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Full Freeview on the Heathfield (East Sussex, England) transmitter

first published this on - UK Free TV
sa_streetviewGoogle Streetviewsa_gmapsGoogle mapsa_bingBing mapsa_gearthGoogle Earthsa_gps50.976,0.229 or 50°58'34"N 0°13'45"Esa_postcodeTN21 0UG

 

The symbol shows the location of the Heathfield (East Sussex, England) transmitter which serves 170,000 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 Heathfield (East Sussex, England) mast?

Heathfield transmitter - Heathfield 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
_______

Which Freeview channels does the Heathfield 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
C41 (634.0MHz)298mDTG-20,000W
Channel icons
1 BBC One (SD) South East, 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
C44 (658.0MHz)298mDTG-20,000W
Channel icons
3 ITV 1 (SD) (Meridian (East 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 (Meridian south coast),

PSB3
BBCB
 H max
C47 (682.0MHz)298mDTG-20,000W
Channel icons
46 5SELECT, 101 BBC One HD South East, 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 max
C40 (626.0MHz)298mDTG-820,000W
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 max
C43 (650.0MHz)300mDTG-820,000W
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 max
C46 (674.0MHz)300mDTG-820,000W
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)

The Heathfield (East Sussex, England) mast is a public service broadcasting (PSB) transmitter, it does not provide these commercial (COM) channels: .

If you want to watch these channels, your aerial must point to one of the 80 Full service Freeview transmitters. For more information see the will there ever be more services on the Freeview Light transmitters? page.

Which BBC and ITV regional news can I watch from the Heathfield transmitter?

regional news image
BBC South East Today 0.8m homes 3.2%
from Tunbridge Wells TN1 1QQ, 17km north (6°)
to BBC South East region - 45 masts.
regional news image
ITV Meridian News 0.7m homes 2.7%
from Maidstone ME14 5NZ, 41km north-northeast (31°)
to ITV Meridian (East) region - 36 masts.
All of lunch, weekend and 50% evening news is shared with all of Meridian plus Oxford

How will the Heathfield (East Sussex, England) transmission frequencies change over time?

1984-971997-981998-20122012-132013-182013-1719 Jul 2018
C/D EC/D EC/D EW TW TW TK T
C29_local_local_local_local
C40SDN
C41ArqBArqBArqBBBCA
C42SDNSDNSDN
C43ArqA
C44ArqAArqAArqAD3+4
C46ArqB
C47BBCBBBCBBBCBBBCB
C49tv_offBBC1wavesBBC1wavesBBC1wavesD3+4D3+4D3+4
C52tv_offBBC2wavesBBC2wavesBBC2wavesBBCABBCABBCA
C64ITVwavesITVwavesITVwaves
C67C4wavesC4wavesC4waves

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 May 12 and 13 Jun 12.

How do the old analogue and currrent digital signal levels compare?

Analogue 1-4 100kW
SDN, ARQA, ARQB, BBCA, D3+4, BBCB(-7dB) 20kW
Mux 1*, Mux 2*(-18dB) 1.6kW
Mux A*, Mux B*, Mux C*, Mux D*(-20dB) 1000W

Which companies have run the Channel 3 services in the Heathfield transmitter area

Aug 1958-Jan 1992Southern Television
Jan 1982-Dec 1992Television South (TVS)
Jan 1993-Feb 2004Meridian
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. Heathfield was not an original Channel 3 VHF 405-line mast: the historical information shown is the details of the company responsible for the transmitter when it began transmitting Channel 3.

Is the transmitter output the same in all directions?

Radiation patterns withheld

Comments
Saturday, 21 December 2019
C
Chris.SE
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

6:45 AM

john davey:

Did you not read the post immediately before yours?!! The situation remains unchanged, as stated by StevensOnln1.
Since my previous post, the DigitalUK site has been amalgamated with the Freeview site and apart from the Channel listings most Freeview/DigitalUK links are now broken (well done Freeview - not!).
If you want advice about reception at your location, as stated immediately above the "your comments" box, a full postcode is needed. Depending on your location, a number of transmitters can be receivable, and most will have variable reception for quite a few multiplexes on those transmitters.

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Chris.SE's 4,101 posts GB flag
Wednesday, 5 February 2020
A
Alan Goss
3:08 PM

We are tuned to the Heathfield transmitter but have had a very poor or no signal since this morning. This is on 3 different TV's. Is there a reported problem there?

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Alan Goss's 19 posts GB flag
C
Chris.SE
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

4:03 PM

Alan Goss:

The Meridian region has some Planned Engineering but Heathfield is not one of the ones listed and the BBC are not reporting any problems affecting any of their channels.
There is purportedly some predicted "Tropospheric Ducting" around at present with the high pressure which might be affecting your reception if you normally don't have a strong signal - but a full postedcode would be needed to see what the Freeview predicted reception is likely to be at your location.
If you have retuned at all, you could have lost some of your correct tuning and you will have to retune as conditions change (maybe more than once) and/or if/when the transmitter comes back on air if there's a fault not yet notified.

