Full Freeview on the Heathfield (East Sussex, England) transmitter
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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 11/11/2024 Pixelation or flickering on some or all channels 
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Digital television services are broadcast on a multiplexes (or Mux) where many stations occupy a single broadcast frequency, as shown below.
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 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.
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?
BBC South East Today 0.8m homes 3.2%
from Tunbridge Wells TN1 1QQ, 17km north (6°)
to BBC South East region - 45 masts.
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?
| 1984-97 | 1997-98 | 1998-2012 | 2012-13 | 2013-18 | 2013-17 | 19 Jul 2018 | |||
| C/D E | C/D E | C/D E | W T | W T | W T | K T | |||
| C29 | _local | _local | _local | _local | |||||
| C40 | SDN | ||||||||
| C41 | ArqB | ArqB | ArqB | BBCA | |||||
| C42 | SDN | SDN | SDN | ||||||
| C43 | ArqA | ||||||||
| C44 | ArqA | ArqA | ArqA | D3+4 | |||||
| C46 | ArqB | ||||||||
| C47 | BBCB | BBCB | BBCB | BBCB | |||||
| C49tv_off | BBC1waves | BBC1waves | BBC1waves | D3+4 | D3+4 | D3+4 | |||
| C52tv_off | BBC2waves | BBC2waves | BBC2waves | BBCA | BBCA | BBCA | |||
| C64 | ITVwaves | ITVwaves | ITVwaves | ||||||
| C67 | C4waves | C4waves | C4waves |
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
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Is the transmitter output the same in all directions?
Radiation patterns withheldSaturday, 30 June 2012
K
kaz9:40 PM
Eastbourne
Thanks everyone! I'll be going round there tomorrow again, so I'll have to check whether there's any sign of a signal. As for the aerial, it seems (to me) to be pointing more-or-less directly at Heathfield. Anyway, looking at the aerial and then looking at the map on this website leads me to believe it's aimed very well. I will also have to check for green bits on it - shame I don't have any binoculars!
I'll be back tomorrow, and hopefully the conundrum will eventually be solved :)
| link to this comment |
kaz's: mapK's Freeview map terrainK's terrain plot wavesK's frequency data K's Freeview Detailed Coverage
jb38: I see your point, although the satellite image shows quite a few trees, some of which could be a problem in the direction of Heathfield whereas in the direction of Bexhill it looks clear. So when you take into account the fact that it is a bungalow and therefore the aerial is lower than a house, would this not have some effect?
Also, one side of the close, which appears to be a little lower, is on Hastings and the other (slightly higher) is mainly on Heathfield. Some of those at the far (dead) end, which appears from the Streetview photographs to be a little higher than the rest, are on Hastings, presumably owing to the trees behind them.
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Sunday, 1 July 2012
J
jb384:15 PM
Dave Lindsay: Yes, I am sure that the trees will most likely be causing a problem as indeed they can do if roughly in line with any signal path, but with regards to the actual height of the aerial being a contributory factor to the problem, I feel that any improvement to the situation is much more likely to be achieved by repositioning of the aerial rather than increasing its height, as the philosophy of "the higher the better" is something that exclusively applies to an aerial used for transmission purposes and not one used for reception when in a problem area, as in many cases the reverse is frequently found to apply by in some cases being able to take advantage of a "stable" reflection.
It will be interesting to find out the result of Kaz's tests, as I likewise suspected that Ch44 is maybe just lagging slightly behind the other muxes at a level not quite good enough to resolve a picture, although the manual tune "without scanning" would instantly reveal if that is the case or not, as if it is and the signal is seen to be of a reasonably stable nature then dependant on exactly what level its sitting at its possible that by giving the signal a mild boost it may lift it enough to enable a picture to be received, albeit this normally being an alien action when a 20Kw transmitter is located at only 12 miles away.
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Monday, 2 July 2012
K
kaz10:43 AM
Eastbourne
Well, not much to report really I'm afraid. No sign of any colours on the aerial at all, and the TV manual tuning just lets you choose where to start the search, then wanders off either up or down until it finds something it doesn't already have.
One peculiarity though, on Friday/Saturday they actually had both Challenge AND ITV3 available for several minutes - but then they went all nasty (pixelated and blocky, video and/or audio suddenly seizing up for many seconds at a time), and the TV insisted both channels needed retuning. (Not at the same time of course, just the one they were actually trying to watch at that moment.) Yesterday there was no sign of Challenge again. Mind you, Freesat from Sky apparently has Challenge for free, which Freesat doesn't, so as she's planning to cancel the Sky subscription and use her box and card for FsFs I guess she doesn't need to worry too much about whether she can pick up Challenge through the aerial. Presumably ITV3 is also available through FsFs, which will at least save the cost of having someone go up on the roof to fiddle with or replace the existing aerial.
It's most peculiar though, and certainly it would be better to get the Freeview working normally. Digital TV isn't all it's cracked up to be - hardly surprising with something forced on us by the government - at least with analogue you'd get a slightly snowy picture, but could still watch tv. With digital you get pixel-blocks, beeps, and error messages.
It probably IS the trees, and if she does pay for someone to sort it out they may well end up pointing it towards Hastings, even though the local channels are wrong. It would still be better than all this messing around.
