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

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.

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.

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?

Briantist

_{sentiment_very_satisfied}Owner

8:58 AM

Bob Archer: I would check for Single frequency interference | ukfree.tv - independent free digital TV advice .

link to this comment

Briantist's 38,915 posts GB flag

N

neil grainger
12:08 AM
Dunmow

Hi, Im moving to dunmow (cm61us/1ds) It's a new build and it's got no . I have not got a clue what aerial to get and if i will get away with putting it in the . Also is my best .
Thanks for any.

link to this comment

neil grainger's 4 posts GB flag

neil's: N's Freeview map N's terrain plot N's frequency data N's Freeview Detailed Coverage

Briantist

_{sentiment_very_satisfied}Owner

7:44 AM

neil grainger: You will need to point your to the at that address, as you will (at least by 27th June 2012) get all the from that transmitter.

You can use a group B, group E or aerial with Sudbury.

You need to mount the aerial on the , not in the , if you want a reliable service.

link to this comment

Briantist's 38,915 posts GB flag

N

neil grainger
8:59 AM
Dunmow

ok thanks very much for that.

link to this comment

neil grainger's 4 posts GB flag

neil's: N's Freeview map N's terrain plot N's frequency data N's Freeview Detailed Coverage

N

neil grainger
9:12 AM
Dunmow

Sorry forgot to say, what would be best as i dont know the difference?
How much should a good one cost?
Thanks

link to this comment

neil grainger's 4 posts GB flag

neil's: N's Freeview map N's terrain plot N's frequency data N's Freeview Detailed Coverage

Briantist

_{sentiment_very_satisfied}Owner

9:17 AM

neil grainger: You only need a rooftop . Also see What price for an aerial installation? | ukfree.tv - independent free digital TV advice .

link to this comment

Briantist's 38,915 posts GB flag

M

Mark Hammond
10:13 AM
Luton

I have a rooftop but I don't know if it is or not and whether or not I should get one. It also has a FM loop, I was wondering - does this cause ?

I receive full PSB1/BBCA + PSB2/D3+4 + PSB3/BBCB and the following good on COM6/ArqB: Yesterday, Russia Today English, Al Jazeera English.

Also the following COM6/ArqB channels are listed but they are bad quality/ sometimes not working: Film4, 4Music, VIVA, ITV4.

Lastly the following channels appear listed but do not work: DAVE, QVC Beauty, Rocks and Co.

From this site (many thanks) I think I have gathered that there are basically going to be some changes to the service so is it best to wait until 13 Nov 14 Sept before getting a new aerial?

Thanks for any.

link to this comment

Mark Hammond's 2 posts GB flag

Mark's: M's Freeview map M's terrain plot M's frequency data M's Freeview Detailed Coverage

Briantist

_{sentiment_very_satisfied}Owner

10:27 AM

Mark Hammond: As you can receive signals from the commercial multiplexes, your issue is simply the low levels that will be raised on the dates listed above.

link to this comment

Briantist's 38,915 posts GB flag

M

Mark Hammond
10:33 AM
Luton

Thanks Brian - you have put me out of my misery!

link to this comment

Mark Hammond's 2 posts GB flag

Mark's: M's Freeview map M's terrain plot M's frequency data M's Freeview Detailed Coverage

C

Chris
12:55 PM

I am a little confused to see tv working normally from .
Has this not been switched off?
Chris

link to this comment

Chris's 16 posts GB flag

Page 47

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.
Your comments
Your name
Your email
Your site or @twitter
Email me updates
Save my details

Privacy policy: UK Free Privacy policy.