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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 04/11/2024 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), 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
Thursday, 29 September 2011
J
jb38
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

9:19 PM

Lesley: It depends on where you are receiving Freeview from, as it can be either Crystal Palace or Sandy.

If its Crystal Palace though then the forecast is poor up until next April, basically because Sandy also presently uses the same frequency as is used by Crystal Palace HD, albeit this on a temporary? basis until early May next year, and is something which has caused problems for quite a number of people who reside North of London and use Crystal Palace for HD.

There isn't really any easy cure for the problem, that is "if" its crystal Palace you are receiving from, and the reception problems can vary dependant on the atmospheric conditions prevailing at the time.

Nothing though is indicated as far as problems with Sandy is concerned.

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jb38's 7,179 posts GB flag
M
MickO
sentiment_satisfiedBronze

10:57 PM
Milton Keynes

Thanks for the power change info. Could not the change date and some details be inserted onto the graphics showing the mux's. i.e. the "sandy coloured" horizontal fingers, for want of a better description. .............................. 23Nov12, 8K, CH52, 180kW ) ............................../ long time since I did ascii graphics!!

link to this comment
MickO's 26 posts GB flag
MickO's: mapM's Freeview map terrainM's terrain plot wavesM's frequency data M's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Friday, 30 September 2011
N
Neil
12:26 PM
Saffron Walden

Over the past 3 weeks or so we have been seeing loss of signal on the BBC SD channels- mainly BBC 1 and 2 from Sandy at CB10 2TL. Nothing ahs changed in our box or aeriel setup. HD signal is good.

Have tried full reset and retune and the problem improves then deteriorates again. Looking at signal strength, we see 85% on most channels but only 43% on the affected ones. Today, the picture is much better and the SS is back to 85% on the BBC channels- was there a temporary power reduction recently?

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Neil's 4 posts GB flag
Neil's: mapN's Freeview map terrainN's terrain plot wavesN's frequency data N's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Briantist
sentiment_very_satisfiedOwner

12:43 PM

Neil: No, there is no power reduction, please can you see Single frequency interference | ukfree.tv - independent free digital TV advice for help.

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Briantist's 38,915 posts GB flag
Saturday, 1 October 2011
L
Louise
8:20 PM
Ely

I think i may have figured out why i'm getting no reception on some channels. Last year the coax plug on the end of our tv aerial was removed after rusting away. It was never replaced but the end of the aerial cable was placed into some sort of plastic plate that has another cable attached which went into the freeview box. Now the end of the cable that leads from the plate into freeview box is very dodgy and everytime i move the cable the picture goes off. How easy is it to put a coax plug onto the end of an aerial? We live in rented accommodation so i'm slightly worried about doing it myself and getting into trouble with the landlady and i'm not sure how much it is to get someone out to do it, being on a very limited budget? Any advice would be much appreciated, thanks :-)

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Louise's 4 posts GB flag
Louise's: mapL's Freeview map terrainL's terrain plot wavesL's frequency data L's Freeview Detailed Coverage
S
Steve P
sentiment_satisfiedGold

11:53 PM

Louise - It is very easy, so long as you have a reasonable length of coax cable to work on. Just cut back to clean unrusted cable, and connect the wire in the middle to the middle prong and the mesh on the outside to the outside, MAKING SURE THEY DO NOT TOUCH; NOT EVEN ONE STRAND

These nice people have pix

How To Attach / Wire Up Plugs, Wall Plates & Aerials

But

1) This may well be landlord's responsibility

2) Don't you know anyone used to this stuff?

Best of luck.

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Steve P's 1,173 posts GB flag
Sunday, 2 October 2011
Doug B
10:10 AM

I live in Harlow CM18, a fringe area for Sandy, and had the same problem with SDN-CH31. However since 29th September I can now get SDN-CH31, signal strength & quality about 50% each. Have made no changes to my system, will have to wait 'til the weather turns cooler to see whether it is down to atmospherics or changes that have been made that have not been publicised. May try Steve's "magic shield" if problem recurs.

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Doug B's 20 posts GB flag
M
Maurice
1:56 PM

Hi Folks
Can anyone explain why I keep losing reception of channels fromSandy heath? I might lose BBC channels, the independent channels, then both, then none. Over the last couple of days I've reset maybe ten times with differing results. This morning, I appear to have regained a full complement but, for how long?

link to this comment
Maurice's 2 posts GB flag
S
Steve P
sentiment_satisfiedGold

4:36 PM
Wrexham

could be the weather - there's a page somewhere here about the Inversion effect.

link to this comment
Steve P's 1,173 posts GB flag
Steve's: mapS's Freeview map terrainS's terrain plot wavesS's frequency data S's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Monday, 3 October 2011
Briantist
sentiment_very_satisfiedOwner

9:17 AM

Steve P: It's here, but you found it automatically by typing in "Inversion Effect".

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Briantist's 38,915 posts GB flag
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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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