Full Freeview on the Sandy Heath (Central Bedfordshire, England) transmitter
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.
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The symbol shows the location of the Sandy Heath (Central Bedfordshire, England) transmitter which serves 920,000 homes.
What do the colours on the map mean?
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.List by multiplex|
List by channel number|
List by channel name|
See terrain plotWhich 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 | Aerial position | Frequency | Height | Mode | Watts |
PSB1
BBCA | horizontal -0.5dB | C27 (522.0MHz) | 291m | 64QAM 8K 2/3
24.1Mb/s DVB-T MPEG2 | 180,000W |
| 
1 BBC One Cambridge, 2 BBC Two England, 7 BBC Three, 9 BBC Four, 70 CBBC Channel, 71 CBeebies, 80 BBC News, 81 BBC Parliament, 301 BBC Red Button 1, plus 12 others 200 BBC Red Button, 700 BBC Radio 1, 701 BBC Radio 1Xtra, 702 BBC Radio 2, 703 BBC Radio 3, 704 BBC Radio 4, 705 BBC Radio 5 Live, 706 BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra, 707 BBC Radio 6 Music, 708 BBC Radio 4 Extra, 709 BBC Asian Network, 710 BBC World Service,
|
PSB2
D3+4 | horizontal -0.5dB | C24 (498.0MHz) | 291m | 64QAM 8K 2/3
24.1Mb/s DVB-T MPEG2 | 180,000W |
| 
3 ITV (Anglia (West micro region)), 4 Channel 4 South ads, 5 Channel 5 Part Network ads, 6 ITV 2, 13 Channel 4+1 South ads, 14 More 4, 28 E4, 33 ITV +1 (Anglia east),
|
PSB3
BBCB | horizontal -0.5dB | C21+ (474.2MHz) | 291m | 256QAM 32KE 2/3
40.2Mb/s DVB-T2 MPEG4 | 180,000W |
| 
101 BBC One HD (England no regional news), 102 BBC Two HD (England), 103 ITV HD (ITV Meridian Southampton), 104 Channel 4 HD South ads, 303 BBC Red Button HD, plus 1 others 232 The Space,
|
COM4
SDN | horizontal -0.7dB | C51 (714.0MHz) | 291m | 64QAM 8K 3/4
27.1Mb/s DVB-T MPEG2 | 170,000W |
| 
10 ITV 3, 20 G.O.L.D. (not free), 25 Dave ja vu, 26 Home (not free), 27 ITV 2 +1, 30 5*, 31 5USA, 34 ESPN UK (not free), 38 Quest, 39 The Zone, 44 Channel 5 +1, 72 CITV, plus 21 others Bluebird 1, ADULT Playboy, 16 QVC, 23 Bid TV, 49 The Jewellery Channel, 170 ADULT Section, 171 Television X, 180 XxXpanded TV, 201 Teletext Hols, 202 Rabbit, 203 Gay Rabbit, 204 1-2-1 Dating, 228 Christian, 229 CONNECT 2, 230 VISION2, 234 CONNECT 4, 235 God TV, 236 Sony SAB TV Asia, 724 Capital FM, 727 Absolute Radio, 728 Heart,
|
COM5
ArqA | horizontal -0.7dB | C52 (722.0MHz) | 289m | 64QAM 8K 3/4
27.1Mb/s DVB-T MPEG2 | 170,000W |
| 
11 PICK TV, 12 Dave, 17 Really, 29 E4+1, 32 Movie Mix, 46 Challenge, 48 Food Network, 82 Sky News, 87 Community Channel, 302 BBC Red Button 2, plus 9 others 36 Create and Craft, 37 Price Drop TV, 43 Gems TV 1, 173 ADULT smileTV3, 175 ADULT PARTY, 176 ADULT Blue, 177 Babestation Xtra, 206 SkyText, 723 talkSPORT,
|
COM6
ArqB | horizontal -0.7dB | C48 (690.0MHz) | 289m | 64QAM 8K 3/4
27.1Mb/s DVB-T MPEG2 | 170,000W |
| 
15 Film 4, 18 4Music, 19 Yesterday, 21 VIVA, 24 ITV 4, 41 Sky Sports 1 (not free), 42 Sky Sports 2 (not free), 47 4seven, 83 Al Jazeera English, 85 RT English , plus 22 others heat, 0 Argos TV, 22 Ideal World, 35 QVC Beauty, 40 Rocks and Co 1, 172 ADULT smileTV2, 174 Babestation, 199 ADULT Section, 225 VISION, 226 CCTV, 227 Sports, 231 Racing TV , 306 Channel Zero, 711 The Hits radio, 712 Smash Hits!, 713 Kiss, 714 KISSTORY, 715 Magic, 716 Q, 717 Kerrang!, 718 Smooth radio, 725 Premier Radio,
|
Which BBC and ITV regional news can I watch from the Sandy Heath transmitter?
