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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
_______

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
Friday, 18 May 2012
I
Ian
4:06 PM

I also experience same problem with my Lowry set top box , tried all the option so far, seems that Sandy heath are having problems, before upgrade it was excellent, can we have a downgrade back to where it was.... too many from all ov, I live in Milton Keyneser the area having same problems

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Ian's 1 post GB flag
J
jb38
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

9:19 PM

ErwinH: If you can receive all the channels perfectly OK with a set top aerial then this is simply because of either (1) The signal you are receiving via the communal aerial is excessively high and is partially blocking the Sony's tuner, or (2) that the distribution amplifier used by the communal aerial system is itself being overloaded and sending out an defective signal, as you are indicated as being only 12 miles away from Sandy.

I feel though that its No1 that's the cause of your problem, and the only reason that a set top aerial works is because that it will not supply the same level of signal into the tuner as would be obtained from a communal aerial system (or roof if not communal) not that terribly far away from the transmitter, and so you should purchase an attenuator to place in line with the Sony's aerial socket, one of the variable types with a range of 0 - 20db would be fine, as although I feel that a fixed attenuator of about 10db would be suffice its very difficult to judge as to whether it would be or not as it depends on just how strong the signal is.

By the way you cannot reply on the signal strength / quality indications seen on Freeview devices that are operating with an excessively high level of signal, as the signal data gets corrupted in the tuner which results in the system used for measuring the strength / quality giving false readings, these always being low.



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jb38's 7,179 posts GB flag
Saturday, 19 May 2012
J
Jon D
11:05 AM
Stevenage

Hi,
I replaced my free view box a couple of days ago and since then some of the channels come with the message bad or poor signal then the picture apairs and its fine but go geSt some Pixelation now and again! But with the old freeview box (icecript t5000) i got 90% SIGNAL AND 100% QUALITY !! But with the NEW freeview box ( a cheap alba box) i am getting 45% SIGNAL ON MOST CHANNELS BUT ONLY 30% ON C4 AND C5 BUT GETTING A 100% QUALITY ON ALL CHANNELS!! Has any one got any ideas??
PS Ilive in Stevenage in hertfordshire and is getting my signal from Sandy Heath !
Many thanks Jon D

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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
Dave Lindsay
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

11:54 AM

Jon D: I posted previously to you about checking that the receiver is tuned to Sandy Heath channels rather than Crystal Palace (or any other transmitter):

Freeview on Sandy Heath TV transmitter | ukfree.tv - independent free digital TV advice

You should confirm that you are tuned to Sandy Heath by bringing up the signal strength screen on the following and checking that they tuned correctly:

BBC One = C27
ITV1 = C24
BBC One HD = C21
ITV3 = C51
Pick TV = C52
Yesterday = C48


If they all show 100% quality and they remain so, then you have nothing to worrry about.

For digital reception, so long as the signal strength is above the threshold needed to resolve the picture, and it remains so, then the picture quality is the best that it can be.

Not all the strength scales (shown on the screen) are the same so I wouldn't go comparing expecting them to be the same.

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Dave Lindsay's 5,724 posts GB flag
J
Jon D
12:10 PM
Stevenage

Hi,
Thanks for the info, the channals are correct! So will leave it that!
Thanks again Jon D

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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
T
Tim
sentiment_satisfiedBronze

11:56 PM
Radlett

Has COM4/SDN on channel 51 gone up in power as of the 9 th May?

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Tim's 32 posts GB flag
Tim's: mapT's Freeview map terrainT's terrain plot wavesT's frequency data T's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Sunday, 20 May 2012
J
jb38
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

7:24 AM

Tim: Yes, because as well as changing its operating channel Sandy's SDN increased power from 20Kw up to 170Kw.

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jb38's 7,179 posts GB flag
D
DErek
8:56 PM

I live on top of the Chiltern Hills just south of Luton.
Typically people living near me pointed their aerials at Crystal Palace and watched London regional programs.
Since the latest retunes I am getting Anglia Region programs
Is there anything I can do to resolve it?

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DErek's 2 posts GB flag
Dave Lindsay
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

9:15 PM

Derek: Try manually tuning if your receiver allows.

For Sandy Heath they are 27, 24, 21 (HD), 51, 52, 48

Unfortunately Crystal Palace's channels are in the 20s, so there is no workaround with unplugging the aerial during the scanning of its channels.

Ideally, wipe what's stored and add the five (or six if it's HD) channels. Simply manually tuning without clearing what's already there may achieve nothing as these channels will probably be stored in the 800s, and therefore when they are manual tuned, the TV may consider that they are already stored.

If you would like some more help/pointers with this, let us know what make and model you are using.

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Dave Lindsay's 5,724 posts 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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