menuMENU    UK Free TV logo Freeview

 

 

Click to see updates

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.

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
_______

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
Friday, 15 April 2011
M
Marcus
1:36 PM

I have installed a new digital aerial in my loft, i have a masthead amp also.

But i cannot get the five usa channel or film 4 channels.

Is there a plan to boost the signal on these services to 180 k ?

link to this comment
Marcus's 1 post GB flag
Briantist
sentiment_very_satisfiedOwner

2:01 PM

Marcus: Yes, as above "The commercial multiplexes at Sandy Heath will remain on their pre-switchover channels and powers for a period after digital switchover. SDN will then temporarily move to channel 31 (at 20kW ERP) on 31 Aug 2011, before adopting its final allocation of channel 51 on 18th April 2012. Arqiva A will adopt its final allocation of channel 52 on 23 Nov 2011. Arqiva B will temporarily move to channel 67 (at 20kW ERP) at switchover and then it will adopt its final allocation of channel 48 on 14 Sept 2011. "

link to this comment
Briantist's 38,915 posts GB flag
D
Doug Richardson
2:32 PM
Harlow

Mike Dimmick wrote:
>if Mux B was marginal, ArqB is likely to not work.
BBC4 was always very prone to pixellation and sound dropouts.
>If you provide a full postcode we can see if this temporary location is expected to work for you, and therefore you have a problem with your installation, or if it's just not practical to receive it at the moment.
CM19 5EA is the postcode. The aerial is about 15 years old, but I recently fitted a new masthead preamp and rewired the run to the TV in the correct type of coax for digital.

link to this comment
Doug Richardson's 2 posts GB flag
Doug's: mapD's Freeview map terrainD's terrain plot wavesD's frequency data D's Freeview Detailed Coverage
P
Paul
5:09 PM

Well where do i start!

BEFORE the switchover we were getting Dave,Davejauvu,E4+1,Sky Three (pick tv) pretty much 95% of the time since 2007.

AFTER the March switchover at Sandy Heath we gained new stations BBC1,BBC2,BBC3,BBC4,BBC News and some other stations.

AFTER the April 13th switchover we have gained some stations but lost others,then some of the new stations we have gained dont work 100% of the time,for instance Dave,Davejauvu,E4+1 now go totaly down when before switchover they were fine 95% of the time, ITV2+1,Challenge,5 Star,5 USA and others also go totaly down and dont work, and we cant even get Film4,Four Music,Virgin,TMZ etc. BEFORE the switchover we could 'sometimes' get Film 4,Virgin,TMZ etc on rare ocasions.

We have a high end Panasonic freeview,dvd & video recorder combi,a high end 42" LG HDTV with built in freeview, and a high end Samsung 23" HDTV with built in Freeveiw.

We are in Hilgay near Downham Market.

link to this comment
Paul's 4 posts GB flag
Briantist
sentiment_very_satisfiedOwner

5:28 PM

Paul: You could have started with your postcode...

link to this comment
Briantist's 38,915 posts GB flag
Saturday, 16 April 2011
J
JohnB
9:10 AM
Peterborough

I've changed my aerial to 'W' type and am receiving signal Mux psb 1, 2 and 3. TV says 31 channels. I'm looking to get ch34-ESPN, ch41-SkySp1, ch42-SkySp2 (I have BTVision card) also ch19-Dave with no luck!!! Moved aerial through approx.10 degrees 20-30 times, no change. Should I be able to receive them or will I have to wait until signal strength improved Aug2011? Sun11Apr did get ESPNSkySp1/2 but have disapeared. Would Waltham Tx be better?

link to this comment
JohnB's 5 posts GB flag
JohnB's: mapJ's Freeview map terrainJ's terrain plot wavesJ's frequency data J's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Briantist
sentiment_very_satisfiedOwner

9:12 AM

JohnB: Yes, you would stand more chance getting all services today from Waltham.

link to this comment
Briantist's 38,915 posts GB flag
K
kim jones
11:30 AM
Wellingborough

since the sandy heath transmittor has been turned off i no longer recieve itv/anglia through my freeview box which is run through a satellite dish. we have retuned it several times but it still comes up no signal.

link to this comment
kim jones's 1 post GB flag
kim's: mapK's Freeview map terrainK's terrain plot wavesK's frequency data K's Freeview Detailed Coverage
D
Dimitry
12:26 PM
Luton

Hi,

I live in Luton, postcode LU2 0BL and since the switchover reception on all channels execpt the BBC ones (such as Channel4, ITV etc) is awful, pixelation and breaking, no sound etc. Even though I also have freeview HD on my new TV I do not receive any HD channels.

I don't know if I am doing something wrong and I have retuned multiple times hoping it would fix it. I don't know if it is the area etc or just me.

Any advice is more than appreciated.

Thanks

link to this comment
Dimitry's 1 post GB flag
Dimitry's: mapD's Freeview map terrainD's terrain plot wavesD's frequency data D's Freeview Detailed Coverage
K
KMJ,Derby
sentiment_satisfiedGold

1:15 PM

Dimitry:The Digital UK postcode checker shows Freeview reception to be available from 3 transmitter sites. If your aerial is pointing at Sandy Heath you should currently have good reception on the PSB muxes only. You would expect to receive additionally Mux ArqB from 14th September 2011, Mux ArqA from 23rd November 2011 and MuxA/SDN from April 2012.If your aerial has vertical rods it is pointing at the Luton relay and should give good signals on the 3 PSB muxes only. If you are using this transmitter check that you have tuned in to C50, C59 and C55 and not signals earlier in the scan from Sandy Heath or Crystal Palace. Similarly if using Sandy Heath make sure D3+4 is on C24. Check channel list in the 800s for duplicate channels that might work correctly. The Crystal Palace transmitter offers all muxes but with poor to variable reception. Another possibility if you have amplification on the aerial is too much signal. Use an attenuator or remove the amplifier if this is the problem. Check the condition of cables and connectors. You really should expect good digital reception if analogue used to be good.

link to this comment
KMJ,Derby's 1,811 posts GB flag
Select more comments

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.

UK Free TV is here to help people. If you are rude or disrespectful all of your posts will be deleted and you will be banned.








Privacy policy: UK Free Privacy policy.