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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
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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),

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
Wednesday, 18 July 2018
M
Mark
7:12 AM

Thanks MikeP for your reply and information.

Re-tuned around 8.00 ish last night and now have Com 7 & 8 on ch55 and 56. Signal condition check shows intermittent bit errors, Strength 8 and Quality 3. (before the switch it was 10/10). I'll now look at a better gain aerial.

Mark

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Mark's 6 posts GB flag
B
Bob
7:25 AM
Brandon

Com 7 & 8 have gone completely IP27 0EE, on C55 & C56 = they were fine on C32 & C34 before the change, which I thought was to remove channels on C50 - 59, not put more on them ?????
A Temporary move perhaps?

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Bob's 4 posts GB flag
Bob's: mapB's Freeview map terrainB's terrain plot wavesB's frequency data B's Freeview Detailed Coverage
C
Colin
12:26 PM

Mark: Sandy Heath Now has COM7/8 on low power and same frequencies as Oxford the adjacent TX. You may need a very directional aerial (LogPeriodic) to reject signals from Oxford or other sites. In Milton Keynes which is equidistant from Oxford and Sandy some people have lost 15 SD and 9 HD channels. Note also these SFN muxes are HD only so SD channels carried on these Muxes can only be received on a HD tuner TV. The LCNs affected are 55, 56, 67, 82, 84, 87, 97, 98, , 86, 88, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 106, 107, 108, 109, 110, 111, 112, 113, 205. Unprofessional planning but they are driving people to Satellite services.

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Colin's 7 posts GB flag
M
Mark
2:07 PM

Thanks Colin,
I gathered as much from the loss of signal strength and the wattage comparisons of each mux in the info higher up this page. Despite this all the Com 7 & 8 channels are ok and not dropping out currently. Is it your understanding that they will boost the signal later or is that it? Shocking that people are losing channels because of this.

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Mark's 6 posts GB flag
M
Myrvin
3:40 PM

I lost BBC4 HD, but that came back after the retune. Now I've lost everything on Com7. I can't get BBC News HD. No signal on channel 32 at TVall.

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Myrvin's 7 posts GB flag
M
Myrvin
3:43 PM

I lost BBC4 HD, but that came back after the retune. Now I've lost BBC News HD and everything on com7. There's no signal on channel 32 at all.

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Myrvin's 7 posts GB flag
M
Mark
4:54 PM

Myrvin: Check post from StevensOnln1 on previous page. COMs 7 & 8 have moved since yesterday to CH54/55.

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Mark's 6 posts GB flag
MikeP
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

5:28 PM

jpaul:

Thew list shown on this website have not been updated by the site owner. The correct channels are 55 and 56, put your post code into the Digital UK Coverage Checker at Digital UK - Coverage checker



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MikeP's 3,056 posts GB flag
M
Mark
5:35 PM

Apologies, I meant to put 55 and 56.

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Mark's 6 posts GB flag
I
Ian Woollard
6:49 PM

I've had difficulty matching the "How will the Sandy Heath (Central Bedfordshire, England) transmission frequencies change over time?" '30th June 2018' table entry above with the reality.

Here in Sharnbrook, there's been changes, but I'm finding that the table above is about half wrong. What I find is:

- BBCB is currently on C21, not C27 as listed. Whereas BBCA is on C27 not C21 (they didn't swap over during the shutdown).
- D3+4 is right, it is on C24
- SDN doesn't appear to be on C33 at all, I receive it on C51
- COM7 seems to be on C55, but I'm getting massive drop outs, I haven't managed to find COM8.
- ARQA is right, it is on C36
- ARQB is right, it is on C48

Does this match anyone else's experience?

I did wonder if my aerial was picking up a completely different transmitter or something, but it shutdown like clockwork during yesterday's maintenance window, so presumably it IS the Sandy Heath transmitter. I created the list because I've been battling some weird reception problems here (don't ask!), no criticism of anyone is implied. Hope this helps someone.

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Ian Woollard's 1 post GB flag
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