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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
Wednesday, 19 January 2022
C
Chris.SE
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

11:14 PM

Kim Rahbek:

As mentioned in my previous reply to you, weather conditions (the Temperature Inversion/Tropospheric Ducting) will have been having an impact. It can cause channels to come and go due to the interference from the distant transmitters. Did you read those previous posts I mentioned? There were sustained conditions like that in December as well as recently.

Those conditions have currently cleared (though some predictions suggest they may return on Friday!) so you reception should be stable right now. The transmitter work which could affect you might cause you to have reduced reception for a period whilst work takes place, but it should not be a case of "coming and going".

There may be work on different days of the week that affects reception, it may only happen on one day.
Arqiva who do the transmitter engineering never say what work is being done or how long it will take, some of which can be weather dependent - especially if engineers have to climb masts!

If the transmitter is not listed next week, then we'll assume the current work has been completed.
If you continue to have problems, then post back with details of precisely which channels you have problems with and also with a full postcode so we can check your predicted reception

link to this comment
Chris.SE's 4,346 posts GB flag
Saturday, 23 April 2022
H
Helen Chan
7:49 AM

Good morning, yet again we do not have any free view tv' it mainly happens at the weekends. Please can you look into this matter for me. Kind regards

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Helen Chan's 2 posts GB flag
H
Helen Chan
7:51 AM
Kettering

Good morning, yet again we do not have any free view tv' it mainly happens at the weekends. Please can you look into this matter for me. Kind regards

All channels are not working

Post code NN14 3AA

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Helen Chan's 2 posts GB flag
Helen's: mapH's Freeview map terrainH's terrain plot wavesH's frequency data H's Freeview Detailed Coverage
S
StevensOnln1
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

1:29 PM

Helen Chan: There are no reported faults or engineering work that I can see listed at Sandy Heath. Have you checked for any loose or damaged cables or connections behind your TV? If the problem is happening at the same time every weekend it may be a sign that you are suffering from electrical interference from something in your home or nearby which is only used at the weekend. Common sources of electrical noise can include things like cheap LED lighting, power tools or anything with an electric motor.

link to this comment
StevensOnln1's 3,669 posts GB flag
C
Chris.SE
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

7:17 PM

Helen Chan:
StevensOnln1:

Update - Sandy Heath is currently listed for Planned Engineering with Possible effect on TV reception "Screen may go black on all or certain channels".
Unfortunately there's been quite a lot of repeated "Planned Engineering" at many main transmitters in the last six months or so for reasons that have not been given.

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Chris.SE's 4,346 posts GB flag
Sunday, 13 November 2022
M
Mark Scurr
10:31 PM

We currently have no free view channels
CM17 9SA

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Mark Scurr's 1 post GB flag
Monday, 14 November 2022
C
Chris.SE
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

12:56 AM

Mark Scurr:

You should normally expect good reception from Sandy Heath in your postcode.
There are currently no faults listed and the transmitter isn't listed for Planned Engineering.

There is however some quite strong weather related "Tropospheric Ducting" affecting parts of the country, especially the east which could be causing disruption to signals for some. The BBC have issued some warnings.
This is as a result of interfering signals from distant transmitters in Europe or the UK being received. Do NOT retune if you have badly pixellated pictures or no signal, this will likely just clear your correct tuning.

There is nothing you can do about this except wait for conditions to change, they don't usually last for very long.
IF you have retuned, then you may have become tuned to incorrect transmitters whose signals disappear as conditions change, or your tuning has been cleared and you'll have to retune again, maybe several times as you won't know when your signals are back to normal.

Other than the above, maybe just check all the connections behind your TV and also check that your aerial is still intact and pointing in the correct direction and the downlead isn't flapping in the wind.

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Chris.SE's 4,346 posts GB flag
S
Sybil Cooper
3:44 PM

We are not having a signal at IP264AF. Are there any problems with transmission?

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Sybil Cooper's 1 post GB flag
C
Chris.SE
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

10:23 PM

Sybil Cooper:

See my reply to Mark Scurr in the post before yours. Tropospheric Ducting could still be causing "continental interference" for some, but also do the other checks.

link to this comment
Chris.SE's 4,346 posts GB flag
Tuesday, 20 December 2022
J
J Mitchell
5:17 PM

I am no longer able to receive HD on my Freeview from Sandy Heath transmitter. The meter reading on my aerial for channel's bbc 1 2 3 4 and ITV1 2 3 4 and channels 4 5 are full strength,but no H D channels
Can be found.

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J Mitchell's 1 post GB flag
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