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.
This transmitter has no current reported problems
The BBC and Digital UK report there are no faults or engineering work on the Sandy Heath (Central Bedfordshire, England) transmitter._______
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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Monday, 26 December 2011
K
KMJ,Derby12:27 AM
Charles Stuart: Both C52 and C48 are 8k mode and are transmitted at 170kW. That just leaves MuxA/SDN on C31 still using 2k mode at 20kW.
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Thursday, 29 December 2011
M
malcolm1:34 PM
I have a problem with a matsui box ref DTR3 we were given and on first time of tuning and all fine on a hitachi flat screen, and now box wont even power up,someone told me that some transmitters will knock out older freeview boxes, is that correct??
many thanks
malcolm
we are on sandy heath
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malcolm: Some boxes are not designed to receive the latest (post-switchover) digital signals. Those signals do not stop the boxes from switching on; they just won't pick up any channels.
Google Matsui DTR3 and you will see postings on the same problem you have; the thing won't power up.
It seems to be a regular fault with this model's power supply and people report that it can be fixed with replacement of a couple of components. If you know someone who is a dab hand with a soldering iron, it could perhaps be repaired.
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Sunday, 1 January 2012
J
JOHN MOTTRAM7:11 PM
Rushden
I Wonder if you can help, I bought a Digital Television for my auntie last Oct from Comet,
22in Samsung, She as had a problem with it since, its just 2 channels BBC1 & 2, If she presses number 1 on the remote twice she looses
the channel same goes for BBC2, THE PICTURE GOES TO BLACK & WHITE & FUZZY, I've Re-tune the TV and when its finished it tells me there is 2 Analogue channels, I think she is receiving from Sandy Heath, If all Transmitters are all digital then why is my auntie's tv still as 2 analogue channels.
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JOHN's: mapJ's Freeview map terrainJ's terrain plot wavesJ's frequency data J's Freeview Detailed Coverage
JOHN MOTTRAM: If your auntie is receiving from Sandy Heath, then there is no analogue to tune in and, as such, the analogue part of the TV is redundant.
The likely answer is that the TV is picking up an analogue signal from another transmitter that has yet to switchover to digital only. This would also explain the poor picture on those analogue channels.
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Tuesday, 3 January 2012
P
Paul12:17 PM
Is the power level on the Mux that provides channels 10& 38 going to be increased or is it at it's final level as I cannot get a decent signal strength any more. This is sine the last changes at the end of November.
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Paul: It is on low power until 27th June when it will be increased to its final power level which is the same as that of the commercial multiplexes now.
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Thursday, 5 January 2012
S
Shane Brown11:18 AM
Bishop's Stortford
Hello
We had a new digital aerial fitted to our roof in October. Along with most of the houses in the area this is pointed to Crystal Palace although your map suggests Sandy Heath is more appropriate.
We were receiving all the Freeview HD channels fine up till the middle of December - the HD signal quality was between 5 and 7 while the SD channels were 10.
From mid December the HD channel quality has dropped significantly. The signal is sometimes lost completely or very low with a high error rate (which is giving us pixellated pictures).
The same engineer came back out. He advised that the aerial was fine as was the signal strength. He suggested the problems may be due to increased interference from Sandy Heath (for the HD channels). When quizzed why it should be happening now he suggested it may be due to the leaves falling off the trees!?
We have not made any changes to the equipment.
The engineer suggested a stronger amplifier which was supposed to "hold" the picture better. However this is giving no improvement and now the signal is mostly rubbish.
All the other SD channels are fine so the only problem is with HD.
The engineers suggested that this may be a continuing problem up till the London switch-over in April.
My questions are as follows:
- is the explanation regarding the drop off is HD signal quality reasonable?
- is there anything that can be done to alleviate it (for example should I consider pointing the aerial to Sandy Heath)
Any assistance you can provide would be most gratefully received.
Regards
Shane
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Shane's: mapS's Freeview map terrainS's terrain plot wavesS's frequency data S's Freeview Detailed Coverage
P
Paul12:16 PM
Hi Dave
Many thanks for this....looks like we will have to put up with it for a while yet before we get back to the quality of the past.
Cheers
Paul
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Friday, 6 January 2012
Shane Brown: I think that the best thing is to bear with it for three months more. Not ideal I know.
The thing with the digital HD signal from Crystal Palace is that it is lower power than the other (standard definition) digital channels. The reason for this is because of lack of spare frequencies. Sandy Heath uses the same frequency for one of its multiplexes and this is currently on low power until Crystal Palace switches.
Crystal Palace was one of four transmitters in the country chosen to carry HD before their switchover. So you're lucky to get any HD before switchover at all.
The only thing you could try at no cost is to manually tune to Ch21 which is Sandy Heath's HD multiplex. If it works, it's a bodge because the aerial is pointing in the wrong direction, but it might produce a more stable result. You might need to delete the four HD channels in the 50s (how exactly you do it will depend on the design of your receiver).
As for what it could be, it could be 101 things. Trees can affect TV reception and therefore reception can change as they move or when the leaves grow or fall off. Maybe the tree was acting as a screen to block the signal from Sandy Heath; who knows! At the end of the day it has happened.
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