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 withheldSaturday, 16 June 2012
S
stuart smith1:12 PM
FAO Dave Lindsay.
Thanks for the reply Dave. I live in Trevelyan Place, heath Road. It's a development of flats built by Barratt 2000-01.
Prior to switchover, yes I had all freeview channels with no recpetion problems.
I don't think we've had the aerial replaced.
Yes, it's communal (ie. flats).
I look forward to your response.
Cheers
Stuart
(50.8197,-0.1366)
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stuart smith: Communal aerial systems are sometimes filtered to only allow channels that are used through (or only allow group(s) of channels through).
Look at the table above, under the heading "Transmission frequencies". Accepting that there is an error which says that SDN is currently on 42+ when it is on 48. On 27th it will move to C42.
You will note that prior to switchover, with the exception of 29 and 34, the lowest channel was 47.
A filter that cuts off at one channel won't have an absolute cut-off where one channel gets through unscathed and the other gets attenuated completely. It may reduce a neighbouring channel a bit. So perhaps up to C39 or C40 is filtered which is why 41 is not good.
You "may" see some affect on 42 when it comes on air, if it is the aerial system that is the cause of the problem, and if it hasn't been rectified by then.
You need to establish, as firmly as you can, that the problem lies with the aerial system and not your equipment. If you have more than one TV or box, then try each in turn. When trying the TV, connect the aerial lead from the wall directly to the TV and not via a box, so as to discount the box as being the source of the problem.
On each receiver, assess the signal strength of each multiplex and compare, perhaps writing each down. Different receivers have different scales and tolerances, so don't compare a single multiplex between receivers; only compare all multiplexes on each receiver. See if 41 is down relative to the other muxes with all receivers. Obviously 48 is expected to be lower then the others.
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K
Keith Myers2:58 PM
Message to Dave Lindsay from Keith Myers. Thanks for your reply. My location is RH2 (Reigate). We are the wrong side of the Hill to receive pictures from the Reigate transmitter hence we use Heathfield. As I said good reception before the switchover poor afterwards (BBC and ITV).
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D
Dave H4:24 PM
Just to sign off on my string for the benefit of anyone in the same position as me - Dave; you were absolutely right...the booster was the problem and all channels are now fine (including QVC, but then you can't have everything). Thanks again for your help.
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Keith Myres: If I am right in suspecting that you are served by a communal aerial, then I suggest that the problem might be that its amplifier needs turning down because it is boosting the signal too much.
This could be the case because the signal going into the aerial is now stronger than it was and hence the signal coming out from the outputs must be so as well. This could be above the level that receivers are built to accept and therefore the cause of your problem.
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Dave H: Good to hear you got it fixed, and a simple fix at that.
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S
stuart smith8:08 PM
stuart smith: 41 is the only frequency that is suffering from poor signal strenght and quality. I have restested each piece of equipment individually. Results are consistent.
Thanks
(50.8197,-0.1366)
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stuart smith: This suggests that it is a problem with the aerial system and that it needs adjustment following switchover.
It may be helpful if you can find any neighbours with the same problem.
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D
Denise Hunter9:21 PM
Eastbourne
Freeview seems to be broadcast over channels 21-68.
I can't get ITV 3 (channel 10)despite retuning automatically and unsucessfully trying to install the channel manually.
What is Channel 10 (ITV 3) equivalant to in the spectrum between 21-68. I would love to receive ITV 3.
Am on the Heathfield Transmitter postcode BN23 5TG.
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Denise's: mapD's Freeview map terrainD's terrain plot wavesD's frequency data D's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Denise Hunter: ITV3 and others on SDN from Heathfield remain on low power until 27th June when a retune will be required. On that date the signal will go up to full power.
If you have a booster, remove it. It may or may not restore availability of ITV3. If it does not, but the other channels remain OK, then leave it out.
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