Full Freeview on the Heathfield (East Sussex, England) transmitter
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The symbol shows the location of the Heathfield (East Sussex, England) transmitter which serves 170,000 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 Heathfield (East Sussex, England) mast?
Heathfield transmitter - Heathfield transmitter: Possible effect on TV reception week commencing 04/11/2024 Pixelation or flickering on some or all channels 
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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)
The Heathfield (East Sussex, England) mast is a public service broadcasting (PSB) transmitter, it does not provide these commercial (COM) channels: .
If you want to watch these channels, your aerial must point to one of the 80 Full service Freeview transmitters. For more information see the will there ever be more services on the Freeview Light transmitters? page.
Which Freeview channels does the Heathfield 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)
The Heathfield (East Sussex, England) mast is a public service broadcasting (PSB) transmitter, it does not provide these commercial (COM) channels: .
If you want to watch these channels, your aerial must point to one of the 80 Full service Freeview transmitters. For more information see the will there ever be more services on the Freeview Light transmitters? page.
Which BBC and ITV regional news can I watch from the Heathfield transmitter?
BBC South East Today 0.8m homes 3.2%
from Tunbridge Wells TN1 1QQ, 17km north (6°)
to BBC South East region - 45 masts.
ITV Meridian News 0.7m homes 2.7%
from Maidstone ME14 5NZ, 41km north-northeast (31°)
to ITV Meridian (East) region - 36 masts.
All of lunch, weekend and 50% evening news is shared with all of Meridian plus Oxford
How will the Heathfield (East Sussex, England) transmission frequencies change over time?
| 1984-97 | 1997-98 | 1998-2012 | 2012-13 | 2013-18 | 2013-17 | 19 Jul 2018 | |||
| C/D E | C/D E | C/D E | W T | W T | W T | K T | |||
| C29 | _local | _local | _local | _local | |||||
| C40 | SDN | ||||||||
| C41 | ArqB | ArqB | ArqB | BBCA | |||||
| C42 | SDN | SDN | SDN | ||||||
| C43 | ArqA | ||||||||
| C44 | ArqA | ArqA | ArqA | D3+4 | |||||
| C46 | ArqB | ||||||||
| C47 | BBCB | BBCB | BBCB | BBCB | |||||
| C49tv_off | BBC1waves | BBC1waves | BBC1waves | D3+4 | D3+4 | D3+4 | |||
| C52tv_off | BBC2waves | BBC2waves | BBC2waves | BBCA | BBCA | BBCA | |||
| C64 | ITVwaves | ITVwaves | ITVwaves | ||||||
| C67 | C4waves | C4waves | C4waves |
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 May 12 and 13 Jun 12.
How do the old analogue and currrent digital signal levels compare?
| Analogue 1-4 | 100kW | |
| SDN, ARQA, ARQB, BBCA, D3+4, BBCB | (-7dB) 20kW | |
| Mux 1*, Mux 2* | (-18dB) 1.6kW | |
| Mux A*, Mux B*, Mux C*, Mux D* | (-20dB) 1000W |
Which companies have run the Channel 3 services in the Heathfield transmitter area
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Is the transmitter output the same in all directions?
Radiation patterns withheldFriday, 15 June 2012
K
kaz9:18 AM
Eastbourne
My mother can't get half her channels from Heathfield either. They're supposed to be broadcasting 6;
BBCA on Ch.52
D3+4 on 49
BBCB on 47
SDN on 42
ArqA on 44
ArqB on 41
She gets 41, 49, and 52. Perfectly. The TV claims it's excellent reception. She also gets 40 - which seems to be coming from Bexhill transmitter, and is a duplicate of Heathfield's channel 49 but with different regional programmes I believe.
She doesn't get 44, 47, or 48, although she'll never get HD with her current equipment but she's still missing 2 of the channels and she NEEDS them. She particularly wants Challenge and ITV3. Luckily she can currently get them on Sky, but she's cancelling that soon and Challenge is not available on Freesat.
Can anyone give even the slightest clue as to what the problem might be? She's retuned twice and also tried to add them manually, all to no avail. Will both channels be okay from the 27th?
I also posted this on the Eastbourne transmitter page, but thought it might be wise to ask advice here too.
