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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 14/10/2024 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, 24 February 2019
C
Chris.SE
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

1:44 AM
Daventry

Earl Thomson:

It looks as though you are in a borderline reception area. DigitalUK doesn't have any predicted Freeview reception for your postcode. This site seems to think your transmitter should be Oxford which is stupid because a terrain plot clearly shows two hills in the line of sight, the first being about 1-2km away, the other around 7km IIRC. I can't easily get a terrain plot for Sandy Heath but looking at the coverage map and street view I'd guess it has a better chance, so a good aerial installation would be a must.
BUT as it's going to be borderline reception it's going to be very vulnerable to interference from long distance DX interference when weather conditions (usually large high pressure systems) allow as we have at the moment.

If you find your Freeview reception is too unreliable then I'd resort to Satellite. I don't know what sort of LNB you have on your Sky dish, but if there's a spare output you ought to be able to get Freesat with a Freesat box, or your TV may even have an in-built Satellite receiver.

link to this comment
Chris.SE's 4,335 posts GB flag
Chris.SE's: mapC's Freeview map terrainC's terrain plot wavesC's frequency data C's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Monday, 25 February 2019
H
hardy
sentiment_satisfiedSilver

8:28 PM

Earl Thompson . I agree with Chris . You will definitely need a good aerial amplifier near the aerial . Even then you will l be susceptible to some continental interference . I would recommend going to freesat for a reliable signal. You could have the SKY dish LNB changed to have an output to connect the freesat receiver too or install a separate dish just for freesat.

link to this comment
hardy's 137 posts GB flag
Tuesday, 26 February 2019
MikeP
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

9:21 AM

hardy:

Installing a separate dish would require planning permission. Only one dish is allowed on any property without planning permission, adding a second needs an appropriate application to be submitted.



link to this comment
MikeP's 3,056 posts GB flag
Thursday, 28 February 2019
H
hardy
sentiment_satisfiedSilver

9:06 PM

two aerials are allowed in most cases . normally these will be a terrestrial and a satellite types . But can be two dishes .
you can have upto four on a large building over 15 metres high !

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hardy's 137 posts GB flag
Friday, 1 March 2019
MikeP
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

10:43 PM

Hardy et al:

Te planning rules are set out clearing on a P{DF that can be downloaded from 62989 SATELLITE BKLT COVER




link to this comment
MikeP's 3,056 posts PT flag
Tuesday, 12 March 2019
Terry Tibbs
12:57 PM
Wisbech

For the last 2 weeks my reception has been atrocious. I cannot watch any channels as they keep breaking up all time. I have reset time and time again with no change
I keep getting 'your signal is weak' come up on the television.
Is there a problem at your end?
My address is Bunkers Hill, Wisbech St Mary Cambs PE13 4AQ
Thank you

link to this comment
Terry Tibbs's 1 post GB flag
Terry's: mapT's Freeview map terrainT's terrain plot wavesT's frequency data T's Freeview Detailed Coverage
S
StevensOnln1
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

1:38 PM

Terry Tibbs : There are no faults showing for the Sandy Heath transmitter (this website is independent and has no connection with the transmitter company or any broadcaster). Have you checked for any loose or damaged cables or connections behind your TV? Retuning will not fix a problem with weak signal and often makes it worse, as you are just deleting all of your correctly tuned channels and searching for them again.

link to this comment
StevensOnln1's 3,663 posts GB flag
Wednesday, 13 March 2019
C
Chris.SE
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

4:26 PM

Terry Tibbs:

It is possible that your "previous" reception difficulties may have been as a result of "interference" from other transmitters (including continental) due to the high pressure weather system(s) that we've had of late, but that should have cleared up by now. If you are still having problems you should do as suggested by StevensOnln1.
If that doesn't resolve the problem you may need to check your aerial and downlead, including making sure the aerial has not moved in the high winds.

link to this comment
Chris.SE's 4,335 posts GB flag
Thursday, 14 March 2019
B
Brian
2:13 PM

I have a Desktop PC fitted with twin channel freeview card. and a Hauppauge WinTV v8 program. I have carried out several re-tunes and am missing a couple of channels, which I thought were on 722 MHz frequency. Investigation has shown that 722 MHz is no longer used and is replaced by 594MHz.
however, as mentioned, several scans (retunes) has not found 594 MHz
(The others I'm interested in are ok ie 498, 522, 690 & 714)
What could be the answer ??//
Regards Brian

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Brian's 17 posts US flag
Brian Butterworth
sentiment_very_satisfiedOwner

6:31 PM

Brian: I'm not sure as I have version 8.5 installed, and I'm in London where there have been fewer changes for 700MHz clearance.

So, which you pick DVB-T2 and UK in the tuner, don't pick your transmitter, stay on the genertic one. The 17 Jul 2018 chnages moved ArqA from the old C52 to C36.


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Brian Butterworth's 38,915 posts GB flag
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Your comment please
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