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 02/12/2024 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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Monday, 11 November 2024
Transmitter engineering
10:48 AM
10:48 AM
Sandy Heath transmitter - Sandy Heath transmitter: Possible effect on TV reception week commencing 11/11/2024 Switching Breaks [DUK]
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G
Gerry Tivers6:09 PM
Bedford
I live in Clophill, Bedfordshire, MK45 4BH. I believe that I receive my Freeview signal from the Sandy Heath Transmitter.
When viewing ITV 1 on channel 3 in SD the regional news is Anglia, which is our region. When viewing ITV 1 on channel 103 in HD the regional news is Meridian, which is not our region.
If both channels are on the same multiplex why this difference?
Please answer by email.
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Gerry's: mapG's Freeview map terrainG's terrain plot wavesG's frequency data G's Freeview Detailed Coverage
S
StevensOnln19:27 PM
Gerry Tivers: ITV1 HD has not yet been fully regionalised on Freeview, this has been said elsewhere to be due to ITV waiting for existing contracts to expire. ITV1 HD is broadcast on the PSB3 multiplex alongside BBC1 HD, BBC2 HD, Channel 4 HD, Channel 5 HD and a few others. ITV1 SD is broadcast on the PSB2 multiples alongside Channel 4 SD, Channel 5 SD, ITV2, ITV3, ITV4, ITV Be, E4, More 4, Film 4, etc which is fully regionalised for both ITV1 and Channel 4.
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Monday, 25 November 2024
Transmitter engineering
10:48 AM
10:48 AM
Sandy Heath transmitter - Sandy Heath transmitter: Possible effect on TV reception week commencing 25/11/2024 Pixelation or flickering on some or all channels [DUK]
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Saturday, 30 November 2024
C
Christopher Peachey6:58 PM
Cambridge
C33 570mhz not registering any signal quality. Cant retune due to this. Outside aerial throughout tge house its 20 plus feet up
Cb25 0bb edge of Wicken/burwell fen(grey area on your map. Other sets seem to be receiving fine. ? Seems you may have a reduced power problem.
Wife annoyed as lost her channels.
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Christopher's: mapC's Freeview map terrainC's terrain plot wavesC's frequency data C's Freeview Detailed Coverage
C
Chris.SE8:37 PM
Christopher Peachey:
Well there's several possibilities here. We'll leave aside the possibility of a problem with the aerial installation (water in the connections/cable) at this point but might have to come back to it if there's any other issues.
Did you not see the transmitter engineering post before yours?
Next point, why do you want to retune? C33 is the correct UHF channel for Sandy Heath SDN/COM4 multiple, and you are tuned to it. Trying to retune when a signal can't be decoded (due to poor quality/interference) or No SIgnal will usually result in the correct tuning being cleared. You cannot tune to signals that aren't there or can't be decoded!
Whatever the cause, don't try retuning.
It would have been nice to know how long the problem has been present. You shouldn't have any particular problems with reception from Sandy Heath in normal circumstances and get all 6 multiplexes with 100% quality. If you don't have 100% quality on the others, please post the Signal Strength and Quality figures for each multiplex's UHF channels.
If C33 is the only channel not having 100% quality then if it's not the engineering work, interference is the most likely cause.
1) There is some "tropospheric" conditions about in your area which can cause interfering signals from distant transmitters (in the UK or Europe). Those conditions should clear later.
2) There a possibility that there could be a new/upgraded phone mast now using the 700MHz band and there's at least one mobile mast near you well within the beamwidth of your aerial's line of sight to Sandy. That could cause some interference issues. You should have received a postcard from Restore TV..
See - https://restoretv.uk/post…ure/
I'd contact Restore TV and request a Free filter. Now if you have any aerial pre-amp amp/splitter the Filter must be fitted before them. If a pre-amp is fitted to your mast, you need to advise Restore TV and they should send an engineer Free of charge to install a waterproof one on the mast.
Post back how things progress.
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C
Chris.SE8:45 PM
Christopher Peachey:
Forgot to add, do check your aerial hasn't moved at all, it should be pointing at around compass bearing 244 degrees, that's roughly WSW, and it's rods (or squashed Xs) should be horizontal.
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Monday, 2 December 2024
Transmitter engineering
5:10 AM
5:10 AM
Sandy Heath transmitter - Sandy Heath transmitter: Possible effect on TV reception week commencing 02/12/2024 Pixelation or flickering on some or all channels [DUK]
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