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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 04/11/2024 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), 71 That’s 60s,

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 U&Drama, 21 5USA, 29 ITV2 +1, 32 5STAR, 33 5Action, 38 Channel 5 +1, 41 Legend, 42 GREAT! action, 57 U&Dave ja vu, 58 ITV3 +1, 59 ITV4 +1, 64 Blaze, 67 TRUE CRIME, 68 TRUE CRIME XTRA, 81 Blaze +1, 83 Together TV, 91 WildEarth, 93 ITVBe +1, 209 Ketchup TV, 210 Ketchup Too, 211 YAAAS!, 251 Al Jazeera English, 255 FRANCE 24 (in English), 265 Rok Sky +1, plus 29 others

COM5
ArqA
 H -0.2dB
C36 (594.0MHz)289mDTG-8170,000W
Channel icons
11 Sky Mix, 17 Really, 19 U&Dave, 31 E4 Extra, 36 Sky Arts, 40 Quest Red, 43 Food Network, 47 Film4 +1, 48 Challenge, 49 4seven, 60 U&Drama +1, 65 That's TV 2, 70 Quest +1, 74 &UYesterday +1, 76 That's TV 2 MCR, 233 Sky News, plus 13 others

COM6
ArqB
 H -0.2dB
C48 (690.0MHz)289mDTG-8170,000W
Channel icons
12 Quest, 25 U&W, 27 U&Yesterday, 34 GREAT! movies, 39 DMAX, 44 HGTV, 52 GREAT! christmas, 56 That's TV (UK), 63 GREAT! romance mix, 73 HobbyMaker, 75 That's 90s, 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
Tuesday, 10 January 2012
B
Bob
sentiment_satisfiedBronze

9:09 PM

Hi KMJ - so C48 & C52 are now on 170KW, I guess the official details must be out of date, as they are still listed as 20KW.
Bob

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Bob's 30 posts GB flag
Monday, 16 January 2012
A
A. Rees
7:56 AM

Since yesterday I am unable to receive Sky Nrew on channel 82 from the Sandy Heath transmitter. I have done several retune scans aHave never had a problem before.nd it seems to miss out channel 82 altogether.

link to this comment
A. Rees's 1 post GB flag
Tuesday, 17 January 2012
Thursday, 19 January 2012
T
Tim McEwan
11:37 AM
Milton Keynes

I have been helping my ex with her Freeview setup, but am baffled by the distinct lack of HD programmes. Every channel except C21 booms in with excellent quality from Sandy Heath. Why no C21?? New, external, wide-band antenna @ MK10 9NE

link to this comment
Tim McEwan's 3 posts GB flag
Tim's: mapT's Freeview map terrainT's terrain plot wavesT's frequency data T's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Dave Lindsay
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

12:26 PM

Tim McEwan: Some possibilities:

1. There is another device that is putting out an analogue signal on C21.

2. The TV is "HD Ready" which means that it can show HD pictures, but does not have the means to receive them off air.

What is the make and model of the TV?

link to this comment
Dave Lindsay's 5,724 posts GB flag
T
Tim McEwan
1:54 PM

Technika 42-8533D 42 inch Widescreen Full HD 1080p 3D LCD TV with Freeview & 8 x 3D Glasses is the model.

Im not aware of any analogue signal - at least the TV doesn't discover it in analogue mode....

link to this comment
Tim McEwan's 3 posts GB flag
M
Mike Dimmick
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

4:54 PM

Tim McEwan: I'm afraid I can't find a detailed spec or manual for that TV online.

For Freeview HD, the TV has to support the newer DVB-T2 standard and the BBC's method of encoding the programme guide (this is a very rudimentary copy-protection measure). Equipment that supports both should have a Freeview HD logo on the packaging somewhere. You could check to see whether the manual mentions DVB-T2. If it only mentions DVB-T, I'm afraid you'll need an additional Freeview HD box.

If the TV definitely supports Freeview HD, not just 'HD Ready', the most likely answer is Short Reflector Syndrome: http://www.wrightsaerials….pdf .

Wideband aerials aren't very good at the lowest frequencies, but you don't have much choice with Sandy Heath as the commercial multiplexes are in the middle of the frequency range, and a Group A aerial won't receive them. The cut-off is very sharp for frequencies above the range that the aerial is designed to handle.

If you can get into a manual tuning screen for the TV, it may be possible to show the signal strength for C21 and compare it to the strength for C24 and C27. If they're similar, it's the TV, not the aerial.

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Mike Dimmick's 2,486 posts GB flag
A
Adam B
sentiment_satisfiedBronze

5:39 PM

Tim McEwan:

I'm afraid the TV does not have an HD tuner built in. If you go to the Tesco website to see this model, go down to the description info, and click on the tap marked features, and you will se that for Freeview HD it says NO.

Technika 42-8533D 42 inch Widescreen Full HD 1080p 3D LCD TV with Freeview & 8 x 3D Glasses - Tesco.Direct

Sorry to be the bearer of bad tidings,
Adam.

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Adam B's 91 posts GB flag
Friday, 20 January 2012
T
Tim McEwan
9:11 AM

Thanks everyone - not the bargain she thought it was then!!
Freesat HD box on the horizon methinks......

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Tim McEwan's 3 posts GB flag
M
Mike
1:27 PM
Biggleswade

I have an M&S digital TV (yes I know I should stick to their food only), which used to have occasioanal lip-sync problems. Since Sandy Heath went fully digital this had got really bad with all channels (not just Freeview) experincing this. Put this down to a loft aerial but now have an outside one and still a problem, we are 4 miles from transmitter. Called M&S and they wont do anything as Sandy heath has a low signal apparently, however this is on Freeveiw channels only. They said this TV has small less sensitive tuner, are they telling porkies?

link to this comment
Mike's 6 posts GB flag
Mike's: mapM's Freeview map terrainM's terrain plot wavesM's frequency data M's Freeview Detailed Coverage
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