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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Friday, 3 February 2017
S
StevensOnln13:58 PM
DC: You are correct, you certainly won't be picking up Madingley in Milton Keynes. The data for the Cambridge local mux is broadcast on Sandy Heath's multiplexes so that receivers which do pick it up know what to do with its channels.
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Saturday, 4 February 2017
D
DC2:13 AM
StevensOnln1: Thank you, that is certainly a plausible explanation,
I would like to have been able to confirm that Madingley _does_ carry these channels, but the page for that transmitter (ukfree.tv/transmitters/tv/Madingley) is somewhat incomplete - which of course is not your fault :)
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A
Aiax3:34 AM
DC: Hmm. You were being polite to call that page incomplete I would go so far as to say that other than the map, the channel information on page is totally inaccurate.
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S
StevensOnln15:01 PM
DC: A check on Digital UK's predictior with a Cambridge postcode shows the local mux broadcasting at 1KW from Madingley (Link: Coverage Checker - Detailed View ).
According to a516digital.com Cambridge TV launched on 18th August 2015 and was renamed That's Cambridge back in December 2016 following a change of ownership.
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Tuesday, 14 February 2017
M
Martini10:43 PM
Why is Sandy Heath showing BBC London News? There is obviously a switching fault!
This morning (Tue 14th Feb) it showed London News during the Breakfast breaks.
After News at Ten it is doing the same. I can only presume it was the same at 18:30.
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Wednesday, 15 February 2017
Martini: The 18:30 Sandy Heath Freeview transmission was Look East (west)
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Tuesday, 21 February 2017
D
Dr Basil Polychronopulos11:16 PM
First of all I cannot understand why int the coverage map there are lots of grey areas that appear to lie around A -roads and motorways. According to this map my area in Luton is NOT covered with good signal strength. What causes this shadowing effects? Interference or what?
Second as a scientist I would like access to a dull technical description of the new terminology used. e.g. In polarisation: what is Hmax? or H-5.6 db. I am fully conversant with Vertical, Horizontal, circular or elliptical polarisation but the above appears to be new jargon that needs explaining.
What time of multplexing is employed? Certainly not Space. Frequency division? - then the frequency of every channel should be listed. Time division? This would curtail significantly the effective bandwith and would result in shitty quality with fast moving / HD scenes. Could you give me link to a technical description of the jargon (and the bad English - like multiplexes!) or else some references please. Yes I can understand it I have a B.Sc. in Elelctronic |Engineering and a Ph. D. in Space science. Many thanks, Basil PS. Icannot currently receive Ch 63 which according to your chart is on Com 8 at 578.0 MHz.
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Wednesday, 22 February 2017
MikeP
7:34 PM
7:34 PM
Dr Basil Polychronopulos:
The coverage maps shown where signals can be received from a particular transmitter. The 'grey' areas are where the signal is not receivable due to terrain blocking them. The location of roads is irrelevant.
As a scientist you should do a bit of research as all the terms used and mentioned are standard terminology for RF broadcasting. Details are readily available on several websites.
The mulitplexing depends on whether it is a T1 or T2 transmitter, they use a form of quadrature modulation. Again, research will tell you.
Jargon it is not, but it is correct technical language that has been used in the industry for many years.
My MSc allows me to understand it, as well as my many years in the industry. So I would have expected a holder of a BSc in electronics to do a bit of independent research.
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Thursday, 27 April 2017
E
Evans3:15 PM
Wellingborough
Getting bad or no signal plus scrambled on my tv are doing work on sandy Heath transmitter?
Post code nn9 5gh irthlingborough northants
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Evans's: ...
S
StevensOnln13:42 PM
Evans: There's no engineering work or faults currently showing for Sandy Heath. Have you checked for loose or damages cables and connections behind the TV? Do not attempt to retune whilst you have bad signal as it will result in all your channels being deleted and won't fix the lack of signal.
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