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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 25/03/2024 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
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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
Saturday, 4 June 2011
J
John
10:06 PM
Peterborough

I live in the PE8 5QU area which is Luddington in the Brook. Since the change over to complete digital we have suffered from more "NO SIGNAL" episodes than we had on analogue with some digital channels. We are at a loss as to why this is happening becuase we were told the signal strength would be about ten times stronger. Could you please advise us on how to alleviate this upsetting problem in 2011. My name is John Arman, I am 70 years young but am up to sped with a lot of modern technology. We have had our aeirial and leads checked before the change over. Tonight 4 June we have missed the final of BGT not only that but but we are findig out that we are losing important sections of some programs.
Kind regards John Arman

link to this comment
John's 1 post GB flag
John's: mapJ's Freeview map terrainJ's terrain plot wavesJ's frequency data J's Freeview Detailed Coverage
S
Steve
sentiment_satisfiedGold

11:40 PM

John - what you had on analogue is gone so the better comparison is then and now digital.

See the page for Sandy Heath - bit east of south, where your ae should point.

Freeview on Sandy Heath TV transmitter | ukfree.tv - independent free digital TV advice

NOTE: 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. NOTE: D3&4 and HD use transitional S1 antenna until 27 June 2012.

(PE85QU)

link to this comment
Steve's 1,173 posts GB flag
Monday, 6 June 2011
R
Rob
11:09 AM
Cambridge

I got an "Ex-Pro Digital Freeview Receiver" from amazon to plug directly into the scart of the kitchen telly.

I put a pound shop set-top antenna on the end of the satellite cable in the loft as a throwaway test but amazingly got 60+ channels clearly for a few weeks (including local BBC1 etc). But a couple of weekends ago "lost" all except MUX A and C, i.e. got "No Signal".

I have been through factory reset countless times & eliminated possbility of interference.

I subsequently got a commtel 32 element wideband aerial (£12 homebase) and same results (tried various places in the loft and around the house).

I looked into what I should expect. Sandy Heath is 10 miles away with near enough line of sight. I am at CB23 3LQ.

Using manual scanning of PSB1 and PSB2 I see 80-90% signal strength but 0% quality.
The weaker MUX A & C have 60% strength and 60-70% quality so I can view them fine.

If I swing around and point north to Waltham (almost 50 miles) I can get MUX 1 and A fairly easily but obviously wrong regional channels.

I'm about to give up! Is this maybe a case of "too strong" a signal requiring an attenuator? I may pop to maplin later today...


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Rob's 5 posts FI flag
Rob's: mapR's Freeview map terrainR's terrain plot wavesR's frequency data R's Freeview Detailed Coverage
J
Jason
3:39 PM

Hi, why is digital switchover such a long and drawn out process with some MUX's still at much reduced power levels? It's so frustrating! I have the stronger PSB1, 2 and 3 with no problems at all while the weaker MUX's remain unrelaiable. Originally I thought all the MUX's were goint to have a power increase last April but no - more waiting and more money to be spent in the knowledge that at some point the remaining MUX's will have power increased meaning that my current wideband aerial would be perfectly adequate. Just a bit fed up with the amount of time it's taking! I'm in North Stevenage by the way.

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Jason's 1 post GB flag
Briantist
sentiment_very_satisfiedOwner

5:18 PM

Jason: The frequencies used for the commercial multiplexes cannot be taken to full power until the same frequencies are cleared in neighbouring regions.

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Briantist's 38,915 posts GB flag
Briantist
sentiment_very_satisfiedOwner

5:22 PM

Rob: You need to use a ROOFTOP aerial for reliable Freeview reception, you will get all six multiplexes from Sandy Heath with 100% reliability.

link to this comment
Briantist's 38,915 posts GB flag
S
Steve
sentiment_satisfiedGold

6:56 PM

Rob - do the neighbours have similar troubles?

Have you checked your box against the list that don't do the latest signalling mode?

Brian will know if SH changed recently?

link to this comment
Steve's 1,173 posts GB flag
S
Steve R
7:16 PM
Northampton

I suppoese this has cropped up before, but why am I getting ITV Meridian instead of Anglia off of Sandy Heath? Mind you it's a small price to pay for the massively improved signal since switchover :)

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Steve R's 11 posts GB flag
Steve's: mapS's Freeview map terrainS's terrain plot wavesS's frequency data S's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Briantist
sentiment_very_satisfiedOwner

7:43 PM

Steve R: Do you mean on ITV1+1?

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Briantist's 38,915 posts GB flag
S
Steve R
9:16 PM
Northampton

Yes it is ITV1+1. I didn't realise there was a difference, surely that's the point?

link to this comment
Steve R's 11 posts GB flag
Steve's: mapS's Freeview map terrainS's terrain plot wavesS's frequency data S's Freeview Detailed Coverage
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