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 04/11/2024 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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Sunday, 22 July 2018
P
Peter3:08 PM
Ian Woollard:
This is my current scanning list which returns 168 channels..
001 522000 8 DVB-T C27 PSB1 BBCA DTG-3
002 498000 8 DVB-T C24 PSB2 D3+4 DTG-3
003 474200 8 DVB-T2 C21 PSB3 BBCB DTG-6
004 714000 8 DVB-T C51 COM4 SDN DTG-8
005 594000 8 DVB-T C36 COM5 ArqA DTG-8
006 690000 8 DVB-T C48 COM6 ArqB DTG-8
007 746000 8 DVB-T2 C55 COM7 DTG-6
008 754000 8 DVB-T2 C56 COM8 DTG-6
Hope it helps.
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H
Hardy10:51 PM
During the current hot spell periods of high pressure are likely to cause reception or interference from distant transmitters . Especially if you are not close to your local transmitter.
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Monday, 23 July 2018
B
Bob10:32 AM
I'm not getting intermittent BBC from Norwich, off the back of my Sandy heath aerial on C40.....
Is the site owner, ever going to update this site?
What happens when the mobile phones take over the over all the C50s channels?
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M
Myrvin1:00 PM
Myrvin: Thanks for the ideas. However I have no signal at a
all on channel 55. Channel 56 seems ok.
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Wednesday, 25 July 2018
J
Julian Hicks9:36 AM
So, after the update of the Sandy Heath transmitter, I still find the majority of channels prone to lose of sound, pixzlation and complete lose of sound and picture All this after 5 years of having to put up with a poor signal. Yes I know the weather patterns can affect the signal, but every day of the year for the last five years. It is certainly not due to daily weather conditiona in probably 90% of picture and sound break up.
Now then, My neighbour picks up the Oxford transmitter and has the same problem from Oxford as I do from Sandy Heath. Please don't tell me it's the airiel, It's new, it's not the cable, it's new, there is even signal booster in the line and it is not the airiel socket on the tele or any of the connectors as someone rom FReeview told me.
So experts , whats the problem, how's it cured , or am I plagued with a TV signal that spoils my TV entertainment for life.
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MikeP
3:41 PM
3:41 PM
Juklian Hicks:
Please give a full post code so that we can see where you are in relation to the possible transmitters, whether there are any known reception problems at that location, whether there are mobile phone transmitters potentially causing interference and to get an indication of what the expected reception should be like.
Please also give the signal strength readongs for the multiplexes you have problems with.
From that information we may be able to make some informed suggestions about possible solutions to investigate. Resolving issues such as yours are always very difficult to resolve remotely, especially if we have no idea where you are.
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Monday, 30 July 2018
H
Hardy3:06 PM
Dunstable
Julian . if your postcode is LU6 2AY as previously posted then reception should now be very good from Oxford according to the coverage checker. This should be possible without an amplifier on a medium gain wideband aerial . Sandy Heath might need an amplified group K aerial. Though an amplified wideband MIGHT be ok for sandy heath. Proper amplifiers go next to the Ariel. Indoor amplifiers are not very effective .
In your case I would definitely try turning the aerial towards Oxford and retuning.
If you still have difficulty I would suspect that there is a very local problem . Such as hills , trees or a source of interference such as a nearby phone mast.
ps I would guess that you already have a decent wideband aerial .
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Hardy's: mapH's Freeview map terrainH's terrain plot wavesH's frequency data H's Freeview Detailed Coverage
H
Hardy3:32 PM
Looking at google maps of your area . Few houses seem to have outdoor aerials which are probably essential for reliable reception. Or at least a good loft aerial with amplifier in the loft. Obviously Oxford is the opposite direction to Sandy heath and it can take some experiment to find the best loft position,
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Friday, 3 August 2018
J
Jayne Hilton2:18 PM
My mother lives in retirement apartments in Rushden,Northamptonshire. Following the last changes to Freeview in July, when there were messages advising everyone to retune their televisions, she has lost a number of stations. She informed the Estate Manager that she and other homeowners were unable to receive all the Freeview channels and he stated that he had consulted a Freeview expert and that the channels would return eventually. He advised her to retune every day, which she has done, but she is still missing a large number of channels. Can you advise please. Is it the case that the channels will return eventually? I live in close proximity and receive all Freeview channels .
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S
StevensOnln12:35 PM
Jayne Hilton: Retuning every day is pointless and won't restore the missing channels unless something else changes. It's quite likely that your mother's apartment has a communal aerial system which may need to be modified following the recent frequency changes. You should go back to the estate manager and insist that they get someone out to sort it out and stop trying to fob people off.
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