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Full Freeview on the Sandy Heath (Central Bedfordshire, England) transmitter

first published this on - UK Free TV
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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 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, 9 March 2017
Transmitter engineering
sentiment_very_satisfiedOwner

4:32 AM

SANDY HEATH transmitter - DAB: BBC National DAB Radio Off Air from 20:41 yesterday to 21:25 yesterday. [BBC]

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Transmitter engineering's 149,799 posts xx flag
Friday, 10 March 2017
Transmitter engineering
sentiment_very_satisfiedOwner

4:32 AM

SANDY HEATH transmitter - DAB: BBC National DAB Radio Off Air from 20:41 on 08 Mar to 21:25 on 08 Mar. [BBC]

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Transmitter engineering's 149,799 posts xx flag
Thursday, 27 April 2017
E
Evans
3:15 PM
Wellingborough

Getting bad or no signal plus scrambled on my tv are doing work on sandy Heath transmitter?

Post code nn9 5gh irthlingborough northants

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Evans's 1 post GB flag
Evans's: ...
S
StevensOnln1
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

3:42 PM

Evans: There's no engineering work or faults currently showing for Sandy Heath. Have you checked for loose or damages cables and connections behind the TV? Do not attempt to retune whilst you have bad signal as it will result in all your channels being deleted and won't fix the lack of signal.

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StevensOnln1's 3,605 posts GB flag
Monday, 1 May 2017
M
Martin Longmore
8:20 PM

I live about 20 mile from Oxford and have previously received a good signal from that transmitter. Unfortunately having re-tuned my tv I now receive a signal from the Sandy transmitter even though my aerial is pointing to Oxford. Worse still, my picture breaks up very regularly, especially on the higher channels. I know Sandy has a stronger signal than Oxford. would fitting a band pass filter eliminate the problem?

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Martin Longmore's 1 post GB flag
S
StevensOnln1
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

11:13 PM

Martin Longmore: Does your TV have a manual tuning function? If it does, run an auto tune with the aerial unplugged to clear all the Sandy Heath channels, then run a manual tune on each of Oxford's frequencies to store those channels instead.

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StevensOnln1's 3,605 posts GB flag
Thursday, 4 May 2017
M
Mr Thompson
12:20 AM

Hello I am able to get all channels except com 7 and com 8 .
I am not able to get those at all I can see they have Lower power from the transmitter I can see that may be the cause I am in West hunsbruy northampton?
I also have a freesat from sky box which signal drops out in rain totally separate issue but can I have some help regards Mr Thompson,

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Mr Thompson's 3 posts GB flag
MikeP
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

8:44 AM

Mr Thompson:

Com7 and Com8 are transmitted using the DVB-T2 encoding system and that requires a TV set or STB to have a T2 tuner incorporated. Any equipment that does not have a T2 tuner will not receive these transmissions. If your equipment is not of the Freeview HD type, having a T2 tuner built-in, it will not show Com7 or Com8. If you tell us your full post code, to check reception conditions, and the make and model of your TV set (or STB) we can check whether it has a T2 tuner.

Your Freesat problem is usually due to the dish being either too small (the 'standard' 35cm one fitted by Sky is not very good at all anywhere other than Kent!) or it has moved slightly and needs repositioning or there are tall trees growing in front of it and partially blocking the signals. There is also the chance that water has crept into the downleads. So check that the dish has not moved (even a slight mis-alignment can cause the problem) and that there are no tall trees directly in front of it. Also check the condition of the cables and their connections. If your dish is the small oval type fitted by Sky's contractors then consider having it changed to a bigger one that receives the satellite signals more strongly. A 55cm dish should be better where you live providing it is correctly aimed at the satellites above East Africa. (I use a 60cm dish in West Wiltshire and don't get rain effects.)



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MikeP's 3,056 posts GB flag
M
Mr Thompson
9:33 AM

Yes I have a sky mini dish fitted it's the small one of the 2 .
My tv with freeview is freeview HD its Sony and is smart .

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Mr Thompson's 3 posts GB flag
M
MikeB
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

10:44 AM

Mr Thompson : Since its likely that your TV does have a T2 tuner, if only because Sony's with sat. tuners will always have T2 tuners as well, its either because your just in a place with a poor signal for those muxes, or you've a possible problem with your system, and those low power muxes are fading out.

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MikeB's 2,579 posts GB flag
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