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 04/11/2024 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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Monday, 19 September 2011
M
Mike5:28 PM
We were advised that the adjacent transmitter channel clash that caused the channel with the history channel to be transmitted at reduced power before the retune at Sandy Heath would be resolved with the retune. Since the retune channel 67 is now at reduced power. Please sort it, it is pathetic.
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Mike: You were not advised any such thing, multiplex C (aka ArqA) is not due to go to full power until it finds a final allocated channel at the end of the UK switchover process.
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Tuesday, 20 September 2011
A
ALAN PEACHEY10:13 AM
Hi. Thanks Doug B. Hopefully you are right, just seems along time to wait.
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J
Jasmine9:13 PM
Dunstable
I'm in the Sandy Health transmitter, and I'm missing channels in C and COM6ArqB (D), I've searched for channels automatically, reset by doing first time installation, and searched for channels manually, when I searched manually for the channels in 67 and 48 'no new channels were found.' I've also unplugged everything and waiting 30 seconds and searched for channels again after that, but channels like Film4, VIVA, 4music and Dave etc... are still missing. I've gone to every page its told me but nothing is working?
Postcode: LU56DR and the aerial is in the loft.
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Jasmine's: mapJ's Freeview map terrainJ's terrain plot wavesJ's frequency data J's Freeview Detailed Coverage
M
MickO9:13 PM
Milton Keynes
Still a bit confused...
Which and when do Mux A, C and ArqB go to higher power? i.e. around 170-180kW or do they?
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MickO's: mapM's Freeview map terrainM's terrain plot wavesM's frequency data M's Freeview Detailed Coverage
K
KMJ,Derby9:33 PM
MickO: MuxC/ArqA has mode change (to 8k), power up and frequency change to C52 on 23rd November 2011. MuxA/SDN has mode change (to 8k), power up and frequency change to C51 on 9th May 2012. I am not sure what power MuxArqB is currently using, but the trade predicter does suggest that it is somewhat higher than the other two COM muxes.
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C
Charles Stuart10:14 PM
I'm quite surprised that so many people in Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire are suffering reception issues. I'm in Kettering, Northants and my two TVs receive all multiplexes perfectly and the bedroom TV is fed from a set-top aerial. The Eye TV on my Mac has a harder time because the aerial has to "see" through two walls for its signal, but it still picks up the PSB multiplexes absolutely fine.
Out of curiosity, as ArqB is now on its final channel, 48, and now in 8K mode, when will it increase to its final power? (52.3992,-0.7201)
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Wednesday, 21 September 2011
D
Darren9:47 AM
All is clear now, the £15 I have just spent on a booster to still fail to pick up Dave is because the transmitter doesn't have enough power. What a waste of time and money. A 100% botch end to end. Utter disgrace. If they weren't ready, they should have waited. Maybe better to start downloading the few things worth watching on line instead. No, can't do that, the copper cable has just been stolen at Oakley. 21st century?
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Charles Stuart: ArqB goes to full power during March 2012.
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Darren: A booster won't create a signal from no-signal, and generally speaking digital signals are usually made worse by using boosters.
You didn't provide a full postcode so I can't really comment about the specifics, but note "Arqiva A will adopt its final allocation of channel 52 on 23 Nov 2011".
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