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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
Sunday, 28 October 2018
N
Nick
9:05 AM

Sorry Mike the end of my post got cut off, if you or your colleagues do have any ideas I can try, or tips tricks I would be hugely appreciative. I'm quite tech savvy so don't worry about bombarding me with your tech hehehe

Thanks very much

nick

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Nick's 6 posts US flag
MikeP
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

10:35 AM

Nick:

The clues I picked up on are that you have several trees nearby which I assume are in line with the signal path from the transmitter to your aerial. They are often a problem because of the leaves growing in spring and falling in autumn. They get wet as well and both those affect the way signal travel past the trees. Is it possible to site the aerial so it does not look through the tree canopies? It is usually better to mount the erial to look around them or over them.

The other is that you have a loft aerial but I am unaware that any planning authority is allowed to restrict your having a single aerial mounted externally (there are rules about multiple dishes and their size but you are allowed one external dish and one external aerial normally. I suggest you ask the local planners about that apparent 'rule'.) However, there may be a covenant applied to your property that may restrict the use of outdoor aerials - but that is not a planning matter but one of common law relating to ownership and use of land.property. If there is one it will be mentioned in the deeds of your house, which should be discussed with your lawyers.

I am not aware of any reduction/change in the radiated power of COM7 and COM8 from Sandy Heath, they appear to be the same as they were before the move. Because the frequencies used are now higher the signals are affected a little differently than before due to atmospheric absorption effects, etc.

Tiles do affect reception, especially when wet or covered with snow. It is also important to have the aerial as far away from water tanks and/or pipes as is possible and definitely not 'looking through' them. Loft insulation that has a metallic film included will also cause reception problems with an internally mounted aerial in the loft. The same is true for any layer immediately below the tiles as any metal between the aerial and the transmitter will cause problems.



link to this comment
MikeP's 3,056 posts GB flag
C
Coach
sentiment_satisfiedBronze

1:16 PM

Im still having issues with BBC4 HD and other channels on same mix. Anyone else still having issues. As it was raining last night it can't be high pressure still.

link to this comment
Coach's 33 posts US flag
MikeP
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

3:44 PM

Coach:

The BBC4 HD service is carried on the BBCB muliplex which is on Channel 21+. So you need to have a good wideband aerail that has good performaance at channel 21 as well as all the way through to channel 56 (COM8).

Put your post code and house number into the Digital UK Coverage Checker (http://www.digitaluk.co.uk/coveragechecker/) to get the correct bearing from you to the transmitter and then check that you aerial is the required wideband type as well as being correctly aimed at Sandy Heath transmitter (if that is indeed you best option transmitter).

I assume you have checked all the aerial cables and connections already, including unplugging any coaxial plugs/sockets and refitting them?

Please also check the signal strength shown by tyour TV set but DO NOT RETUNE. Let us know what the reported strengths are please?



link to this comment
MikeP's 3,056 posts GB flag
C
Coach
sentiment_satisfiedBronze

4:03 PM

MikeP: Thanks Mike. Only started to play up 2 weeks ago. Other channels such as bbc1 he are about 90% strength plus 100% quality. BBC 4 all over the shop however.
Thanks.

link to this comment
Coach's 33 posts US flag
Monday, 29 October 2018
I
Iain
6:12 PM

Hi
I have Freesat. Although I am in West Anglia subregion, the News I get is East East Anglia. When I set up my TV I entered my MK postcode. Help please.

link to this comment
Iain's 1 post US flag
S
StevensOnln1
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

6:55 PM

Iain: Are you watching ITV SD or ITV HD? Not all regions have a HD version of ITV available, so your box may be showing you the version corresponding to a neighbouring region (unhelpfully they are all just labelled as ITV HD so you can only really tell which version you're watching from the regional news).

link to this comment
StevensOnln1's 3,606 posts US flag
Wednesday, 31 October 2018
A
Alan
5:54 PM

Coach: Hi I live in the Dunstable area LU6 postal code and I have lost all HD freeview channels for over two weeks and before then the signal has been off and on.
What has happend?

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Alan's 1 post US flag
N
Nigel J
6:21 PM

Nick: the clue to this problem I suspect can be found by looking at the signal condition. Most TV sets provide a means to see both the signal strength and the signal quality( relate to message error rate) as part of the tuning menu. I would bet that you will see a high signal strength while the signal quality is low to non existent. The cause is co-channel interference. When the UK is under high pressure the poor frequency reuse distance between transmitters proves to be inadequate to stop the transmitters interfering with each other.

link to this comment
Nigel J's 16 posts US flag
C
Coach
sentiment_satisfiedBronze

9:01 PM

All very strange.BBC HD new now ok but signal up and down. Totally lost BBC4HD even though high pressure gone! Any suggestions?

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Coach's 33 posts US 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.

If you have no satellite signal, see Sky Digibox says 'No Signal' or 'Technical fault'

If you have other problems, please provide a full (not partial) postcode (or preferably enter it in box at the top right) and indicate where if aerial is on the roof, in the loft or elsewhere.

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