menuMENU    UK Free TV logo Freeview

 

 

Click to see updates

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
_______

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 August 2018
J
Jayne Hilton
2:18 PM

My mother lives in retirement apartments in Rushden,Northamptonshire. Following the last changes to Freeview in July, when there were messages advising everyone to retune their televisions, she has lost a number of stations. She informed the Estate Manager that she and other homeowners were unable to receive all the Freeview channels and he stated that he had consulted a Freeview expert and that the channels would return eventually. He advised her to retune every day, which she has done, but she is still missing a large number of channels. Can you advise please. Is it the case that the channels will return eventually? I live in close proximity and receive all Freeview channels .

link to this comment
Jayne Hilton's 1 post GB flag
S
StevensOnln1
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

2:35 PM

Jayne Hilton: Retuning every day is pointless and won't restore the missing channels unless something else changes. It's quite likely that your mother's apartment has a communal aerial system which may need to be modified following the recent frequency changes. You should go back to the estate manager and insist that they get someone out to sort it out and stop trying to fob people off.

link to this comment
StevensOnln1's 3,605 posts GB flag
Monday, 27 August 2018
R
Robert Corns
8:01 PM
Northampton

Hi my postcode is NN1 5RN
I have recently lost several free view channels 11, 12 , 40, 41, 48.
I have done a complete reset but no improvement.
These channels were fine until a few weeks ago.
I have several tv's and this problem has suddenly occurred on all of them.

link to this comment
Robert Corns's 1 post GB flag
Robert's: mapR's Freeview map terrainR's terrain plot wavesR's frequency data R's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Tuesday, 28 August 2018
MikeP
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

10:59 AM

Robert Corns:

Do you have a wideband aerial fitted? Without one you will have problems receiving some of the programmes from Sandy Heath transmitter.



link to this comment
MikeP's 3,056 posts GB flag
H
Hardy
sentiment_satisfiedSilver

6:00 PM

Robert the coverage checker indicates that at your location you should get a good signal with a medium size wideband aerial. I assume that you already have a wideband aerial if you used to get all the cannels listed on this page . The channels you lost are in mid band so I suspect a fault in your wiring. or if in the loft the aerial is in a poor position.

link to this comment
Hardy's 137 posts GB flag
Sunday, 2 September 2018
J
J Knights
10:52 AM
Wisbech

Since last retune I haven't been able to get anything on C21 so no HD progs. I could get these before the retune. Is this down to my aerial ? Also thought I should get something on C36 C55 C56 but nothing. Looking at the channels above I don't think these are available but would like to get HD progs. My postcode is PE13 5LB.
Thank you.

link to this comment
J Knights's 12 posts GB flag
J's: mapJ's Freeview map terrainJ's terrain plot wavesJ's frequency data J's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Monday, 3 September 2018
MikeP
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

11:16 AM

J Knights:

Look at the Digital UK Coverage Checker results shown through the blue 'digitaluk trade' box below your posting or at Coverage Checker - Detailed View This shows that many of the transmitter signals have some potential problems but you should be able to get all the channels if you are using a wideband aerial (that need changed at an earlier transmitter channel reset to allow for the extension of mobile services).

That page mentioned also shows the correct channels for the available transmitters and the direction that your aerial needs to be aimed to get them.



link to this comment
MikeP's 3,056 posts GB flag
H
Hardy
sentiment_satisfiedSilver

10:53 PM

J the coverage checker shows you should be able to get most of the channels from Sandy Heath . You are in range of some other transmitters so you may have to tune in manual mode to be sure of getting Sandy heath . I think a good outdoor wideband aerial is essential in such a complex multi transmitter area.

link to this comment
Hardy's 137 posts GB flag
Friday, 21 September 2018
P
Paul
11:45 PM

I live in Cb99ah area & can not pick up Quest hd why is this

link to this comment
Paul's 1 post GB flag
Saturday, 22 September 2018
MikeP
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

11:06 AM

Paul:

The Digital UK Coverage Checker for your location, see Coverage Checker - Detailed View shows that reception of COMs 7 & 8 from Sandy Heath to be variable. Therefore it is unlikely that you will get reliable reception of any of the programmes carried on those multiplexes.

The alternative transmitter at Sudbury does not carry COMs 7 & 8 so does not transmit those HD coded channels.



link to this comment
MikeP's 3,056 posts GB flag
Select more comments

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.

UK Free TV is here to help people. If you are rude or disrespectful all of your posts will be deleted and you will be banned.








Privacy policy: UK Free Privacy policy.