Full Freeview on the Sandy Heath (Central Bedfordshire, England) transmitter
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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.
This transmitter has no current reported problems
The BBC and Digital UK report there are no faults or engineering work on the Sandy Heath (Central Bedfordshire, England) transmitter._______
Digital television services are broadcast on a multiplexes (or Mux) where many stations occupy a single broadcast frequency, as shown below.
64QAM 8K 3/4 27.1Mb/s DVB-T MPEG2
H/V: aerial position (horizontal or vertical)
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.
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?
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
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?
| 1965-80s | 1984-97 | 1997-98 | 1998-2011 | 2011-13 | 12 Feb 2020 | ||||
| VHF | A K T | K T | K T | W T | W T | ||||
| C6 | ITVwaves | ||||||||
| C21 | C4waves | C4waves | C4waves | +BBCB | BBCB | ||||
| C24 | ITVwaves | ITVwaves | ITVwaves | D3+4 | D3+4 | ||||
| C27 | BBC2waves | BBC2waves | BBC2waves | BBCA | BBCA | ||||
| C31 | BBC1waves | BBC1waves | BBC1waves | ||||||
| C32 | com7 | ||||||||
| C33 | SDN | ||||||||
| C34 | com8 | ||||||||
| C35 | _local | ||||||||
| C36 | ArqA | ||||||||
| C39 | C5waves | C5waves | |||||||
| C43 | _local | ||||||||
| C48 | ArqB | ArqB | |||||||
| C51tv_off | SDN | ||||||||
| C52tv_off | ArqA | ||||||||
| C55tv_off | com7tv_off | ||||||||
| C56tv_off | COM8tv_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
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Sunday, 21 October 2018
A
Alan White4:33 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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Monday, 22 October 2018
L
Lord Dellpus9:28 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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Wednesday, 24 October 2018
N
Nick9:19 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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N
Nick9:42 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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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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MikeP
11:17 AM
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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Saturday, 27 October 2018
N
Nick9:37 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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Sunday, 28 October 2018
N
Nick9:05 AM
Sorry Mike the end of my post got cut off, if you or your colleagues do have any ideas I can try, or tips tricks I would be hugely appreciative. I'm quite tech savvy so don't worry about bombarding me with your tech hehehe
Thanks very much
nick
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MikeP
10:35 AM
10:35 AM
Nick:
The clues I picked up on are that you have several trees nearby which I assume are in line with the signal path from the transmitter to your aerial. They are often a problem because of the leaves growing in spring and falling in autumn. They get wet as well and both those affect the way signal travel past the trees. Is it possible to site the aerial so it does not look through the tree canopies? It is usually better to mount the erial to look around them or over them.
The other is that you have a loft aerial but I am unaware that any planning authority is allowed to restrict your having a single aerial mounted externally (there are rules about multiple dishes and their size but you are allowed one external dish and one external aerial normally. I suggest you ask the local planners about that apparent 'rule'.) However, there may be a covenant applied to your property that may restrict the use of outdoor aerials - but that is not a planning matter but one of common law relating to ownership and use of land.property. If there is one it will be mentioned in the deeds of your house, which should be discussed with your lawyers.
I am not aware of any reduction/change in the radiated power of COM7 and COM8 from Sandy Heath, they appear to be the same as they were before the move. Because the frequencies used are now higher the signals are affected a little differently than before due to atmospheric absorption effects, etc.
Tiles do affect reception, especially when wet or covered with snow. It is also important to have the aerial as far away from water tanks and/or pipes as is possible and definitely not 'looking through' them. Loft insulation that has a metallic film included will also cause reception problems with an internally mounted aerial in the loft. The same is true for any layer immediately below the tiles as any metal between the aerial and the transmitter will cause problems.
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