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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
Tuesday, 23 June 2020
C
Christopher peachey
11:31 PM
Cambridge

Jane Webb: I glad I'm not the only one. For ref c35 586 MHz is still getting signal. 95% signal strength at Cb25 0bb .

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Christopher peachey's 13 posts GB flag
Christopher's: ...
R
Roger
11:40 PM

Jane Webb:
All channels down PE27 too.

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Roger's 1 post GB flag
C
Christopher peachey
11:53 PM

BBC reports major works at sandy Heath. Uktvfree you need to update your information as it is incorrect.

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Christopher peachey's 13 posts GB flag
C
Chris.SE
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

11:57 PM

Roger: Christopher peachey: Jane Webb:

Sandy Heath is listed for Planned Engineering with "Possible weak signal", which in some locations will seem like no signal. The Local Multiplex on C35 comes from the nearby Madingley transmitter which probably will remain unaffected.


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Chris.SE's 4,101 posts GB flag
Wednesday, 24 June 2020
C
Chris.SE
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

12:05 AM

Christopher peachey:

The Freeview site is also listing the transmitter work (if you enter your postcode). Transmitter reports (BBC only) tend to occur later on this site as the scans of the engineering reports are not real-time.

All: Do NOT retune whilst you have no signal, this will just clear all your correctly retuned channels and you will have to retune again when you have normal signals.

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Chris.SE's 4,101 posts GB flag
I
Iain Martin
2:09 AM

Transmitter is not "Week Signal" it is completely off.
All Multiplexes are off air!
Do not re-tune they should be back in the morning.

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Iain Martin's 6 posts GB flag
C
Chris.SE
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

3:17 AM

Iain Martin:

I was quoting what the Freeview/DUK listing was stating, check it for yourself instead of attempting to imply I wasn't quoting correctly. And irrespective, even if it was a weak signal, if you are far enough from the transmitter in such circumstances it will appear to be no signal, ever heard of the digital cliff edge?
I also pointed out that the Local Multiplex on C35 was unaffected as it is transmitted from a separate transmitter at Madingley, not everyone realises that!
I am fully aware that the transmitter went off-air at 00:01.

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Chris.SE's 4,101 posts GB flag
C
Christopher peachey
5:42 AM

All ok this morning. I did retune and did it again to correct my mistake. Although my postcode and address reports I can get everything, I am very close to a reduced signal area. The maps on areas are about 500 meters out in actual location, it doe ts matter which service you use, gps is not reliable.

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Christopher peachey's 13 posts GB flag
C
Chris.SE
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

1:41 PM

Christopher peachey:

The reception predicters (there are various) even the official DUK/Freeview one is not 100% reliable/accurate. It just depends on how many surveys were done in your specific area many years ago, the rest is extrapolation from the topography. Glad it's all back now, but that doesn't mean work is complete, they don't give details unfortunately.

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Chris.SE's 4,101 posts GB flag
S
Stuart Blackstock
11:40 PM

I have freeview only on my TV (a 6 month old LG 65SM8600PLA ). I have had no reception on ANY channel today. I've retuned it 3 times (each 2 hours apart). Still no signal at all.
I'm at MK419TE (12) in Bedford, so it's the Sandy Heath transmitter)

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Stuart Blackstock's 1 post GB flag
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