Full Freeview on the Sandy Heath (Central Bedfordshire, England) transmitter
 | Google Streetview |  | Google map |  | Bing map |  | Google Earth |  | 52.130,-0.242 or 52°7'47"N 0°14'33"W |  | SG19 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.
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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Tuesday, 29 October 2019
S
Stafford7:05 PM
I am having problems receiving TV signals from the Sandy transmitter especially Horror channel 70 and some HD channels inc. BBC1
Has the power been reduced recently or have Antenna lobes been modified in some way?
Can you please investigate?
Regards
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M
MikeB10:08 PM
Stafford: There is no reason why the power should have been reduced, but there is a high likelihood that your aerial system has a fault, and therefore its there that you should start to look for the problem.
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Sunday, 3 November 2019
A
Andy Dodds7:07 PM
Sandy Heath transmitter is showing reception problems on just all BBC channels and Horror channel. No other channels ITV, channel Four, film four, sony movies, CBS Drama, etc I recieve are seeing this picture and sound blocking. This intermittent cutting of picture and sound across BBC channels appears ONLY between 6:00pm and 9:00pm (since 31st October). the rest of the day other than 6:00pm to 9:00pm all channels including BBC are okay with NO picture and sound blocking / jumping
My high-gain aerial system and cabling are okay with no faults as otherwise if this was the case then all TV and radio received on my TV would suffer picture cutting but they don't.
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Monday, 4 November 2019
C
Chris.SE2:57 AM
Andy Dodds:
There has been Planned Engineering work at Sandy Heath over the last week with "Possible weak signal" which might be the cause of your problems. Cannot confirm if any work continues this week until later today (see Planned engineering works | Freeview ).
Have you actually checked your cables etc.? Problematic connections, water ingress etc. can seem to affect reception of just an INDIVIDUAL, OR several or all multiplexes.
Check all you coax plugs, connections, flyleads etc, unplug connectors check for corrosion or other problems and reconnect them. Flyleads can often be a problem. See what signal strengths and quality you are getting for the multiplexes shown in your TV's tuning section, this might indicate potential issues with your aerial or downlead. Also check that your downlead looks undamaged and that your aerial seems intact and pointing in the correct direction.
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Tuesday, 5 November 2019
A
Andy Dodds6:01 PM
Thanks Chris regarding engineering works to my local transmitter Sandy Heath. But annoying though as I am watching Space 1999 on Horror channel each night. All BBC, 5 select, 4seven and horror are the only ones currently experiencing low signal quality on and off from around 5:00pm to later at night with no other channels affected.
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Monday, 11 November 2019
D
Dave M2:03 PM
: Sony Movies Christmas is supposed to be on channel 50 but is missing on Sandy Heath. Any obvious reasion for this as it is availabl elsewhere. I have retuned!
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Tuesday, 12 November 2019
C
Chris.SE9:00 AM
Dave M:
A lot of the Sony channels were moved by Sony back in the summer to Local multiplexes.
See Channel listings | Freeview
If you receive a local multiplex on LCN7 then you should get them.
I did not think that there was a local multiplex transmitted from Sandy Heath but one listing I've seen suggests that there may be a Cambridge one on UHF35. You may/may not be able to receive it at your location as it will be low power compared to the main multiplexes.
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Wednesday, 13 November 2019
R
Richard Tong12:56 AM
Corby
From the 10th of November I have lost channels from both freeview & freesat. I use a vu duo 2 to record to. I have checked all connections & the tuner cards in my vu duo 2 but still no better. I use a communal aerial & satellite. My postcode is NN17 1RP. I think it happens every year possibly the weather?
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Richard's: mapR's Freeview map terrainR's terrain plot wavesR's frequency data R's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Thursday, 14 November 2019
C
Chris.SE1:58 AM
Richard Tong:
I'm afraid I can't help with any satellite issues if it's a communal installation, if it persists you need to be either more specific about what channels have been lost, and posting on a more suitable board which will likely get a response from someone more expert on satellite, or contact the building management to get the issue looked at but check first if other neighbours have the same issue.
As far as Freeview is concerned, oh dear, your postcode is not well served by any one transmitter. You are obviously in a bit of a poor spot from various transmitters.
The Freeview Checker suggests that Waltham is your most likely transmitter ! However that only gives reliable reception from the 3 PSB muxes, no reception from SDN/COM4, also poor for ArqA & B and variable to poor for COMs 7&8, all after a retune event in March next year!
But it also shows consistent reception (albeit it mostly variable) from all muxes except COM8 from Sandy Heath. SDN/COM4 is good at present but becomes variable after a retune on 12th Feb. and after other transmitter changes on Mar.4th. you'll lose COM7.
Having told that tale of woe, as regards the channels you have lost - there've been a few changes since the summer. Sony have moved many of their channels to Local muxes. There is supposedly one at Sandy Heath on C35 but I doubt you're in an area that'll get it. You'll most likely get some/all on Satellite. They've also more recently renamed many of those channels. Last week and today (Thurs) have seen Film4+1, More4+1 & E4+1 move multiplex. See Channel listings | Freeview but at time of posting it doesn't show the E4+1 move.
If it's other channels you are missing, check with your neighbours if they have the same problems and post with details.
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J
js2:47 AM
Chris.SE: He must think we're psychic. Having to resort to guessing his missing channels is a bit much.
He doesn't even tell us if he's tried a re-scan or a reboot, either.
Anyway, like most who ask for help on here, I don't suppose we'll ever hear from him again.
Simply not worth the time and effort.
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