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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Monday, 2 November 2015
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Brian Greensides8:04 PM
Much the same here. Total loss of signal at times over the last few days. Hopping around in the loft to check if aerial cables etc had been attacked by creepy crawly things, no.
Problem still persists up to this time.
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M
Matt8:18 PM
Hi Mike. Thanks for the reply.
All TV's have gone down now, even the one in the living room. No signal at all for ages, then patchy, then back to no signal. So i highly doubt it is a fault at my end. It looks like other people in the area are experiencing the exact same issues. Checked signal strength on all 4 TV's and 2 set top boxes. They all show no signal and then fluctuate from good to bad. We "think" our aerial is pointed to Sandy Heath.
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R
Robert Singlehurst8:23 PM
Kettering
NN14 1BY - Surely if COM5 from Sandy Heath is working fine then it is not an end user problem? If everything went off then definitely but the channels I mentioned are showing a good signal.
I'm just trying to save people wandering around in their lofts unnecessarily if it's a problem with Sandy Heath :)
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Robert's: mapR's Freeview map terrainR's terrain plot wavesR's frequency data R's Freeview Detailed Coverage
J
jon8:39 PM
Jon: Same issue here in CM23 although crystal palace is serving most of the area our aerial points to Sandy Heath as better reception and wider range of channels but since 31 Oct had little of no signal on both tvs - tried re-tune, get some channels then again to get most but then signal drops out again. These issues can't be user end as there seems to be too many of them. Can anyone advise?
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Steve8:40 PM
Wellingborough
NN8 3EN - using Sandy Heath. Same problem as above since about late last week. Good signal strength - then loose BBC1 (and other channels - but not all) for 20-30minutes with no signal, then patchy signal, then it comes back with a good signal again. Have 2 TV with separate aerials - happens to both at the same time.
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Steve's: mapS's Freeview map terrainS's terrain plot wavesS's frequency data S's Freeview Detailed Coverage
M
MikeB8:42 PM
Macclesfield
Matt: Remember that your neck of the woods could be getting a signal from one of four transmitters. My parents in law live on the coast, and get Belmont. Talcneston could also be one, as could Waltham and Sandy Heath. So four different people could report 'no signal', but each tuned to a different transmitter!
Because you put your postcode into the site when you first posted (yeah!), there are a series of links to other sites which give loads of information. The DigitalUK site shows that Talcneston and Sandy Heath are your best bets, but Waltham/Belmont is also possible. If you want to check which transmitter your various sets have picked up, look at that link and then put each TV on BBC1. If its Sandy Heath, BBC1 should be on Channel 27.
If they are on Sandy Heath, there is a warning of a 'possible weak signal', but the RTI link says there are no problems. However, the weakness has to be seen in context - your not much further away from your transmitter than I am from Waltham, and I have to kill part of my signal for the PVR to cope, so that might not be the actual problem, if there is a weak signal at all. I think JB38 gets Sandy Heath, so he could possibly comment on signal strength.
Ask your neighbours on Freeview what local TV news they get, and if the get the same as you, ask if they are having problems. If they are, then its the transmitter, etc. If not, then its you. Most likely problem is a (very) loose connection or dodgy booster, etc. Follow the signal path back to the aerial, if poss. Remember that the weather was not great the last couple of days in Norfolk (I was there until Friday!), so moisture might have got into a cable, etc, or a connection might have frayed.
I suggest everyone does the same thing, becuase if there is a general problem, it can be addressed.
Good luck!
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MikeB's: mapM's Freeview map terrainM's terrain plot wavesM's frequency data M's Freeview Detailed Coverage
D
Daniel 8:45 PM
All my main tv channels are off air and have been for 3 hours now and I normally get 100% . so dont give me Its my end ....
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M
Matt8:54 PM
I find it hard to believe that everyone has all of a sudden developed problems with their system and cables. Unless Gremlins have been messing about with all our cables! =O
Been up in the loft and all looks fine. Checked all our TV's etc. For us BBC1 is on channel 1. BBC1HD is on 101. Channel 27 here is ITV2 +1.
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jb388:58 PM
Matt: The erratic reception problems presently being experienced by a large number of viewers is "mainly" caused by difficulties related to changes in atmospheric conditions rather than anything connected with transmission problems, albeit that some TX's do indeed have a "possible weak signal" listed against them.
The difficulties referred to being due to a wave of high pressure slowly sweeping across Mid / Southern parts of the UK, creating havoc with the reception of digital signals in the process, bouts of erratic reception being experienced as it drifts across from West to East.
The good news being that it's forecast to clear away from the UK in a N / North Easterly direction by late Tuesday / Wednesday morning, when (hopefully!) reception should then return to normal.
Needless to say, absolutely nothing can be done to help alleviate this problem.
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