Full Freeview on the Sandy Heath (Central Bedfordshire, England) transmitter
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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 22/04/2024 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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Thursday, 3 May 2012
M
Mark Fletcher10:35 PM
Halifax
Correction to my above post.My location is Halifax not St Neots.Apologises for my error of location.
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Mark's: mapM's Freeview map terrainM's terrain plot wavesM's frequency data M's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Friday, 4 May 2012
P
paul10:17 AM
St. Neots
pe19 1jp st.neots is my correct postcode
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paul's: mapP's Freeview map terrainP's terrain plot wavesP's frequency data P's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Saturday, 5 May 2012
J
John Slater6:34 PM
Rushden
Hi
We're in the Anglia region and have been generally ok on Freeview since switchover. However, in recent week(s) BBC1, BBC2 & other stations are unwatchable due to break-up (poor signal quality). We're having to watch East Midlands local news instead of 'Look East'. I note that there's a re-tune due on 9 May (Is this the 5th or 6th? Why?). Will this cure the problem?
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John's: mapJ's Freeview map terrainJ's terrain plot wavesJ's frequency data J's Freeview Detailed Coverage
John Slater: If you're picking up BBC Midlands Today instead of BBC Look East, then you're not tuned to Sandy Heath (for BBC One and probably other BBC standard definition channels). If your aerial is directed to Sandy Heath, then receiving a signal from elsewhere may be likely to result in poor reception.
The Digital UK Tradeview predictor suggests that the most likely candidate at your location is Waltham. Most receivers give the UHF channel number (equivalent to frequency) that it is tuned to for any particular programme channel and this is usually on the signal strength screen.
Go to BBC One and bring up the signal strength screen. My guess is that it will say C61, which is BBC standard definition services from Waltham. This is BBC One East Midlands region.
To fix the problem, here's the science bit. The programme channels are broadcast in six groups; five for the standard definition services and one for the HD ones.
See here under the heading "After switchover configuration" for the groups (known as multiplexes or "muxes"):
Freeview multiplexes | ukfree.tv - independent free digital TV advice
BBC B carries all four HD services and is therefore only applicable for HD receivers.
If your receiver has manual tuning, then do the following. If not, then the workaround may be more tricky and I can suggest something to try if this is the case.
The end objective is to be tuned to all five (or six) Sandy Heath muxes with none from Waltham (which I've included in brackets):
BBC One = C27 (Waltham 61)
ITV1 = C24 (Waltham 54)
BBC One HD = C21 (Waltham 58)
ITV3 = C31* (Waltham 29)
Pick TV = C52 (Waltham 56)
Yesterday = C48 (Waltham 57)
* SDN (ITV3 etc) will move to C51 on 9th May. Its transmission power will also go up to its full final level. This is the retune event you have been told about and it therefore only affects services on SDN.
In the list above, I've referred to the first service within each group. Focus your attention on getting these right and the others within each group should be right.
During the automatic tuning scan, it is possible to prevent the receiver from finding certain channels by having the aerial lead unplugged when it is scanning them. Some receivers give UHF channel numbers as they scan and some give percentage. The scan runs from C21 to C69, so if it's percentage only, then you can convert.
It is easier said that done to unplug the aerial at a particular channel due to the speed that the scan runs. However, if you aim to unplug too soon, if you are missing the wanted channels you can add them manually.
All but one of Waltham's muxes are at the top end. You need to avoid picking up 29.
If, for example, you run the tuning with the aerial plugged in and then unplug at 8%, you should get ITV1 on C24. Then use the manual tuning function to add the others.
Or, depending on the design of the receiver, you may be able to run the tuning scan through with the aerial unplugged to clear the channel memory. Having done this, use the manual tuning function to add all five (or six) muxes.
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Tuesday, 8 May 2012
B
Brian11:11 AM
March
What time on the 9th May will SDN (Mux A) change over from ch 31 to ch51? I also note from the map above that "works" at Sandy Heath will interrupt reception on that day, is this one and the same thing?
| link to this comment |
Brian's: mapB's Freeview map terrainB's terrain plot wavesB's frequency data B's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Brian: According to the Digital UK Industry Update, it will be completed by 6am:
http://www.digitaluk.co.u….pdf
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SANDY HEATH transmitter - dy Heath Transmitter works 9 May 2012: Engineering transmitter work will take place between 00:01hrs and 06:00hrs. TV services that will be disrupted: Analogue services - n/a Digital services - PSB1, PSB2, PSB3, COM4, COM5 and COM6 will be subject to periods of shutdown. [DUK] Over the next week Sandy Heath main transmitter: TV (digital) Liable to interruption, Radio (analogue) working normally, Radio (digital) working normally. [DUK]
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SANDY HEATH transmitter - dy Heath Transmitter works 9 May 2012: Engineering transmitter work will take place between 00:01hrs and 06:00hrs. TV services that will be disrupted: Analogue services - n/a Digital services - PSB1, PSB2, PSB3, COM4, COM5 and COM6 will be subject to periods of shutdown. [DUK] Over the next week Sandy Heath main transmitter: TV (digital) Liable to interruption, Radio (analogue) working normally, Radio (digital) working normally. [DUK]
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Wednesday, 9 May 2012
C
Christine Frost9:08 PM
Towcester
activated retune today 9 MY 2012 - NO LUCK ON ANY OF OUR TELEVISIONS. Cannot receive any programmes whatsoever. Never eperienced ths before. Please help
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Christine's: mapC's Freeview map terrainC's terrain plot wavesC's frequency data C's Freeview Detailed Coverage
D
David9:25 PM
Harpenden
I am in Harpenden. Following the move of SDN to channel 51 (Sandy) at 6am on 9 May, I did a full retune at 19.30, expecting to get good reception on all channels.
All channels on other muxes are fine, but still not getting a decent signal on any SDN channels - signal strength bar is quite high, but quality bar is low. Is this likely to be due to the ongoing engineering works, or is this as good as it will get? Any thoughts?
| link to this comment |
David's: mapD's Freeview map terrainD's terrain plot wavesD's frequency data D's Freeview Detailed Coverage
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