Full Freeview on the Sandy Heath (Central Bedfordshire, England) transmitter
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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 25/11/2024 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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Wednesday, 20 April 2011
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Mike Dimmick12:51 PM
JohnB: The transmitter being closer or further away often has little to do with it, because the transmitters have different power levels. Once switchover completes you have three options: Belmont, which transmits Yorkshire/Lincolnshire regional programmes, Waltham, which broadcasts East Midlands, and Sandy Heath which broadcasts East programmes. Of those, Sandy Heath is the most powerful for ArqB, then Belmont, then Waltham.
The Sky Sports channels should still appear in a Freeview box's programme guide, at channels 41 and 42, even though they're scrambled. It's possible that your box has tuned in a weak version of Mux D from another transmitter, because that multiplex is on a higher frequency than Sandy Heath at the other nearby transmitters. Try deleting all the channels carried by ArqB and then manually tuning C67.
Once you've got Sky Sports 1 and 2 in the EPG, check the reception of other channels on ArqB, such as ITV4, Film4 and Yesterday, to see if Sky Sports will be reliable.
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peteroz3:54 PM
Regarding BBC HD I am grateful to chris for raising the issue of the signal continually switching from 1080i to 1080p. This only seems to happen on Preview and I thought it must be a problem with my Sony Bravia. Is this a transmission problem?
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peteroz: No, it is not a transmission problem, it is a receiver problem. Please contact Sony for an firmware upgrade.
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Martin7:47 PM
Bedford
I moved during the digital switchover from 9.5 miles from Sandy Heath to 9.9 miles as the crow flies.
I now find that I've gained a much better quality BBC4 but lost Film4 and a number of other channels altogether.
I see from your excellent site that some channels have 'excellent' power and some are 'very low'. Any ideas when the 'very low' ones will strengthen?
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Martin's: mapM's Freeview map terrainM's terrain plot wavesM's frequency data M's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Martin: As above, "The commercial multiplexes at Sandy Heath will remain on their pre-switchover channels and powers for a period after digital switchover. SDN will then temporarily move to channel 31 (at 20kW ERP) on 31 Aug 2011, before adopting its final allocation of channel 51 on 18th April 2012. Arqiva A will adopt its final allocation of channel 52 on 23 Nov 2011. Arqiva B will temporarily move to channel 67 (at 20kW ERP) at switchover and then it will adopt its final allocation of channel 48 on 14 Sept 2011."
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Steve, Peterborough10:30 PM
Peterborough
I'm now picking up everything except ArqB. I understand it's on ch67, and needs a wide band aeriel. My aeriel is in the loft, how can I tell if it's a wideband?
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Steve,'s: mapS's Freeview map terrainS's terrain plot wavesS's frequency data S's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Thursday, 21 April 2011
Steve, Peterborough: See Freeview reception - all about aerials | ukfree.tv - independent free digital TV advice . Your should really relocate your aerial to the roof.
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Colin10:36 AM
Milton Keynes
I have noted that the power on CH67 seems to have crept up a bit in the last few days. I can now receive ARQ B MUX albeit a bit patchy at times. I would suggest that those who failed to get the MUX on 13th try another retune. You never know, it worked for me.
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Colin's: mapC's Freeview map terrainC's terrain plot wavesC's frequency data C's Freeview Detailed Coverage
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chris1:29 PM
Briantist Re 1080i/1080p switch.
If you go to the BBC R & D blog it appears there is no firmware update for this from Sony yet. Toshiba & Samsung sets also are affected in different ways.
I expect it will be a drawn out discussion as to wether or not the set manufacturers are implimenting the freeview spec.
Chris
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Nathan6:26 PM
Cambridge
I'm in Cambridge, and I've lost all but one set of channels since Madingley switched off.
I can only get Mux C (Pick, Dave, Sky news, etc). The reception on these channels is fine, no problems seen so far. I haven't moved the antenna, but the reception I am getting is fine, and there's only 12 degrees difference.
I've got an old telly, a Sony KV28DX20U, with a built in digital tuner.
I've noticed that mux C is the only one using 16QAM-2k. Is this just that my TV is too old?
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Nathan's: mapN's Freeview map terrainN's terrain plot wavesN's frequency data N's Freeview Detailed Coverage
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