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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
_______

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
Tuesday, 28 May 2019
B
Barry Hardwick
6:35 AM
Milton Keynes

28 / 5 /2019 7.30 am at MK17 0DJ . no signal on any channels.

27/5/2019 6.00 am at MK17 0DJ no signal all channels at 5.55am. All back on 6.00 a,

Why??

link to this comment
Barry Hardwick's 3 posts GB flag
Barry's: mapB's Freeview map terrainB's terrain plot wavesB's frequency data B's Freeview Detailed Coverage
MikeP
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

11:06 PM

Barry Hardwick:

Either you have a problem with yiur aerial system of it is some form of local interference.

Check all your aerial cables and connections. Unplug all coiaxial connections and refit them. Then check what signal strengths you are getting but DO NOT RETUNE.



link to this comment
MikeP's 3,056 posts GB flag
Wednesday, 29 May 2019
C
Chris.SE
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

1:15 PM

Barry Hardwick:

As MikeP says check/refit all your connections - a bit of oxidation on them can affect performance. After, if all your signal levels on each mux is what you normally get, I wouldn't worry too much unless it's happening on a regular basis and there is a clear pattern to when it's occurring.

Sometimes there are brief unexpected interruptions to signals which could be down to something local rather than at the transmitter, also important to distinguish between loss of the transmitted signal (no carrier) and just loss of the data feed to the multiplexes. With the former your set will normally tell you there is no signal.

link to this comment
Chris.SE's 4,101 posts GB flag
Sunday, 30 June 2019
B
Brad
8:21 AM

28th June 2019 we lost signal at around 2315hrs. HD and SD were too weak.
I had a quick check of connection security and all was good. The next morning I had SD with some freezing, but not very often. By the evening of 29th at around 2100hrs I decided d to try my TV again and everything worked.
Was there a problem with the transmitter. I live in Wisbech and believe the aerial is pointing to Sandy Heath.

link to this comment
Brad's 1 post GB flag
MikeP
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

8:24 PM

Brad:

There was no problemn reported. So it was likely to either be the hot weather or esle a poor connection in yoyur aerial system.



link to this comment
MikeP's 3,056 posts GB flag
Wednesday, 3 July 2019
D
David Gurr
2:47 PM

The channel list for the Sandy Heath transmitter is not correct - it doesn't take account of recent lineup changes.

link to this comment
David Gurr's 4 posts GB flag
C
Chris.SE
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

9:05 PM

David Gurr:

As has been mentioned many times, unfortunately the site owner has not had the time to correct all the information on all the transmitter pages.
For the UHF channel allocations for each mux, you are best looking at Coverage Checker - Detailed View or by putting your postcode into Digital UK - Coverage checker you can get your predicted reception for your location Coverage Checker - Detailed View

For up-to-date channel listing for each multiplex, this is usually the best place Digital UK | Channel listings

All Using Sandy Heath:
Note that this week beginning 1st July, there is planned engineering with the possible effect of a weak signal.


link to this comment
Chris.SE's 4,101 posts GB flag
Saturday, 20 July 2019
M
Mr Derek Bampkin
9:04 PM

Have lost channels 48 & 51, signal strength is pulsing, signal quality is zero. i have completely cleared tuning & re tuned but still no result. This has only happened since the very hot Wednesday earlier. Any suggestions

link to this comment
Mr Derek Bampkin's 3 posts GB flag
M
Mr Derek Bampkin
9:07 PM

Have lost channels 48 & 51, signal strength is pulsing, signal quality is zero. i have completely cleared tuning & re tuned but still no result. This has only happened since the very hot Wednesday earlier. Any suggestion.
Location Northampton

link to this comment
Mr Derek Bampkin's 3 posts GB flag
Sunday, 21 July 2019
C
Chris.SE
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

5:30 AM

Mr Derek Bampkin:

Put your postcode into Digital UK - Coverage checker to see predicted reception at your location. If it is good for the ArqB and SDN multiplexes you mention, then as you mentioned the weather it could be the recent propagation conditions. Is reception now OK?
Propagation is predicted to increase again next week, so there could be further problems.

However, the heat may have also caused connection issues with your system, so do check that all coax plugs and sockets are clean and properly connected. By unpluging them, inspecting and replugging - this will help remove any oxidation that may be present that could cause connection issues. Does your set get the HD channels - was reception of COMs 7&8 (C55&56) OK? Also check that your aerial is still where it should be and pointing in the correct direction and the coax is connected and secure - you may need to get someone to check all of that if you continue to have problems. (I'm assuming your TV set is OK!).

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Chris.SE's 4,101 posts GB 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.

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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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