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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Saturday, 20 July 2019
M
Mr Derek Bampkin9:04 PM
Have lost channels 48 & 51, signal strength is pulsing, signal quality is zero. i have completely cleared tuning & re tuned but still no result. This has only happened since the very hot Wednesday earlier. Any suggestions
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M
Mr Derek Bampkin9:07 PM
Have lost channels 48 & 51, signal strength is pulsing, signal quality is zero. i have completely cleared tuning & re tuned but still no result. This has only happened since the very hot Wednesday earlier. Any suggestion.
Location Northampton
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Sunday, 21 July 2019
C
Chris.SE5:30 AM
Mr Derek Bampkin:
Put your postcode into Digital UK - Coverage checker to see predicted reception at your location. If it is good for the ArqB and SDN multiplexes you mention, then as you mentioned the weather it could be the recent propagation conditions. Is reception now OK?
Propagation is predicted to increase again next week, so there could be further problems.
However, the heat may have also caused connection issues with your system, so do check that all coax plugs and sockets are clean and properly connected. By unpluging them, inspecting and replugging - this will help remove any oxidation that may be present that could cause connection issues. Does your set get the HD channels - was reception of COMs 7&8 (C55&56) OK? Also check that your aerial is still where it should be and pointing in the correct direction and the coax is connected and secure - you may need to get someone to check all of that if you continue to have problems. (I'm assuming your TV set is OK!).
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Tuesday, 23 July 2019
R
Roger Camp7:14 AM
We live in Dunstable Bedfordshire and have recently lost our 2 favourite Freeview channels (True Entertainment, True Movies) from the Sandy Heath transmitter. Can you advise us on how we may be able to receive these 2 channels perhaps from another nearby transmitter. Would this require an additional aerial or reposition of our current aerial?
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Chris.SE8:49 AM
Roger Camp:
Please see the many posts from the regular contributors on the True Entertainment pages True Entertainment | free and easy where it explains about the changes and suggested actions to complain.
Put your postcode into Digital UK - Coverage checker to see predicted reception at your location.
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Wednesday, 7 August 2019
M
MIke Roberts1:05 PM
where have BBC News HD and BBC4 HD gone from Sandy Heath? The went first to a poor quality signal and have now gone.
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S
StevensOnln11:35 PM
MIke Roberts: Have you checked for any loose or damaged cables or connections behind your TV? Please provide a full postcode so that we can see the predicted reception at your location.
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Saturday, 10 August 2019
S
Stephen Hopps3:41 PM
Wisbech
MIke Roberts:
Hi Mike, You will probably find other channels are also missing / very weak. I suspect that they will be the channels on COM 7 & COM 8, I am in Wisbech area and Iost all of these channels a few months back.
It is not just me as I have spoken to several friends & relatives who all use Freeview, and have all lost these channels so it is not just my equipment.
I have emailed Freeview but this is utterly pointless as they are saying I am not within Sandy Heath's area (despite the fact I have received these channels for over 10 years!) and their advise is to re-tune my Humax box. I have entered my postcode here Get to see your Freeview predictions map | free and easy and my predicted transmitter is definitely Sandy Heath.
Lord only knows what is going on with Freeview at the moment :-(
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Stephen's: mapS's Freeview map terrainS's terrain plot wavesS's frequency data S's Freeview Detailed Coverage
R
Ray Brennan4:55 PM
St. Neots
I have my aerial in my loft and am having poor/ pixelated receptio, I read that having the aerial either vertical or horizontal may help but can't find out which way it should be for the sandy Heath transmitter. I live approx 5 miles from sandy and should expect a good reception ???????
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Ray's: mapR's Freeview map terrainR's terrain plot wavesR's frequency data R's Freeview Detailed Coverage
C
Chris.SE6:52 PM
Wisbech
Ray Brennan:
Your aerial should be horizontal for Sandy Heath and from your location it's approximately SSE. You need a wideband aerial to get all channels from Sandy Heath, but if you have an older aerial, as you are quite close, you MAY be lucky to get adequate reception.
However, to see the actual predicted reception at your location, put your postcode into Digital UK - Coverage checker it will also give you the bearing and distance from the transmitter.
| link to this comment |
Chris.SE's: mapC's Freeview map terrainC's terrain plot wavesC's frequency data C's Freeview Detailed Coverage
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