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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.

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.

Choose from three options: ■ List by multiplex ■ List by channel number ■ List by channel name
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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), 71 That’s 60s,

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 U&Drama, 21 5USA, 29 ITV2 +1, 32 5STAR, 33 5Action, 38 Channel 5 +1, 41 Legend, 42 GREAT! action, 57 U&Dave ja vu, 58 ITV3 +1, 59 ITV4 +1, 64 Blaze, 67 TRUE CRIME, 68 TRUE CRIME XTRA, 81 Blaze +1, 83 Together TV, 91 WildEarth, 93 ITVBe +1, 209 Ketchup TV, 210 Ketchup Too, 211 YAAAS!, 251 Al Jazeera English, 255 FRANCE 24 (in English), 265 Rok Sky +1, plus 29 others

COM5
ArqA
 H -0.2dB
C36 (594.0MHz)289mDTG-8170,000W
Channel icons
11 Sky Mix, 17 Really, 19 U&Dave, 31 E4 Extra, 36 Sky Arts, 40 Quest Red, 43 Food Network, 47 Film4 +1, 48 Challenge, 49 4seven, 60 U&Drama +1, 65 That's TV 2, 70 Quest +1, 74 &UYesterday +1, 76 That's TV 2 MCR, 233 Sky News, plus 13 others

COM6
ArqB
 H -0.2dB
C48 (690.0MHz)289mDTG-8170,000W
Channel icons
12 Quest, 25 U&W, 27 U&Yesterday, 34 GREAT! movies, 39 DMAX, 44 HGTV, 52 GREAT! christmas, 56 That's TV (UK), 63 GREAT! romance mix, 73 HobbyMaker, 75 That's 90s, 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
Monday, 6 June 2016
N
Neil
8:22 AM
Saffron Walden

CB10 2TL- Saffron Walden, Essex. Same as above- 6.30am today no channels from PSB1 and PSB2. PSB2 returned about 6.50 and PSB1 intermittent. Looks like a transmitter issue?

link to this comment
Neil's 4 posts GB flag
Neil's: mapN's Freeview map terrainN's terrain plot wavesN's frequency data N's Freeview Detailed Coverage
R
Richard Cooper
sentiment_satisfiedGold

11:33 AM
Norwich

Neil: Hi Neil. Your transmitter would appear to be Sandy Heath in Bedfordshire. There are no faults or engineering works associated with this transmitter this morning, however, you may experience temporary disruption to your TV signal today due to high pressure. We advise that you do not retune - reception will return to normal once this weather system passes, Richard, Norwich, courtesy of Digital UK, 11:30 a.m.

link to this comment
Richard Cooper's 471 posts GB flag
Richard's: mapR's Freeview map terrainR's terrain plot wavesR's frequency data R's Freeview Detailed Coverage
MikeP
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

2:44 PM

Neil, Finemess and Dot:

I concur with Richard that your problems are due to current natural atmospheric conditions. Do *not* retune your TV equipment else you are likely to lose channels.

When the weather system currently over parts of the UK passes, your reception will return to normal.



link to this comment
MikeP's 3,056 posts GB flag
Saturday, 2 July 2016
M
Mr c veasey
12:21 PM

Hi, I am constantly getting a no signal message on my tv. It used to be ok and only went off during very bad weather. Regards

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Mr c veasey's 1 post GB flag
MikeP
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

1:27 PM

Mr C Veasey:

We need an indication of your location, preferably by giving a full post code of where you live (or that of a very nearby shop, public building or post office) so that reception conditions lacal to you can be checked.



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MikeP's 3,056 posts GB flag
J
John King
9:58 PM
Peterborough

I live in Peterborough (PE3 7EJ)
My reception to the Com5 (ArqA) freeview channels have had patchy reception for the last month
e.g. approx 5 seconds of picture then no reception at all for the next half-minute

other channels have occasionally had glitchy pictures and shortly after the problem started I also lost com4 for a few days but that came back COM5 seems to be my main problem
Please can you tell me if you have any ideas what may be causing the problem? is it atmospherics or could it be something else?
I had not installed anything new which could cause such interference but live in a middle floor flat and don't know about the people above and below

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John King's 3 posts GB flag
John's: mapJ's Freeview map terrainJ's terrain plot wavesJ's frequency data J's Freeview Detailed Coverage
M
MikeB
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

10:15 PM

John King: Sandy Heath seems to be fine, and its certainly not atmospherics - if it was, I'd be hit as well.

Start with the basics - whats the signal strength like? And what sort of aerial are you using? If your starting to lose a mux, see if that is unusually low strength wise. It could be all the muxes are less than great, but we dont notice until one goes. If thats the case, then trace back the signal from the TV. A classic is the fly lead at the back - is it lose or damaged? Its a cheap and easy hit to replace it, and if you've still got a problem, then you can discount it.

Could be the aerial itself - everything degrades, and it could be that it needs replacement.

If the strength is very high, then that blanking out can also occur, because its overloading the tuner. If its too much, thats an easy fix.

And then there is interfrence from elsewhere - a dodgy thermostat, a cordless phones charger, etc. Might be next door, and their equipmnet - some time back it was reported by someone that there was interference from a next door neighbours Virgin box. Does it happen at any particular time, etc?

Again, changing the fly lead for something with better shielding can help - you might not be able to stop the rain, but you can get an umbrella. But hopefully you can track down the problem.

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MikeB's 2,579 posts GB flag
J
jb38
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

11:40 PM

John King: If as appearances might suggest, your reception is via a communal aerial system? then its essential to ascertain if other residents in the apartment block are also experiencing similar problems with reception before altering anything, if though they aren't, then by all means carry out checks as suggested by MikeB.


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jb38's 7,179 posts GB flag
Sunday, 3 July 2016
J
John King
11:50 AM

thank you.
It is a communal ariel - which only the housing association owning the building have access to.
I did report a problem to them when this started 4 weeks ago but that was in response to it getting a lot worse and losing all reception for a couple of days (the ariel seems to get a problem and lose all reception every month or 2 - which seems unusual to me)
I don't really know the neighbours, some don't stay that long, many use satelite
(I did try changing the fly lead though didn't use any shielded)

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John King's 3 posts GB flag
R
Richard Cooper
sentiment_satisfiedGold

4:38 PM
Norwich

John King: Hi, John. Your Housing Association has the obligation to ensure that you have access to public service broadcasting. It is responsible for ensuring that the communal aerial system is working effectively, although I would imagine that it subcontracts the work out to a local aerial contractor, in the same way that Broadland Housing Association does here in Norwich, where I live. We are fortunate that I have a personal relationship wit the managing director of our communal aerial subcontractor and so he goes out of his way to ensure I don't experience any reception problems. Don't forget that Housing Associations have official complaints procedures that you can follow if you are dissatisfied with any of the services which you pay for in your service charge. Richard, Norwich.

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Richard Cooper's 471 posts GB flag
Richard's: mapR's Freeview map terrainR's terrain plot wavesR's frequency data R's Freeview Detailed Coverage
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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.

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