Full Freeview on the Sandy Heath (Central Bedfordshire, England) transmitter
 | 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.
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 25/11/2024 Pixelation or flickering on some or all channels 
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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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Saturday, 9 June 2012
R
Rog1:28 PM
Ted: Is this all channels? . . . I am having a similar thing but on just Ch48-51-52, I am in Northampton by the way.
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Sunday, 10 June 2012
S
Stephen P8:51 PM
Ted T - ask around - is it just your house?
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Tuesday, 12 June 2012
J
JVO9:40 AM
Knebworth
I am making do with old (band A?) aerial at present and get the main channels okay, I also get channel 51 on a good day and 52 on a very good day but no sign of channel 48 ?
Could it be that the mode of ch48 is not compatible with my TV or would you expect the problem to be solved with a wideband aerial.
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JVO's: mapJ's Freeview map terrainJ's terrain plot wavesJ's frequency data J's Freeview Detailed Coverage
L
Laura1:28 PM
hi i am in the st neots area pe198jq.
Since the changeover we have been having problems with the reception of our freview. its usually the itv and channel 4 and 5 ones but sometimes bbc. there is a picture but sometimes its very jerky and flicks on and off and crackles. My e4+1 channel just says no signal.
Im not very technology savvy so if u could keep it as simple as possible that would be great!
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Laura: It only six miles from the transmitter, the signal may be very strong. Consequently too much signal could be being fed to your receiver which is overwhelming it at times.
See Freeview news | ukfree.tv - independent free digital TV advice
Try fitting an attenuator inline with the aerial lead so as to reduce the level of signal. A 20dB variable one will allow adjustment. These can be obtained from online sources for £3 or £4.
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Wednesday, 13 June 2012
J
jb387:30 AM
JVO: Multiplex channels are not necessarily all received at the same level and Ch48 is most likely to be sitting at just under the threshold for reception, you can find out what its at by selecting "manual tune" and entering Ch48 but not pressing scan, because in most equipment the strength its being received at will immediately be indicated, if you then enter 51 & 52 the difference will immediately be seen.
You should though change your aerial over to a wideband type as you are somewhat over stretching your group A aerial, a Log 40 type would be an ideal replacement for whatever you are using.
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J
JVO10:58 AM
Knebworth
JB38. Thank you for your quick reply. I have already tried manual tune and that always shows 0 for C48, best seen for C51 is around 75% "quality" (but very variable). Mind you my set is a bit funny as it shows 0 for C21 (HD stuff) but gets the stations no problem !?
I wonder if the same "mode" was used for the mutex before it was moved to C48 (last Sep?) ? I could receive it then (on a good day). Grateful for any comment.
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JVO's: mapJ's Freeview map terrainJ's terrain plot wavesJ's frequency data J's Freeview Detailed Coverage
J
JVO11:02 AM
Knebworth
PS. To clarify, no stations found on C48
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JVO's: mapJ's Freeview map terrainJ's terrain plot wavesJ's frequency data J's Freeview Detailed Coverage
JVO: According to information from Ofcom, 27, 24, 21 and 48 are using the "transitional S1 antenna" until 27th of this month. This affects the signal in your general direction, so see how it goes after 27th.
This is so as to protect against interference with transmitters in the south east that complete switchover on that date, although I can't work out which one uses C48 until then.
If the change requires outdoor work (on the mast), then obviously it may be delayed due to the weather.
If you find that you get C48 from 27th, then let us know on here as it will help inform others who are in the same position. You may also like to make a note of the signal strengths on 27, 24 and 21 (HD) to see if they go up on the same date that 48 becomes available to you.
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J
JVO12:15 PM
Knebworth
Dave Lindsay. Thank you for that info.
Signal strength on C24, C27 shows 100% now so wont see any difference there.
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JVO's: mapJ's Freeview map terrainJ's terrain plot wavesJ's frequency data J's Freeview Detailed Coverage
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