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.
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._______
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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Sunday, 16 March 2014
MikeP
8:13 PM
8:13 PM
Moo Moo, Ad, Steph and others having the same problem
It is almost certainly due to the high pressure around the country. It causes 'tropospheric ducting' which makes the signals travel far further than intended. One correspondent here reports getting signals in North Wales from the Sandy Heath (Bedfordshire) transmitter.
If this happens you should *not* attempt a retune as you are highly likely to lose some services - as has bee found by some writing here.
The is nothing anyone can do about this as it's a natural phenomenon that has been affecting UHF transmissions for more than 50 years - and probably before then but we didn't use UHF as much back then.
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MikeP
8:25 PM
8:25 PM
Moo moo and Coach:
Please see the response from KJM, Derby given above your posts. He explains what is happening.
Please do *not* try to retune your equipment in these circumstances, younwill lose more channels and gain none.
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Saturday, 22 March 2014
C
coach8:53 AM
coach: help please. Still having strange signal data from itv, channel 4 and 5. Other channels are fine often with 100% strength via Sandy Heath. Getting a lot of signal fluctuations. Going up and down like a yoyo with occasional breakup of picture. Initially I thought it was down to high pressure, although the situation is better than last week. Thanks. CB25 post code.
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Monday, 7 April 2014
D
DemThonp7:10 PM
I only get ch27 and ch24 and ch52 and ch48 . No HD channels and also the channels I get are to poor to watch . I'm 16 can't afford roof aerial . so can you make your transmitter stronger .
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Thursday, 10 April 2014
D
DemThonp1:51 PM
Blackpool
I've now got all the SD channel's . But ch27 and CH 24 are 50% quality . But the other channels are 90% . I can't get any HD channels and I have freeview HD TV . Is 50% OK and how can I get HD channels .
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DemThonp's: mapD's Freeview map terrainD's terrain plot wavesD's frequency data D's Freeview Detailed Coverage
DemThonp: Do you have a Freeview HD television, or an "HD Ready" TV with Freeview?
You need a DVB-T2 ("Freeview HD") receiver to get the HD channels. If you set isn't marked "Freeview HD" or "DVB-T2" you will need to get a set-top box and connect it via one of the HDMI inputs to your TV.
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D
DemThonp4:00 PM
Blackpool
My TV is freeview HD because I've picked up HD channels before but they have such a poor signal they don't work . My TV is freeview HD
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DemThonp's: mapD's Freeview map terrainD's terrain plot wavesD's frequency data D's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Dave Lindsay
6:34 PM
6:34 PM
DemThonp: General advice for siting your aerial is to see which direction the signal is coming from. Then consider what things are in the way in that direction, eg a building, and think whether you can move the aerial to somewhere away from the obstruction.
The point is that these things can cause shadows as far as the signal goes.
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J
jb388:18 PM
DemThonp : Indications are that your location is line-of-sight with the Winter Hill transmitter @ 27miles / 126°.
However, you should carry out a signal check on the HD channel you are viewing to make sure that you haven't picked up Lancaster's HD service rather than Winter Hill, Lancaster's HD being on Mux C21 whereas Winter Hill's HD is on Mux C57, and with its new COM7 HD service being on C31.
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