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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, 14 May 2017
M
MikeB
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

1:49 PM

steve: I've got the older version of one of these boxes, and they are relatively sensitive (although they have the tendency to lock up every so often, at which point you need to pull the power and let it reboot), so I can figure why your not getting your HD channels, especially since your seemingly so close to Sandy Heath.

First thing is to check that its not your system, after a rescan and making sure its locked onto Sandy Heath. Try swapping out the aerial lead, and obviously check signal strength. If everything still looks OK but no HD, then ask if you can use your neighbours aerial for a minute - if you do a scan for channels and it picks up HD, its your aerial system (although you would probably have noticed that when looking at signal strength).

If nothing works, it sounds like the box is duff and take it back. My betting is that either something is really up the spout with your aerial system, and its just about hanging on, or, more likely, the box is shot.


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MikeB's 2,579 posts GB flag
Wednesday, 17 May 2017
D
Dylan
11:42 AM

Hello I have freesat from sky .
My signal is perfect in dry weahter.
But whenever it rains even light rain my hd channels break up.
However all SD channels are fine unless it's very heavy rain it has to be heavy to affect SD but only light to affect HD .
I know rain always affects satellite signals but why does it affect hd easier and every time it rains .
It doesn't go off air just keeps breaking up every few seconds . Especially itv hd .
I've tried a few different boxes all the same .
My signal levels are 78% signal 90% quality .
I have a sky mini dish fitted with 1 wire to my sky box .
The faces a sky with no trees in the way but does face near a wall but the wall is quite few feet off .

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Dylan's 3 posts GB flag
Thursday, 18 May 2017
MikeP
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

8:48 AM
Trowbridge

Dylan:

Your problem is the mini-dish, the ones fitted by Sky are often too small for reliable reception when there is significant moisture in the air between your dish and the satellite. You cannot amplify the satellite signals so the only real solution is to have the dish replaced with a larger one and preferably moved away form facing the wall.

The one other thing you can do is to check that all the connections are making good contact and that the F-connectors do not have any strands of the outer metal braiding touching the inner central copper core.



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MikeP's 3,056 posts GB flag
MikeP's: mapM's Freeview map terrainM's terrain plot wavesM's frequency data M's Freeview Detailed Coverage
D
Dylan
9:12 AM

Ok I see if that's the case though maybe the minidish should be abolished and people have bigger dishes fit by standard. Sky didn't install my minidish I paid for it 185 only last year .
I am so disappointed. But thanks for telling me the problem do you think in future they'll make a better dish by standard there's not much point in only been able to watch tv in good weahter most the time in good weahter you want to get out .
I've known other people have simlier problems with the mini dish I'm quite far south as well I'd hate to think how it would work in say Newcastle or blackpool.
At some point I'd like to get a dish that can get me channels from Germany and Europe as well as uk sat but at the moment finance isn't great so maybe then if then ill get a bigger dish . Is it possible to get a dish that will pick up all german and English channels and play them on the same box like a sky box or freesat box .

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Dylan's 3 posts GB flag
S
StevensOnln1
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

11:19 AM

Dylan : I couldn't see from your posts which part of the country you're in, but in general, as you go further north you'll find bigger dishes installed as standard due to the satellite signals getting weaker as you get further away from the equator. Around the south coast a 30cm dish should be fine, once you get towards the Midlands 45cm dishes tend to be used, and in the North of England, Scotland and Ireland 65cm dishes are commonly used.

Channels from Germany are broadcast from a different satellite position (although do provide good coverage in the UK) and would require either a separate dish aligned to that position, a bigger dish with multiple LNB blocks aligned to different satellite positions along with a device to switch between them (or a separate box for each satellite position) or a motorised dish which can be steered between different satellite positions. Your Sky box will only work for UK channels, as it needs to receive signals from Sky in order to populate it with the channel listing, which is only broadcast from the UK satellite position. A Freesat box might work in non-Freesat mode, or you could use a generic free to air box which is more likely to support switching between different LNBs or automatically controling a motorised dish. I'd suggest talking to a satellite install with experience of installing systems for reception of multiple satellite positions if you decide to go down this route.

