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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 22/04/2024 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, 31 March 2011
M
Mike Dimmick
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

1:55 PM
Reading

Mrs L Hardy: Can you provide a full postcode please?

If everything worked before switchover, there's a chance that signals are now too strong rather than too weak. If you have any amplifiers, try removing them, or turning down if it's adjustable. If that doesn't help, or there aren't any, try adding an attenuator.

link to this comment
Mike Dimmick's 2,486 posts GB flag
Mike's: mapM's Freeview map terrainM's terrain plot wavesM's frequency data M's Freeview Detailed Coverage
R
Robert Robinson
2:37 PM

hi
Have been receiving digital signals on BBC - ITV etc for the last 5 years - but have lost all BBC stations yesterday - I have a Samsung Digital Terrestrial receiver S1R-U200iinto an analogue Sony TV - I have retuned the receiver several times -no luck - is it a case of having a new TV or freeview box - thank you regards Robbie

link to this comment
Robert Robinson's 1 post GB flag
B
Bain
3:29 PM
Bedford

Mike: Thanks for the response. I would imagine that all the cables are coax rather than satellite grade, so that would probably explain the problem.

The issue now then I guess it the fact that all the cables are built into the walls and the loft floor, so replacing them is going to be a pretty big job.

link to this comment
Bain's 2 posts GB flag
Bain's: mapB's Freeview map terrainB's terrain plot wavesB's frequency data B's Freeview Detailed Coverage
M
Mike Dimmick
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

4:26 PM

Robert Robinson: I'm afraid this box is on the list of 2K-only equipment at http://www.digitaluk.co.uk/2kequipment . It can't be fixed with a software upgrade. You'll need to get a new Freeview box.

The new multiplexes use an 8K mode which is more robust when reflections are picked up. It's also the mode that most other countries are using. We're fairly unique in ever having used 2K mode. New boxes should all support 2K and 8K modes. (RG47SH)

link to this comment
Mike Dimmick's 2,486 posts GB flag
R
Richard
11:38 PM

Until yesterday, I was able to receive all freeview channels I know of. Like Mrs L Hardy, yesterday I stopped being able to receive BBC1,2,3, but continued being able to receive channels on other multiplexes. I can currently receive a total of 90 channels, but no BBC1,2,3. I have a signal booster, but turning this off causes many other channels (eg, ITV1,2,3) to become unavailable, and doesn't bring BBC1,2,3 back (including after a rescan); without the booster on, I can still receive BBC 4, Film 4, Dave, etc (56 channels in total).

I'll try getting hold of an attenuator; hopefully the problem is that BBC1,2,3 are now too powerful, but the other channels which haven't been boosted yet are still too weak. Hopefully after the other channels are boosted, I'll just need an attenuator, and no longer need the booster.

link to this comment
Richard's 2 posts GB flag
R
Richard
11:39 PM

For reference; I'm at CB224QL.

link to this comment
Richard's 2 posts GB flag
Friday, 1 April 2011
T
Trevor
11:32 AM

30 March 2011 : Cambridge-area Freeviewers lost Quest (38), Russia Today (85), AlJazeera (87), Yesterday (12) and others.

Will they be reinstated on 14th April?

link to this comment
Trevor's 1 post GB flag
R
Rob
3:39 PM

Will the signal strength for the ITV group of channels be increased in the near futue? I am currently unable to see these signals but get perfect BBC channels.

link to this comment
Rob's 1 post GB flag
D
David Howard
3:54 PM
Northampton

I've recently been given a digi-box (Goodmans GDR-10)which I thought would be handy for the upstairs TVs following the switchover. Existing set-up is: Skydish for the main lounge TV,2 x professionally-installed roof aerials aligned to Sandy Heath and Sutton Coldfield also serving the main TV, and a D-I-Y loft aerial aligned to Sandy Heath serving the upstairs TV. Original plan was to re-route the roof aerials post-switchover to the bedroom TV(s).
Tried the digi-box yesterday & got good reception on Ch 27 and patchy on one or two other channels using the roof aerials,also good on Ch 27 (but nothing else) from the loft aerial. Having spent a couple of hours on this very helpful site I've decided my best bet is probably to wait until after 13th April and then see how things look before spending any time/money on aerial re-routes / upgrade? Secondly, although I seem to be equi-distant from 4 transmitters the aerials I have do seem to be aligned on the best two ie Sandy Heath and Sutton Coldfield but will there be any "interference" problem during the period April to September when one has switched over to digital & the other hasn't? Or will the stronger digital signal simply "swamp" the analogue one?
Any comments will be gratefully received.

link to this comment
David Howard's 2 posts GB flag
David's: mapD's Freeview map terrainD's terrain plot wavesD's frequency data D's Freeview Detailed Coverage
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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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