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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
Friday, 11 May 2012
M
murf
9:00 PM
Ely

Thanks a lot jb38 - we'll try that

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murf's 2 posts GB flag
murf's: mapM's Freeview map terrainM's terrain plot wavesM's frequency data M's Freeview Detailed Coverage
L
Lisa
9:50 PM

I am in Northampton on the Sandy Heath transmitter - I have read a few of the posts here and am experiencing the same problem as a number of other people. Since the work was done on 9th, I have re-retuned my TV numerous times each day but am still missing a good number of channels i.e. ITV3, 5*, 5USA etc. all of which I had previously. I have followed the suggestions and re-tuned with the aerial unplugged then re-tuned with it plugged back in but still no joy.

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Lisa's 12 posts GB flag
Saturday, 12 May 2012
J
jb38
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

10:09 AM

Lisa: Carry out a "factory reset" sometimes called "default setting" or "first time installation" dependant on equipment, BEFORE carrying out another auto-tune, as ITV3 from Sandy Heath changed to Mux channel 51 on the 9th as well as its power increasing to 170kw from the reduced power it had been running on.

Another point is, that due to your location you might be picking up signals from an alternative transmitter, and so if after carrying out what I suggested you still cannot receive ITV3 reset the TV again and follow this by manually tuning in Ch51, giving an update on results as well as the model of TV or box you are using.

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jb38's 7,179 posts GB flag
Sunday, 13 May 2012
D
Davdi
12:38 PM

I live in Peterborough. Before the re-tune IO got ITV3 and the other channels really well on 31. After re-tune to c51 nothing. I thought it was supposed to improve signal reception.

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Davdi's 1 post GB flag
J
jb38
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

1:14 PM

Davdi: Carry out a "factory reset" on your TV or box before carrying out an auto-tune, as the SDN multiplex on Ch51 is being received at not far off 100% strength in the Stamford area as I have just checked it.

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jb38's 7,179 posts GB flag
L
Lisa
6:34 PM

Hi jb38

many thanks for your quick response and advice. I have done everything you have suggested including the 'factory default' re-set, another auto-tune and have also tried to manually re-tune channel 51 which didn't work at all, therefore, unfortunately I am still missing my 4 channels that I had previously - based on your advice, even IF I did get ITV3 back, I am still also missing 5*, 5USA and Challenge. This is getting soooo frustrating now, especially when things get changed that are 'supposed' to be an improvement. :-(

Any further help or advice you are able to give me would be very greatly appreciated. My TV is a SAMSUNG. Many thanks.

link to this comment
Lisa's 12 posts GB flag
J
jb38
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

8:25 PM

Lisa: If you carried out a "factory default" before re-tuning then thats a bit odd as starting afresh generally cures problems such as yours, and of course when you mention Challenge then that brings another mux into the equation as its on mux Ch52 and not Ch51 that ITV3 / 5* and 5USA operate on.

However, to enable me to know if you are receiving any of these two muxes plus an additional can you receive the following programmes: EPG11-Pick TV / EPG19-Dave / EPG27 ITV2+1 / EPG38-Quest / EPG12-Yesterday / EPG24-ITV4?

Maybe along with the answer you could also provide the model number of the Samsung you have plus a post code, or at least on from nearby (a shop / post office etc) as I cannot assess the signal levels expected in your area without this knowledge.


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jb38's 7,179 posts GB flag
M
mike,
9:12 PM
Northampton

I am having similar problems to Lisa. I live to south of northampton and am targeted at Sandy Heath transmitter. Reception in this area has never been great but is significantly worse since retune was required. I am getting no signal or poor reception on ITV3 (10), Pick tv (11), Dave (19 now much worse), E4+1 (29) Price drop (37), Gem tv (43), CH5+1 (44) Challenge (46) and food net (49). I have done a reset to purge the memory and auto retune and still have problems. TV is a samsung UE32B6000.

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mike,'s 3 posts GB flag
mike,'s: mapM's Freeview map terrainM's terrain plot wavesM's frequency data M's Freeview Detailed Coverage
M
mike,
9:45 PM
Northampton

Just to confirm aerial position and type, because of historically poor reception aerial is a large quadra pole on top of a 3m mast on top of chimney.

Perfectly adequate until latest changes.

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mike,'s 3 posts GB flag
mike,'s: mapM's Freeview map terrainM's terrain plot wavesM's frequency data M's Freeview Detailed Coverage
L
Lisa
10:40 PM
Northampton

Thanks again jb38.

Ok here goes - I can still receive Pick TV (11) and Dave (19) - both crystal clear as always, however, I can no longer get Yesterday (12) nor ITV4 (24) and get a message saying 'serivce not available', and I no longer even have a Channel 27 for ITV2+1 nor Channel 38 for Quest - again, all of these I previously received and watched regularly prior to 9th May.

Apologies, I confused Challenge on 46 with Quest! - I CAN still get Challenge but not Quest.

Of course, sorry - my postcode is NN5 6YE and TV model number is a Samsung LE32B551A.

link to this comment
Lisa's 12 posts GB flag
Lisa's: mapL's Freeview map terrainL's terrain plot wavesL's frequency data L's Freeview Detailed Coverage
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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.

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