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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.

This transmitter has no current reported problems

The BBC and Digital UK report there are no faults or engineering work on the Sandy Heath (Central Bedfordshire, England) transmitter.

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), 71 That’s 60s,

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 U&Drama, 21 5USA, 29 ITV2 +1, 32 5STAR, 33 5Action, 38 Channel 5 +1, 41 Legend, 42 GREAT! action, 57 U&Dave ja vu, 58 ITV3 +1, 59 ITV4 +1, 64 Blaze, 67 TRUE CRIME, 68 TRUE CRIME XTRA, 81 Blaze +1, 83 Together TV, 91 WildEarth, 93 ITVBe +1, 209 Ketchup TV, 210 Ketchup Too, 211 YAAAS!, 251 Al Jazeera English, 255 FRANCE 24 (in English), 265 Rok Sky +1, plus 29 others

COM5
ArqA
 H -0.2dB
C36 (594.0MHz)289mDTG-8170,000W
Channel icons
11 Sky Mix, 17 Really, 19 U&Dave, 31 E4 Extra, 36 Sky Arts, 40 Quest Red, 43 Food Network, 47 Film4 +1, 48 Challenge, 49 4seven, 60 U&Drama +1, 65 That's TV 2, 70 Quest +1, 74 &UYesterday +1, 76 That's TV 2 MCR, 233 Sky News, plus 13 others

COM6
ArqB
 H -0.2dB
C48 (690.0MHz)289mDTG-8170,000W
Channel icons
12 Quest, 25 U&W, 27 U&Yesterday, 34 GREAT! movies, 39 DMAX, 44 HGTV, 52 GREAT! christmas, 56 That's TV (UK), 63 GREAT! romance mix, 73 HobbyMaker, 75 That's 90s, 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 July 2012
S
Suzy
sentiment_satisfiedBronze

1:18 PM
Dunstable

jb38: and KMJ thansks, i did do a factory restore which wiped everything off completely and I dont have an HD box just a Humax PVR 9150T digi box , I tried to do the manual scan and it only gives me 68 station and of that 22 is radio stations :(, then i got it up to the 148 stations doing a auto search , i find if i do them individually it wipes previous ones i found that i had a good signal on off, so back to square one, it wont store each station when i do a manual search i lose the ones i did find on a previous manual search, i now have my Really, Pick tv and other ones i was missing back but they just break up or have no or bad signal saying when i go onto them :(. i feel like throwing the box out the window, as its been driving me mad for months now, and it all started when they did the switch over was all ok till then, I also dont have ITV3, BBC1 & 2 unless i got down to channel 800 for them, No Dave BBC3 or 4 no ITV2+1 :( infact just gone through them all and i dont have anything now lol they are all saying no or bad signal helpppppppppppp

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Suzy's 25 posts GB flag
Suzy's: mapS's Freeview map terrainS's terrain plot wavesS's frequency data S's Freeview Detailed Coverage
S
Suzy
sentiment_satisfiedBronze

1:20 PM
Dunstable

infact all i have now that I can watch is itv2 ch4 and ch5 everything else says no or bad signal :(


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Suzy's 25 posts GB flag
Suzy's: mapS's Freeview map terrainS's terrain plot wavesS's frequency data S's Freeview Detailed Coverage
S
Suzy
sentiment_satisfiedBronze

2:20 PM
Dunstable

aaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrggggggggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhh ive got my stations back !!!!! woooooooooo hoooooooooooooooo took me for ever but i went through it all manually, only thing is they are not in the order like ch1-BB1 CH2-BBC2 ETC etc theyre down in the 800's so if i can find a way now to swap the numbers over lol i will be back to normal, i now have a great picture on Pick tv and really, best ive ever had lol my main two stations i watch apart from CH5 lol thanks for all you help at least i know i can watch tv again x

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Suzy's 25 posts GB flag
Suzy's: mapS's Freeview map terrainS's terrain plot wavesS's frequency data S's Freeview Detailed Coverage
S
Suzy
sentiment_satisfiedBronze

3:33 PM
Dunstable

Spoke to soon my pick yv and really stations are still breaking up oh well at least they are better, am not getting no or bad signal now lol

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Suzy's 25 posts GB flag
Suzy's: mapS's Freeview map terrainS's terrain plot wavesS's frequency data S's Freeview Detailed Coverage
J
jb38
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

8:13 PM

Suzy: This is because you have not used the correct procedure. What to do is press "menu" then select "installation" enter password (0000) then run down the list and select and press on "default setting".

