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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
Thursday, 31 March 2016
M
Mr reeden
9:07 AM

I get perfect signal at night .why is that

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Mr reeden's 5 posts GB flag
M
Mr reeden
12:27 PM

Signal strength is 70% on most muxes apart from Ch34 .

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Mr reeden's 5 posts GB flag
M
MikeB
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

5:56 PM

MikeP: Thanks Mike! 70% on most muxs is pretty much perfect, but look at the power output on C34 - if its really low, its explained by that. I get a similar thing with Waltham's Com 8 as well - the output is just really marginal at the moment.

link to this comment
MikeB's 2,579 posts GB flag
MikeB's: mapM's Freeview map terrainM's terrain plot wavesM's frequency data M's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Friday, 1 April 2016
M
mark
12:00 PM

Hello I have 70% signal on all sd channels .

But mux ch 34.32 , 54%

I'd like to know why I can get almost perfect sd signal but poor hd signal .

Quality is around 76 to 85 % . SD channels

HD around 44 % to 64 % .

I've had this problem the whole time and so has all my neighbours I live in
The area NN4 .8 NN .

I would really appreciate some advice I mean the signal is ok it doesn't break up to much .

link to this comment
mark's 2 posts GB flag
M
mark
12:21 PM

Hd mux channel 21 . Is 75% Quality ##

So it's just the lower powered hd muxes with poor signal is there any plan to make these hd channels higher powered like the main sd channels if so I'm sure my signal would be perfect on all channels .

link to this comment
mark's 2 posts GB flag
Saturday, 2 April 2016
I
Ian Leadbeter
7:28 PM

mark : Hi Mark. I' having on going Iissues with channel carrying Bbc hd not bbc 4 hd however. Cambridge area via Sandy Heath

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Ian Leadbeter's 1 post GB flag
Sunday, 3 April 2016
J
jb38
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

9:38 PM

mark : The NN4.8 etc areas of Northampton are notorious for suffering from periods of erratic reception, basically due to the signal path from the Sandy mast suffering from multiple (and sizeable) line of sight obstructions starting from approximately 10 miles prior to said location.

Unfortunately there is nothing a viewer can really do to overcome this type of problem except by pointing their aerials towards the Dallington Park Freeview "light" relay.

The L.O.S obstruction referred to can be seen by opening the undermentioned link.


Terrain between ( m a.g.l.) and (antenna m a.g.l.) - Optimising UK DTT Freeview and Radio aerial location




link to this comment
jb38's 7,179 posts GB flag
Friday, 15 April 2016
C
Clare
2:05 PM

I live in luton and have had poor signal levels, intermittent picture and sound and now no bbc programmes. this has been on and off last week and now today.

Is there work being carried out as I can't find anything on the internet.

I rent from housing assoc., and so need to let them know what problem is as will take at least 5-days before they'll get someone to come out.

Thank you

Kind regards

clare

link to this comment
Clare's 1 post GB flag
J
jb38
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

8:58 PM

Clare: As no problems have been reported with the Sandy Heath transmitter (incl Luton relay) nor is there any engineering work taking place at same, your best policy would be to check if any of your neighbours are also experiencing similar problems with reception "before" contacting the H.A maintenance department.

If they aren't, then check / test the jumper lead between the wall socket and your TV by reversing it. Of course if said neighbours are also having similar problems with reception? then contact the housing association.

By the way, it would also be prudent to try and make an enquiry with others "not" connected into the communal aerial system, if communal is what you are referring to?, as many areas in Luton are known to suffer from reception problems at certain times of the year due to the signal path from Sandy being blocked by a sizeable line-of-sight obstruction, hence the reason for the Luton relay.





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jb38's 7,179 posts GB flag
Tuesday, 26 April 2016
S
Seff
2:26 PM

Hi I brought a expensive indoor aerial . One for all its the 4th I've brought in the last 3 years I may as well had have a roof aerial done . But this aerial keeps breaking up on the tv the signal is around 70% quality. But when ever I move the amplifier that came with it it goes down to 20% or 0 % and I have to put the amplifier in a certain way for the signal to work .. why is this

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Seff's 4 posts GB flag
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