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

Brian Butterworth first published this on 1st May 2004 at 08:20 - UK Free TV

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52.130,-0.242 or 52°7'47"N 0°14'33"W

SG19 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

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.

Mux	H/V	Frequency	Height	Mode	Watts
PSB1 BBCA	H max	C27 (522.0MHz)	291m	DTG-	180,000W
	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)	291m	DTG-	180,000W
	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)	291m	DTG-	180,000W
	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 66 TBN UK,
COM4 SDN	H -0.2dB	C33 (570.0MHz)	291m	DTG-8	170,000W
	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)	289m	DTG-8	170,000W
	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)	289m	DTG-8	170,000W
	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?

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

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?

	1965-80s	1984-97	1997-98	1998-2011	2011-13	12 Feb 2020
	VHF	A K T	K T	K T	W T	W T
C6	ITV_waves
C21		C4_waves	C4_waves	C4_waves	+BBCB	BBCB
C24		ITV_waves	ITV_waves	ITV_waves	D3+4	D3+4
C27		BBC2_waves	BBC2_waves	BBC2_waves	BBCA	BBCA
C31		BBC1_waves	BBC1_waves	BBC1_waves
C32						com7
C33						SDN
C34						com8
C35						_local
C36						ArqA
C39			C5_waves	C5_waves
C43					_local
C48					ArqB	ArqB
C51_{tv_off}					SDN
C52_{tv_off}					ArqA
C55_{tv_off}						com7_{tv_off}
C56_{tv_off}						COM8_{tv_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

Local transmitter maps

Sandy Heath Freeview Sandy Heath DAB Sandy Heath AM/FM Sandy Heath TV region BBC Cambridge Anglia (West micro region)

Which companies have run the Channel 3 services in the Sandy Heath transmitter area

Oct 1959-Feb 2004	Anglia Television
Feb 2004-Dec 2014	ITV plc

Feb 1983-Dec 1992	TV-am•
Jan 1993-Sep 2010	GMTV•
Sep 2010-Dec 2014	ITV Daybreak•

• Breakfast ◊ Weekends ♦ Friday night and weekends † Weekdays only.

Is the transmitter output the same in all directions?

Transmitter engineering

_{sentiment_very_satisfied}Owner

4:07 AM

- Sandy Heath transmitter: Possible effect on TV week commencing 03/07/2023 Pixelation or flickering on some or all [DUK]

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Transmitter engineering

_{sentiment_very_satisfied}Owner

8:00 AM

- Sandy Heath transmitter: Possible effect on TV week commencing 24/07/2023 Pixelation or flickering on some or all [DUK]

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Transmitter engineering

_{sentiment_very_satisfied}Owner

5:09 AM

- Sandy Heath transmitter: Possible effect on TV week commencing 31/07/2023 Pixelation or flickering on some or all [DUK]

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Glen
7:15 PM

Dose anyone know if is still transmitting the pop tv , according to Freeview they are but when it changed channel a week or so ago I can't seem to get it back, I have 3 different boxes and none pick it up however much I retune them.

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Glen's 1 post GB flag

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StevensOnln1

_{sentiment_very_satisfied}Platinum

7:20 PM

Glen: Pop is carried on the , which is not broadcast from but is broadcast from the which is in the same direct as Sandy Heath for viewers in . If you can receive a local TV on Freeview 7 or 8 then you should also receive Pop on 206, Tiny Pop on 207 and Pop Max on 208.

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StevensOnln1's 3,625 posts GB flag

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Chris.SE

_{sentiment_very_satisfied}Platinum

6:45 AM

Glen:

With the changes on July 19th, all 3 Pop are now carried on the Local as mentioned by StevensOnln1.

The Local multiplex is beamed in an easterly direction from the (towards ). Unless you fall within that area you won't receive them unless you are quite close to the transmitter. Try a manual tune on UHF channel for the Madingley Local mux as autotunes can sometimes miss weaker signals.

There is a Pop Player which moved with the changes to LCN212 and is carried on the SDN multiplex but it's a streamed service, so you need a Smart TV. Before it moved you could choose a selection of Pop shows, but LCN212 now seems to be "Pop Kids" (unless it changes at different times of day.

However, the Pop Player accessible via LCN100 on Freeview Play (Smart) TVs gives you a whole variety of choices but your "smart" device needs HbbTV functionality to access LCN100 (if your set has it make sure it's turned on in the TV settings).
Now you may also be able to access this Pop Player via you set's App menu - via "Explore Freeview Play" and it doesn't need HbbTV! or even load the App separately from your set's App store.

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Chris.SE's 4,153 posts GB flag

Transmitter engineering

_{sentiment_very_satisfied}Owner

5:09 AM

- Sandy Heath transmitter: Possible effect on TV week commencing 07/08/2023 Pixelation or flickering on some or all [DUK]

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Transmitter engineering's 150,866 posts GB flag

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paul
12:56 PM

com5/ seems particular pixelated unwatchable 13/08/23.(12th too)

are there no details on what specific work is happening on Sandy Heath (per previous post) or how long this will last.

Atmosphere problems can obviously impact too, so detailed information would customers identify cause.

just seems unprofessional not to provide/link details

Paul

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paul's 10 posts GB flag

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Steve Donaldson

_{sentiment_satisfied}Silver

1:15 PM

paul : The above posting of 7th August from " " is that taken from the page "Planned engineering works":

Planned engineering works | Freeview

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Steve Donaldson's 207 posts GB flag

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Chris.SE

_{sentiment_very_satisfied}Platinum

1:55 PM

paul :

Just to add, Arqiva & never provide details of what the work entails or how long it will last (some of which may be weather dependant).
It looks as though will still be listed next week as well.
(PS. I tend to agree with about the lack of some further detail).

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Chris.SE's 4,153 posts GB flag

Page 234

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.

If you have no satellite signal, see Sky Digibox says 'No Signal' or 'Technical fault'

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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