How will the Sandy Heath (Central Bedfordshire, England) transmission frequencies change over time?
| years | 1965~85 | 1984-97 | 1997-98 | 1998-2011 | 2011-13 | 2013-18 | 2013-18 | |
| aerial group | VHF | A K | K | W | W | W | W | |
| C6 | ITV | | | | | | | |
| C21 | | C4 | C4 | C4 | +BBCB | +BBCB | +BBCB | |
| C24 | | ITV | ITV | ITV | D3+4 | D3+4 | D3+4 | |
| C27 | | BBC2 | BBC2 | BBC2 | BBCA | BBCA | BBCA | |
| 600 | C31 | | BBC1 | BBC1 | BBC1 | | | | |
| C32 | | | | | | | com7 | |
| C34 | | | | | | | com8 | |
| C39 | | | C5 | C5 | | | | |
| C40 | | | | +C | | | | |
| C42 | | | | -1 | | | | |
| C43 | | | | +A | | | local | |
| C45 | | | | -2 | | | | |
| C46 | | | | +D | | | | |
| C48 | | | | | ArqB | ArqB | ArqB | |
| 700 | C51 | | | | | SDN | SDN | SDN | |
| C52 | | | | | ArqA | ArqA | ArqA | |
| 800 | C67 | | | | B | | | | |
| orange background for multiplexes names more | green background for transmission frequencies | lilac background for power levels in watts | 800MHz band: 4G mobile to start in 2013 | 700MHz band: possible 4G in 2019 more | 600MHz band: new or moved digital TV services more |
Notes:
+ and
- denote 166kHz offset; aerial group are shown as
A B C/D E K WItalics for
analogue, digital switchover was Wednesdays 30th March and 13th April 2011.
- Ofcom have projected that a local television service for Bedford including Sandy could use an Interleaved Frequency on the Sandy Heath transmitter using C43
- COM7, COM8 projected for 2013-16.
How do the old analogue and currrent digital signal levels compare?
| Analogue 1-4 | 1000kW | |
| com7, com8 | (-7dB) 200kW | |
| BBCA, D3+4, BBCB | (-7.4dB) 180kW | |
| SDN, ARQA, ARQB | (-7.7dB) 170kW | |
| 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 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.
Your comments: most recent posts are at the bottom
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C
Chris JohnsonTuesday 29 November 2011 12:44AM
C
Christina McCaffreyWednesday 30 November 2011 4:13PM
Bedford
interfernce after retuning on BBC1 and BBC2 on the last two days. ITV and Channel 4 are fine.
Any suggestions please?Christina McCaffrey,Bedford.Hard to say without a full postcode.Single frequency interference could be the issue here.The BBCA mux on Sandy Heath is on frequency 27,is your loft aerial polarised horizontally in which case it will be receiving transmissions as such from the main Sandy Heath transmitter.If it's polarised vertically then your transmissions will come from a local relay as such. M
Mitesh ShahThursday 1 December 2011 1:33PM
B
brianTuesday 13 December 2011 7:15PM
March
BrianA
ALAN PEACHEYTuesday 13 December 2011 8:43PM
brian: Bug fixed, sorry about that. Hi, I'm in Little Stanion in Northants just outside Corby NN18 8SB (nearest alternative postcode is NN18 8EY). Got a local installer to install a loft aerial and he's turned out to be worse than useless.
On main tv signal quality on most muxes it up at around 90-100/100 after turning the gain on the 4 way amplifier right up. Signal strength is at no higher than 24/100 (8/100 before I re-made up all his BNC ends!).
Regardless this doesn't seem to a problem for most channels. the HD channels suffer with intermittent drops in signal quality down to 0 for a few seconds, with no picture or major pixellation, before returning up to around 95/100. Strength is lower at around 18/100.
