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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 04/11/2024 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), 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
Wednesday, 22 November 2017
M
MR D Langstone
4:52 PM

The aerial is a HG10 high rain LTE digital installed 11.5.17 there is a wolsey LTE WFAW425 4 output F connector which is fully screened part No 370562. We loose signal on channel 15 film 4 & channel 20 drama at times the screen goes blank and occasional the TV goes to the old bbc 2 .The aerial is on a 15 foot mast On the chimney 12 ft above ground

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MR D Langstone's 1 post GB flag
MikeP
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

5:55 PM

Mr D. Langstone:

Please provide a full post code so that we can identify which transmitter you should be using and what the reception conditions are like.



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MikeP's 3,056 posts GB flag
Wednesday, 13 December 2017
C
C Jones
9:48 AM

I live in Hertford and have used Sandy Heath for past 30 yrs but this is now becoming a joke.I do not have line of sight to Crystal Palace or Hertford re-transmitter (behind a hill) and have upgraded my aerial. My current problem started last Friday when I lost all FREEVIEW channels but total reception has been an ongoing issue for past 12/18 mnths. Usually good on fine days but quality issues at other times. By Mon having complained to FREEVIEW, all channels came up late PM. Tue PM only had BBC 1/2 all others popping on audio and picture pixleated. . Signal strength on channels is usually 100% but Quality bounces between 0% and 100%. Is this not an issue to raise with BBC for a reduction in licence fee or are we expected to go on for 3/4 mnths with some/no channels?

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C Jones's 3 posts GB flag
M
MikeB
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

10:36 AM

C Jones: Think about it - Sandy Heath is used by 920k homes - so if its had problems for the past 12-18 months, dont you think other people might have pointed that out by now?

Since the transmitter is in the same place, on the same channels, and the weather is no more or less variable than it has always been, that leaves your own system - which consists of a piece of cable just 6mm wide and is subject to the worst of the weather.

You can complain to Freeview, etc all you like, but 99% of the time, when someone says they have a long term reception problem, and complains about their licence fee (as they often do), its THEIR system at fault.

BTW - 100% strength is far too high, and results in a worse picture, not better. Since you havn't given a postcode, we have no idea where you are in relation to the transmitter, but its a fair bet that you'd normally have fine recption, but your system has been failing for about 18 months.

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MikeB's 2,579 posts GB flag
D
D. Meader
5:23 PM

[Duly inhibited by MikeB's response today re the 920k Sandy Heath users ...]

Has anybody other than me made you aware of a drop in the Quality of ArqB/Ch48
in the CB4 area in the last few weeks. This is totally specific to that Mux.
Signal strength is a little down at ~35%, say, but the quality is NONE/POOR according
to my set whereas it used to be VERY GOOD.

The Aerial is an indoor, unamplified, W type, through an AT800 4G filter.

Has somebody erected a notch filter in my line of sight do you know ?

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D. Meader's 2 posts GB flag
M
MikeB
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

11:24 PM

D. Meader: I'm not trying to inhibite anyone, but if you look at any time people complain about a long term problem, they always seem to blame the transmitter, the BBC, 4G, or strange changes that nobody else has observed.

The most likely explaination is that its their system, but they will swear blind its not, even when they post the same problem for months on end.

Moving onto your particular problem:
a) put your postcode into the site - it will bring up lots of data, and will allow people to see what sort of signal you should get

b) Check the connections - if people lose a mux, something has changed, and its usually a dodgy lead or connection - its not alwasy the weakest that goes either. Changing the lead is a cheap easy way of at least eliminating one possible issue.

