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 27/11/2023 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, 23 April 2022
H
Helen Chan7:49 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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H
Helen Chan7:51 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's: mapH's Freeview map terrainH's terrain plot wavesH's frequency data H's Freeview Detailed Coverage
S
StevensOnln11:29 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.
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C
Chris.SE7:17 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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Sunday, 13 November 2022
M
Mark Scurr10:31 PM
We currently have no free view channels
CM17 9SA
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Monday, 14 November 2022
C
Chris.SE12:56 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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S
Sybil Cooper3:44 PM
We are not having a signal at IP264AF. Are there any problems with transmission?
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C
Chris.SE10:23 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.
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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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C
Chris.SE8:44 PM
J Mitchell :
To be clear, you used to have TV channels at LCNs 101-106/109 in your EPG? Are they still there with just no signal?
When did the problem start?
Have you changed anything in your equipment set-up?
Does the aerial look intact and is it still pointing in the correct direction?
The BBCB HD/PSB3 multiplex which carries the HD channels is on UHF channel C21 at Sandy Heath.
Can you check in your TV Tuning section which UHF channels you are tuned to? The correct UHF channels are in the very top section of this page.
Can you post the signal strength and quality (or BER/Error) figures for each UHF channel?
You could be getting interference as a result of weather related Tropospheric Ducting which has been very intermittent and variable. There appears to be some predicted at present which may be affecting reception for some in East Anglia. It doesn't normally affect all multiplexes (and so the TV channels carried on them), usually just one or two, but it does depend on where the interfering signals are coming from.
If you provide a full postcode, we can check your predicted reception.
If you were correctly tuned then do not retune if you have pixellated pictures or no signal as this usually just clears the correct tuning. If you need to correct your tuning, do a manual tune of the UHF channels listed.
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