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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
Sunday, 13 August 2017
R
Richard
6:41 PM

Hello Help please, I live in the Murrow Cambs PE134HU, at present no Freeview just Sky. If I do get a Freeview aerial can I get signal from Sandy Heath? I want to listen to digital radio station BBC Three Counties based in Bedford.

link to this comment
Richard's 1 post GB flag
S
StevensOnln1
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

7:31 PM

Richard: You should get a good signal from Sandy Heath at your location (according to the Digital UK postcode checker) although as you are 60km from the transmitter it would be recommended to have a rooftop aerial fitted which will give much better results than you are likely to get with an indoor aerial. Although if all your want it for is to listed to BBC Three Counties radio you could easily do that online (use something like a Google Chromecast Audio device if you want to listen via a hifi setup).

link to this comment
StevensOnln1's 3,669 posts GB flag
Friday, 22 September 2017
C
Coach
sentiment_satisfiedBronze

10:44 PM

Lost BBC1,2, ITV.. CH4 . CH5 HE out of Sandy Heath

link to this comment
Coach's 33 posts GB flag
Tuesday, 26 September 2017
MikeP
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

4:53 PM

Coach:

Please check all your aerial connections, unplugging the coaxial plugs and then re-inserting them. It is likely that corrosion of the contacts has caused your problem. There is no known transmitter fault else thwere would thousands of similar compaints.



link to this comment
MikeP's 3,056 posts GB flag
Saturday, 30 September 2017
L
lesley w
10:41 PM
Peterborough

We get pixelation most days, blocking and sometimes loss of signal. We have re-tuned several times/ Our serial is in the loft space. Our tv is only 4 months old so freeview is built in.

link to this comment
lesley w's 1 post GB flag
lesley's: mapL's Freeview map terrainL's terrain plot wavesL's frequency data L's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Sunday, 1 October 2017
M
MikeB
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

5:37 PM

lesley w: Check your system - the TV is telling you its not getting a signal, so logically, you need to trace the problem back from the TV.

But check signal strength as well - your actually closer to Waltham than Sandy heath - not impossible your accidently tuned to that transmitter instead, and your signal might be too high, not too low.

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MikeB's 2,579 posts GB flag
Friday, 20 October 2017
S
StevensOnln1
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

11:29 AM

Mr Redington: Firstly, language such as that used in your post is completely inappropriate for this website, which is independent of any broadcaster or transmitter company. Without knowing where you are (please provide a full postcode) we don't know which transmitters serve your location or what your signal strength should be.

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StevensOnln1's 3,669 posts GB flag
R
Richard J Cooper
sentiment_satisfiedGold

12:21 PM

StevensOnln1: Why doesn't Briantist filter out comments like Mr Redington's, which clearly breach his rules for posting on this site?

Richard J Cooper, Norwich.

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Richard J Cooper's 471 posts GB flag
Thursday, 26 October 2017
D
David
10:42 AM

I'd been having intermittent audio drop-outs for some time, particularly on HD channels. Then I got a fancy new Freeview HD tuner device that provides TV channels over my home LAN! Joy! Until I realised that it was *much* more sensitive to the interference that had previously just caused audio dropouts.

On the new box, I get *severe* image interference intermittently. It's *much* worse between around 7pm and 9pm each evening.

After reading up on what could be causing this, I've a strong suspicion that it's a local Business Radio transmitter - see this article http://www.erodocdb.dk/do….pdf for details on how it can interfere with Freeview Ch 21 when you're on the edge of the Freeview transmitter area (as I am).

Anyone know where I can find a register of local Business Radio licensees?

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David's 4 posts GB flag
Saturday, 28 October 2017
J
J Knights
8:52 AM

Another Saturday morning with Sandy Heath's transmission cutting out.

link to this comment
J Knights's 13 posts GB flag
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Your comment please
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.

If you have no satellite signal, see Sky Digibox says 'No Signal' or 'Technical fault'

If you have other problems, please provide a full (not partial) postcode (or preferably enter it in box at the top right) and indicate where if aerial is on the roof, in the loft or elsewhere.

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