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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
Sunday, 27 November 2011
G
Geoff
3:38 PM
Kettering

Postcode: NN15 5YP (Northamptonshire)
Aerial: roof mounted, directed towards Sandy Heath
PVR Equipment: Humax HDR-FOXT2 HD

My HD channels are very variable in quality, some evenings they are unwatchable due to picture break-up; other times it isn't so bad (although still disruptive). Non-HD channels are ok. I've done all the usual stuff: reset box, tuned manually to Sandy Heath frequencies. Nothing seems to make any difference. Any ideas anyone?

link to this comment
Geoff's 1 post GB flag
Geoff's: mapG's Freeview map terrainG's terrain plot wavesG's frequency data G's Freeview Detailed Coverage
J
James
5:12 PM
Cambridge

When will the power for those muxes on very low power go back to normal?

link to this comment
James's 3 posts GB flag
James's: mapJ's Freeview map terrainJ's terrain plot wavesJ's frequency data J's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Monday, 28 November 2011
K
KMJ,Derby
sentiment_satisfiedGold

1:28 AM

James: The SDN mux which is currently on C31 at 20kW will change frequency to C51 (8k mode) and increase power on 9th May 2012. Additionally Mux D3+4 and Mux HD will transfer to the main antenna on 27th June 2011. Although currently at full power the antenna currently in use does restrict the coverage slightly.If you are having reception problems with the COM muxes it could be that a group "A" aerial is in use. In such cases installation of a replacement or additional aerial will be required to cover the frequencies used by the COM muxes. Also check that Sandy Heath frequencies have been tuned in as it is possible that Tacolneston signals arriving from behind the aerial could also be found when scanning for channels.

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KMJ,Derby's 1,811 posts GB flag
R
Roy Benford
1:50 PM
St. Neots

Thanks Dave. My problem was compunded by the fact that my Sky TVLink was using Ch52. So I had to change that to a free channel before doing another re-tune of FreeView.

Incidentally, this page needs updating to reflect the change of channel.

link to this comment
Roy Benford's 2 posts GB flag
Roy's: mapR's Freeview map terrainR's terrain plot wavesR's frequency data R's Freeview Detailed Coverage
A
ALAN PEACHEY
sentiment_satisfiedBronze

3:16 PM

Just had a email from the dear old BBC. First they said there was no way I could get a signal from Crystel Palace from my postcode (CB10). Also they they said that 2 neighbouring tranmitters never share the same frequencies, so therefore, why do they both share Ch31? The BBC dont half talk a load bollocks sometimes dont they?

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ALAN PEACHEY's 34 posts GB flag
Tuesday, 29 November 2011
C
Chris Johnson
12:44 AM

I have to agree with Michael Smith. I'm in Wisbech and for a brief time about three retunes back I was able to receive all the digital channels from Sandy Heath. Now I get zero signal strength from MUXC(52) and ARQB(48). Do the advertisers who pay for these channels know about the many people who cannot receive them. This whole switchover procedure has been a complete shambles and seems aimed at driving people away from terrestrial TV and towards Sky.

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Chris Johnson's 1 post GB flag
Wednesday, 30 November 2011
C
Christina McCaffrey
4:13 PM
Bedford

Aerial in loft.
interfernce after retuning on BBC1 and BBC2 on the last two days. ITV and Channel 4 are fine.
Any suggestions please?

link to this comment
Christina McCaffrey's 1 post GB flag
Christina's: mapC's Freeview map terrainC's terrain plot wavesC's frequency data C's Freeview Detailed Coverage
M
Mark Fletcher
sentiment_satisfiedGold

5:45 PM
Halifax

Christina McCaffrey,Bedford.Hard to say without a full postcode.Single frequency interference could be the issue here.The BBCA mux on Sandy Heath is on frequency 27,is your loft aerial polarised horizontally in which case it will be receiving transmissions as such from the main Sandy Heath transmitter.If it's polarised vertically then your transmissions will come from a local relay as such.

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Mark Fletcher's 673 posts GB flag
Mark's: mapM's Freeview map terrainM's terrain plot wavesM's frequency data M's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Thursday, 1 December 2011
M
Mitesh Shah
1:33 PM

At the start of switch over I was getting 141 DTV, 55 Radio, and 6 TV channels, after doing the last reset I only get 52 DTV, 20 Radio and 5 TV channels, WHY?

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Mitesh Shah's 1 post GB flag
Tuesday, 13 December 2011
B
brian
7:15 PM
March

It appears that the Tx'er info above is out of date ie: Sandy Heath Mux C is now channel 52 (frequency ? )
Brian

link to this comment
brian's 17 posts GB flag
brian's: mapB's Freeview map terrainB's terrain plot wavesB's frequency data B's Freeview Detailed Coverage
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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.

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