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StevensOnln1's 3,606 posts GB flag
Friday, 19 May 2017
MikeP
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

8:02 AM
Trowbridge

Dylan & StevensOnln1:

A 35cm dish is usually fine in Kent but may still suffer from problems in snow, etc. In London a 45 cm dish is better. That is usually OK up to about a line between Ipswich and Salisbury (the satellites are to the South East so the divide is not horizontal across the country), that is why I use a larger dish in West Wiltshire. Going further north and west, a 55cm dish is needed up to a line roughly between York and Stafford. Further north than that you need a 65cm dish but in Aberdeenshire and further north and west you need a 90cm dish. Dishes smaller than those suggested suffer exactly the problem you report. I did the original work on dish sizes and installation for the TV industry when I worked for a major TV rental company as a Senior Technical Training Manager, so I have some experience and knowledge that is relevant.

Be aware that the Planning Laws only allow two antennae, usually an aerial for terrestrial reception and a single dish for satellite reception. If you want to fit a further dish you must obtain planning permission from your local planning authority, see Planning Permission: Houses and buildings up to 15 metres high | Satellite,TV and radio antenna | Planning Portal for more details. If you are planning to fit an even larger dish, generally more than 90cm across, you will also need planning permission as is often the case in the Shetlands and further north.

The LNB, the block on the outer end of the arm in front of the curved dish, you can get good quality ones with 4 or 8 outlets that can feed several set top boxes. PVRs need two inputs so that you can record one channel whilst watching another. Always buy and fit the lowest noise figure and best quality LNB possible.

If you don't want to receive from other satellites in a different orbital position then it is rarely necessary to fit a further dish. The Astra satellites used by Sky and Freesat are at 28.2 East and 28.5 East, both being receievable with a single dish. There are many other satellites possible, such as those at 16.5 E and 19.2 E but they would require a different dish with planning permission.



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MikeP's 3,056 posts GB flag
MikeP's: mapM's Freeview map terrainM's terrain plot wavesM's frequency data M's Freeview Detailed Coverage
D
Dylan
11:57 PM

Thank you for thr information.
So if I needed 2 dishes under 90cm for german and uk channels would that be ok without planning permission.
As we don't have a aerial at all expect for one in the loft .
I'd like to get a second dish for german tv and see if someone will remove the sky dish and replace with a 80cm dish as well as a 80 cm dish will that work I have a sat tuner built in my tv not freesat just a non epg kind .
I am located in Brixworth Northamptonshire .
Also if I were to get the German channels would the box show german epg or just now and next ?

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Dylan's 3 posts GB flag
Saturday, 20 May 2017
MikeP
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

9:00 AM
Trowbridge

Dylan:

In such circumstances it is worth asking your local Planning Authority whether they would require you to seek formal planning consent to have two large dishes. The link I gave states that you do not need planning consent "if you are installing two antennas, one is not more than 100 centimetres in any linear dimension, and the other is not more than 60 centimetres in any linear dimension (not including any projecting feed element, reinforcing rim, mounting and brackets" so you cannot have two 90cm dishes without obtaining planning consent. I am assuming your live in a single occupancy property, either detached, semi-detached or terrace. Please read the whole of the relevant section on the Planning Portal to be sure you understand the legal requirements.

In Brixworth, you don't need an 80cm dish for Sky/Freesat, a 60cm will be sufficient as long as it is fitted with a good quality LNB, not a cheap one. The same is likely to be true for the satellites at 19.2E and 16.5E if they are the ones you want to use, but they are not normally available using a single dish unless you have a dual LNB mounting fitted that can be adjusted so that each of the LNBs can 'see' a different satellite. Note that you cannot combine satellite signals so you cannot join two cables to feed from two dishes into a single receiver input. They have to remain separate from the LNBs all the way to the receiver inputs.

You should check the User Manual for your satellite receiver about the EPG query, not knowing what make/model it is means that we cannot look it up for you but you should have the manual already.



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MikeP's 3,056 posts GB flag
MikeP's: mapM's Freeview map terrainM's terrain plot wavesM's frequency data M's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Sunday, 16 July 2017
M
Mark
2:31 PM

How can I receive Central TV in Northampton? As much as I like the Anglia region I feel little affinity from a local point of view with places like Norfolk and Essex. Places like Coventry and Leicester, just up the road from Northampton, never get a look in.

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Mark's 1 post GB flag
Monday, 17 July 2017
MikeP
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

10:21 AM

Mark:

If you provide a full post code that will bring up a series of links that will show which transmitters are receiveable at your specific location. From the one shown as 'digitaluk trade' you can see which are available and what regions they cover as well as how likely they are to be reliably received.



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MikeP's 3,056 posts GB flag
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