menuMENU    UK Free TV logo Freeview

 

 

Click to see updates

Full Freeview on the Sandy Heath (Central Bedfordshire, England) transmitter

first published this on - UK Free TV
sa_streetviewGoogle Streetviewsa_gmapsGoogle mapsa_bingBing mapsa_gearthGoogle Earthsa_gps52.130,-0.242 or 52°7'47"N 0°14'33"Wsa_postcodeSG19 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.

Are there any planned engineering works or unexpected transmitter faults on the Sandy Heath (Central Bedfordshire, England) mast?

Sandy Heath transmitter - Sandy Heath transmitter: Possible effect on TV reception week commencing 25/03/2024 Pixelation or flickering on some or all channels Digital tick


Choose from three options: ■ List by multiplex ■ List by channel number ■ List by channel name
_______

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.

MuxH/VFrequencyHeightModeWatts
PSB1
BBCA
 H max
C27 (522.0MHz)291mDTG-180,000W
Channel icons
1 BBC One (SD) Cambridge, 2 BBC Two England, 9 BBC Four, 23 BBC Three, 201 CBBC, 202 CBeebies, 231 BBC News, 232 BBC Parliament, plus 16 others

PSB2
D3+4
 H max
C24 (498.0MHz)291mDTG-180,000W
Channel icons
3 ITV 1 (SD) (Anglia (West micro region)), 4 Channel 4 (SD) South ads, 5 Channel 5, 6 ITV 2, 10 ITV3, 13 E4, 14 Film4, 15 Channel 4 +1 South ads, 18 More4, 26 ITV4, 28 ITVBe, 30 E4 +1, 35 ITV1 +1 (Anglia east),

PSB3
BBCB
 H max
C21+ (474.2MHz)291mDTG-180,000W
Channel icons
46 5SELECT, 101 BBC One HD Cambridge, 102 BBC Two HD England, 103 ITV 1 HD (ITV Meridian Southampton), 104 Channel 4 HD South ads, 105 Channel 5 HD, 106 BBC Four HD, 107 BBC Three HD, 204 CBBC HD, 205 CBeebies HD, plus 1 others

COM4
SDN
 H -0.2dB
C33 (570.0MHz)291mDTG-8170,000W
Channel icons
20 Drama, 21 5USA, 29 ITV2 +1, 32 5STAR, 33 5Action, 38 Channel 5 +1, 41 Legend, 42 GREAT! action, 57 Dave ja vu, 58 ITVBe +1, 59 ITV3 +1, 64 Blaze, 67 TRUE CRIME, 68 TRUE CRIME XTRA, 78 TCC, 81 Blaze +1, 83 Together TV, 89 ITV4 +1, 91 WildEarth, 209 Ketchup TV, 210 Ketchup Too, 211 YAAAS!, 267 Al Jazeera English, plus 30 others

COM5
ArqA
 H -0.2dB
C36 (594.0MHz)289mDTG-8170,000W
Channel icons
11 Sky Mix, 17 Really, 19 Dave, 31 E4 Extra, 36 Sky Arts, 40 Quest Red, 43 Food Network, 47 Film4 +1, 48 Challenge, 49 4seven, 60 Drama +1, 65 That's TV 2, 70 Quest +1, 74 Yesterday +1, 75 That's 90s, 233 Sky News, plus 11 others

COM6
ArqB
 H -0.2dB
C48 (690.0MHz)289mDTG-8170,000W
Channel icons
12 Quest, 25 W, 27 Yesterday, 34 GREAT! movies, 39 DMAX, 44 HGTV, 52 GREAT! romance, 56 That's TV (UK), 61 GREAT! movies extra, 63 GREAT! romance mix, 71 That’s 60s, 73 HobbyMaker, 82 Talking Pictures TV, 84 PBS America, 235 Al Jazeera Eng, plus 18 others

DTG-8 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?

regional news image
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
regional news image
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?

