64ITVwavesITVwavesITVwaves
C67C4wavesC4wavesC4waves

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 May 12 and 13 Jun 12.

How do the old analogue and currrent digital signal levels compare?

Analogue 1-4 100kW
SDN, ARQA, ARQB, BBCA, D3+4, BBCB(-7dB) 20kW
Mux 1*, Mux 2*(-18dB) 1.6kW
Mux A*, Mux B*, Mux C*, Mux D*(-20dB) 1000W

Which companies have run the Channel 3 services in the Heathfield transmitter area

Aug 1958-Jan 1992Southern Television
Jan 1982-Dec 1992Television South (TVS)
Jan 1993-Feb 2004Meridian
Feb 2004-Dec 2014ITV plc
Feb 1983-Dec 1992TV-am•
Jan 1993-Sep 2010GMTV•
Sep 2010-Dec 2014ITV Daybreak•
• Breakfast ◊ Weekends ♦ Friday night and weekends † Weekdays only. Heathfield 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.

Is the transmitter output the same in all directions?

Radiation patterns withheld

Comments
Saturday, 20 April 2024
C
CHRIS JACKSON
5:08 PM

Please confirm that there is STILL AN ISSUE with the Heathfield transmitter. I have only been able to receive BBC1 BBC2 and BBC NEWS since 15th April. When will normal service resume ? I am in Rye, postcode TN31 77HP

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CHRIS JACKSON's 2 posts GB flag
S
StevensOnln1
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

5:46 PM

CHRIS JACKSON: The post above yours indicates that there has been engineering work at Heathfield this week. Unfortunately Arqiva (the company who operate the transmitter) do not give any further details or timescales for any work as it can often depend on factors such as weather conditions which are beyond their control.

link to this comment
StevensOnln1's 3,670 posts GB flag
S
Steve Donaldson
sentiment_satisfiedSilver

6:25 PM

CHRIS JACKSON: As StevensOnln1 says, there is the posting above yours that Heathfield has engineering works. The 'Transmitter engineering' information above is sourced from this page on the Freeview site:

Planned engineering works | Freeview

Another possible cause to consider is interference by a nearby mobile phone base station operating on a frequency previously used for TV. Restore TV is the organisation charged with alleviating such issues and will send out a free filter. A lookup of your postcode on the Restore TV says postcards have been sent there, meaning there could be an issue: https://restoretv.uk/post…ure/

While we cannot say for certain where the base station is, I see there is the water tower with antennas on overlooking you. I suggest you make enquires with Restore TV to receive a filter.

If you have a rooftop amplifier then any filter will need to go before this, meaning it will need to be on the roof. Tell Restore TV you have a rooftop amplifier and they should send an engineer to fit a filter on the roof for you.

link to this comment
Steve Donaldson's 254 posts GB flag
S
Steve Donaldson
sentiment_satisfiedSilver

7:16 PM

CHRIS JACKSON: The Rye relay transmitter broadcasts on UHF channels 40, 43 and 46 which are the same as the three COM channels of Heathfield. Rye is vertical polarity, while Heathfield is horizontal.

Thus, should you experience poor reception on these channels, a possible suspect is interference from Rye. Your aerial is obviously horizontal, but it might still pick up the vertical signal from Rye to some degree.

The COM channels are COM4 (SDN), COM5 (Arq A) and COM6 (Arq B). For a list of programme channels carried on each of these and the other multiplexes, see the Freeview list:

Channel listings for Industry Professionals | Freeview

The three PSB channels of Heathfield, PSB1 (BBC A), PSB2 (D3&4) and PSB3 (BBC B) are not shared with Rye.

The COM channels of Heathfield and the three Rye channels have been the same since 16 October 2019.

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Steve Donaldson's 254 posts GB flag
Sunday, 21 April 2024
C
Chris.SE
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

2:20 PM
Rye

CHRIS JACKSON:

If your postcode is TN31 7HP (not the typo of 77 per your original post), then according to the Freeview reception predictor, you are not in the beast of locations for reception from Heathfield. Whilst this is a general prediction for your postcode it may not be precise for you particular location. However, having had a quick look on Streetview over your general postcode (even though it's a 2015 image) I see no reason why the general prediction shouldn't apply.

Unless you normally have good reception from Heathfield with few reception problems, then you may want to consider having your aerial changed and point it at Dover, especially if it's an original aerial for Heathfield and over 20+ years old, as it could now be out of the correct aerial "group" as it could be C/D whereas you ideally need a Group K for either transmitter.

I didn't see many external aerials in your postcode, maybe yours is in a loft, which won't improve the reception from Heathfield either. Where I did see external aerials, one with quite an array (as well as satellite dishes), they were pointing at Dover (also having Planned Engineering) I'm afraid.

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Chris.SE's 4,358 posts GB flag
Chris.SE's: mapC's Freeview map terrainC's terrain plot wavesC's frequency data C's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Wednesday, 24 April 2024
D
Dennis Anthony
10:12 PM
St. Leonards-on-sea

TN38 0NS

I had a TV man come to inspect my aerial which was aligned horizontal but not pointing at Heathfield.

He aligned it vertical and pointed it at Heathfield which gets better signals.

In the details above on the site the aerial is always aligned H so why is mine V? Thanks.

link to this comment
Dennis Anthony's 7 posts GB flag
Dennis's: mapD's Freeview map terrainD's terrain plot wavesD's frequency data D's Freeview Detailed Coverage
S
Steve Donaldson
sentiment_satisfiedSilver

11:07 PM

Dennis Anthony: This begs the question: are you sure?

At your location there look to be two potential transmitters: Heathfield and Hastings (Bohemia). Heathfield is horizontally polarised and Hastings is vertically polarised. It sounds like your aerial might have been changed from the former to the latter.

UHF channel numbers for each are as follows:

- Heathfield -

PSB1 - BBC One - C41
PSB2 - ITV1 - C44
PSB3 - BBC One HD - C47
COM4 - QVC - C40
COM5 - Sky Mix - C43
COM6 - Quest - C46

- Hastings -

PSB1 - BBC One - C25
PSB2 - ITV1 - C28
PSB3 - BBC One HD - C22
COM4 - QVC - C23
COM5 - Sky Mix - C26
COM6 - Quest - C30

Check which you are tuned to by viewing the signal information/strength screen on each of the above programme channels.

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Steve Donaldson's 254 posts GB flag
C
Chris.SE
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

11:36 PM

Dennis Anthony:

Which compass direction is your aerial now pointing?
If it's pointing at compass bearing 56 degrees, that's slightly E of NE, then it's pointing at Hastings.
If it's pointing at compass bearing 299 degrees, that's just N of WNW, then that's pointing at Heathfield.

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Chris.SE's 4,358 posts GB flag
Saturday, 29 June 2024
R
Raymond Snashall
4:16 PM

Freeview TV in hassocks from heathfield transmitter is switched off at night. Why please? When will the 24 hour service be restored?

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Raymond Snashall's 1 post GB flag
S
StevensOnln1
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

4:57 PM

Raymond Snashall: Freeview transmitters are not switched off overnight. It's likely that you're suffering from electrical interference from something in your home or nearby operating on a timer. Likely culprits are anything with an electric motor or cheap LEDs with poor screening.

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StevensOnln1's 3,670 posts GB flag
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Your comment please
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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