menuMENU    UK Free TV logo Freeview

 

 

Click to see updates

Full Freeview on the Sandy Heath (Central Bedfordshire, England) transmitter

first published this on - UK Free TV
sa_streetviewGoogle Streetviewsa_gmapsGoogle mapsa_bingBing mapsa_gearthGoogle Earthsa_gps52.130,-0.242 or 52°7'47"N 0°14'33"Wsa_postcodeSG19 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 15/04/2024 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 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.

MuxH/VFrequencyHeightModeWatts
PSB1
BBCA
 H max
C27 (522.0MHz)291mDTG-180,000W
Channel icons
1 BBC One (SD) Cambridge, 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
C24 (498.0MHz)291mDTG-180,000W
Channel icons
3 ITV 1 (SD) (Anglia (West 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 (Anglia east),

PSB3
BBCB
 H max
C21+ (474.2MHz)291mDTG-180,000W
Channel icons
46 5SELECT, 101 BBC One HD Cambridge, 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 -0.2dB
C33 (570.0MHz)291mDTG-8170,000W
Channel icons
20 Drama, 21 5USA, 29 ITV2 +1, 32 5STAR, 33 5Action, 38 Channel 5 +1, 41 Legend, 42 GREAT! action, 57 Dave ja vu, 58 ITVBe +1, 59 ITV3 +1, 64 Blaze, 67 TRUE CRIME, 68 TRUE CRIME XTRA, 78 TCC, 81 Blaze +1, 83 Together TV, 89 ITV4 +1, 91 WildEarth, 209 Ketchup TV, 210 Ketchup Too, 211 YAAAS!, 267 Al Jazeera English, plus 30 others

COM5
ArqA
 H -0.2dB
C36 (594.0MHz)289mDTG-8170,000W
Channel icons
11 Sky Mix, 17 Really, 19 Dave, 31 E4 Extra, 36 Sky Arts, 40 Quest Red, 43 Food Network, 47 Film4 +1, 48 Challenge, 49 4seven, 60 Drama +1, 65 That's TV 2, 70 Quest +1, 74 Yesterday +1, 75 That's 90s, 233 Sky News, plus 11 others

COM6
ArqB
 H -0.2dB
C48 (690.0MHz)289mDTG-8170,000W
Channel icons
12 Quest, 25 W, 27 Yesterday, 34 GREAT! movies, 39 DMAX, 44 HGTV, 52 GREAT! romance, 56 That's TV (UK), 61 GREAT! movies extra, 63 GREAT! romance mix, 71 That’s 60s, 73 HobbyMaker, 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)

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

regional news image
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
regional news image
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?

1965-80s1984-971997-981998-20112011-1312 Feb 2020
VHFA K TK TK TW TW T
C6ITVwaves
C21C4wavesC4wavesC4waves+BBCBBBCB
C24ITVwavesITVwavesITVwavesD3+4D3+4
C27BBC2wavesBBC2wavesBBC2wavesBBCABBCA
C31BBC1wavesBBC1wavesBBC1waves
C32com7
C33SDN
C34com8
C35_local
C36ArqA
C39C5wavesC5waves
C43_local
C48ArqBArqB
C51tv_offSDN
C52tv_offArqA
C55tv_offcom7tv_off
C56tv_offCOM8tv_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

Oct 1959-Feb 2004Anglia Television
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.

Comments
Monday, 3 January 2011
M
mawihtec
1:18 PM
Stansted

@ Wayne :- i know that our tv's (with inbuilt freeview) and our freeview boxes all show signal strength when doing a scan so i can keep an eye on signal strength when i periodically check for extra channels/rescan

link to this comment
mawihtec's 8 posts GB flag
mawihtec's: mapM's Freeview map terrainM's terrain plot wavesM's frequency data M's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Wednesday, 5 January 2011
B
Breaking Up Kettering!
8:05 PM

