Full Freeview on the Sandy Heath (Central Bedfordshire, England) transmitter
Brian Butterworth first published this on - UK Free TV
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.
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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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Friday, 18 May 2012
I
Ian4:06 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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J
jb389:19 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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Saturday, 19 May 2012
J
Jon D11:05 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's: mapJ's Freeview map terrainJ's terrain plot wavesJ's frequency data J's Freeview Detailed Coverage
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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J
Jon D12:10 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's: mapJ's Freeview map terrainJ's terrain plot wavesJ's frequency data J's Freeview Detailed Coverage
T
Tim11:56 PM
Radlett
Has COM4/SDN on channel 51 gone up in power as of the 9 th May?
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Tim's: mapT's Freeview map terrainT's terrain plot wavesT's frequency data T's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Sunday, 20 May 2012
J
jb387:24 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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DErek8:56 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: 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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