Full Freeview on the Sandy Heath (Central Bedfordshire, England) transmitter
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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._______
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)
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.
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 | ITVwaves | ||||||||
| C21 | C4waves | C4waves | C4waves | +BBCB | BBCB | ||||
| C24 | ITVwaves | ITVwaves | ITVwaves | D3+4 | D3+4 | ||||
| C27 | BBC2waves | BBC2waves | BBC2waves | BBCA | BBCA | ||||
| C31 | BBC1waves | BBC1waves | BBC1waves | ||||||
| C32 | com7 | ||||||||
| C33 | SDN | ||||||||
| C34 | com8 | ||||||||
| C35 | _local | ||||||||
| C36 | ArqA | ||||||||
| C39 | C5waves | C5waves | |||||||
| C43 | _local | ||||||||
| C48 | ArqB | ArqB | |||||||
| C51tv_off | SDN | ||||||||
| C52tv_off | ArqA | ||||||||
| C55tv_off | com7tv_off | ||||||||
| C56tv_off | COM8tv_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
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Friday, 1 April 2011
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Trevor11:32 AM
30 March 2011 : Cambridge-area Freeviewers lost Quest (38), Russia Today (85), AlJazeera (87), Yesterday (12) and others.
Will they be reinstated on 14th April?
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R
Rob3:39 PM
Will the signal strength for the ITV group of channels be increased in the near futue? I am currently unable to see these signals but get perfect BBC channels.
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David Howard3:54 PM
Northampton
I've recently been given a digi-box (Goodmans GDR-10)which I thought would be handy for the upstairs TVs following the switchover. Existing set-up is: Skydish for the main lounge TV,2 x professionally-installed roof aerials aligned to Sandy Heath and Sutton Coldfield also serving the main TV, and a D-I-Y loft aerial aligned to Sandy Heath serving the upstairs TV. Original plan was to re-route the roof aerials post-switchover to the bedroom TV(s).
Tried the digi-box yesterday & got good reception on Ch 27 and patchy on one or two other channels using the roof aerials,also good on Ch 27 (but nothing else) from the loft aerial. Having spent a couple of hours on this very helpful site I've decided my best bet is probably to wait until after 13th April and then see how things look before spending any time/money on aerial re-routes / upgrade? Secondly, although I seem to be equi-distant from 4 transmitters the aerials I have do seem to be aligned on the best two ie Sandy Heath and Sutton Coldfield but will there be any "interference" problem during the period April to September when one has switched over to digital & the other hasn't? Or will the stronger digital signal simply "swamp" the analogue one?
Any comments will be gratefully received.
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David's: mapD's Freeview map terrainD's terrain plot wavesD's frequency data D's Freeview Detailed Coverage
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Mike Dimmick3:56 PM
Reading
Trevor: I don't imagine *everyone* did. Multiplex D has not yet switched over, but it's possible that some interim change was made in preparation for the next change.
On the 13th, Mux D changes mode becoming ArqB and moves to C67, currently used by Mux B - generally the numbers got the best allocations, then A, B, C and D in that order. That may improve matters. However, some people may lose them due to the change in mode, which gives more capacity but requires more signal compared to the level of interference.
The final re-configuration for this multiplex is planned to be on 14 September.
Ofcom's latest stations table, incorporated into the licence by reference, says 'Until further notice, may use transitional antenna'. This is against the final configuration, so could relate to the situation after DSO. The notes for Multiplex 2 (D3+4) and B (HD) both say 'Use transitional S1 antenna until 27 June 2012', though this is probably to avoid clashing with another main transmitter that won't switch over until later - possibly Rowridge.
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Mike's: mapM's Freeview map terrainM's terrain plot wavesM's frequency data M's Freeview Detailed Coverage
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Mike Dimmick3:58 PM
Reading
Rob: So far, only the main BBC multiplex has switched over. The rest of the multiplexes switch over on Wednesday 13 April.