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Chris.SE's 4,101 posts GB flag
A
Alan Goss
5:07 PM
Tunbridge Wells

Chris.SE:
OK thanks. I checked what I could on the 'net and no work or problem on Heathfield was indicated. I tried re-tuning one TV but it could not pick up anything (no signal). Then it all came back about 16.30 and is OK now. Maybe it was 'tropospheric ducting'.

Postcode is TN2 5HE which Freeview will say it is served by Tunbridge Wells transmitter. This does not work as we are on the shadow side of a hill and the transmitter is blinded. The only connection for the area is Heathfield which does give a strong signal.

link to this comment
Alan Goss's 19 posts GB flag
Alan's: mapA's Freeview map terrainA's terrain plot wavesA's frequency data A's Freeview Detailed Coverage
C
Chris.SE
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

6:22 PM

Alan Goss:

Hi. It will depend on where you are within a postcode where the terrain is hilly, it can be very variable over short distances. On balance, with a good aerial, Heathfield is likely to be better looking at the figures. Tunbridge Wells is a very low power transmitter.
Still no reports of any problems!

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Chris.SE's 4,101 posts GB flag
Thursday, 20 February 2020
G
Gavin Bateman
4:45 PM
Edenbridge

I live at TN8 6AL and my aerial has always been tuned to Heathfield transmitter. All this week I have been without the Cahnnel44 multiplex so cannot receive ITV, Ch 4 of Ch 5 amongst others. This is the case on both my Humax PVR boxes and BT TV's Youview. Surely there must be something going on at the Heathfield transmitter though I can find no reference to a fault there. I have seen a reference to planned engineering work indicating "possibly weak signal" but this has been going on for days. I have tried full retunes but the result is that I have just lost these channels altogether. Can you help please?

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Gavin Bateman's 1 post GB flag
Gavin's: mapG's Freeview map terrainG's terrain plot wavesG's frequency data G's Freeview Detailed Coverage
C
Chris.SE
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

6:54 PM

Gavin Bateman:

Retuning when you have a weak or no signal is usually a bad idea, it just clears your correct tuning in most cases.
The "Planned Engineering" can go on at any time during the week and they never give a duration. It is uncommon for it to be continuing through an evening, but it depends on how "major" the work is.
The BBC haven't listed any faults, but they will only do so for their channels. Freeview won't list anything for your location as they predict Tunbridge Wells as the most likely transmitter!
All you can try is a further retune on that multiplex during the evening.
Are you getting the HD multiplex on C47 ok? At least you can get ITV/Ch4/Ch5 there

If the problem continues ring Freeview on 0808-100-0288, if they try fobbing you off because Tunbridge Wells is the "most likely transmitter", bluntly point out to them that their Coverage Checker predicts virtually identically good reception from Heathfield!

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Chris.SE's 4,101 posts GB flag
Sunday, 23 February 2020
E
Emma Ginger
4:26 PM

Hi. Last week we lost all our ITV, C4 and C5 channels, but the BBC channels are all fine (we can still get ITV2 +1). The listings show in the EPG but when we chose the channel it says 'no signal'. From looking at your list, it appears to be all the PSB2 channels that are affected. Also, my mother-in-law who lives approx 2miles from us is having the same problem. Is there a problem with the transmitter in this area: ME17 and TN12 - Sutton Valence, Staplehurst, Headcorn?

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Emma Ginger's 2 posts GB flag
E
Emma Ginger
4:37 PM
Maidstone

Hi. We lost all the PSB2 channels last week, and have not been able to access them since. The EPG list still works but when we select the channel it just says 'no signal'. Postcode ME17 3EN and our aerial is on the house roof (and has not been damaged because all the BBC channels work fine). Is there a problem at Heathfield? (We have always been tuned to this transmitter and have had this problem twice before over the last couple of years, but only for about 3 days at a time - but this has been ongoing for nearly a week).

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Emma Ginger's 2 posts GB flag
Emma's: mapE's Freeview map terrainE's terrain plot wavesE's frequency data E's Freeview Detailed Coverage
C
Chris.SE
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

10:12 PM

Emma Ginger:

Neither of you should have any problems receiving from Heathfield, although for parts of your mother-in-law's area the Freeview Detailed Coverage Checker suggests Dover to be the "Most likely Transmitter" however strangely Heathfield is marginally better!!

If you see the two posts before yours, it indeed suggests there is a transmitter problem. Have you checked if your neighbours are having similar problems?
All of you (not just one on behalf of others) need to ring Freeview on 0808-100-0288, try Option 3. Unless hey get several reports they probably won't take any notice and try telling you to retune etc.
We aren't responsible for the transmitters or broadcasters, we're an independent help-site.

The Heathfield PSB2/D3&4 multiplex is on UHF channel 44 in case you haven't tried a retune.
And of course if you get the HD multiplex on C47 ok, at least you can get ITV/Ch4/Ch5 there in the meantime.

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Chris.SE's 4,101 posts GB flag
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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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