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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, 20 May 2012
S
Stephen P
sentiment_satisfiedGold

10:42 PM

Derek post your postcode here so we can see what strengths and directions involved.

What aerial are you using?

You may have the channels you want in the 800s (usually) and be able to move them to 101/2/3 etc.

Freesat lets you pick whatever services you like, Automatically if yyou give it a postcode for where you want.

link to this comment
Stephen P's 1,173 posts GB flag
Monday, 21 May 2012
M
Matt
7:53 PM

Hi, Before the May switchover thing a few weeks back ive lost looooads of stations? Before the May switchover i was doing realy well and had all the stations,now im missing loads and others cut in and out and pixelate. Whats all that about???? My postcode is PE38

Stations ive lost are Quest,E4+1,Film 4,Viva,4 Music, Dave ect ect ect, ive lost loads!

link to this comment
Matt's 17 posts GB flag
J
jb38
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

9:08 PM

Matt: All around the Downham Market area (should you be in it) its possible to pick up signals from both Sandy and Belmont with roughly the same strength in various areas and you might have picked up a mixture of both during a re-tune, and so "if" BBC Look East is your news service then its coming from Sandy on mux Ch27, and so the three commercial mux channels that match it are: 51 - 52 - 48.

To check this, select Dave(11) and carry out a signal check on it for purposes of seeing what channel number is associated with the indication, which of course should be mux Ch52, if 53 its from Belmont.

Carry out the same test on Quest(38) and in that case its should be mux Ch51 but 30 if from Belmont, finally select Yesterday(12) which should be mux Ch48 but 60 if Belmont.

If you find that that's what's happened then you will require to manually tune in Sandy's six mux channels one at a time, these being :27 - 24 - 21(HD) - 51 - 52 - 48

Should though you have Look North as the BBC news service then that's from Belmont, and in that case the six mux channels used are: 22 - 25 - 28(HD) - 30 - 53 - 60

link to this comment
jb38's 7,179 posts GB flag
J
jb38
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

9:16 PM

Matt: If you do find it necessary to use manual tuning procedure then everything stored should first of all be deleted by carrying out a "factory reset" on your TV or box, this sometimes called "default setting", but if you see "first time tune" or whatever you can use that instead provided it offers a manual scan option, as some devices don't.

Any problem in carrying this out come back with the model number of whatever you are using.

link to this comment
jb38's 7,179 posts GB flag
D
DErek
9:48 PM
Luton

Stephen / Dave: My Postcode is LU1 4AL This is about the highest point due south of Luton. I have just remembered that one of the reasons for pointing at London was that there was a broadcast repeater so close and so strong that on analogue it caused ghosting when pointing at Sandy Heath. At least that's how I remeber it.

I'm using a Humax PVR9200T that also now sometimes fails to start programed recordings even though I have done multiple re-tunes. Everytime I do a retune it wipes out all the planned rcordings.

As far as the arial is concerned this TV is in my Study upstairs and has its own loft arial which is a single reflector. I can't remember how many elements it has but its a reasonable size.

I will see what manual tuning I can do when its finished recording.



link to this comment
DErek's 2 posts GB flag
DErek's: mapD's Freeview map terrainD's terrain plot wavesD's frequency data D's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Tuesday, 22 May 2012
S
Stephen P
sentiment_satisfiedGold

1:21 AM

. UK digital TV reception predictor
You seem to have a choice of fairly strong signals - which may be your problem! NB link above is conservative about what aerial you need.
If you have other aerials try the kit elsewhere.
May well be worth paying a LOCAL aerial man for his local knowledge of your many options

link to this comment
Stephen P's 1,173 posts GB flag
Wednesday, 23 May 2012
M
Matt
4:14 PM

Tried everything you said jb38, but i only have 16 stations now (not all 16 are even stable) i checked and my stations i have are coming from Sandy Heath. I went from having all stations perfectly to having just 16 semi stable ones after the May 8th switchover.

Im 2 miles away from Downham Market.

link to this comment
Matt's 17 posts GB flag
S
Stephen P
sentiment_satisfiedGold

5:38 PM

+ UK digital TV reception predictor
Matt you seem to have a lot of options - need a full postcode for better data.
You should be able to work out what you are getting from the channels numbers and the muxes they are on.
What sort of aerials

link to this comment
Stephen P's 1,173 posts GB flag
L
Lisa
7:28 PM

Hi again jb38

I've been reading the new posts on this forum regularly and have been thinking about my own situation too, and I agree entirely with Ian's post on Friday 18 May 2012 4:06PM and would like to see Sandy Heath revert back to the settings it had before the upgrade on 9th May - not that this will happen (!), but I just wondered is there anyone 'official' who is responsible for the upgrades and who we can contact directly to raise our concerns about the loss of numerous FREEVIEW channels?

Perhaps if enough people who have been having problems since 9th May and have posted on this forum complain to the appropriate parties concerned, they may do something about it.

any information you are able to give would be very greatly appreciated.
many thanks as always
kindest regards
Lisa :-).

link to this comment
Lisa's 12 posts GB flag
M
Matt
7:42 PM
Downham Market

Hi Stephen P. Im picking up stations on (27 - 24 - 21)

My postcode is

I have no idea what my ariel is, but what i do know is that my ariel works fine because i was picking up all the stations no problem before the May 8th switchover, so this is nothing to do with my set up this end! lol

Im not bein told i have to spend even more money, this whole digital switchover has been an exspensive balls up that we were forced to pay for.

It seems others are losing lots of stations after May the 8th too huh?

So my options are?

link to this comment
Matt's 17 posts GB flag
Matt's: mapM's Freeview map terrainM's terrain plot wavesM's frequency data M's Freeview Detailed Coverage
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