I can't get any of the Mux A channels.
The aerial guy is fobbing me off with every excuse under the sun- its the TV (brand new sony bravia that was fine when pointing to Oxford in my old house), it's the transmitter(checked several times on here- no major problems), we're in a bad signal area (everything seems to point to it not being THAT bad!).
Any help greatly appreciated! Thanks Shaun Southall: Mux A (SDN) does not go to full power until next year.
I've seen comments made on here by professionals about new houses tending to have rooves that can reduce signal strength.
Could you not have had the aerial fitted outside? @Dave Lindsay - thanks, not really unfortunately. I plan to have a dish on the front of the house so dish plus aerial would probably have the builders running round trying to pull them both down!
Would it make sense to try a stronger aerial? It looks like he's used a very short DM log periodic... C
Charles StuartSunday 18 December 2011 11:50PM
Yes, a high gain aerial will help. Aerials are actually very easy to fit, if the cabling is in place. Just disconnect the current aerial making sure that you know precisely where it's pointing (put a line on the loft floor). Connect the new aerial and attach to the pole in place of the old one.
You can get a high gain aerial from Homebase for about £30. However, I have no idea how good it is. You might wish to buy a very high gain aerial, though they're expensive and you risk having a signal that's too strong.
You could also try turning the existing aerial to try and pick up signals from Waltham instead. You'll get East Midlands local TV instead of East but otherwise it'll be the same. You'll need a compass and to know the number of degrees from north of the Waltham transmitter.
After you've got the aerial in the right position, try to tune the STB. If you get a signal, see how strong it is. If not at maximum, move the aerial slightly. It's trial and error until you get it right and a second person is useful. Humans make good TV aerials, so no one should touch it when reading the signal strength. My experience is that walls do strange things with the directionality of TV signals, sometimes meaning that you need to be up to 10° off the actual direction.B
BobWednesday 21 December 2011 12:29PM
J
jb38Wednesday 21 December 2011 5:36PM
B
BobWednesday 21 December 2011 8:52PM
BobJ
jb38Thursday 22 December 2011 4:44PM
I tried an IP27 test code ending in 0QN and observed that Tacolneston indicated good reception right across the board, albeit with its SDN mux on Ch42 running at just under 75% power, Sandy also being similar on all muxes with the exception of its low powered (20Kw) SDN mux on Ch31, Sudbury though only being OK on its PSB muxes until June 2012 when the commercial muxes come onboard.
As you have mentioned, trees and all sorts of other things can upset prediction forecasts, and so I really use them for reference purposes as there isn't really any alternative, this being why I was interested in what you reported as I regard it as a form of field test for the area, as most queries / comments are based on a complaint of something not working.
C
Charles StuartSunday 25 December 2011 11:00PM
K
KMJ,DerbyMonday 26 December 2011 12:27AM
M
malcolmThursday 29 December 2011 1:34PM
many thanks
malcolm
we are on sandy heathmalcolm: Some boxes are not designed to receive the latest (post-switchover) digital signals. Those signals do not stop the boxes from switching on; they just won't pick up any channels.
Google Matsui DTR3 and you will see postings on the same problem you have; the thing won't power up.
It seems to be a regular fault with this model's power supply and people report that it can be fixed with replacement of a couple of components. If you know someone who is a dab hand with a soldering iron, it could perhaps be repaired. J
JOHN MOTTRAMSunday 1 January 2012 7:11PM
Rushden
22in Samsung, She as had a problem with it since, its just 2 channels BBC1 & 2, If she presses number 1 on the remote twice she looses
the channel same goes for BBC2, THE PICTURE GOES TO BLACK & WHITE & FUZZY, I've Re-tune the TV and when its finished it tells me there is 2 Analogue channels, I think she is receiving from Sandy Heath, If all Transmitters are all digital then why is my auntie's tv still as 2 analogue channels.JOHN MOTTRAM: If your auntie is receiving from Sandy Heath, then there is no analogue to tune in and, as such, the analogue part of the TV is redundant.
