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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.

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 04/11/2024 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
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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
Friday, 5 May 2017
MikeP
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

8:38 AM

Mr Thompson:

You say you have two dishes. Have you got planning permission to have two fitted? See Planning Permission: Houses and buildings up to 15 metres high | Satellite,TV and radio antenna | Planning Portal for details. If you already have an aerial and a single dish, you are required to obtain permission for a second dish.

If you do not have permission, you can resolve the problem by having a quad LNB fitted to the bigger dish, assuming that is aimed at the Astra satellites parked in geostationary orbit at 28.2 and 28.5 degrees East. That has four outputs so can feed two satellite PVRs at once. If you need morefeeds then an octal LNB would serve.

I concur with MikeB that you need a 'proper' aerial for your terrestrial reception. A good log-periodic is advised as that will cover all current and planned future channel usage. Never buy one that is too small, it is better to have a higher gain aerial and if that gives too much signal you can reduce it with an attenuator if needed

.

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MikeP's 3,056 posts GB flag
A
Anna
6:58 PM

MikeP: thank you. I suspect need new equipment the only thing I wasn't sure is that when I click on the map showing freeview map it has green all around apart from some grey patches and I am in a grey patch so just thought it might be that before I buy something new. Thanks

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Anna's 5 posts GB flag
A
Anna
7:03 PM

Anna: sorry I think i can see I'm comment in the wrong area of UK but my phone only let's me see half this site so can't read all.

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Anna's 5 posts GB flag
A
Anna
7:29 PM

Anna: Oh my ! How odd - all was still just completely black screen no menu, static or an
Anything but it just scared the life out of me as screen just sprung into life and now honestly the picture is now so clear it's never been this sharp a picture before! Glad I didnt rush out and buy one today as this has obviously having a new lease of life!

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Anna's 5 posts GB flag
Sunday, 14 May 2017
S
steve
12:54 AM

Got a manhattan T1 box 35 that should do HD,.
It gets ch1 - 100 then does nothing up to ch 120. So all of th HD channels, it says Invalid channel number ??

What am I doing wrong?

TV is 720P capable, box is set to this, on HDMI lead and input,.

pe292lu high in loft, good coax 790 channels seen

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steve's 1 post GB flag
M
MikeB
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

1:49 PM

steve: I've got the older version of one of these boxes, and they are relatively sensitive (although they have the tendency to lock up every so often, at which point you need to pull the power and let it reboot), so I can figure why your not getting your HD channels, especially since your seemingly so close to Sandy Heath.

First thing is to check that its not your system, after a rescan and making sure its locked onto Sandy Heath. Try swapping out the aerial lead, and obviously check signal strength. If everything still looks OK but no HD, then ask if you can use your neighbours aerial for a minute - if you do a scan for channels and it picks up HD, its your aerial system (although you would probably have noticed that when looking at signal strength).

If nothing works, it sounds like the box is duff and take it back. My betting is that either something is really up the spout with your aerial system, and its just about hanging on, or, more likely, the box is shot.


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MikeB's 2,579 posts GB flag
Wednesday, 17 May 2017
D
Dylan
11:42 AM

Hello I have freesat from sky .
My signal is perfect in dry weahter.
But whenever it rains even light rain my hd channels break up.
However all SD channels are fine unless it's very heavy rain it has to be heavy to affect SD but only light to affect HD .
I know rain always affects satellite signals but why does it affect hd easier and every time it rains .
It doesn't go off air just keeps breaking up every few seconds . Especially itv hd .
I've tried a few different boxes all the same .
My signal levels are 78% signal 90% quality .
I have a sky mini dish fitted with 1 wire to my sky box .
The faces a sky with no trees in the way but does face near a wall but the wall is quite few feet off .

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Dylan's 3 posts GB flag
Thursday, 18 May 2017
MikeP
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

8:48 AM
Trowbridge

Dylan:

Your problem is the mini-dish, the ones fitted by Sky are often too small for reliable reception when there is significant moisture in the air between your dish and the satellite. You cannot amplify the satellite signals so the only real solution is to have the dish replaced with a larger one and preferably moved away form facing the wall.

The one other thing you can do is to check that all the connections are making good contact and that the F-connectors do not have any strands of the outer metal braiding touching the inner central copper core.



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MikeP's 3,056 posts GB flag
MikeP's: mapM's Freeview map terrainM's terrain plot wavesM's frequency data M's Freeview Detailed Coverage
D
Dylan
9:12 AM

Ok I see if that's the case though maybe the minidish should be abolished and people have bigger dishes fit by standard. Sky didn't install my minidish I paid for it 185 only last year .
I am so disappointed. But thanks for telling me the problem do you think in future they'll make a better dish by standard there's not much point in only been able to watch tv in good weahter most the time in good weahter you want to get out .
I've known other people have simlier problems with the mini dish I'm quite far south as well I'd hate to think how it would work in say Newcastle or blackpool.
At some point I'd like to get a dish that can get me channels from Germany and Europe as well as uk sat but at the moment finance isn't great so maybe then if then ill get a bigger dish . Is it possible to get a dish that will pick up all german and English channels and play them on the same box like a sky box or freesat box .

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Dylan's 3 posts GB flag
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