Full Freeview on the Sandy Heath (Central Bedfordshire, England) transmitter
 | Google Streetview |  | Google map |  | Bing map |  | Google Earth |  | 52.130,-0.242 or 52°7'47"N 0°14'33"W |  | SG19 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 04/11/2024 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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Wednesday, 13 June 2012
JVO: Ah well, it was worth a try. Some receivers are more helpful than others.
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Thursday, 21 June 2012
J
JVO10:28 AM
Knebworth
Dave Lindsay. Just checked manual tuning again for C48,51,52 ... varies with the weather. And finally found stations on C48 ! (very poor quality)
Actual "Quality" measures upto 19% C51, 9% C52 but still 0% C48. (Not sure if truly 0, my set a bit strange ... always reports 0 for C21 ?)
Gives me more incentive to get a new aerial.
Thank you for you interest.
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JVO's: mapJ's Freeview map terrainJ's terrain plot wavesJ's frequency data J's Freeview Detailed Coverage
C
Chris James3:58 PM
Aylesbury
I am Chris james and my problem now seems solved by the simple expedient of swinging my low roof aerial through 180 degrees and tuning to the Sandy transmitter rather than Oxford:I also get both South Today and Look East news and the ITV meridian news and Anglia News with a perfect picture all the time. Maybe others living in Aylesbury and having problems could try this.
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Chris's: mapC's Freeview map terrainC's terrain plot wavesC's frequency data C's Freeview Detailed Coverage
J
jb385:14 PM
Chris James: I find what you have mentioned rather interesting insomuch that "if" your post code is truly representative of your locality then your aerial is a fraction under 40 degrees out for Sandy, as the predictor indicates Oxford @ 16 mls / 264 degrees and Sandy @ 33mls / 46 degrees from your location.
Of course should the post code be reasonably accurate then that's inclined to indicate that the satisfactory signal you are receiving is via a refection, and so long its of a stable nature all good and well.
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J
jb389:31 PM
Chris James: Or of course looking at it from another angle, being that should the aerial now be correctly aligned for Sandy then it couldn't have previously been for Oxford or vice-versa, or that its simply the case that its a little out on both stations, as the 180 degree turn around would be error free by being directly visual.
Not that this really matters if the reception is satisfactory, as that's all that counts.
Should say though that Sandy's PSB muxes are indicated as only providing variable reception on that code, so keep this in mind should you experience any seasonal induced problems.
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Saturday, 23 June 2012
D
David3:56 PM
Hi I'm in Northampton NN2.
Awful reception on all multiplexes since just before the bank hol - about 1st June, so well after the last Sandy Heath work i think.
Neighbours have the same thing. There are good periods but they never last for longer than a few hours. Doesn't seem to be a pattern in times. What's changed since then to cause these problems? BBC say just manual re-tune your equipment! (52.2369,-0.8974)
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Thursday, 28 June 2012
A
Adrian Sankton9:51 AM
Corby
D3&4 and HD use transitional S1 antenna until 27 June 2012
Hi I don't see any changes in the table and the transmision powe are still same
any sugestion...
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Adrian's: mapA's Freeview map terrainA's terrain plot wavesA's frequency data A's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Adrian Sankton: That is correct; there were no changes to the transmission power.
The S1 antenna was to protect against interference with transmitters in Kent until they switched over. This is because they used the same frequencies pre-switchover.
It affected the signal in that general direction, focusing it lower down to the horizon so as to curtail its propagation (in that direction).
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H
Hertfordshaz4:57 PM
Hi
I live in Hertford
A strange thing has happened - I was pootling along quite happily watching Anglia news from Sandy Heath. In the last few months, I am now picking up a bad signal of London news. Could the Bengeo relay be interfering with my Sandy Heath signal? Should I retune? Thanks
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K
KMJ,Derby5:53 PM
Hertfordshaz: Have a look in the 800s of the channel list for any alternative channels which carry Anglia news. When scanning if the London signal is found first (or Anglia is off the air or blocked by interference) you will find London channels stored on the "normal" channel positions. Retuning might restore the Anglia channels to their former location, but really you need to clear the channel list and do a manual tune, if possible, on the Sandy Heath frequencies.
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