The likely answer is that the TV is picking up an analogue signal from another transmitter that has yet to switchover to digital only. This would also explain the poor picture on those analogue channels. P
PaulTuesday 3 January 2012 12:17PM
Paul: It is on low power until 27th June when it will be increased to its final power level which is the same as that of the commercial multiplexes now. S
Shane BrownThursday 5 January 2012 11:18AM
Bishop's Stortford
We had a new digital aerial fitted to our roof in October. Along with most of the houses in the area this is pointed to Crystal Palace although your map suggests Sandy Heath is more appropriate.
We were receiving all the Freeview HD channels fine up till the middle of December - the HD signal quality was between 5 and 7 while the SD channels were 10.
From mid December the HD channel quality has dropped significantly. The signal is sometimes lost completely or very low with a high error rate (which is giving us pixellated pictures).
The same engineer came back out. He advised that the aerial was fine as was the signal strength. He suggested the problems may be due to increased interference from Sandy Heath (for the HD channels). When quizzed why it should be happening now he suggested it may be due to the leaves falling off the trees!?
We have not made any changes to the equipment.
The engineer suggested a stronger amplifier which was supposed to "hold" the picture better. However this is giving no improvement and now the signal is mostly rubbish.
All the other SD channels are fine so the only problem is with HD.
The engineers suggested that this may be a continuing problem up till the London switch-over in April.
My questions are as follows:
- is the explanation regarding the drop off is HD signal quality reasonable?
- is there anything that can be done to alleviate it (for example should I consider pointing the aerial to Sandy Heath)
Any assistance you can provide would be most gratefully received.
Regards
ShaneP
PaulThursday 5 January 2012 12:16PM
Many thanks for this....looks like we will have to put up with it for a while yet before we get back to the quality of the past.
Cheers
PaulShane Brown: I think that the best thing is to bear with it for three months more. Not ideal I know.
The thing with the digital HD signal from Crystal Palace is that it is lower power than the other (standard definition) digital channels. The reason for this is because of lack of spare frequencies. Sandy Heath uses the same frequency for one of its multiplexes and this is currently on low power until Crystal Palace switches.
Crystal Palace was one of four transmitters in the country chosen to carry HD before their switchover. So you're lucky to get any HD before switchover at all.
The only thing you could try at no cost is to manually tune to Ch21 which is Sandy Heath's HD multiplex. If it works, it's a bodge because the aerial is pointing in the wrong direction, but it might produce a more stable result. You might need to delete the four HD channels in the 50s (how exactly you do it will depend on the design of your receiver).
As for what it could be, it could be 101 things. Trees can affect TV reception and therefore reception can change as they move or when the leaves grow or fall off. Maybe the tree was acting as a screen to block the signal from Sandy Heath; who knows! At the end of the day it has happened. B
BobTuesday 10 January 2012 9:09PM
BobA
A. ReesMonday 16 January 2012 7:56AM
T
Tim McEwanThursday 19 January 2012 11:37AM
Milton KeynesTim McEwan: Some possibilities:
1. There is another device that is putting out an analogue signal on C21.
2. The TV is "HD Ready" which means that it can show HD pictures, but does not have the means to receive them off air.
What is the make and model of the TV? T
Tim McEwanThursday 19 January 2012 1:54PM
Im not aware of any analogue signal - at least the TV doesn't discover it in analogue mode....M
Mike DimmickThursday 19 January 2012 4:54PM
For Freeview HD, the TV has to support the newer DVB-T2 standard and the BBC's method of encoding the programme guide (this is a very rudimentary copy-protection measure). Equipment that supports both should have a Freeview HD logo on the packaging somewhere. You could check to see whether the manual mentions DVB-T2. If it only mentions DVB-T, I'm afraid you'll need an additional Freeview HD box.
If the TV definitely supports Freeview HD, not just 'HD Ready', the most likely answer is Short Reflector Syndrome: 
http://www.wrightsaerials….pdf .
Wideband aerials aren't very good at the lowest frequencies, but you don't have much choice with Sandy Heath as the commercial multiplexes are in the middle of the frequency range, and a Group A aerial won't receive them. The cut-off is very sharp for frequencies above the range that the aerial is designed to handle.
