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 04/11/2024 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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Tuesday, 30 August 2011
J
Jason9:26 AM
Stevenage
Hi Mike, thanks for your reply.
I'm certain that I selected the Sandy Heath transmitter, but you can check if you like, postcode is SG1 5JP.
I've a feeling that I'm in the unfortunate position of being on the outskirts of both Sandy Heath and Crystal Palace?
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Jason's: mapJ's Freeview map terrainJ's terrain plot wavesJ's frequency data J's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Jason: In the situation you are in, you should probably go straight for Freesat HD, as you are never predicted to have "excellent" Freeview reception, just "variable" on everything on the commercial multiplexes.
Before Crystal Palace switches over, Sandy will provide the three PSB multiplexes, but at the point of the London switchover, Sandy will no longer provide you the PSB multiplexes and you will have to switch to Crystal Palace.
So I would save your money and get Freesat HD - see Compare Freeview Light and Freesat TV | ukfree.tv - independent free digital TV advice .
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Wednesday, 31 August 2011
Doug B
8:50 AM
Harlow
8:50 AM
Harlow
I have retuned my TV this morning and Mux A, ITV 3 Etc. appears to be missing. Are there any known problems with this. All were ok yesterday.
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Doug's: mapD's Freeview map terrainD's terrain plot wavesD's frequency data D's Freeview Detailed Coverage
M
MickO9:09 AM
Milton Keynes
ITV3 OK from Sandy.
Might be a good idea to include expected number of channels to be found after tuning, somewhere on the Tx/Mux/CH information pages?
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MickO's: mapM's Freeview map terrainM's terrain plot wavesM's frequency data M's Freeview Detailed Coverage
J
Jason5:05 PM
Thanks for your reply Briantist.
So Freeview, for me, doesn't deliver what it should. I had perfectly good analogue reception before the switchover.
If variable reception equates to minor things like occasional blips or lost frames/pixelisation then I can probably live with that, but if it means some channels/mux's lost completely for a time, as I get now on the weaker mux's due to weather effects, then as you say, freesat will be the only way.
If I remember correctly, not all of the freeview channels are available on freesat?
To be honest after the latest fiasco with Formula1 and Sky I might end up back with them anyway, not that I really want to be giving them money again!
Thanks
Jason.
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M
Mike Dimmick5:19 PM
Jason: See Compare Freeview and Freesat TV | ukfree.tv - independent free digital TV advice
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Thursday, 1 September 2011
M
Mike Williams12:10 AM
Similar problem to Doug -- lost Mux A today and retuning doesn't find it. TV and PVR both report zero signal on C31 (as per Mike D's post). Mux A was previously okay.
CB7 area.
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J
jb387:56 AM
Doug B: Just purely for information purposes, reception of MuxA/SDN (Ch31) is indicated on the trade predictor as being poor at the location given, with this state continuing right through until April 2012 when it then picks up until sometime after June, as then its forecast as dropping back off into the variable category as far ahead as 2013.
Predictors (even trade ones) cannot ever be 100% accurate as they cannot fully cater for local conditions, but Mux A certainly doesn't look promising as its only this Mux on its own that stands out as being unreliable.
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Doug B
8:07 AM
Harlow
8:07 AM
Harlow
Thanks Mike & JB38. Tried another retune this morning,but to no avail, have borrowed a meter & no signal from C31. I know I live in a fringe area CM18 but had an adequate signal off MuxA/SDN until 31 Aug 2011. Looks like I may have to do without the delights of MuxA for the forseeable future
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Doug's: mapD's Freeview map terrainD's terrain plot wavesD's frequency data D's Freeview Detailed Coverage
MickO: If there was any consitancy in the way that Freeview boxes report the number of channels, that might be helpful, but some report just TV, some TV+radio, some TV+radio+text, and some have HD and other's don't, some count the encrypted channels (ESPN, Sky Sports 1, Sky Sports 2, G.O.L.D) even if they can't show them, and so forth. So you would have to present so many numbers it would be confusing at best.
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