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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
Sunday, 21 October 2018
L
Lord Dellpus
9:40 AM

I'll say it again, as clearly no one these days bothers to actually read the previous posts or search for info before complaining - as posted TWO posts ago!.....

This is all due to co-channel interference from distant transmitters due to atmospheric fading. This is because of the large high pressure weather system currently over the UK.

There is pretty much nothing you or anyone else, including the broadcasters, can do about it.

Incidentally, it has been happening since the invention of television! Its no more or less now than it was back in the analogue days, its just that the way it manifests itself on screen has changed with the technology.

It will stop once the high pressure moves

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Lord Dellpus's 1 post US flag
C
Coach
sentiment_satisfiedBronze

10:12 AM

I had issues while in a low pressure depression.

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Coach's 33 posts US flag
A
Alan White
4:33 PM

Recorded Strictly Come Dancing on Saturday last and lost the last few dances. Have previously seen high number Freeview channels dropped in the small hours. I assume that you are under contract to transmit Freeview channels 24/7.
If you cannot fulfil that commitment, suggest that you hand over to those that can.

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Alan White's 1 post US flag
C
Carol Jackson
4:58 PM
Bedford

Have no signal at all mk45 3bu

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Carol Jackson's 1 post US flag
Carol's: ...
Monday, 22 October 2018
L
Lord Dellpus
9:28 AM

Alan White: I'll say it yet again, as clearly no one these days bothers to actually read the previous posts or search for info before complaining - as posted TWO posts ago!.....

This is all due to co-channel interference from distant transmitters due to atmospheric fading. This is because of the large high pressure weather system currently over the UK.

There is pretty much nothing you or anyone else, including the broadcasters, can do about it.

Incidentally, it has been happening since the invention of television! Its no more or less now than it was back in the analogue days, its just that the way it manifests itself on screen has changed with the technology.

It will stop once the high pressure moves.

The fact that YOU are having problems is NOT a transmitter issue! It is down to the conditions in the atmostphere and the broadcasters and transmitter operators can do NOTHING about that! Try reading the back of your TV licence - you have no entitlement to a good signal! As for your comment about contracts - im pretty sure if the contract was not being fulfilled the operator would be getting a lot of hassle! In fact, the broadcasters all seem perfectly happy! Thats because its the weather!!!

Oh and this site has NOTHING to do with and NO CONNECTION with the broadcasters! I suggest you direct your whining directly at them not on an indipendant website

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Lord Dellpus's 1 post US flag
Wednesday, 24 October 2018
N
Nick
9:19 PM

Mark: Hi guys, just to report, I'm having huge problems with channel 55 for the last few days, all muxes are 100% and off course as 55 & 56 are reporting lower power for 56 I still get pretty good signal and stable. Channel 55 however is dead most of the time with signal quality being down the pan and signal levels about the same as channel 56.

Why have these muxes gone right up into the 700Mhz band they never were and I thought the July engineering was for the start of the 700Mhz clearance.

I note there are no more planned engineering works for the week ahead at Sandy, does this mean we're stuck with this ?

I've still got the same hi gain wideband antenna I've always used and only 21 miles away from Sandy.

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Nick's 6 posts US flag
N
Nick
9:42 PM

PS. I get the high pressure system and currently note the current tropospheric forecast is moderate to strong, but I find it strange that only channel 55 is affected for me and also the same for another person back in July going back through the posts.

Just thought I'd mention that hehehhe

Kind Regards Nick

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Nick's 6 posts US flag
Thursday, 25 October 2018
N
Nick
8:30 AM

Looks like the High pressure system is going back to normal. All good this morning after 4 days of mess, no errors and signal stable on 55. And yeah the weather has changed, it's bloomin cold out there this morning. Soon be Christmas folks hehehe

Nick

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Nick's 6 posts US flag
MikeP
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

11:17 AM

Nick:

High pressure can affect just one channel, so no surprise there. COM7 and COM8 are temporary services and are likely to disappear around 2022, the channels they carry are likely to be added to other multiplexes as more start to use the DVB-T2 encoding that can carry more channels and provide HD coverage.

A signal strength of 100% is likely to give rise to some unexpected reception problems, especially if your TV has a sensitive tuner. The usual advice is to ensure your signal strengths are not above 85%.



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MikeP's 3,056 posts GB flag
Saturday, 27 October 2018
N
Nick
9:37 PM

MikeP: Hi Mike,

Since yesterday Com7 & 8 55,56 are really poor again, they were only stable for a day and one evening now their completely shot. DigitalUK reports variable reception for these now since July.
Before they moved frequency they were perfect like the rest.

My question is has the ERP changed for these since they were on channel 32 and 34 when I never had any issue with these muxes prior to the change. I see from Ofcom technical they are lower power compared to all the other muxes or is it combo of the higher frequency, lower power and me having to use a loft aerial because of strict local bylaws.

And my next question is if the ERP is still the same why are these muxes now so unstable after moving into the 700Mhz band when even SDN Com4 is on channel 51 714.004Mhz and as the others are rock solid on the lower frequencies?

I've even now have the aerial pointing slightly up which has improved strength but not stability I'm sure the roof tiles will be causing issues with deflection and a mass of trees out back.

I've found the exact compas bearing for the transmitter which has vastly improved signal and quality for the other muxes I don't have a problem with typically

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Nick's 6 posts US flag
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