1965-80s1984-971997-981998-20112011-1312 Feb 2020
VHFA K TK TK TW TW T
C6ITVwaves
C21C4wavesC4wavesC4waves+BBCBBBCB
C24ITVwavesITVwavesITVwavesD3+4D3+4
C27BBC2wavesBBC2wavesBBC2wavesBBCABBCA
C31BBC1wavesBBC1wavesBBC1waves
C32com7
C33SDN
C34com8
C35_local
C36ArqA
C39C5wavesC5waves
C43_local
C48ArqBArqB
C51tv_offSDN
C52tv_offArqA
C55tv_offcom7tv_off
C56tv_offCOM8tv_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

Oct 1959-Feb 2004Anglia Television
Feb 2004-Dec 2014ITV plc
Feb 1983-Dec 1992TV-am•
Jan 1993-Sep 2010GMTV•
Sep 2010-Dec 2014ITV Daybreak•
• Breakfast ◊ Weekends ♦ Friday night and weekends † Weekdays only.

Comments
Thursday, 28 June 2012
Dave Lindsay
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

12:20 PM

Adrian Sankton: That is correct; there were no changes to the transmission power.

The S1 antenna was to protect against interference with transmitters in Kent until they switched over. This is because they used the same frequencies pre-switchover.

It affected the signal in that general direction, focusing it lower down to the horizon so as to curtail its propagation (in that direction).

link to this comment
Dave Lindsay's 5,724 posts GB flag
H
Hertfordshaz
4:57 PM

Hi

I live in Hertford

A strange thing has happened - I was pootling along quite happily watching Anglia news from Sandy Heath. In the last few months, I am now picking up a bad signal of London news. Could the Bengeo relay be interfering with my Sandy Heath signal? Should I retune? Thanks

link to this comment
Hertfordshaz's 1 post GB flag
K
KMJ,Derby
sentiment_satisfiedGold

5:53 PM

Hertfordshaz: Have a look in the 800s of the channel list for any alternative channels which carry Anglia news. When scanning if the London signal is found first (or Anglia is off the air or blocked by interference) you will find London channels stored on the "normal" channel positions. Retuning might restore the Anglia channels to their former location, but really you need to clear the channel list and do a manual tune, if possible, on the Sandy Heath frequencies.

link to this comment
KMJ,Derby's 1,811 posts GB flag
Friday, 29 June 2012
C
chris davies
5:23 PM

Can we now take it Sandy Heath is transmitting on it's final frequencies, power and aerial, i.e. now more changes so it would be safe to assume this is a good point to set up an aerial and receiver.
It seems odd there was no engineering work prior to the transitional aerial change over.
Chris

link to this comment
chris davies's 16 posts GB flag
Saturday, 30 June 2012
T
Tim
sentiment_satisfiedBronze

7:06 PM
Radlett

Just as a matter of interest since Sandy Heath has stopped the use of the transitional aerial I can now receive Anglia and Merdian region programming,also helped by the channel change and power increase from Bluebell Hill, my aerial is pointing at Crystal Palace which is roughly in the direction of Bluebell Hill but is about 45 degrees out of alinement from Sandy, both signals are stable

link to this comment
Tim's 32 posts GB flag
Tim's: mapT's Freeview map terrainT's terrain plot wavesT's frequency data T's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Monday, 2 July 2012
M
Mark Fletcher
sentiment_satisfiedGold

7:11 PM
Halifax

Chris Davies.Yes should be the answer to your question,but come 2020 if the plan to clear the 700mhz frequencies does take effect then the COM multiplexes on Sandy Heath either within group B or group C/D frequencies will have to relocate elsewhere.As the 2020 scenario is not yet known for Sandy Heath main transmitter (see above this page) there is a likelyhood that Sandy Heath may revert back to an all group A or possibly a group K mast,so the possibility of changing group W wideband aerials to group A aerials once again come 2020 if the 700mhz band is cleared and Sandy Heath were to revert to an all group A mast once more will cause grief and consternation come that time.But then again Sandy Heath may instead become a semi-wideband group K transmitter by then,and a good quality group K aerial (grey tipped) even working right down to frequency 55 (for either Yagi 18K or X-Beam 16K in poor/marginal areas is the new future proof wideband aerial that has a higher gain on group A frequencies than the group W widebands,though group A aerials have higher gain than group K aerials,and even higher still than group W widebands.

link to this comment
Mark Fletcher's 673 posts GB flag
Mark's: mapM's Freeview map terrainM's terrain plot wavesM's frequency data M's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Wednesday, 4 July 2012
S
steve Nelson
4:27 PM
Bishop's Stortford

Mark Fletcher: I have freeview working in three rooms via RF2 output on sky box linked to to an RF amplifier, this also enables me to control sky in other rooms using a "TV Link".

