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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.

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.

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
Wednesday, 18 April 2012
A
Adam B
sentiment_satisfiedBronze

2:43 PM
Dunstable

Brian:

Yes, C31 until 9th May then C51.

Hope this helps,
Adam.

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Adam B's 91 posts GB flag
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B
Brian
2:53 PM

Adam B Thanks for the reply and confirmation of change date.
Brian

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Brian's 17 posts GB flag
Thursday, 19 April 2012
J
John
1:31 PM
Chatteris

Do we know when Sandy Heath will be on full power instead of above average and Low?

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John's 13 posts GB flag
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Friday, 20 April 2012
A
Andrei
10:17 PM
Stevenage

Hi,

I'm living in Stevenage from 4 april I've lose all ch 48 (Film 4, Yesterday, Viva).
They will be up again?

Thank you.



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Andrei's 1 post GB flag
Andrei's: mapA's Freeview map terrainA's terrain plot wavesA's frequency data A's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Sunday, 22 April 2012
J
Jon D
9:07 AM

Hi.
I live in Stevenage & was told by a freind to retune my freeview box which i done on Friday 20th April, On doing so most of my channels have moved !! channels like bbc1,bbc2,itc1,channl4,channel5 ect are now on channels 364 365 ect !! the picture that is on channels 1,2 etc is just pixelated!!
I have be receiving all these channels from sandy heath fine uptill now!!! Can anyone give me any advice ?? Many thanks


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Jon D's 5 posts GB flag
S
Stephen P
sentiment_satisfiedGold

11:21 AM

Jon D - Sounds like your scan put weak channels it came to first in the 1 2 3 slots and stored stronger ones in an overflow area. You can probably move them; or try retuning with the aerial unplugged until you get past the ones you don't want.

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Stephen P's 1,173 posts GB flag
J
Jon D
3:39 PM

Thanks Stephen,
Have tryed what you said! have had some luck! But i still have got to use some of the channels in the 300's !But i have heard that if you sandy heath are not on full power untill 9th/10th of may ! could any tell me if this is the chase?PS Ia second free veiw box in the spare room which i have NOT retuned and thats fine !
Thanks Jon


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Jon D's 5 posts GB flag
Dave Lindsay
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

3:48 PM

Jon D: As a test to see what transmitters you could be picking up in your area, I put the postcode for Cineworld in Stevenage into the Digital UK Tradeview predictor:

Postcode Checker - Trade View

As I suspected, Crystal Palace may be coming in strong in your area now that it has switched over (which it did so on Wednesday).

Confirm where the erroneous BBC One and ITV1 channels are coming from. Do this by going to them and bringing up the signal strength screen. Most receivers give the UHF channel number (equivalent to frequency) that it is tuned to. If BBC One is on C23 and ITV1 on C26 then those signals are coming from Crystal Palace. You then know what you're trying to avoid when the device goes through its scan.

Unfortunately the signals from Crystal Palace are all in the 20s, as are the Public Service channels from Sandy Heath. The Commercial channels (ITV3, Pick TV, Yesterday etc) from Sandy are in the 40s and 50s (except for one which I changes on 9th May and for which you will have to retune for).

Refer to "After switchover configuration" on this page Freeview multiplexes | ukfree.tv - independent free digital TV advice

The programme channels are broadcast in groups known as multiplexes.


Now, what I would do in your situation, if it turns out that the erroneous BBC and ITV signals are from Crystal Palace is to run the automatic tuning scan with the aerial lead unplugged up until 50%. This should give you ArqA (Pick TV etc) and ArqB (Yesterday) which are on 52 and 48 respectively. When you do this after 9th May it will also give you SDN (ITV3) which will then be on 51.

Having done this, then go to manual tune (if your receiver has this function) and manually add the missing multiplexes. BBC A (BBC One etc) is on C27 and D3&4 (ITV1 etc) is on C24. If the receiver has HD, then you need to manually tune to C21 for HD channels.

Finally, as SDN is presently on C31, manually add it. This will move to C51 on 9th May.

If this is a suitable workaround, then make a note of it should you need to retune at a later date.

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Dave Lindsay's 5,724 posts GB flag
S
Stephen P
sentiment_satisfiedGold

4:37 PM

Jon D - there's a note about temp aerials above. Dunno personally.

You can probably move the channels you want into the 1 2 3 etc. slots.

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Stephen P's 1,173 posts GB flag
J
Jon D
6:36 PM
Stevenage

Hi thanks every one for your help !!
Jon

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Jon D's 5 posts GB flag
Jon's: mapJ's Freeview map terrainJ's terrain plot wavesJ's frequency data J's Freeview Detailed Coverage
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