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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 25/03/2024 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),

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 Drama, 21 5USA, 29 ITV2 +1, 32 5STAR, 33 5Action, 38 Channel 5 +1, 41 Legend, 42 GREAT! action, 57 Dave ja vu, 58 ITVBe +1, 59 ITV3 +1, 64 Blaze, 67 TRUE CRIME, 68 TRUE CRIME XTRA, 78 TCC, 81 Blaze +1, 83 Together TV, 89 ITV4 +1, 91 WildEarth, 209 Ketchup TV, 210 Ketchup Too, 211 YAAAS!, 267 Al Jazeera English, plus 30 others

COM5
ArqA
 H -0.2dB
C36 (594.0MHz)289mDTG-8170,000W
Channel icons
11 Sky Mix, 17 Really, 19 Dave, 31 E4 Extra, 36 Sky Arts, 40 Quest Red, 43 Food Network, 47 Film4 +1, 48 Challenge, 49 4seven, 60 Drama +1, 65 That's TV 2, 70 Quest +1, 74 Yesterday +1, 75 That's 90s, 233 Sky News, plus 11 others

COM6
ArqB
 H -0.2dB
C48 (690.0MHz)289mDTG-8170,000W
Channel icons
12 Quest, 25 W, 27 Yesterday, 34 GREAT! movies, 39 DMAX, 44 HGTV, 52 GREAT! romance, 56 That's TV (UK), 61 GREAT! movies extra, 63 GREAT! romance mix, 71 That’s 60s, 73 HobbyMaker, 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
Tuesday, 29 October 2019
M
MikeB
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

10:08 PM

Stafford: There is no reason why the power should have been reduced, but there is a high likelihood that your aerial system has a fault, and therefore its there that you should start to look for the problem.

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MikeB's 2,579 posts GB flag
Sunday, 3 November 2019
A
Andy Dodds
7:07 PM

Sandy Heath transmitter is showing reception problems on just all BBC channels and Horror channel. No other channels ITV, channel Four, film four, sony movies, CBS Drama, etc I recieve are seeing this picture and sound blocking. This intermittent cutting of picture and sound across BBC channels appears ONLY between 6:00pm and 9:00pm (since 31st October). the rest of the day other than 6:00pm to 9:00pm all channels including BBC are okay with NO picture and sound blocking / jumping

My high-gain aerial system and cabling are okay with no faults as otherwise if this was the case then all TV and radio received on my TV would suffer picture cutting but they don't.

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Andy Dodds's 3 posts GB flag
Monday, 4 November 2019
C
Chris.SE
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

2:57 AM

Andy Dodds:

There has been Planned Engineering work at Sandy Heath over the last week with "Possible weak signal" which might be the cause of your problems. Cannot confirm if any work continues this week until later today (see Planned engineering works | Freeview ).

Have you actually checked your cables etc.? Problematic connections, water ingress etc. can seem to affect reception of just an INDIVIDUAL, OR several or all multiplexes.

Check all you coax plugs, connections, flyleads etc, unplug connectors check for corrosion or other problems and reconnect them. Flyleads can often be a problem. See what signal strengths and quality you are getting for the multiplexes shown in your TV's tuning section, this might indicate potential issues with your aerial or downlead. Also check that your downlead looks undamaged and that your aerial seems intact and pointing in the correct direction.


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Chris.SE's 4,101 posts GB flag
Tuesday, 5 November 2019
A
Andy Dodds
6:01 PM

Thanks Chris regarding engineering works to my local transmitter Sandy Heath. But annoying though as I am watching Space 1999 on Horror channel each night. All BBC, 5 select, 4seven and horror are the only ones currently experiencing low signal quality on and off from around 5:00pm to later at night with no other channels affected.

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Andy Dodds's 3 posts GB flag
Monday, 11 November 2019
D
Dave M
2:03 PM

: Sony Movies Christmas is supposed to be on channel 50 but is missing on Sandy Heath. Any obvious reasion for this as it is availabl elsewhere. I have retuned!