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Mike's: mapM's Freeview map terrainM's terrain plot wavesM's frequency data M's Freeview Detailed Coverage
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Mike Dimmick4:11 PM
Reading
David Howard: While the public service multiplexes complete switch over on the 13th of April, the commercial multiplexes don't complete until later in the year. Once they do, there will not be a clash. They have to move to get out of the way of Sutton Coldfield's switchover, in fact.
Multiplex A from Sandy Heath uses the same channel as ITV1 (analogue) from Sutton Coldfield, C43. Mux C (ArqA) uses the same channel as BBC Two from Sutton Coldfield, C40. It's likely that this will cause a noisy analogue picture on the TVs connected to the Sutton Coldfield aerial, and nothing much usable on these muxes on the TVs connected to the Sandy Heath aerial.
When Sutton Coldfield switches, C40 becomes the HD multiplex and C43 becomes BBC A. Sandy Heath ArqA therefore moves to C31 a week before BBC A starts at Sutton Coldfield, and ArqA moves to C67 (freed by ArqB moving to C48) a week before the remaining changes at SC.
If the two aerials are linked together with a diplexer, to put the signals on one cable, you may find that it only includes Group A channels (21-35) from Sandy Heath, and only Group B and above channels (37-68) from Sutton Coldfield. This means you won't get the commercial muxes from Sandy Heath when everything's complete (you might get ArqA when it's on C31). However, they have the same content at all English transmitters anyway.
I hope that's, um, clear?
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Mike's: mapM's Freeview map terrainM's terrain plot wavesM's frequency data M's Freeview Detailed Coverage
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David Howard6:53 PM
Northampton
Mike Dimmick: Many thanks for your help. I didn't expect it would be straightforward - looking out across the rooftops from my study/bedroom window I see aerials pointing East, West and South ! My two roof aerials are indeed linked together (there's a brown plastic box which is presumably the diplexer, happily located in the loft)so it seems that once the switchovers are completed in the autumn I'll be receiving all available channels from one transmitter or the other, and which is which will only be an issue as regards regional news programmes and the like. If necessary when the time comes I can no doubt "unlink" the two leads from the roof aerials to check what I'm getting from each in terms of channels, signal quality and strength etc. Assuming they are OK individually would it be feasible to incorporate a switching facility ie along the lines of the audio source selector I use in my hi-fi set up,in order to choose aerial A or B or, perhaps, A+B or would this cause problems eg with the box re-tuning itself every time? At any rate it seems there'll be little if any advantage in leaving the aerials linked once the switchover is completed so if necessary I'll just make a choice between them - I guess I must be in a better position than many people and shouldn't complain about having too much choice !
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David's: mapD's Freeview map terrainD's terrain plot wavesD's frequency data D's Freeview Detailed Coverage
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Dave11:02 PM
Ely
My 3 year old Philips digital TV cannot access BBC digital text anymore since Phase 1 of the switchover.
I am told by Philips this should be working by Phase 2 but I am not convinced.
Others must be having similar problems surely?
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Dave's: mapD's Freeview map terrainD's terrain plot wavesD's frequency data D's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Saturday, 2 April 2011
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Mike Dimmick10:55 AM
Dave: your TV may be confused by the data appearing on both the high-power BBC A multiplex and on the low-power Multiplex B. However, my understanding was that they were carrying it on both Mux 1 and B before switchover. There are stories that the BBC will soon be removing it from Mux B in the rest of the country. Did you do a factory reset or first time installation, not just an automatic scan? Sometimes receivers remember information from previous scans which conflict with the new information. For instructions on how to do this for your TV, see TV Re-tune ____The digital text data will not be present on the HD multiplex, which replaces Multiplex B at phase 2. So it should sort itself out then. Otherwise, it's possible that there is some incompatibility with the current digital text data and your TV. Check that the TV has the latest firmware available at Philips - Contact and Support . Generally they should automatically update when a new version of firmware is broadcast, but this usually requires that the set is left on in standby overnight, so viewers who unplug their sets overnight don't get the updates. (RG47SH)
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