Full Freeview on the Sandy Heath (Central Bedfordshire, England) transmitter

Brian Butterworth first published this on 1st May 2004 at 08:20 - UK Free TV

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52.130,-0.242 or 52°7'47"N 0°14'33"W

SG19 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.

Mux	H/V	Frequency	Height	Mode	Watts
PSB1 BBCA	H max	C27 (522.0MHz)	291m	DTG-	180,000W
	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)	291m	DTG-	180,000W
	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)	291m	DTG-	180,000W
	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 66 TBN UK,
COM4 SDN	H -0.2dB	C33 (570.0MHz)	291m	DTG-8	170,000W
	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)	289m	DTG-8	170,000W
	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)	289m	DTG-8	170,000W
	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?

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	ITV_waves
C21		C4_waves	C4_waves	C4_waves	+BBCB	BBCB
C24		ITV_waves	ITV_waves	ITV_waves	D3+4	D3+4
C27		BBC2_waves	BBC2_waves	BBC2_waves	BBCA	BBCA
C31		BBC1_waves	BBC1_waves	BBC1_waves
C32						com7
C33						SDN
C34						com8
C35						_local
C36						ArqA
C39			C5_waves	C5_waves
C43					_local
C48					ArqB	ArqB
C51_{tv_off}					SDN
C52_{tv_off}					ArqA
C55_{tv_off}						com7_{tv_off}
C56_{tv_off}						COM8_{tv_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

Local transmitter maps

Sandy Heath Freeview Sandy Heath DAB Sandy Heath AM/FM Sandy Heath TV region BBC Cambridge Anglia (West micro region)

Which companies have run the Channel 3 services in the Sandy Heath transmitter area

Oct 1959-Feb 2004	Anglia Television
Feb 2004-Dec 2014	ITV plc

Feb 1983-Dec 1992	TV-am•
Jan 1993-Sep 2010	GMTV•
Sep 2010-Dec 2014	ITV Daybreak•

• Breakfast ◊ Weekends ♦ Friday night and weekends † Weekdays only.

Is the transmitter output the same in all directions?

M

Mick Tarrant
5:12 PM

Since retuning my tv and also my set top box I can no longer receive DTT A stations
10 - 16 -17-23-24-26-27-30-31-38
Can you tell me why

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Mick Tarrant's 1 post GB flag

J

jb38

_{sentiment_very_satisfied}Platinum

5:16 PM

Philip Crack: Although the trade predictor indicates that you presently be receiving Mux Ch67(ArqB) OK, the these programmes are on, your situation should improve in two days time (14th) when Ch67 changes to its final allocation of Ch48.

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jb38's 7,179 posts GB flag

J

jb38

_{sentiment_very_satisfied}Platinum

5:20 PM

Mick Tarrant: As this is involves a issue, its impossible to give an answer when you havent indicated your location. (Pref: post code)

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jb38's 7,179 posts GB flag

B

Brian Greensides
8:22 PM
March

Brian Greensides here. OK , thanks for the reply, just a couple of things.
What is the significance of the + symbols on 21+ and 40+ (are these the different modes)and What will they be as of Wednesday(14/9/11) ie 2K or 8K
Thanks once again.
Brian

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Brian Greensides's 17 posts GB flag

Brian's: B's Freeview map B's terrain plot B's frequency data B's Freeview Detailed Coverage

Briantist

_{sentiment_very_satisfied}Owner

9:08 PM

Brian Greensides: +/- denotes that the broadcast has an ofset of +/-166kHz, which is rounded up/down above as 0.2MHz.

All multiplexes are 8k, with the exception of A which is 2k until 23rd November 2011.

Modes are listed at the top of the page.

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Briantist's 38,915 posts GB flag

M

Mike Dimmick

_{sentiment_very_satisfied}Platinum

1:18 PM

Brian Greensides: Mux A/SDN and Mux C/ArqA are both in 2K ; Mux A uses 2/3 and Mux C 16QAM 3/4. We *believe* Mux C/ArqA will stay in 16QAM 3/4 2K mode when it moves to tomorrow, despite it taking that over from ArqB which has been running in 64QAM 2/3 8K mode since .

Mux A will stay in 2K mode right up to its final channel change on 9 May 2012.

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Mike Dimmick's 2,486 posts GB flag

Briantist

_{sentiment_very_satisfied}Owner

7:14 PM

TONIGHT - - ArqB moves from to at 20kW and ArqA moves from to C67 (vacated by ArqB).

Retune required.

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Briantist's 38,915 posts GB flag

W

Will

_{sentiment_satisfied}Bronze

8:57 PM

Is the final level for ArqB only 20kW?? Why is it so much lower than the final power levels for the other muxes (180kW and 170kW?

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Will's 40 posts GB flag

Briantist

_{sentiment_very_satisfied}Owner

10:13 PM

Will: Yes, that is correct. It is the "bottom of the pile" so it gets the poorest coverage. It was called "Multiplex D" before which made this clearer.

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Briantist's 38,915 posts GB flag

M

Mike Dimmick

_{sentiment_very_satisfied}Platinum

11:02 PM

Will: No, the final is 170 kW just like the other two COM multiplexes. It is *currently* running at 20 kW to avoid to other transmitters.

The page above says 20 kW because Brian did a bodge to his database, because of the numerous complaints.

20 kW is an inference, actually it has never been explicitly stated that ArqB is running at .

The current power level of Mux A and C (not COM5/ArqA as it remains in 16QAM 2/3 2K ) should be shown as 20 kW.

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Mike Dimmick's 2,486 posts GB flag

Page 57

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.

If you have no satellite signal, see Sky Digibox says 'No Signal' or 'Technical fault'

If you have other problems, please provide a full (not partial) postcode (or preferably enter it in box at the top right) and indicate where if aerial is on the roof, in the loft or elsewhere.

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