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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
Friday, 3 February 2017
S
StevensOnln1
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

3:58 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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StevensOnln1's 3,606 posts GB flag
Saturday, 4 February 2017
D
DC
2:13 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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DC's 2 posts GB flag
A
Aiax
3:34 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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Aiax's 1 post US flag
S
StevensOnln1
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

5:01 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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StevensOnln1's 3,606 posts GB flag
Tuesday, 14 February 2017
M
Martini
10:43 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.

link to this comment
Martini's 6 posts GB flag
Wednesday, 15 February 2017
R
Richard Wood
8:35 AM

Martini: The 18:30 Sandy Heath Freeview transmission was Look East (west)

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Richard Wood's 11 posts GB flag
Saturday, 18 February 2017
Transmitter engineering
sentiment_very_satisfiedOwner

4:32 AM

SANDY HEATH transmitter - DAB: BBC National DAB Radio Weak Signal from 13:38 on 16 Feb to 14:07 on 16 Feb. [BBC]

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Transmitter engineering's 149,799 posts xx flag
Tuesday, 21 February 2017
D
Dr Basil Polychronopulos
11:16 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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Dr Basil Polychronopulos's 1 post GB flag
Wednesday, 22 February 2017
MikeP
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

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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MikeP's 3,056 posts GB flag
Wednesday, 8 March 2017
Transmitter engineering
sentiment_very_satisfiedOwner

10:33 PM

SANDY HEATH transmitter - DAB: BBC National DAB Radio Off Air from 20:41 today to 21:25 today. [BBC]

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Transmitter engineering's 149,799 posts xx flag
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