Two of the tv's have built in freeview and are working fine. The third one which is analogue only and I have a scart mini freeview box and on approx the 20th June I couldn't get BBC1 BBC2 ITV1 CHANNEL 4 AND 5 amongst others, also the BBC radio stations disapeared, I got "no signal" after a few days the programmes came back, albiet with a pixalated picture. They have now disapeared again.

I do however get most of the other commercial TV and radio stations crystal clear.

The signal strength today on the scart decoder was approx 67% and the quality was between 30 and 39 on the missing channels and upto 97% on the ok channels.

I am using the Sandy Heath transmitter, my post code is CM22 6.

Is there a simple answer to my problem ?

With Thanks



link to this comment
steve Nelson's 1 post GB flag
steve's: mapS's Freeview map terrainS's terrain plot wavesS's frequency data S's Freeview Detailed Coverage
M
Mark Fletcher
sentiment_satisfiedGold

5:39 PM
Halifax

Steve Nelson.Bishop Stortford,CM22 6AY.
From what you stated it appears you lost both the BBCA and D3+4 multiplexes from Sandy Heath on frequencies 27 and 24 respectively.One possibility here would be to reset your affected appliance as such by first unplugging from the electric socket for over one minute then replug back in,now unplug the aerial or an aerial connector lead (if this applies) from your affected mini freeview box and perform an automatic scan from start to finish,the result it will find zero channels but clears the previous memory of the affected mini-freeview box as such.Now once this stage has been completed replug the aerial or aerial connector lead (if this applies) back into the affected box as such,and this time perform if your affected box allows it a manual scan of the Sandy Heath multiplexes.BBCA on frequency 27,D3+4 on frequency 24,BBCB (HD) on frequency 21 if your affected box is a Freeview HD or Freeview +HD type,SDN on frequency 51,ArqA on frequency 52,ArqB on frequency 48.Hopefully this should work.
But if your affected box does not perform manual scanning then instead perform automatic scan instead,it should also work.
However if all the above fails,one scenario is to bypass the affected set-top box from the analogue TV you indicated earlier and onto one of the two built in freeview TV's you have elsewhere preferably one with a direct aerial feed,then rescan preferably manual scanning if this allows,if not then just automatic scan instead and monitor the situation.After this return the affected box back to the analogue TV then assess the situation,it should now hopefully work.

link to this comment
Mark Fletcher's 673 posts GB flag
Mark's: mapM's Freeview map terrainM's terrain plot wavesM's frequency data M's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Saturday, 7 July 2012
N
Nigel J
5:07 AM
Wisbech

Since the beginning of July 2012, CH27 on Sandy Heath has produced weak and poor quality signals. especially during the day. All other mux channels are producing 10/10 signals.

link to this comment
Nigel J's 19 posts GB flag
Nigel's: mapN's Freeview map terrainN's terrain plot wavesN's frequency data N's Freeview Detailed Coverage
P
Patrick
11:47 AM
Northampton

Weak or no signal message coming up on both of my tv's! Randomly showed up last night. Unplugged everything and rescanned and it can't find any tv channels, I live in a block of flats so no idea if it's happened to anyone else! I live in NN1, any ideas what the problem could be? Thanks, Patrick

link to this comment
Patrick's 1 post GB flag
Patrick's: mapP's Freeview map terrainP's terrain plot wavesP's frequency data P's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Select more comments

Your comment please
Please post a question, answer or commentIf you have Freeview reception problems before posting a question your must first do this Freeview reset procedure then see: Freeview reception has changed, Single frequency interference, and Freeview intermittent interference.

If you have no satellite signal, see Sky Digibox says 'No Signal' or 'Technical fault'

If you have other problems, please provide a full (not partial) postcode (or preferably enter it in box at the top right) and indicate where if aerial is on the roof, in the loft or elsewhere.

UK Free TV is here to help people. If you are rude or disrespectful all of your posts will be deleted and you will be banned.








Privacy policy: UK Free Privacy policy.