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 22/04/2024 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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Tuesday, 2 August 2011
Steve P: I would edit it out, by Digital UK asked me not to change their status reports in any way.
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S
Steve P11:38 AM
Do they KNOW they are publishing this nonsense?
You could perhaps add an explanatory note?
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Steve P: I've put a patch in to change the message to "closed". I hope this is clearer.
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SANDY HEATH transmitter - Over the next week Sandy Heath main transmitter: TV (analogue) closed, TV (digital) Liable to interruption, Radio (analogue) working normally, Radio (digital) working normally. [DUK]
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Wednesday, 3 August 2011
B
Bob Archer9:19 PM
Just to point out, your info on the MUXs towards the top of the page is incorrect - COM6 is not yet on C48, but still on C67 - until Sept anyway!
Bob
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Thursday, 4 August 2011
Bob Archer: My apologies, this transmitter has a "type 6" switchover, not a "type 3". I have corrected the database.
Thanks for pointing it out.
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J
jason3:00 PM
Hi All
Could you please tell me why sandy heath transmitter on ch21,24,27 is very strong from milton keynes but ch40,43,67 is a lot lower.
Will this change soon.
Many thanks
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M
Mike Dimmick4:32 PM
jason: Because the channels that will eventually be used are still required at other sites. Both the allocated channels and the temporary ones clash with other sites. Moving to full power now would damage other people's reception, either of analogue or of low-power digital services.
In order of what's going to happen:
On 31 August, Mux A will move from C43 to C31, at the same power level, to free C43 for Sutton Coldfield. C31 is released by Waltham on that date.
On 14 September, ArqB moves from C67 to C48, its final frequency, at full final power level. C48 is in use at Oxford before this date. Mux C changes mode, becoming ArqA, and takes over C67 from ArqB, at the same power level.
On 23 November, ArqA moves from C67 to C52, which is currently used by Tacolneston, at full power. This is its final channel.
On 9 May 2012, Mux A changes mode, becoming SDN, and moves to C51 at full power - this is its final location.
On 27 June 2012, the vertical beam tilt - the angle of the main part of the transmission - will be raised. It is currently restricted to the south-west, to protect services at Rowridge. Effectively this will increase power levels for viewers further away from the transmitter.
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