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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.

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.

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
Monday, 21 May 2012
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
J
jb38
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

8:39 PM

Matt: These channels mentioned are from Sandy, but though Tacolneston is predicted as giving superior reception on that code and so its a case of where your aerial is actually facing towards, as for Tacolneston it should be pointing at just about due East as its located at 93 degrees @ 32 miles, whereas Sandy is at 220 degrees @ 40 miles.

Tacolneston uses channels 55 - 59 - 62 - 42 - 45 - 50, so if your aerial is facing East then delete what you have stored and manually tune in each of these muxes, as an auto-tune will usually always store anything lower than these albeit some are intertwined with Sandy's channels.

Another point you should always remember is, that if a person finds that after having carried out a retuning exercise that they now get less of a channel count than they previously had, then dependant on equipment used it can sometimes only mean that duplicates of a channel no longer exist rather than an actual channel as such having been lost, albeit fully admitting that it might actually be the case of a channel or two missing.

What make / model of TV or box are you using?


link to this comment
jb38's 7,179 posts GB flag
K
Kelda
10:39 PM
Bedford

Hi, I wonder if anybody can help.

Recently we have lost signal all channels on COM4. They either display pixalated or with the message "no or bad signal". This seems to have coincided with the updates earlier in May (have missed 3 weeks of Justified!). We only noticed when we came to watched recorded programmes from these channels. This continues to be a problem following a retune. We had this problem previously, but it was fixed after our switchover last year.

Our postcode is MK41 7HN, and get our signal from Sandy Heath.

Is there anything I can do to get these channels back?

link to this comment
Kelda's 1 post GB flag
Kelda's: mapK's Freeview map terrainK's terrain plot wavesK's frequency data K's Freeview Detailed Coverage
S
Stephen P
sentiment_satisfiedGold

11:37 PM

Matt if you look at the transmission frequencies above it lookls likely that your aerial is designed to get the low numbers previously in use but NOT the high ones. So when SDN moved recently from 31 to 51 you lost it.

Sounds like new aerial

Kelda COM4=SND - so same answer.

link to this comment
Stephen P's 1,173 posts GB flag
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Your comment please
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.

If you have no satellite signal, see Sky Digibox says 'No Signal' or 'Technical fault'

If you have other problems, please provide a full (not partial) postcode (or preferably enter it in box at the top right) and indicate where if aerial is on the roof, in the loft or elsewhere.

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