Sandy Heath transmitting station
Sandy Heath transmitting station is a television broadcast station located between Sandy, Bedfordshire and Potton near the B1042. It is owned by Arqiva, formerly NTL Broadcast. It was built in 1965, originally broadcasting Anglia Television on VHF 405-lines, UHF with 625-line services of BBC2, BBC1 and Anglia Television being added by January 1971. It carried Channel 4 and Channel 5 from their launch days, Channel 5 at lower power than the other four services. Today it broadcasts digital television on the DTT platform as Digital Switchover took place on 13 April 2011.
It is a wideband TV transmitter (horizontal polarization), though an original A group aerial will still receive the three main Public Service Broadcast (PSB) Muxes. During DSO the digital transmission power for the PSB and Commercial muxes increased from 20 kW to 180 kW and 170 kW respectively.
Sandy Heath is the main local TV transmitter for Suffolk, Cambridgeshire, Northamptonshire and north Hertfordshire, bringing the nearby area Look East and Anglia Tonight.
It also broadcasts the BBC local radio station BBC Three Counties Radio and the independent radio station Heart Bedford formerly Chiltern.
Services listed by frequency
Analogue radio
Digital radio
Digital television
Frequency |
UHF |
kW[1] |
Operator |
System |
474.166 MHz |
21+ |
180 |
BBC B |
DVB-T2 |
498.000 MHz |
24 |
180 |
Digital 3&4 |
DVB-T |
522.000 MHz |
27 |
180 |
BBC A |
DVB-T |
562.000 MHz |
32 |
49.6 |
Arqiva C |
DVB-T2 |
578.000 MHz |
34 |
49.1 |
Arqiva D |
DVB-T2 |
690.000 MHz |
48 |
170 |
Arqiva B |
DVB-T |
714.000 MHz |
51 |
170 |
SDN |
DVB-T |
722.000 MHz |
52 |
170 |
Arqiva A |
DVB-T |
|
Before switchover
Frequency |
UHF |
kW |
Operator |
626.166 MHz |
40+ |
20 |
Arqiva (Mux C) |
641.833 MHz |
42- |
20 |
BBC (Mux 1) |
650.166 MHz |
43+ |
20 |
SDN (Mux A) |
665.833 MHz |
45- |
20 |
Digital 3&4 (Mux 2) |
674.166 MHz |
46+ |
20 |
Arqiva (Mux D) |
842.000 MHz |
67 |
20 |
BBC (Mux B) |
|
Analogue television
Analogue television services are no longer available. BBC Two was closed on 30 March 2011 and the remaining services on 13 April 2011.
References
External links
Television transmitter and major relay sites in the United Kingdom |
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| Italics denotes a transmitter no longer used for transmitting television signals. |
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