Thanks to all of you for your advice, and we may be stopping to think about it but we've not given up yet ;)
| link to this comment |
kaz's: mapK's Freeview map terrainK's terrain plot wavesK's frequency data K's Freeview Detailed Coverage
kaz: The downside to using Hastings is that the three COM channels (from Heathfield these 42, 44 and 41) are on the same channels as used by the transmitter in Eastbourne on the South Cliff Tower which, like Bexhill, is PSB only. So it may be the case that these are now wiped out, or at least intermittant at your mother's location.
Getting the desired sub-regional BBC and ITV is possible when picking up from Hastings, albeit starting to get more costly. A second aerial could be installed on Bexhill with diplexer (which combines signals from the two). It is unfortunate that Bexhill is horizontal as a single aerial would have worked for both otherwise (because they're in the same direction). As I say though, this is getting costly with the extra aerial and diplexer, and is not forced to work, what with the Eastbourne PSB transmitter being co-channel with Hastings' COMs.
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What was observed with the channels being available one day and not on another is what can happen with digital reception. It may be that when these services were picked-up, the signal level was "just" above (or a "bit" above) the threshold required (by the receiver) and that now it is "just" below that threshold. The difference in levels between the two may be small, but the effect is stark (which is digital reception for you).
Signal levels vary all the time due to the weather etc. Had the level been "quite a lot" above the threshold, a reduction of the level experienced could have still left it above the threshold and therefore it would have continued to work and your mother would have noticed nothing.
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K
kaz12:25 PM
Eastbourne
Thanks Dave, that is really interesting - although it's not going to make any of our family feel warmer towards Freeview!
| link to this comment |
kaz's: mapK's Freeview map terrainK's terrain plot wavesK's frequency data K's Freeview Detailed Coverage
kaz: Following on from what I said about the signal level dropping just below that needed, it does make me wonder whether a signal booster may improve matters. Signal boosters aren't the be all and end all and can have a negative outcome depending on the circumstances.
jb38, as the expert, perhaps you can advise as to whether a signal booster may be worthwhile here, particularly if a replacement aerial for Heathfield is not likely.
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M
Mark Fletcher4:41 PM
Halifax
Kaz,Eastbourne.There are other alternatives to Freeview,there is Freesat or if you are affluent enough there is always Cable TV known as Virgin Media or Sky TV,either free to view satellite or subscription satellite.
| link to this comment |
Mark's: mapM's Freeview map terrainM's terrain plot wavesM's frequency data M's Freeview Detailed Coverage
J
jb388:16 PM
Dave Lindsay / Kaz: The "only" way that it could be said with a reasonable level of accuracy as to whether or not a booster would help the situation is by knowing what signal level Ch42 & Ch44 is sitting at on a "manual test without scanning" as indeed as previously mentioned on my 4:15pm posting yesterday, although to ensure that the test is being conducted properly (for the TV) first try entering Ch52 or Ch49 and making a note of the strength / quality, then change the entry to Ch42 / Ch44 making similar notes and giving an update on both sets of readings seen.
If though anything seen (that is if at all!) on either Ch42 or Ch44 is observed to be violently fluctuating from zero to whatever then obviously a booster will not help, and so it gets back to what I mentioned about experimenting with the aerial position as its only this type of action that's liable to bring results, and indeed frequently does if carried out with an open mind without pre-conceived negative attitudes regarding position, although most with comprehensive experience wont have!
That said though, I really feel that the situation regarding reception is always going to have a strong element of hit and miss about it as far as reliability is concerned because of the tree problem, likewise would be inclined to go along with Mark Fletchers suggestion of resorting to satellite, either Freesat or Sky's free to view channels with that being the only way to guarantee 99.9% reliability of reception 24/7.
Kaz: Just out of interest, what model number of TV does you mother have?
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Tuesday, 3 July 2012
K
kaz9:23 AM
Eastbourne
Thanks again to all of you - you're all very helpful I must say! As I said before (I think) she'll be phoning Sky soon to cancel her subscription. As she only has the cheapest subscription anyway, and their first year was up yonks ago, she'll be keeping her box and presumably they can't ask for the card back either (she'd have to buy a FsFs card otherwise). Hopefully that will be a success. It's not Sky+ or anything fancy.
Her TV is a Sony Bravia, I'm not 100% sure of the number because the manual I have here serves 5 different 32" models, it starts KDL-32[*****] (the five characters at the end could be
D27**
T28**
S30**
D26** or
T30**
but the manual is for all five plus five 40" models.
The manual digital tuning is on page 29 and goes;
"Digital Manual Tuning
Tunes the digital channels manually. This feature is available when Digital Auto Tuning is set to Antenna.
1 Press the number button to select the channel number you want to
manually tune, then press up/down to tune the channel.
2 When the available channels are found, press up/down to select the channel
you want to store, then press +
3 Press up/down to select the programme number where you want to store the new channel, then press +
Repeat the above procedure to manually tune other channels."
In other words, you put in the channel you want, and let it search nearby wavelengths either going up or down. Of course it just goes past the one you want.
Anyway, I think I'll buy a signal booster from a shop which will give a refund if it isn't suitable, and we'll see later in the week if that helps or not.
| link to this comment |
kaz's: mapK's Freeview map terrainK's terrain plot wavesK's frequency data K's Freeview Detailed Coverage
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