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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
Thursday, 15 February 2018
J
John
sentiment_satisfiedBronze

2:03 PM
Chatteris

StevensOnln1:

I checked the aerial socket and rewired, then I got the better quality aerial lead so the good news is Sky news and Multiplex C52 are going great. Thanks for your advice.

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John's 21 posts GB flag
John's: mapJ's Freeview map terrainJ's terrain plot wavesJ's frequency data J's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Friday, 23 February 2018
F
Freddie Archer
9:19 AM

IP270EE - has there been some sort of change recently, I used to get the HD channels (Via C21) with a rock solid signal, but over the last 2 weeks, there has been disturbance - or no signal or quality at all. I am wondering if it is co-channel interference from the recent changes? Or has the MUX at Sandy heath, had an unreported fault? All other Sandy Signals are OK & I even receive the weak Local Cambridge TV from Maddingly. So I doubt it is an aerial fault.

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Freddie Archer's 12 posts GB flag
Sunday, 25 February 2018
D
Daniel
6:16 PM

Hello prior to sandy heath transmitter been opened before 1965 . Which transmitter covered northampton ? I am intrested to know.

link to this comment
Daniel's 1 post GB flag
Tuesday, 27 February 2018
J
John
sentiment_satisfiedBronze

10:00 AM

Hi,
I wonder if you have an answer to this problem. The Digital Stream PVR which was first launched in 2010 and is used by many users all over the country and is an excellent machine. Up until recently we have been affected by COM7 and COM8, let me explain. If we do not scan in these two Multiplexes our PVR's work perfectly. But any attempt to scan them in or use any of the channels within those Multiplexes then this is what happens. The PVR's get stuck on "LOADING' or stuck on "BYE' and will not shut down. On our thread on AVForums the advice given for the time being is for all users to try resets etc but not to use any channels in COM7/8. All other Multiplexes are fine. In my case and like many others the Digital Stream is doing what it is supposed to do without scanning in COM7/8. Any advice would be appreciated.

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John's 21 posts GB flag
M
MikeB
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

2:21 PM

John: Its an eight year old PVR - could be that the software just doesn't allow it. My old Sony PVR's EPG has stopped working, and I suspect its a software problem that cannot be resolved. Might be time to just upgrade.

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MikeB's 2,579 posts GB flag
J
John
sentiment_satisfiedBronze

4:45 PM

MikeB:
But they have all been working with COM7/8 this has only just started to affect our PVR's all over the country and I believe Panasonic were affected as well so I am told. From my point of view because I do not use COM7/8 I am happy to just carry on because it has been a very good PVR. Something strange has happened and it is a shame that so many users have been affected.

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John's 21 posts GB flag
Friday, 30 March 2018
J
Jari
8:04 PM

Has anyone tested are you able to get good or even decent signal with good indoor antenna in Cambridge?
I live in rental apartment close to Cambridge city central and we don't have outdoor aerial antenna at all and landlord doesn't allow to install one.



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Jari's 1 post GB flag
Tuesday, 3 April 2018
MikeP
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

2:45 PM

Jari:

It is highly unlikely that you will get any reliable reception in Cambridge using an indoor aerial (in the same room as the TV). You are simply too far away from the Sandy Heath transmitter. An external aerial mounted on the roof or chimney stack is needed.



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MikeP's 3,056 posts GB flag
Wednesday, 11 April 2018
S
Shaun mundy
11:36 AM

Dear sir, I am the area manager of some residential sites in buckden and some of the residents are having issues with their signal on HD channels and on some non HD channels the local transmitter is sandy heath which has shown no issues on their website.

Please can you advise as we have a new satellite dish and transmitter both working fine?

Please can you email me or call me on 07889230897

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Shaun mundy's 1 post GB flag
MikeP
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

12:23 PM

Shaun Mundy:

This website has no staff to do as you request. We contributors are purely voluntary wishing to assist people having reception difficulties.

Sandy Heath has no reported engineering work at present. So your residents need to contact an aerial contractor to check their systems - or you could do it for them as you are the area manager and have a responsibility to assist them.

You don't saywhether they all use a communal system. If they do then it is the management that is responsible for correcting any faults.



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MikeP's 3,056 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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