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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
Thursday, 19 July 2018
Transmitter engineering
sentiment_very_satisfiedOwner

6:08 AM

SANDY HEATH transmitter - Freeview: BBC Digital TV Off Air; DSO related from 00:12 on 17 Jul to 05:13 on 17 Jul, HD Digital TV Off Air; DSO related from 00:11 on 17 Jul to 05:14 on 17 Jul. [BBC]

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Transmitter engineering's 149,799 posts xx flag
MikeP
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

4:30 PM

Ian Woollard:

Put your post code into the Digital UK Coverage Checker at Digital UK - Coverage checker and scroll down to the entries for Sandy Heath. That will tell you what channels are currently being used for all the services.



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MikeP's 3,056 posts GB flag
Sunday, 22 July 2018
P
Peter
3:08 PM

Ian Woollard:

This is my current scanning list which returns 168 channels..

001 522000 8 DVB-T C27 PSB1 BBCA DTG-3
002 498000 8 DVB-T C24 PSB2 D3+4 DTG-3
003 474200 8 DVB-T2 C21 PSB3 BBCB DTG-6
004 714000 8 DVB-T C51 COM4 SDN DTG-8
005 594000 8 DVB-T C36 COM5 ArqA DTG-8
006 690000 8 DVB-T C48 COM6 ArqB DTG-8
007 746000 8 DVB-T2 C55 COM7 DTG-6
008 754000 8 DVB-T2 C56 COM8 DTG-6

Hope it helps.

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Peter's 1 post GB flag
H
Hardy
sentiment_satisfiedSilver

10:51 PM

During the current hot spell periods of high pressure are likely to cause reception or interference from distant transmitters . Especially if you are not close to your local transmitter.

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Hardy's 137 posts GB flag
Monday, 23 July 2018
B
Bob
10:32 AM

I'm not getting intermittent BBC from Norwich, off the back of my Sandy heath aerial on C40.....
Is the site owner, ever going to update this site?
What happens when the mobile phones take over the over all the C50s channels?

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Bob's 4 posts GB flag
M
Myrvin
1:00 PM

Myrvin: Thanks for the ideas. However I have no signal at a
all on channel 55. Channel 56 seems ok.

link to this comment
Myrvin's 7 posts GB flag
Wednesday, 25 July 2018
J
Julian Hicks
9:36 AM

So, after the update of the Sandy Heath transmitter, I still find the majority of channels prone to lose of sound, pixzlation and complete lose of sound and picture All this after 5 years of having to put up with a poor signal. Yes I know the weather patterns can affect the signal, but every day of the year for the last five years. It is certainly not due to daily weather conditiona in probably 90% of picture and sound break up.
Now then, My neighbour picks up the Oxford transmitter and has the same problem from Oxford as I do from Sandy Heath. Please don't tell me it's the airiel, It's new, it's not the cable, it's new, there is even signal booster in the line and it is not the airiel socket on the tele or any of the connectors as someone rom FReeview told me.
So experts , whats the problem, how's it cured , or am I plagued with a TV signal that spoils my TV entertainment for life.

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Julian Hicks's 4 posts GB flag
MikeP
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

3:41 PM

Juklian Hicks:

Please give a full post code so that we can see where you are in relation to the possible transmitters, whether there are any known reception problems at that location, whether there are mobile phone transmitters potentially causing interference and to get an indication of what the expected reception should be like.

Please also give the signal strength readongs for the multiplexes you have problems with.

From that information we may be able to make some informed suggestions about possible solutions to investigate. Resolving issues such as yours are always very difficult to resolve remotely, especially if we have no idea where you are.



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MikeP's 3,056 posts GB flag
Monday, 30 July 2018
H
Hardy
sentiment_satisfiedSilver

3:06 PM
Dunstable

Julian . if your postcode is LU6 2AY as previously posted then reception should now be very good from Oxford according to the coverage checker. This should be possible without an amplifier on a medium gain wideband aerial . Sandy Heath might need an amplified group K aerial. Though an amplified wideband MIGHT be ok for sandy heath. Proper amplifiers go next to the Ariel. Indoor amplifiers are not very effective .
In your case I would definitely try turning the aerial towards Oxford and retuning.
If you still have difficulty I would suspect that there is a very local problem . Such as hills , trees or a source of interference such as a nearby phone mast.
ps I would guess that you already have a decent wideband aerial .

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Hardy's 137 posts GB flag
Hardy's: mapH's Freeview map terrainH's terrain plot wavesH's frequency data H's Freeview Detailed Coverage
H
Hardy
sentiment_satisfiedSilver

3:32 PM

Looking at google maps of your area . Few houses seem to have outdoor aerials which are probably essential for reliable reception. Or at least a good loft aerial with amplifier in the loft. Obviously Oxford is the opposite direction to Sandy heath and it can take some experiment to find the best loft position,

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Hardy's 137 posts GB flag
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