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 25/11/2024 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 withheldThursday, 7 July 2016
A
Alan Goss9:12 PM
Thanks for all the responses. Some of the info requests are a bit beyond my knowhow. The signal strength does seem to have dropped:
Living Room - Sony - Quality 21-29, strength 38-42
Conservatory - Toshiba - Channels 41, 42, 44, 49, 52 - Strength weak to average, Quality Good
Bedroom - Logik - Channel 42 Quality 40, strength 48
Channel 49 Quality 35, strength 48
Channel 52 Quality 35, strength 54
I did note this TV (always a bit weaker, not HD) has lost channels 33-100
The aerial is in the loft so not subject to wind and weather. The amp is an SLX 6X and is not showing any fault lights. This has probably been there for around 10+ years without problems and tuned to HD OK when TVs were changed in the past.
From what is said in the responses above it would appear that the signal strength has dropped.
I have tried connection directly from the aerial to the living room and conservatory TV's with a 2 way splitter but just get 'No Signal' on the Sony and Toshiba sets. I then connected each TV separately directly to the aerial and only the Toshiba worked. The others showed 'No Signal'.
Put the amp back on with TV's connected and they are back to as above so the amp does appear to be working.
Any more comments gratefully received. I normally watch the F1 in HD and the British GP is on Sunday!
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A
Alan Goss9:17 PM
Just found another 'page' on the Tosh and the signal strength is 26-30%, Quality 92% Lots of other figures I don't understand.
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M
MikeB11:54 PM
Alan Goss: Since we have no idea where you are (hint - poscode into this site), we can't say if the signal strengths your quoting are normal for you, but since 75% should be perfect, it looks like your signal strength is too low.
Different TV's will have different tuners, and so they can slightly vary in just how sensitive they are, but it looks like there is a problem with your system, perhaps centrally. Yes, your booster looks fine, but something is not right, and since your setup is in the loft, its not that difficult to bypass it. To be honest, most people have no need of a booster these days anyway. And just because an aerial is in a loft, it doesn't mean that its totally free from corrosion, etc.
Perhaps the weak signal from the transmitter showed up an existsing problem that your ordinarily wouldn't have noticed until the whole thing went kaput.
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Friday, 8 July 2016
J
jb3812:14 AM
Alan Goss: These signal strength readings are far too low for reliable reception, and even although boosters are used in many areas of the UK in order to lift the strength of the signal received to a level well above the receivers lower cut off threshold, in virtually all instances the signal can "still" be received without said booster in line with the aerial, therefore as MikeB has said, information on your location relative to that of the transmitter is essential in order to assess the level of signal expected in your specific area, as numerous dead spots for reception exist within the published coverage area of the Heathfield transmitter.
By the way, could you also confirm (or otherwise) that your aerial is *not* fitted with a mast head amplifier?
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J
jb388:30 AM
Alan Goss : Regarding your SLX6 aerial amplifier, although you have already tried connecting your TV's directly into the aerial, I just wondered what the result would be if you have tried connecting one of them into the full output socket on your amplifier? as this output provides 18dB gain over the 8dB from each of the 6 individual sockets.
On the subject of mast head amplifier, what I am meaning is that its "not" one with a built in booster, such as the log periodic aerial manufactured by Philex.
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MikeP
1:59 PM
1:59 PM
Alan Goss: you shpuld never connect two, or more, TVs to the aerial system via a passive splitter and certainly not when your signal levels are so low. All the splitter will do is reduce the signals strengths even further - by anything up to 2/3s!
I concur with the comments from jb38 and MikeB. We really need to have a full post code (or that of a very nearby shop/post office/public building) so we can determine what would be a good reception for your location.
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A
Alan Goss7:36 PM
Tunbridge Wells
Hi, I am in Tunbridge Wells, postcode TN2 5HE.
The signal strengths are obviously too low now, but the system has been fine for many years. I am 'over a hill' in a dead spot for the Tunbridge Wells transmitter, hence the Heathfield transmitter is he only one I can receive from.
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Alan's: mapA's Freeview map terrainA's terrain plot wavesA's frequency data A's Freeview Detailed Coverage
A
Alan Goss9:57 PM
Update: Removed the FM aerial from the amp and things got a little better for some reason, quality and signal strength improved but not enough for HD. I think my SLX 6 is an older one as it has LED's for power, short and surge which later ones do not going by instructions I could find on the net. It only has connections for UHF in, VHF/DAB in and 6 outs, nothing about 18db gain out.
Checking other external aerials around I thought mine could do with angling slightly more so adjusted as much as possible in the roof space. This has resulted in 100% quality and 54-60% signal strength on the Sony (which seems to be the most difficult set to satisfy) and HD is back. I can't see how he aerial could have moved as I never go to that end of the loft normally. Hopefully it will keep working for another 10 years without problems.
Interestingly this site appears to recommend Dover as the transmitter for my postcode, seems a long way off and nobody around seems to use it (including a new neighbour with a new aerial fitted last month).
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Saturday, 9 July 2016
J
jb3812:44 AM
Alan Goss: Thanks for the update re location, this having now enabled a terrain check to be made of same covering the signal path from the transmitter mast, something which has proved to be quite revealing as far as a likely reason for the low signal strength and subsequent difficulties with reception, insomuch that the line of sight to the Heathfield transmitter mast is seen to suffer from three separate obstructions starting from approximately only 3 miles out from your area, and with the signal path prior to these obstructions seen to skim close to the elevated ground at approximately 5 miles out.
Line of sight obstructions have a much greater effect on reception when they are located close to the receiving end of the equation, such as applies in your particular case, and the fact of the signal skimming close to the ground prior to said obstructions doesn't help either as it all depends on what's on the surface of the terrain, because if vegetation in the form of trees, then this can add a variable element to the signal received depending on weather conditions (wet or dry).
You can view the terrain indications referred to by opening the undermentioned link.
Terrain between ( m a.g.l.) and (antenna m a.g.l.) - Optimising UK DTT Freeview and Radio aerial location
On the subject of your SLX6, the socket referred to does not mention 18dB, its only called full output, although yours must indeed be a really old model if it doesn't have this output socket, as my SLX spec sheet must be about 7 years old.
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A
Alan Goss7:57 AM
Thanks for the info.
For being on the edge of a reasonable sized town we are blinded a lot by the terrain. There are a lot of wooded areas all round and between us and Heathfield. So much for modern comms! We also have a choice of EE or EE for mobile phone reception as they are the only one with a transmitter on the downside of the hill.
Other than using a high mast for the aerial I assume there is not much I can do to improve TV reception. Would also be nice if they upgraded the transmitter to give full services.
This looks like the spec sheet for my SLX6X, probably 10+ years old but has given no problems.
http://www.philex.co.uk/a….pdf
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