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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
Saturday, 19 May 2012
Dave Lindsay
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

11:54 AM

Jon D: I posted previously to you about checking that the receiver is tuned to Sandy Heath channels rather than Crystal Palace (or any other transmitter):

Freeview on Sandy Heath TV transmitter | ukfree.tv - independent free digital TV advice

You should confirm that you are tuned to Sandy Heath by bringing up the signal strength screen on the following and checking that they tuned correctly:

BBC One = C27
ITV1 = C24
BBC One HD = C21
ITV3 = C51
Pick TV = C52
Yesterday = C48


If they all show 100% quality and they remain so, then you have nothing to worrry about.

For digital reception, so long as the signal strength is above the threshold needed to resolve the picture, and it remains so, then the picture quality is the best that it can be.

Not all the strength scales (shown on the screen) are the same so I wouldn't go comparing expecting them to be the same.

link to this comment
Dave Lindsay's 5,724 posts GB flag
J
Jon D
12:10 PM
Stevenage

Hi,
Thanks for the info, the channals are correct! So will leave it that!
Thanks again Jon D

link to this comment
Jon D's 5 posts GB flag
Jon's: mapJ's Freeview map terrainJ's terrain plot wavesJ's frequency data J's Freeview Detailed Coverage
T
Tim
sentiment_satisfiedBronze

11:56 PM
Radlett

Has COM4/SDN on channel 51 gone up in power as of the 9 th May?

link to this comment
Tim's 32 posts GB flag
Tim's: mapT's Freeview map terrainT's terrain plot wavesT's frequency data T's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Sunday, 20 May 2012
J
jb38
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

7:24 AM

Tim: Yes, because as well as changing its operating channel Sandy's SDN increased power from 20Kw up to 170Kw.

link to this comment
jb38's 7,179 posts GB flag
D
DErek
8:56 PM

I live on top of the Chiltern Hills just south of Luton.
Typically people living near me pointed their aerials at Crystal Palace and watched London regional programs.
Since the latest retunes I am getting Anglia Region programs
Is there anything I can do to resolve it?

link to this comment
DErek's 2 posts GB flag
Dave Lindsay
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

9:15 PM

Derek: Try manually tuning if your receiver allows.

For Sandy Heath they are 27, 24, 21 (HD), 51, 52, 48

Unfortunately Crystal Palace's channels are in the 20s, so there is no workaround with unplugging the aerial during the scanning of its channels.

Ideally, wipe what's stored and add the five (or six if it's HD) channels. Simply manually tuning without clearing what's already there may achieve nothing as these channels will probably be stored in the 800s, and therefore when they are manual tuned, the TV may consider that they are already stored.

If you would like some more help/pointers with this, let us know what make and model you are using.

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Dave Lindsay's 5,724 posts GB flag
S
Stephen P
sentiment_satisfiedGold

10:42 PM

Derek post your postcode here so we can see what strengths and directions involved.

What aerial are you using?

You may have the channels you want in the 800s (usually) and be able to move them to 101/2/3 etc.

Freesat lets you pick whatever services you like, Automatically if yyou give it a postcode for where you want.

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Stephen P's 1,173 posts GB flag
Monday, 21 May 2012
M
Matt
7:53 PM

Hi, Before the May switchover thing a few weeks back ive lost looooads of stations? Before the May switchover i was doing realy well and had all the stations,now im missing loads and others cut in and out and pixelate. Whats all that about???? My postcode is PE38

Stations ive lost are Quest,E4+1,Film 4,Viva,4 Music, Dave ect ect ect, ive lost loads!

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Matt's 17 posts GB flag
J
jb38
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

9:08 PM

Matt: All around the Downham Market area (should you be in it) its possible to pick up signals from both Sandy and Belmont with roughly the same strength in various areas and you might have picked up a mixture of both during a re-tune, and so "if" BBC Look East is your news service then its coming from Sandy on mux Ch27, and so the three commercial mux channels that match it are: 51 - 52 - 48.

To check this, select Dave(11) and carry out a signal check on it for purposes of seeing what channel number is associated with the indication, which of course should be mux Ch52, if 53 its from Belmont.

Carry out the same test on Quest(38) and in that case its should be mux Ch51 but 30 if from Belmont, finally select Yesterday(12) which should be mux Ch48 but 60 if Belmont.

If you find that that's what's happened then you will require to manually tune in Sandy's six mux channels one at a time, these being :27 - 24 - 21(HD) - 51 - 52 - 48

Should though you have Look North as the BBC news service then that's from Belmont, and in that case the six mux channels used are: 22 - 25 - 28(HD) - 30 - 53 - 60

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jb38's 7,179 posts GB flag
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