Does anyone know when we are going to get a freeview service that works? We had a great service at the start of Christmas period, now rubbish.
Can anyone tell us where to go to complain about the rubbish service we get!?

link to this comment
Breaking Up Kettering!'s 5 posts GB flag
F
Frank
8:34 PM

I'm in Bishop's Stortford CM23

They're coming t install a Freeview ariel as the Sandy heath is going digital at End of March, however the freeview coveage checker says I'll get no channels whatsoever once the switchover is done - is this true and what's the best option?

link to this comment
Frank's 1 post GB flag
K
KMJ,Derby
sentiment_satisfiedGold

9:26 PM

Frank: I don't think reception will deteriorate on all transmitters to the extent that you have no channels.I tried a couple of postcodes and Crystal Palace, Sandy Heath and Sudbury all offer full Freeview to various parts of the locality. Basically if you enjoy good analogue reception now you should receive the PSB muxes without problems. The COM muxes could in some areas be affected by signals from other transmitters on the same frequency, however you should be able to receive a useable signal from one of the alternative sites if this became a problem.

link to this comment
KMJ,Derby's 1,811 posts GB flag
Friday, 7 January 2011
S
SteveM
11:41 AM
Northampton

I live in Northampton I believe I am receiving free-view from Sandy Heath, my aerial is certainly pointing in that direction. I appear to get good reception from 3 rooms, bar my bedroom, whereas the "Waltham" dtv has th problem of picture breaking up. This set has always been a problem, is it possible its just a poor TV set? Can you advise what channel/mux I should be receiving for ITV broadcasts as this appears to be the worst out the lot. Sky3 is spot on. Many thanks

link to this comment
SteveM's 3 posts GB flag
SteveM's: mapS's Freeview map terrainS's terrain plot wavesS's frequency data S's Freeview Detailed Coverage
K
KMJ,Derby
sentiment_satisfiedGold

1:42 PM

SteveM: It is quite possible that the tuner in the tv which does not receive Mux2 correctly is not as sensitive as your other receivers. Sometimes expensive PVRs and IDTVs do not work as well as a cheap Freeview box from ASDA. Your tv should be tuned to C45- for Mux2 from Sandy Heath. Remember that after switchover in a few weeks time MuxD3+4 will be 9 times stronger than current Mux2, so should no longer give trouble.

link to this comment
KMJ,Derby's 1,811 posts GB flag
S
SteveM
2:04 PM
Northampton

Many thanks KMJ, much appreciated.
I think I have also answered my own question. I have tried the same aerial socket (non isolated screened) with a cheap 5mtr coax lead to my pc in another room with a usb/dtv dongle - perfect, not a bit of trouble, as with my other tvs/receivers. I think the small Waltham dtv I have, is just poor quality. I had also changed the coax fly lead with no improvement. It will be interesting to see if there is any improvement after the switchover.
Once again, many thanks

link to this comment
SteveM's 3 posts GB flag
SteveM's: mapS's Freeview map terrainS's terrain plot wavesS's frequency data S's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Saturday, 8 January 2011
Transmitter engineering
sentiment_very_satisfiedOwner

9:29 AM

SANDY HEATH transmitter - Analogue BBC ONE Weak Signal from 08:22 today [BBC]

link to this comment
Transmitter engineering's 150,431 posts xx flag
Transmitter engineering
sentiment_very_satisfiedOwner

9:29 AM

SANDY HEATH transmitter - Analogue BBC ONE Weak Signal from 08:22 today [BBC]

link to this comment
Transmitter engineering's 150,431 posts xx flag
Transmitter engineering
sentiment_very_satisfiedOwner

12:30 PM

SANDY HEATH transmitter - Analogue BBC ONE Weak Signal from 08:22 today to 09:12 today [BBC]

link to this comment
Transmitter engineering's 150,431 posts xx flag
Select more comments

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.

UK Free TV is here to help people. If you are rude or disrespectful all of your posts will be deleted and you will be banned.








Privacy policy: UK Free Privacy policy.