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Dave M's 1 post GB flag
Tuesday, 12 November 2019
C
Chris.SE
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

9:00 AM

Dave M:

A lot of the Sony channels were moved by Sony back in the summer to Local multiplexes.
See Channel listings | Freeview
If you receive a local multiplex on LCN7 then you should get them.
I did not think that there was a local multiplex transmitted from Sandy Heath but one listing I've seen suggests that there may be a Cambridge one on UHF35. You may/may not be able to receive it at your location as it will be low power compared to the main multiplexes.

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Chris.SE's 4,101 posts GB flag
Wednesday, 13 November 2019
R
Richard Tong
12:56 AM
Corby

From the 10th of November I have lost channels from both freeview & freesat. I use a vu duo 2 to record to. I have checked all connections & the tuner cards in my vu duo 2 but still no better. I use a communal aerial & satellite. My postcode is NN17 1RP. I think it happens every year possibly the weather?

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Richard Tong's 1 post GB flag
Richard's: mapR's Freeview map terrainR's terrain plot wavesR's frequency data R's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Thursday, 14 November 2019
C
Chris.SE
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

1:58 AM

Richard Tong:

I'm afraid I can't help with any satellite issues if it's a communal installation, if it persists you need to be either more specific about what channels have been lost, and posting on a more suitable board which will likely get a response from someone more expert on satellite, or contact the building management to get the issue looked at but check first if other neighbours have the same issue.

As far as Freeview is concerned, oh dear, your postcode is not well served by any one transmitter. You are obviously in a bit of a poor spot from various transmitters.
The Freeview Checker suggests that Waltham is your most likely transmitter ! However that only gives reliable reception from the 3 PSB muxes, no reception from SDN/COM4, also poor for ArqA & B and variable to poor for COMs 7&8, all after a retune event in March next year!
But it also shows consistent reception (albeit it mostly variable) from all muxes except COM8 from Sandy Heath. SDN/COM4 is good at present but becomes variable after a retune on 12th Feb. and after other transmitter changes on Mar.4th. you'll lose COM7.

Having told that tale of woe, as regards the channels you have lost - there've been a few changes since the summer. Sony have moved many of their channels to Local muxes. There is supposedly one at Sandy Heath on C35 but I doubt you're in an area that'll get it. You'll most likely get some/all on Satellite. They've also more recently renamed many of those channels. Last week and today (Thurs) have seen Film4+1, More4+1 & E4+1 move multiplex. See Channel listings | Freeview but at time of posting it doesn't show the E4+1 move.

If it's other channels you are missing, check with your neighbours if they have the same problems and post with details.

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Chris.SE's 4,101 posts GB flag
J
js
sentiment_satisfiedGold

2:47 AM

Chris.SE: He must think we're psychic. Having to resort to guessing his missing channels is a bit much.

He doesn't even tell us if he's tried a re-scan or a reboot, either.

Anyway, like most who ask for help on here, I don't suppose we'll ever hear from him again.

Simply not worth the time and effort.


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js's 822 posts NL flag
Saturday, 28 December 2019
S
Steve Wilson
6:00 PM

Our aerial is on the roof at NN38UT, it is pointed across some trees in the distance. Most times we get a good signal but over the Christmas period 2019 it was a disaster. I wanted to watch "Still Open Open All Hours" on BBC1, it was unwatchable. As I type this it is okay but for how long? Using a signal strength meter from Screwfix I only get LED light. I notice from the Brian Butterworth map published 2004 we are in the edge of the reception are. Is this upto date??? There is a masthead Amp. We did have a Optima filter, Chan21-60, 470-790MHz in the loft, I have removed this just for the moment as we were still getting the problems. I have since learnt it should be between the aerial and the Amp-a job for a man with a ladder. In general it the first 16 channels that are affected. Please help if you can.

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Steve Wilson's 1 post 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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