Once this has completed go into the menu again and select installation, select and press on "manual" search where you will see a channel number shown on the right hand side, use the > (right hand) arrow on the large centre button and a list will come on under the channel number already shown, run up or down the list until you see Ch27 and press on it when it will immediately enter the box, then press on "search" and waiting until its picked up all the programmes, which with that box might not be particularly fast, once found though finish by pressing "save" or "store".

You then repeat the process by going back to "installation" and then using exactly same procedure as before but this time entering the second on the list Ch24 and so on.

Carry on until all five have been entered, scanned, and saved.

The number again being: CH27 - Ch24 - Ch51 - Ch52 - Ch48 all referring to Sandy.


(Ch48 al) 

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jb38's 7,179 posts GB flag
Sunday, 29 July 2012
S
Suzy
sentiment_satisfiedBronze

10:07 AM

jb38: i did everything you said and it stored the stations this time, but.......when i come to CH52 and do a search on that it comes up with no stations found, and 52 is all the stations i prefer to watch and the ones i am now missing, some woman at Digital Uk told me my problem was with my neighbours doing something that interefers with my signal, but they arent, then she went on to tell me i need a new aerial but ive had it all checked out and its fine. On ch 52 i have poor quality and no signal at all ....... and the only wat i found i can get these stations back is by doing an autoscan , but when i get them they kepep breaking up or saying no or bad signal, or this channel may be blocked or scrambled i guess i will have to resign myself to be with out these, which is then no point in having a tv since theyre the stations i watch,

link to this comment
Suzy's 25 posts GB flag
J
jb38
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

10:35 AM

Suzy: Now that you have all the correct mux channels stored needless to say do not be tempted at any time to carry out a rescan or you will be back to square one, and if your TV or box has a channel auto update facility switch that off.

As far as Ch52 is concerned you are certainly not alone as far as having problems trying to receive that channel, and which I have to say unfortunately includes myself as well as others local to me, and as I have every facility at my fingertips so to speak for carrying out tests I know its NOT a case of moving the aerial to a slightly different position to rectify the problem as it doesnt, I am also aware that this same problem also exists in parts of Northamptonshire.

However as you are at a different (lower) angle to Sandy than the areas I was referring to the best thing I can advise you to do is find out from anyone you know in your area (not too far away) if they can receive (11) Pick TV and give an update on your findings.

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jb38's 7,179 posts GB flag
J
jb38
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

11:04 AM

Suzy: Further to, and connect with what I mentioned about Ch52 I would like if you could carry out a test on that channel albeit that it isn't actually stored, so go into the tuning menu again and enter Ch52 using the same procedure as before but do NOT scan it, as all I would like to know is what (if any) indications you see on the strength / quality bars, as even signals at a level that wont produce a picture are generally still seen indicated as the box is purely acting like a signal meter.

By the way after you see and make a note of the signal indications just back out of the menu screen again, this action not upsetting anything previously done as far as channels stored are concerned.



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jb38's 7,179 posts GB flag
S
Suzy
sentiment_satisfiedBronze

8:59 PM

jb38: hiya i just did what you have asked and gone into see what the strength and signal is on Ch52 and for some reason the strength is at 61% and the quality fluctuates between 50 and 75, normally when i go in there , there is completely no quality at all, how strange that i an getting that today, my picture on these Pick tv is terrible it keeps breaking up, the strength doesnt move at all it is staying at 61% just the quality that is moving, my neighbour have sky or virgin am the only one in my little caul-de -sac that has freeview :(

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Suzy's 25 posts GB flag
Monday, 30 July 2012
J
jb38
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

7:54 AM

Suzy: Thanks for that update on your findings, and with what you have reported being roughly in line to what was expected on that type of test, the Humax being particularly good for this unlike many other devices that give "way out" indications. If though you have actually managed to store that channel and which as I suspect will likely disappear again, do NOT try to get it back as it will still be stored in the boxes memory, this being proven by if you carry out a signal strength whilst on the blank screen you will see the level showing but indicating somewhat less than it did when you had a picture on the screen.

Needless to say that these variations seen in the quality is something that you wont really be able to do anything about, as its basically caused by something totally out with your control such as a distant range of trees, although I do have to say that as your indications are superior to anything obtained up in my area of Stamford, and although I have said that trying experiments with an aerial in slightly different positions has no effect in my area it might actually make a difference if tried where you are, but as can be imagined its a hit and miss affair which cannot be guaranteed to succeed.

I would appreciate though if (just for the record) you could maybe find time next weekend to carry out another signal level check and give another update on findings, as checks made a few days apart give a better picture of what's going on signal wise.


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