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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
Saturday, 27 January 2018
S
StevensOnln1
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

11:25 AM

John: BBC Four HD has moved to the COM8 multiplex. Do you get BT Showcase HD on channel 115? Please provide a full postcode (the first half covers a wide area and won't allow us to access your coverage prediction).

link to this comment
StevensOnln1's 3,607 posts GB flag
Wednesday, 7 February 2018
D
Dax
12:03 PM

Hello since the retune have lost half the HD channels as well as sd ones on com 7 and 8 . We have previously recived these with no problems I am aware of moving frequency recently and presume the signal has weakened due to that . Postcode is NN48ND

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Dax's 2 posts GB flag
S
StevensOnln1
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

2:19 PM

Dax: There don't appear to have been any frequency changes at Sandy Heath yet (according to Digital UK the first frequency changes at Sandy Heath will take place on 6th June). Have you checked for any loose or damaged cables or connections behind your TV? COM7 & COM8 are broadcast at a much lower power level than the main muxes so any problems are likely to show up with weak signal on COM7/8 first.

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StevensOnln1's 3,607 posts GB flag
J
John
sentiment_satisfiedBronze

5:59 PM

If anyone is using the Digitalstream PVR please note that these boxes have been affected by COM7 and COM8.

For further info go to AV FORUMS Digital Stream DHR-8203/5U HD-PVR Master thread - [Part Twelve] | Page 71 | AVForums

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John's 21 posts US flag
D
Dax
7:20 PM

Checked all cables it is a now tv box with free view HD

link to this comment
Dax's 2 posts GB flag
Sunday, 11 February 2018
J
John
sentiment_satisfiedBronze

12:58 PM
Chatteris

PE16 6BT Aerial on top of a two story house, very good reception for 14 years.

My problem is C52 COM5 all other COMs have really good signal so why is this particular multiplex showing such bad reception or no signal at all.
Aerial points on the ground floor and top floor are excellent. But middle floor bedroom is the one causing the problem if I want to watch COM5 multiplex. Any advice would be appreciated.

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John's 21 posts US flag
John's: mapJ's Freeview map terrainJ's terrain plot wavesJ's frequency data J's Freeview Detailed Coverage
S
StevensOnln1
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

2:18 PM

John: Do you have an amplifier or powered splitter to distribute the aerial feed to the various sockets around your house? What signal strength and quality readings do you get on the other multiplexes on the middle floor bedroom TV? What signal strength and quality do you get for COM5 on the other TVs where COM5 is working?

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StevensOnln1's 3,607 posts GB flag
J
John
sentiment_satisfiedBronze

3:09 PM
Chatteris

StevensOnln1:

I have an amplifier to distribute the aerial feed around the house. On COM5 where it is working fine on other parts of the house Signal is 97% and Quality 100%.
In the bedroom it is Signal 16% and Quality 25%.
The funny thing is it has just come on when I went to check to get the signal check but often or not it would be pixelating or no signal.

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John's 21 posts US flag
John's: mapJ's Freeview map terrainJ's terrain plot wavesJ's frequency data J's Freeview Detailed Coverage
S
StevensOnln1
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

3:35 PM

John: Try taking the bedroom TV to one of the other working sockets if practical and check the signal strength/quality for COM5. If that results in a similar signal strength and quality to the TV normally connected at the socket you're using to test, that would indicate that there is a fault somewhere between the bedroom and the amplifier. It would be worth making some simple checks such as replacing the cable between the TV and aerial socket with a known good one and unscrewing the socket to check the connections on the back, also check the cable and connection at the amplifier for any signs of damage.

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StevensOnln1's 3,607 posts GB flag
J
John
sentiment_satisfiedBronze

4:34 PM
Chatteris

StevensOnln1:
I have now ordered a better quality cable arriving Wednesday also the bedroom socket is a good quality one but I will check for bad connection. By the way it's a good quality PVR and I have tested on other sockets and it is fine.
I will also check the amplifier which is in the loft to make sure all is well. Thanks for your help.

link to this comment
John's 21 posts US flag
John's: mapJ's Freeview map terrainJ's terrain plot wavesJ's frequency data J's Freeview Detailed Coverage
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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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