If you can get into a manual tuning screen for the TV, it may be possible to show the signal strength for C21 and compare it to the strength for C24 and C27. If they're similar, it's the TV, not the aerial. T
Tim McEwanFriday 20 January 2012 9:11AM
Freesat HD box on the horizon methinks......M
MikeFriday 20 January 2012 1:27PM
BiggleswadeF
Frances LawlessSaturday 21 January 2012 3:56PM
M
MikeSaturday 21 January 2012 4:41PM
BiggleswadeJ
jb38Saturday 21 January 2012 6:09PM
My reason though for saying "possibly", is that in locations not too far away from a tall mast the signal received tends to be lower than that obtained from a position slightly further away, this due to the umbrella shielding effect, so a way to check the signal level received is to try a test set using a top aerial into your M&S TV, or if this not to hand try a short piece of wire (about 2/3 feet or so) pushed into the inner part of the TV aerials socket and see what results you get.
If you get OK reception by doing that then an attenuator of at least 20dB is required, and there shouldn't really be any need for your aerial to be mounted on a high pole either, unless that is you really are shielded!
M
MikeSaturday 21 January 2012 7:08PM
BiggleswadeK
KMJ,DerbySaturday 21 January 2012 8:15PM
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jb38Saturday 21 January 2012 8:39PM
Mike: I tried but failed, to find out some technical details about the specification of your set, as all I seemed to see were somewhat derogatory comments being made of not only your model but also another 26" version, so your assessment of the device could well be spot on.
jb38, Mike: I wondered if the "M&S 1906F001" might be found by dropping the 001 suffix. There is a model made by Murphy: TP-1906F
A manual for this model is here:
http://www.contrast-uk.ne….pdf J
jb38Saturday 21 January 2012 9:27PM
This applies to most obscure brands of audio / video devices, and in some cases not so obscure!
M
MikeSunday 22 January 2012 6:03PM
Biggleswade
Many thanks for all your help. ITV3 is just as bad but BBC1, BBC2 etc are all showing issues and not part of the MUX system? I dont think electrical interference is an issue as there seems nothing close to the set that might emit a signal - timing seems to be random as well. The Murphy 'manual' is certainly near identical to the one I have so that is its origin. I too have found derogatory comments about the set on the web. It seems very likely that the TV is, if not faulty as such, just plain poor quality. I may persue this further with M&S and/or get a better set.J
jb38Sunday 22 January 2012 7:29PM
I think though that the latter comment you made in the update is best policy, as although you will always get someone finding fault with something, it wasn't exactly easy to read anything other than derogatory comments about that particular model of TV, albeit on the face of it nothing would seem amiss, especially with it having an M &S tag on it.
B
barclayMonday 23 January 2012 5:32PM
i live in far cotton northampton and should get all sandy channels.
i can today get bbca, d3+4 & sdn on ch 31.
this website states sdn should be transmitted at only 20,000 watts, i dont understand that i can get this but i cant get arqa or arqb which are supposed to be transmitted at 180,000 & 170,000 watts?
also i have gold but it isnt listed?
can anyone explain please?barclay: The only thing I can see that could be the issue is that ArqA and ArqB are on Group B channels (higher up frequencies).
Have you had your Group A aerial replaced with a wideband one (or a second aerial fitted for higher frequencies)?
I'm not saying that this is the problem, but it is an observation of a possibility.
Have you tried manually tuning in these channels? Does the bar show any signal whatsoever? B
barclayMonday 23 January 2012 6:17PM
thanks for the reply, i had a good wideband in the loft but couldnt get sdn so ive just connected up the old ariel outside so you are probably right, i cant spend the money on replacing it as we are moving soon.
thanks
barclayD
Dawn BonhamFriday 27 January 2012 2:49PM
Dawn Bonham: Around 8% of the population can only get the Public Service Broadcaster (PSB) services because the commercial broadcasters don't wish to install transmitters to cover them.
However, I'm not convinced that this affects you as there are no small transmitters in your area that only carry the PSBs.
In order to give a more precise answer, an exact location is required. As too is the transmitter from which you are receiving your signal. If the transmitter is unknown, then the direction of the aerial along with the location should allow it to be worked out.
If it is the commercial channels that you are missing, then perhaps you are receiving from Oxford transmitter. I say this because its commercial services are on low power until 18th April. This is so as to avoid interference with another transmitter that has yet to switch over to digital and is therefore using the same frequencies until then. 
06:06
Technika 42-8533D 42 inch Widescreen Full HD 1080p 3D LCD TV with Freeview & 8 x 3D Glasses - Tesco.Direct
