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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.

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 25/03/2024 Pixelation or flickering on some or all channels Digital tick


Choose from three options: ■ List by multiplex ■ List by channel number ■ List by channel name
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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),

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 Drama, 21 5USA, 29 ITV2 +1, 32 5STAR, 33 5Action, 38 Channel 5 +1, 41 Legend, 42 GREAT! action, 57 Dave ja vu, 58 ITVBe +1, 59 ITV3 +1, 64 Blaze, 67 TRUE CRIME, 68 TRUE CRIME XTRA, 78 TCC, 81 Blaze +1, 83 Together TV, 89 ITV4 +1, 91 WildEarth, 209 Ketchup TV, 210 Ketchup Too, 211 YAAAS!, 267 Al Jazeera English, plus 30 others

COM5
ArqA
 H -0.2dB
C36 (594.0MHz)289mDTG-8170,000W
Channel icons
11 Sky Mix, 17 Really, 19 Dave, 31 E4 Extra, 36 Sky Arts, 40 Quest Red, 43 Food Network, 47 Film4 +1, 48 Challenge, 49 4seven, 60 Drama +1, 65 That's TV 2, 70 Quest +1, 74 Yesterday +1, 75 That's 90s, 233 Sky News, plus 11 others

COM6
ArqB
 H -0.2dB
C48 (690.0MHz)289mDTG-8170,000W
Channel icons
12 Quest, 25 W, 27 Yesterday, 34 GREAT! movies, 39 DMAX, 44 HGTV, 52 GREAT! romance, 56 That's TV (UK), 61 GREAT! movies extra, 63 GREAT! romance mix, 71 That’s 60s, 73 HobbyMaker, 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
Saturday, 17 September 2011
G
gail
11:01 AM
Northampton

since the switchover all i can get is bbc channels.everything was fine until they done the switchover.the aerial is on the lowest part of the roof.i have retuned many times with no improvement.help

link to this comment
gail's 1 post GB flag
gail's: mapG's Freeview map terrainG's terrain plot wavesG's frequency data G's Freeview Detailed Coverage
J
jb38
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

11:42 AM

gail: You are indicated as only being able to receive signals from Sandy(Anglia) and there is no reason for not receiving ITV1 (Mux Ch24) unless that is something has possibly happened to your aerial, that said though, difficulty could well be experienced on some of the other lower powered channels.

To give an idea of your signal strength carry out a signal check whilst on BBC1 (Mux Ch27) this facility accessed from the tuning menu.

link to this comment
jb38's 7,179 posts GB flag
G
Glynn
12:16 PM

Could you please list the 6 Digital Multiplex numbers so I can manually retune my Humax Digibox? My aerial is pointing at Sandy Heath however Auto setup selects Oxford!! Humax gave me the numbers as 27 - 24 - 21 - 67 - 48 however manual tuning finds no programmes on 21.

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Glynn's 2 posts GB flag
G
Guy
1:55 PM
Bedford

My Humax 9200T (in Bedford) shows channels as follows

21 87% strength, 0% quality (to be expected as this is the HD Mux which it doesn't understand)
24 87% strength, 100% quality
27 87/100%
31 81/100%
48 85/100%
67 62/100%

link to this comment
Guy's 1 post GB flag
Guy's: mapG's Freeview map terrainG's terrain plot wavesG's frequency data G's Freeview Detailed Coverage
G
Glynn
1:58 PM

Thanks Guy - I'll go with those

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Glynn's 2 posts GB flag
S
Steve P
sentiment_satisfiedGold

4:24 PM

chris - you seem to think that this website is in some way responsible for what is transmitted.

It isn't. It is Brian's private personal thing.

link to this comment
Steve P's 1,173 posts GB flag
Sunday, 18 September 2011
B
Bob
2:17 PM
Leighton Buzzard

To KJM,Derby
Thank you for the advice but my TVs and set-top boxes cannot do manual set-ups. I find it extraordinary that with all the posts here, which must be the tip of the iceberg, that the heading to the Sandy Heath pages shows no reported problems. A clear case of the operators working to their entire satisfactioon and not ours.
Surely someone is going to do something. Broadcasters and advertisers aren't receiving value for money and, of course, neither are the viewers and consumers.
To announce an increase in power and simultaneously produce fewer channels is a ridiculous state of affairs. The managers should be ashamed of themselves.
Bob

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Bob's 2 posts GB flag
Bob's: mapB's Freeview map terrainB's terrain plot wavesB's frequency data B's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Martin
3:23 PM

After the latest retune event at Sandy Heath transmitter (just 10m from my home), I can no longer receive MUX A/C.

I have notifed key advertisers with UKTV that almost nobody in BEDS & CAMBS are able to receive these channels (notably DAVE & PickTV) in the hope that they will put pressure to increase power output of these channels.

As a result of these numerous retune events, I have given up entirely with FREEVIEW and bought a FREESAT box instead (highly recemmended solution).

I don't think I will ever both with trying to receive TV through the airwaves again now, as the whole experience has been a total nightmare. So feel free to retune as often as you like!

Whoever decided on the implementation & rollout should be sacked immediately. Total fiasco.

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Martin's 1 post GB flag
Doug B
5:48 PM

Alan Peachey: I live in Harlow CM18 and have the same problem with SDN-Mux A. Signal comes up as 52% but quality is 0%, hence I have lost ITV3 etc. As soon as CP HD moves off CH 31, 18-Apr-12, all should be ok. If not on 9th May 2012 SDN moves to CH 51 and goes to full power.

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Doug B's 20 posts GB flag
Monday, 19 September 2011
M
Mike
5:28 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's 1 post GB flag
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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.

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