Full Freeview on the Sandy Heath (Central Bedfordshire, England) transmitter

Brian Butterworth first published this on 1st May 2004 at 08:20 - UK Free TV

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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.

This transmitter has no current reported problems

The BBC and Digital UK report there are no faults or engineering work on the Sandy Heath (Central Bedfordshire, England) transmitter.

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.

Mux	H/V	Frequency	Height	Mode	Watts
PSB1 BBCA	H max	C27 (522.0MHz)	291m	DTG-	180,000W
	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)	291m	DTG-	180,000W
	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)	291m	DTG-	180,000W
	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 66 TBN UK,
COM4 SDN	H -0.2dB	C33 (570.0MHz)	291m	DTG-8	170,000W
	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)	289m	DTG-8	170,000W
	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)	289m	DTG-8	170,000W
	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?

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	ITV_waves
C21		C4_waves	C4_waves	C4_waves	+BBCB	BBCB
C24		ITV_waves	ITV_waves	ITV_waves	D3+4	D3+4
C27		BBC2_waves	BBC2_waves	BBC2_waves	BBCA	BBCA
C31		BBC1_waves	BBC1_waves	BBC1_waves
C32						com7
C33						SDN
C34						com8
C35						_local
C36						ArqA
C39			C5_waves	C5_waves
C43					_local
C48					ArqB	ArqB
C51_{tv_off}					SDN
C52_{tv_off}					ArqA
C55_{tv_off}						com7_{tv_off}
C56_{tv_off}						COM8_{tv_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

Local transmitter maps

Sandy Heath Freeview Sandy Heath DAB Sandy Heath AM/FM Sandy Heath TV region BBC Cambridge Anglia (West micro region)

Which companies have run the Channel 3 services in the Sandy Heath transmitter area

Oct 1959-Feb 2004	Anglia Television
Feb 2004-Dec 2014	ITV plc

Feb 1983-Dec 1992	TV-am•
Jan 1993-Sep 2010	GMTV•
Sep 2010-Dec 2014	ITV Daybreak•

• Breakfast ◊ Weekends ♦ Friday night and weekends † Weekdays only.

Is the transmitter output the same in all directions?

Transmitter engineering

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10:48 AM

- Sandy Heath transmitter: Possible effect on TV week commencing 11/11/2024 Switching Breaks [DUK]

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Transmitter engineering's 3,275 posts GB flag

G

Gerry Tivers
6:09 PM
Bedford

I live in Clophill, Bedfordshire, MK45 4BH. I believe that I receive my from the .
When viewing ITV 1 on channel 3 in SD the regional news is Anglia, which is our . When viewing ITV 1 on channel 103 in HD the regional news is Meridian, which is not our region.
If both are on the same why this difference?
Please answer by email.

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Gerry Tivers's 1 post GB flag

Gerry's: G's Freeview map G's terrain plot G's frequency data G's Freeview Detailed Coverage

S

StevensOnln1

_{sentiment_very_satisfied}Platinum

9:27 PM

Gerry Tivers: ITV1 HD has not yet been fully regionalised on , this has been said elsewhere to be due to ITV waiting for existing contracts to expire. ITV1 HD is broadcast on the PSB3 alongside BBC1 HD, BBC2 HD, Channel 4 HD, Channel 5 HD and a few others. ITV1 SD is broadcast on the PSB2 multiples alongside Channel 4 SD, Channel 5 SD, ITV2, ITV3, ITV4, ITV Be, E4, More 4, Film 4, etc which is fully regionalised for both ITV1 and Channel 4.

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Transmitter engineering

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10:48 AM

- Sandy Heath transmitter: Possible effect on TV week commencing 25/11/2024 Pixelation or flickering on some or all [DUK]

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Transmitter engineering's 3,275 posts GB flag

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Christopher Peachey
6:58 PM
Cambridge

570mhz not registering any . Cant retune due to this. Outside throughout tge house its 20 plus feet up
Cb25 0bb edge of Wicken/burwell fen(grey area on your map. Other sets seem to be receiving fine. ? Seems you may have a reduced power problem.
Wife annoyed as lost her .

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Christopher Peachey's 1 post GB flag

Christopher's: C's Freeview map C's terrain plot C's frequency data C's Freeview Detailed Coverage

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Chris.SE

_{sentiment_very_satisfied}Platinum

8:37 PM

Christopher Peachey:

Well there's several possibilities here. We'll leave aside the possibility of a problem with the installation (water in the connections/) at this point but might have to come back to it if there's any other issues.

Did you not see the post before yours?

Next point, why do you want to retune? is the correct UHF channel for SDN/COM4 multiple, and you are tuned to it. Trying to retune when a signal can't be decoded (due to poor /) or will usually result in the correct tuning being cleared. You cannot tune to signals that aren't there or can't be decoded!
Whatever the cause, don't try retuning.

It would have been nice to know how long the problem has been present. You shouldn't have any particular problems with from Sandy Heath in normal circumstances and get all 6 multiplexes with 100% quality. If you don't have 100% quality on the others, please post the Signal Strength and Quality figures for each 's UHF .

If C33 is the only channel not having 100% quality then if it's not the engineering work, interference is the most likely cause.

1) There is some "tropospheric" conditions about in your area which can cause interfering signals from distant transmitters (in the UK or Europe). Those conditions should clear later.

2) There a possibility that there could be a new/upgraded phone now using the band and there's at least one mobile mast near you well within the beamwidth of your aerial's line of sight to Sandy. That could cause some interference issues. You should have received a postcard from Restore TV..
See - https://restoretv.uk/post…ure/
I'd contact Restore TV and request a Free filter. Now if you have any aerial pre-amp amp/splitter the Filter must be fitted before them. If a pre-amp is fitted to your mast, you need to advise Restore TV and they should send an engineer Free of charge to a waterproof one on the mast.

Post back how things progress.

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C

Chris.SE

_{sentiment_very_satisfied}Platinum

8:45 PM

Christopher Peachey:

Forgot to add, do check your hasn't moved at all, it should be pointing at around compass bearing 244 degrees, that's roughly WSW, and it's rods (or squashed Xs) should be horizontal.

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Chris.SE's 4,404 posts GB flag

Transmitter engineering

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5:10 AM

- Sandy Heath transmitter: Possible effect on TV week commencing 02/12/2024 Pixelation or flickering on some or all [DUK]

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Transmitter engineering's 3,275 posts GB flag

Transmitter engineering

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5:09 AM

- Sandy Heath transmitter: Possible effect on TV week commencing 09/12/2024 Pixelation or flickering on some or all [DUK]

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Transmitter engineering's 3,275 posts GB flag

Transmitter engineering

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5:09 AM

- Sandy Heath transmitter: Possible effect on TV week commencing 16/12/2024 Pixelation or flickering on some or all [DUK]

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Transmitter engineering's 3,275 posts GB flag

Page 228

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.

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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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