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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
Wednesday, 27 April 2016
MikeP
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

10:30 AM
Trowbridge

Seff:

Indoor aerials rarely work reliably and as you are some way from the transmitter they are unlikely to give any satisfactory or reliable results.

A good UHF aerial mounted externally is what is needed (not a 'digital' one, that's a con), aimed carefully towards the Sandy Heath transmitter.

If you put your full post code into this website, you will be able to see the transmision/reception conditions for your location. You will also be able to see whether there are any interuptions to 'line of sight' reception due to buildings or hill - they can cause signals reception problems.



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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
Thursday, 5 May 2016
M
Mrs B Elliott
8:55 PM

Hi I hope you can help me I have a very poor signal on free view .I am with B T I have had Bt out four times and thay say the signal is strong thay gave me a new box .I have had two aerial men out and thay say the signal is strong yet I am still haveing problems.you are my last hope .i live at Milton Keynes my post code is M K 8 9 AL .

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Mrs B Elliott's 1 post GB flag
Friday, 6 May 2016
J
jb38
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

7:50 AM

Mrs B Elliott: Your best policy would be to try and ascertain if anyone else (neighbours?) in your immediate area are also experiencing similar problems with reception, which by the way, would suggest as only being of an intermittent nature judging by the number of engineers who have reported your signal as being OK.

My reason for suggesting that you check with neighbours, is that its noticed you reside close the Great Holm fire station, and the problem referred to "might" possibly be connected with the intermittent use of communication devices at said station.

Further advice as required.


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jb38's 7,179 posts GB flag
Friday, 20 May 2016
P
Paulj
11:02 PM

Sandy Heath transmission of the HD mux's including channel4 seems to be showing a lot of signal break up
20/5.after 9pm to LittleDownham near Ely cb62ez and was showing some lesser break up over past week.

[I have not found an alternative forum to share such information, however the user interface on this site seems dated and I cannot determine if input is provided from any professional/commercial bodies with transmitter 'responsibility']

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Paulj's 4 posts GB flag
Saturday, 21 May 2016
M
MikeB
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

8:19 PM

Paulj: The breakup is probably due to something at your end, not the transmitter. Check your signal levels - are they high or low? If they are very high (90 % plus), then your tuner is going to hate it, and since HD tends to react to problems more easily than SD, you'll get break up (see 'too much of a good thing' on this site). Or, its its too low, then you need to seek out why. Usual reason is a dodgy connection somewhere in your system.

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MikeB's 2,579 posts GB flag
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P
Paulj
10:16 PM

MikeB,
Thanks, I have yet to check with neighbours about T2 reception, from your reply there is no Sandy Heath issues (as there were Nov 2015) or 'atmospheric' issue.
(usual retort) nothing has changed with my aerial or reception gear as far as I know and I am not aware of what kind of problem these could have that would explain a problem that seems to start circa 9pm ?

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Paulj's 4 posts GB flag
Sunday, 22 May 2016
R
ruby
9:24 AM

Hi I've just had freesat installed single feed . I get 82% signal 96% quality.
I'm a bit worried though as my cable had a few wire bits hanging out the cable at the back of my box and there silver looking I've herd that's cheap cable . Is this bad and will it end up not working . Or is it good silver wire cable .

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ruby's 3 posts GB flag
R
ruby
9:34 AM

I paid 90 for it .

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ruby's 3 posts GB flag
S
Shellie
1:20 PM

Today 22nd may watching TV ans the box just went off. so unplugged everything and still nothing, ?What do i do now

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Shellie's 1 post GB flag
MikeP
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

3:12 PM
Trowbridge

Ruby:

It is not unusual for a few strands of the shielding braid to appear outside the connector body. The cable has an inner core surrounded by an insulating sheath. That is wrapped in a braiding of silver wire and often has a sheath of silver metal ribbon inside that. The inner conductor shows as the central pin at the end of the connector and the braid is in contact with the outer body of that connector. In fitting the cable into the connector the technician strips back the outer plastic covering a short way, folds back the braiding (and the ribbon is present) and then carefully removes part of the inner insulation so the core is exposed. That is then fed into the 'F' connector so the inner core and outer metal braiding do not touch each other. If the amount of outer insulation removed is longer than the depth of the connector then some of the braid will appear outside. That is not a problem at all.

The silver appearance is because the copper wires have been plated, which is not a bad thing at all. 90 is not expensive to have a dish, LNB and cabling installed for reception of Freesat. If the work was done by a professional installer it should be reliable and be covered by a work guarantee.



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MikeP's 3,056 posts GB flag
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