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kaz's: mapK's Freeview map terrainK's terrain plot wavesK's frequency data K's Freeview Detailed Coverage
kaz: As I you've gathered, SDN is shown above to be on C42+ which is incorrect as it is on C48 now and will go to C42 on 27th. Until then, it is doubtful whether you will be able to pick it up.
Perhaps the Sky box puts a signal out on or near C44 which is preventing reception of it on the TV. In order to discount this possibility, connect the incoming aerial lead directly to the TV (or set-top box receiver if that's what it is). Then try again. If you successfully tune in C44 and then you loose it once you've connected the aerial lead via the Sky box again, then suspicion must turn to that.
If there is a booster (before the TV), then try removing it and then try again manually tuning to C44.
D3+4 being tuned to Bexhill really needs fixing because receiving from a direction other than to which the aerial is pointing could leave the viewer liable to poor reception at some or all the time.
Removal of any booster will reduce signal levels and therefore may make it less likely to tune to Bexhill in error.
Failing that, if the set has manual tuning, then you can run the automatic tuning scan with the aerial unplugged for part of the scan to miss out Bexhill. As this will also miss out some of Heathfield, you can use manual tuning to add them.
Try plugging the aerial in at 53%. You will probably pick up BBCA and possibly D3+4 and you will have to add the rest.
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K
Keith Myers11:57 AM
Before the digital switchover BBC1 hardly ever broke up. Since the switchover it breaks up constantly. I thought the transmission levels were scheduled to be increased following switchover.I have retuned all of my TV's several times. I now have to rely on SKY for BBC1 and ITV when they break up.
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Keith Myers: Without knowing your location my answer is more speculation than it may have been had I known your location.
Firstly, ensure that BBC One is tuned to Heathfield which is on UHF channel 52 by looking on the signal strength screen.
But there is a possibility that the signal after switchover is too strong, with this manifesting itself as being too weak and/or too poor quality a signal.
See Freeview signals: too much of a good thing is bad for you | ukfree.tv - independent free digital TV advice
In general terms, the closer to the transmitter that you are, the more this could be the case. A booster in particular could be increasing the signal too much.
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M
matty3:21 PM
cant get all the channels some are missing says on site cheneels 41,42,44,47,49,52 but i am missing 47.42 why only go 4 out of 6 channels
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M
matty3:27 PM
sorry about the rubbish spelling its not just me others to have this problem live in eastbourne
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matty: Heathfield C47 is BBCB which carries the four HD services (including those of ITV1 and Channel 4), therefore non-HD tuners will be unable to receive it.
A "HD Ready" TV means that it will show HD pictures, but does not have the means to receive them over the air.
"Full HD" means that the TV has a HD resolution of 1080p. Its presence adds no qualification to reception of HD signals over the air.
Where a set has a "Freeview HD" logo on and has DVB-T2 in its specifications, then it will be able to receive C47. Standard definition broadcasts use DVB-T, so if in the spec it only says this, then it won't pick up HD.
C42 shown above is incorrect and I've posted a message to the site owner so it may be corrected. COM4/SDN remains on C48 at low power until 27th June when there will be a retune.
If there is a booster, then it may be able to be removed. It may or may not allow reception of COM4 on C48, you may have to wait until 27th when it will be on C42.
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J
John Baillie3:35 PM
Oxted
I have a high gain aerial on my roof. I have 3 bits of HD Ready equipment and I have done the retune. None of the sets have any channels between 49 and 60, hence no HD reception. Would appreciate any help thanks, John
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John's: mapJ's Freeview map terrainJ's terrain plot wavesJ's frequency data J's Freeview Detailed Coverage
John Baillie: Click the words "HD Ready" for an explanation.
You've probably bought them thinking that they were "ready" to receive HD when it comes on air. What it means is that they can display HD pictures but don't have the means to receive HD signals off the air.
A separate HD tuner box will be needed for each one I'm afraid.
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S
stuart smith4:39 PM
Good afternoon.
I live in Haywards Heath. The switchover has generally gone OK but I have poor signal (quality and strength) on frequency 41.
Any advice appreciated.
Thanks
(50.8197,-0.1366)
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