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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
Friday, 27 January 2017
M
MikeB
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

9:52 AM

Adrian: If your getting 'no signal', it means just that. And the most likely cause is your aerial system. Check at the point where the signal splits - could be a duff powered splitter, etc.

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MikeB's 2,579 posts GB flag
Saturday, 28 January 2017
N
NJ
7:17 PM

MikeB: the no signal can also indicate co channel interference. Sets that have a menu option which shows bot h bit error rate and signal strength provides more information. Maybe showing a strong signal with very poor BER . . In my location high pressure or fog results in the loss of the signal from the BBC mux, with other channels unaffected. This I assume is due to co- channel interference.

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NJ's 16 posts GB flag
M
MikeB
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

7:58 PM

NJ: Yes, it could a lot of things, but the reality is (if you look back through the feedback after this problem has come up) that the most likely explaination is a break somewhere in the system. If thats not the case, then at least thats something to tick off the list.


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MikeB's 2,579 posts GB flag
Sunday, 29 January 2017
N
NJ
2:04 AM

MikeB: no signal on all channels would indicate a signal path problem. Lost of all channels on one mux either indicates a transmitter problem or interference on that particular carrier frequency. This could be a multipath phasing problem or co-channel interference. In my case, over the same period, I am reasonable sure that the problem is co-channel interference.

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NJ's 16 posts GB flag
MikeP
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

5:18 PM

NJ:

Loss of signal on one multiplex can also indicate a frequency selective fault in the aerial system, usually poor connections or corrosion of a plug or socket.



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MikeP's 3,056 posts GB flag
Tuesday, 31 January 2017
J
Julian
8:36 PM
Dunstable

MikeB: Ever since the introduction of digital and when ever the weather is poor the signal from Sandy Heath breaks up We have tried the Oxford transmitter , same effect. However having only just started to look at BBC 4 we noticed the signal doesn't break up Signal strength is 82 to 84% on all channels including BBC4 yet they break up. We have to retune the tv every time we want to watch ,say, 5USA,Really and others even then with 82% signal they will still break up. Our post code is LU6 2AY. We have a booster attached that has not sovled the probelm. is there an answer

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Julian's 4 posts GB flag
Julian's: mapJ's Freeview map terrainJ's terrain plot wavesJ's frequency data J's Freeview Detailed Coverage
M
MikeB
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

9:36 PM

Julian: At 82%, I'm not surprised they break up!

Firstly, DigitalUK thinks you should eb perfect for Oxford, so use that. Next, look at your signal strength - the BBC4 mus is relatively low powered compared with BBC1, etc, yet your still getting over 80% signal. Thats far too high. And of course there is no need to retune, although its worth checking which transmitter your actually using.

And rather than solving your problem, the booster has almost certainly made it far worse. Tune into Oxford or Sandy heath (depending which way your aerial points), bypass or remove your booster and look at your signal strength - 75% should be perfect on the main muxes.

Look at this page - Freeview signals: too much of a good thing is bad for you

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MikeB's 2,579 posts GB flag
Friday, 3 February 2017
D
DC
3:57 AM

The EPG transmitted from Sandy Heath includes data for the frequency 626000 kHz.
Here's an extract of the XML for those who, like me, are interested in that sort of stuff..

<tv>
<channel id="9018_32794_32858" originalNetworkId="9018" transportStreamId="32794" programId="32858">
<display-name>That's Cambridge</display-name>
<delivery type="DVB-T" frequency="626000" bandwidth="8"/>
</channel>
<channel id="9018_32794_33280" originalNetworkId="9018" transportStreamId="32794" programId="33280">
<display-name>Kix</display-name>
<delivery type="DVB-T" frequency="626000" bandwidth="8"/>
</channel>
<channel id="9018_32794_33344" originalNetworkId="9018" transportStreamId="32794" programId="33344">
<display-name>True Crime</display-name>
<delivery type="DVB-T" frequency="626000" bandwidth="8"/>
</channel>
<channel id="9018_32794_33408" originalNetworkId="9018" transportStreamId="32794" programId="33408">
<display-name>True Movies</display-name>
<delivery type="DVB-T" frequency="626000" bandwidth="8"/>
</channel>
</tv>

626000 kHz translates to channel C40, and this page (ukfree.tv/extras/searchfrequency/40) tells me that Sandy Heath transmitter does not use C40.

I'm not exactly devastated that I can't receive That's Cambridge, Kix, True Crime, and True Movies (logical channels 7, 127, 60, and 74 respectively) as three of the four are on DVB-S regardless, but why would they appear in the Sandy Heath EPG?

Alternative question: If C40 _is_ transmitted from Sandy Heath, even at low power, should it not appear on this page? (ukfree.tv/transmitters/tv/Sandy_Heath)

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DC's 1 post GB flag
S
StevensOnln1
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

12:48 PM

DC: The Cambridge local multiplex which contains the services you listed is broadcast from the Madingley transmitter in Cambridge which used to broadcast Channel 5 analogue and is able to be received by the majority of aerials in Cambridge which are pointed at Sandy Heath.

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StevensOnln1's 3,605 posts GB flag
D
DC
2:38 PM

StevensOnln1: I am in Milton Keynes, so I think it is highly unlikely that I am picking this up from the Madingley transmitter.

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DC's 2 posts GB flag
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