Full Freeview on the Sandy Heath (Central Bedfordshire, England) transmitter
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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 15/04/2024 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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Friday, 6 January 2012
Shane Brown: I think that the best thing is to bear with it for three months more. Not ideal I know.
The thing with the digital HD signal from Crystal Palace is that it is lower power than the other (standard definition) digital channels. The reason for this is because of lack of spare frequencies. Sandy Heath uses the same frequency for one of its multiplexes and this is currently on low power until Crystal Palace switches.
Crystal Palace was one of four transmitters in the country chosen to carry HD before their switchover. So you're lucky to get any HD before switchover at all.
The only thing you could try at no cost is to manually tune to Ch21 which is Sandy Heath's HD multiplex. If it works, it's a bodge because the aerial is pointing in the wrong direction, but it might produce a more stable result. You might need to delete the four HD channels in the 50s (how exactly you do it will depend on the design of your receiver).
As for what it could be, it could be 101 things. Trees can affect TV reception and therefore reception can change as they move or when the leaves grow or fall off. Maybe the tree was acting as a screen to block the signal from Sandy Heath; who knows! At the end of the day it has happened.
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Tuesday, 10 January 2012
B
Bob9:09 PM
Hi KMJ - so C48 & C52 are now on 170KW, I guess the official details must be out of date, as they are still listed as 20KW.
Bob
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Monday, 16 January 2012
A
A. Rees7:56 AM
Since yesterday I am unable to receive Sky Nrew on channel 82 from the Sandy Heath transmitter. I have done several retune scans aHave never had a problem before.nd it seems to miss out channel 82 altogether.
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Tuesday, 17 January 2012
Thursday, 19 January 2012
T
Tim McEwan11:37 AM
Milton Keynes
I have been helping my ex with her Freeview setup, but am baffled by the distinct lack of HD programmes. Every channel except C21 booms in with excellent quality from Sandy Heath. Why no C21?? New, external, wide-band antenna @ MK10 9NE
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Tim's: mapT's Freeview map terrainT's terrain plot wavesT's frequency data T's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Tim McEwan: Some possibilities:
1. There is another device that is putting out an analogue signal on C21.
2. The TV is "HD Ready" which means that it can show HD pictures, but does not have the means to receive them off air.
What is the make and model of the TV?
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T
Tim McEwan1:54 PM
Technika 42-8533D 42 inch Widescreen Full HD 1080p 3D LCD TV with Freeview & 8 x 3D Glasses is the model.
Im not aware of any analogue signal - at least the TV doesn't discover it in analogue mode....
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M
Mike Dimmick4:54 PM
Tim McEwan: I'm afraid I can't find a detailed spec or manual for that TV online.
For Freeview HD, the TV has to support the newer DVB-T2 standard and the BBC's method of encoding the programme guide (this is a very rudimentary copy-protection measure). Equipment that supports both should have a Freeview HD logo on the packaging somewhere. You could check to see whether the manual mentions DVB-T2. If it only mentions DVB-T, I'm afraid you'll need an additional Freeview HD box.
If the TV definitely supports Freeview HD, not just 'HD Ready', the most likely answer is Short Reflector Syndrome: http://www.wrightsaerials….pdf .
Wideband aerials aren't very good at the lowest frequencies, but you don't have much choice with Sandy Heath as the commercial multiplexes are in the middle of the frequency range, and a Group A aerial won't receive them. The cut-off is very sharp for frequencies above the range that the aerial is designed to handle.
If you can get into a manual tuning screen for the TV, it may be possible to show the signal strength for C21 and compare it to the strength for C24 and C27. If they're similar, it's the TV, not the aerial.
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A
Adam B5:39 PM
Tim McEwan:
I'm afraid the TV does not have an HD tuner built in. If you go to the Tesco website to see this model, go down to the description info, and click on the tap marked features, and you will se that for Freeview HD it says NO.
Technika 42-8533D 42 inch Widescreen Full HD 1080p 3D LCD TV with Freeview & 8 x 3D Glasses - Tesco.Direct
Sorry to be the bearer of bad tidings,
Adam.
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Friday, 20 January 2012
T
Tim McEwan9:11 AM
Thanks everyone - not the bargain she thought it was then!!
Freesat HD box on the horizon methinks......
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