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MikeB's 2,579 posts GB flag
Thursday, 14 December 2017
C
C Jones
7:04 PM

MikeB: Just for your information, I have a relative who lives in view of Sandy Heath Transmitter and when I have an issue, we talk about what his reception is like. Although he does not get total quality drop out (as at last weekend) he does also see pixilation primarily on E4 and More4 at the same time.
I think rather than coming back aggressive to a comment, it may be worth asking for more information. As an example: Have you had your equipment checked recently (Cable/Aerial)? The answer here would be YES.
So, there does seem to be issues over the last year which have recently got worse. My relative is also on a similar setup (TV picks up better than YouView box) but we both have different equipment as you can imagine. Earlier this year when there was reception problems FREEVIEW suggested it was down to 4G installation they came, checked my aerial and advised it had no issues and new 4G aerials were not the problem. The issue, as usual was clearing up each evening and the Low signal strength' message disappeared. My aerial has never had issues until recent times. Are you suggesting that our two aerials are failing at exactly same time? Your comment on 100% makes no sense to me please explain and what is the difference between strength' and quality'. Also, when replying, I would be grateful if, as you intimate you speak for the transmitter, you could provide me with the contact details of the senior manager. Thank you

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C Jones's 3 posts GB flag
M
MikeB
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

10:30 PM

C Jones: If your relative can actually see the transmitter, then their signal is going to be very powerful, (perhaps too powerful) hence the possible problems with reception. 100% Quality is great, but too much strength is bad - your tuner is essentially being shouted at, and goes deaf. 75% is pretty much perfect.

Your right that you do have an issue, but your issue does not have to be the same as someone else's. Again, there are 290k households served by that transmitter - so even if 99.9% of those households have a perfect picture, there are still a fair number who do not. And they do not have to be all for the same reason.

However, as you can see from StevensOnIn1's frequent answer about checking cables, the most likely problem is your system. Yes, you've had your aerial checked recently, but since you are losing signal, something must be wrong with it, since the transmitter hasn't varied in any way.

There could be other causes, such as interference from electrical equipment nearby, but start with the most obvious. If you've lost signal, thats because the system has stopped working in some way, and a loose connection or broken wire is the most likely.

Sorry if I did sound a bit exasperated, but there have been so many people insisting on pretty anything being the cause of the problem other than their system that its a bit frustrating.

BTW - if you put your postcode into the site, it will show all sorts of useful information, inclkuding the sort of signal your supposed to get.

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MikeB's 2,579 posts GB flag
Friday, 15 December 2017
C
C Jones
4:58 PM

MikeB: OK. 0900 today 80% low signal and 20% no signal. 1600 all channels strong on both BT Freeview box and TV? So, I've commissioned a full survey on Monday and am aware that with the sell off of more FREEVIEW bands to mobile networks Hertford is one of the areas where access to the service will become less in the future so something I will address with my MP. I'll respond further on Monday when I know more.

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C Jones's 3 posts GB flag
M
MikeB
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

10:22 PM

C Jones: getting a proper survey sounds like a good idea - there could be various reasons for that change (single source interference?), but without a systematic check, you can't narrow it down.

The change in frequencies Upcoming Freeview transmitter changes 2017 to 2019 should not make any difference ultimately to your services - I suspect that since the bulk of people's equipment self tunes and updates anyway, most wont notice any difference at all. And its very unlikely that the powers that be are likely to think reducing the services people get is a good idea, so things will probably just get shuffled around.

The frequency selloff isn't a big deal to consumers - T2 tuners are much more efficient, so you can get more channels (in HD as well) on less 'space'. And since we all have mobiles, we all want to use that extra space.

The only people who will have problems will be those that need a new aerial, but realistically, older aerials will gradually be replaced naturally anyway, and those that are left over can get a replacement free of charge.

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MikeB's 2,579 posts GB flag
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Your comment please
Please post a question, answer or commentIf you have Freeview reception problems before posting a question your must first do this Freeview reset procedure then see: Freeview reception has changed, Single frequency interference, and Freeview intermittent interference.

If you have no satellite signal, see Sky Digibox says 'No Signal' or 'Technical fault'

If you have other problems, please provide a full (not partial) postcode (or preferably enter it in box at the top right) and indicate where if aerial is on the roof, in the loft or elsewhere.

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