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.
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 27/11/2023 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)
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
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
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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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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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J
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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Matt9:09 PM
Thanks for the reply, JB38.
Then in that case this new digital system is flawed. The TV is totally unwatchable in these weather conditions. Back when it was analoge you could at least watch TV, even with a bad picture.
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MikeB9:22 PM
Macclesfield
Matt: The weather conditions would have exactly the same effect, be it analogue or digital. When I was growing up on the South Coast, such conditions used to mean French TV, rather than Southern. In fact, thanks to digital, that no longer happens.
JB38: Are you getting the same problem? I'm on Waltham, so I can't check (although that might explain the Pop TV signal falloff), but it would be useful to see where the problem is actually happening.
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MikeB's: mapM's Freeview map terrainM's terrain plot wavesM's frequency data M's Freeview Detailed Coverage
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Andrew Mills9:27 PM
I live in Peterborough and have been losing TV signal for periods of 50 to mins at a time. Previous to tonight we had no such problems.
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Matt9:39 PM
It did, Mike? I'm in my 30's. Growing up i can remember either having a good picture, a weak but watchable picture, and even sometimes 2 channels ghosting into one another. But it was always watchable regardless. Even with a wire coat hanger jammed into the back of the TV as an aerial. lol Everyone here seems to say the same as me.
Neighbours are having the same problem btw. We both just did another re-tune and lost loads of stations. The ones that remain are patchy.
We never had this fannying around with analouge did we. No having to constantly check connections, climbing up in the loft, having to come online to find out what the problem is etc etc etc. Back in the days of analouge if the picture was a tad crap you would simply twiddle the aerial on the back of the TV until you got a watchable picture. Happy days! =)
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jb389:45 PM
Matt: Yes, quite so, as analogue reception was far more robust as far as coping with interference is concerned, albeit that double images /ghosting, or images sweeping across the screen in the back ground were commonly experienced during high pressure related problems, digital signals unfortunately not being near so tolerant, picture break up or even vanishing on experiencing relatively low levels of interference.
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jb3810:04 PM
MikeB : Sorry for the delay in replying. Yes, the situation is still the same when tested a few minutes ago, great signal but accompanied by zero quality. C31 still OK though!
Reception of Mux 26 (Pop) is not really possible in my area, at least not in an even remotely reliable fashion.
Of course PSB3 HD reception also vanished for a few hours on Sunday, returning later on in early evening, but though hopefully this issue will have cleared up by Wednesday.
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