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 15/04/2024 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)
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, 13 June 2016
Transmitter engineering
10:09 AM
10:09 AM
SANDY HEATH transmitter - Possible service interruptions [DUK]
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Tuesday, 14 June 2016
Transmitter engineering
2:32 PM
2:32 PM
SANDY HEATH transmitter - DAB: BBC National DAB Radio Weak Signal from 12:45 today. [BBC] Possible service interruptions [DUK]
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Transmitter engineering
5:32 PM
5:32 PM
SANDY HEATH transmitter - DAB: BBC National DAB Radio Weak Signal from 12:45 today to 15:05 today. [BBC] Possible service interruptions [DUK]
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Wednesday, 15 June 2016
Transmitter engineering
5:32 AM
5:32 AM
SANDY HEATH transmitter - DAB: BBC National DAB Radio Weak Signal from 12:45 yesterday to 15:05 yesterday. [BBC] Possible service interruptions [DUK]
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Thursday, 16 June 2016
Transmitter engineering
5:31 AM
5:31 AM
SANDY HEATH transmitter - DAB: BBC National DAB Radio Weak Signal from 12:45 on 14 Jun to 15:05 on 14 Jun. [BBC] Possible service interruptions [DUK]
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Saturday, 2 July 2016
M
Mr c veasey12:21 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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MikeP
1:27 PM
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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J
John King9:58 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's: mapJ's Freeview map terrainJ's terrain plot wavesJ's frequency data J's Freeview Detailed Coverage
M
MikeB10:15 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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J
jb3811:40 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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