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.
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._______
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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Wednesday, 13 April 2011
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Mike Dimmick5:41 PM
Lance: I keep telling Brian to remove those until something actually launches. It just confuses people.
They are the interleaved frequencies that could potentially be used for new services - probably Local TV services. There is no planned launch date, there isn't even a date for the auctions yet.
The rules used to consider probable frequencies were chosen to ensure that an aerial of the correct group would probably be able to receive them. I wouldn't use them as a guide as to what aerial to use, even at sites where it mattered. Sandy Heath requires a wideband aerial anyway, so it doesn't matter.
Also, the main frequency plans weren't finalized when the interleaved spectrum consultation happened, so the interleaved frequency assignments may have to change, especially where a transmitter uses one of the frequencies due to be cleared for 4G phone services (C61 and C62), or one of the frequencies that cleared services will go to (C49 or C50).
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K
KMJ,Derby7:36 PM
Hubert: If your roof aerial is pointing towards Crystal Palace you will get good analogue reception but on Freeview according to the Digital UK postcode checker reception is at best variable to poor and non existant on one mux.This is due in part to the current low power transmitters being on only a tenth of the post switchover power, which should then match the analogue coverage and interference from transmitters in adjacent regions.The loft aerial however is pointing at Sandy Heath which is shown as giving good reception on the high power PSB muxes and also on ArqB. Variable reception is possible for MuxA and MuxC but the signal for these two low power muxes is possibly lost with a loft aerial.It is likely that the roof aerial could also receive signals from Sandy Heath or Luton relay but these could be prone to variation in strength and interference after being received from behind or off the side of the aerial.
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Since last night and the second stage re-tune of the Sandy Heath transmitter we have lost our music channels. We can no longer get 21-Viva despite re-tuning and resetting. We received all channels before the switch.
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Andrew's: mapA's Freeview map terrainA's terrain plot wavesA's frequency data A's Freeview Detailed Coverage
S
Steve Smith7:56 PM
Hi,
I've noticed that since switchover this morning to full digital that my signal strength on both my Humax receivers still only shows about 70%
I also have a pocket DTV receiver which is having trouble tuning into anything other than the main BBC channels.
Will the transmission power be turned up soon ?Do you know when ?
Cheers.
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B
Bob8:00 PM
So the Brains have put 3 of the better channels: Yesterday, ITV4 & Film4 on C67, the weakest most useless MUX from Sandy heath - now that is what a call BRAINLESS! - It would have been far better to put them where the HD channels are (& delayed HD opening) - until the final frequency line up is on the air!
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A
Andy8:17 PM
Bedford
Hi. I re scanned/re-tumed last night when prompted. Free worked fine. Today I have the no signal symbol. (previously this occured on some days ,and we would watch analogue - usually by the next day we would have a signal.)
thank you for the help
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Andy's: mapA's Freeview map terrainA's terrain plot wavesA's frequency data A's Freeview Detailed Coverage
G
Gav9:14 PM
Retuned today and now lost viva and 4music plus some others
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R
Richard J10:37 PM
Anyone else noticing widescreen signalling issues on BBC HD channel (on Freeview from Sandy Heath)? It doesn't appear to have the correct flag and my Samsung 32C650 keeps switching to incorrect 4:3 ratio on this channel.
The other three HD channels are fine. Ovviously I could set the TV screen size to 16:9 rather than auto wide but that would mean stretched 4:3 broadcasts from ITV4 etc.
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M
Michael Stanley11:17 PM
Banbury
I have lost Yesterday and Film 4 since switchover
Aerial is on chimney
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Michael's: mapM's Freeview map terrainM's terrain plot wavesM's frequency data M's Freeview Detailed Coverage
J
jbm11:23 PM
Northampton, NN3 5??.
Signal Strenghts at TV:
PSB 1, 2, = 85%
PSB 3 N/A
MUX A, C = 60%
COM 6 = 50%
I spoke to DIGITALUK this afternoon, and they confirm that 67 is red flagged as being on lower than expected power, but wouldn't elaborate.
Since this was supposed to be the final stage of switch over on Sandy Heath, why are further retunings necessary later in the year? I want to instal interference filters, but can't on these power levels. Can we expect COM6 to be boosted before the end of the year?
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