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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, 10 June 2012
S
Stephen P
sentiment_satisfiedGold

8:51 PM

Ted T - ask around - is it just your house?

link to this comment
Stephen P's 1,173 posts GB flag
Tuesday, 12 June 2012
J
JVO
9:40 AM
Knebworth

I am making do with old (band A?) aerial at present and get the main channels okay, I also get channel 51 on a good day and 52 on a very good day but no sign of channel 48 ?
Could it be that the mode of ch48 is not compatible with my TV or would you expect the problem to be solved with a wideband aerial.

link to this comment
JVO's 6 posts GB flag
JVO's: mapJ's Freeview map terrainJ's terrain plot wavesJ's frequency data J's Freeview Detailed Coverage
L
Laura
1:28 PM

hi i am in the st neots area pe198jq.

Since the changeover we have been having problems with the reception of our freview. its usually the itv and channel 4 and 5 ones but sometimes bbc. there is a picture but sometimes its very jerky and flicks on and off and crackles. My e4+1 channel just says no signal.

Im not very technology savvy so if u could keep it as simple as possible that would be great!

link to this comment
Laura's 1 post GB flag
Dave Lindsay
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

2:12 PM

Laura: It only six miles from the transmitter, the signal may be very strong. Consequently too much signal could be being fed to your receiver which is overwhelming it at times.

See Freeview news | ukfree.tv - independent free digital TV advice

Try fitting an attenuator inline with the aerial lead so as to reduce the level of signal. A 20dB variable one will allow adjustment. These can be obtained from online sources for £3 or £4.

link to this comment
Dave Lindsay's 5,724 posts GB flag
Wednesday, 13 June 2012
J
jb38
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

7:30 AM

JVO: Multiplex channels are not necessarily all received at the same level and Ch48 is most likely to be sitting at just under the threshold for reception, you can find out what its at by selecting "manual tune" and entering Ch48 but not pressing scan, because in most equipment the strength its being received at will immediately be indicated, if you then enter 51 & 52 the difference will immediately be seen.

You should though change your aerial over to a wideband type as you are somewhat over stretching your group A aerial, a Log 40 type would be an ideal replacement for whatever you are using.

link to this comment
jb38's 7,179 posts GB flag
J
JVO
10:58 AM
Knebworth

JB38. Thank you for your quick reply. I have already tried manual tune and that always shows 0 for C48, best seen for C51 is around 75% "quality" (but very variable). Mind you my set is a bit funny as it shows 0 for C21 (HD stuff) but gets the stations no problem !?
I wonder if the same "mode" was used for the mutex before it was moved to C48 (last Sep?) ? I could receive it then (on a good day). Grateful for any comment.

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JVO's 6 posts GB flag
JVO's: mapJ's Freeview map terrainJ's terrain plot wavesJ's frequency data J's Freeview Detailed Coverage
J
JVO
11:02 AM
Knebworth

PS. To clarify, no stations found on C48

link to this comment
JVO's 6 posts GB flag
JVO's: mapJ's Freeview map terrainJ's terrain plot wavesJ's frequency data J's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Dave Lindsay
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

11:35 AM

JVO: According to information from Ofcom, 27, 24, 21 and 48 are using the "transitional S1 antenna" until 27th of this month. This affects the signal in your general direction, so see how it goes after 27th.

This is so as to protect against interference with transmitters in the south east that complete switchover on that date, although I can't work out which one uses C48 until then.

If the change requires outdoor work (on the mast), then obviously it may be delayed due to the weather.

If you find that you get C48 from 27th, then let us know on here as it will help inform others who are in the same position. You may also like to make a note of the signal strengths on 27, 24 and 21 (HD) to see if they go up on the same date that 48 becomes available to you.

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Dave Lindsay's 5,724 posts GB flag
J
JVO
12:15 PM
Knebworth

Dave Lindsay. Thank you for that info.
Signal strength on C24, C27 shows 100% now so wont see any difference there.

link to this comment
JVO's 6 posts GB flag
JVO's: mapJ's Freeview map terrainJ's terrain plot wavesJ's frequency data J's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Dave Lindsay
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

12:29 PM

JVO: Ah well, it was worth a try. Some receivers are more helpful than others.

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Dave Lindsay's 5,724 posts GB flag
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