Sandy Heath transmitting station

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Sandy Heath
Sandy Heath transmitter 900H L5.jpg
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Sandy Heath transmitting station (Bedfordshire)
Mast height244 metres (801 ft)
Coordinates 52°07′49″N0°14′29″W / 52.130139°N 0.241389°W / 52.130139; -0.241389
Grid reference TL2036249485
Built1965
BBC region BBC East
ITV region ITV Anglia
Local TV service That's TV Cambridge

Sandy Heath transmitting station is a television and radio broadcasting station in England, 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. On 17 June 2018, as part of the 700MHz clearance, Com5 (ARQ A) moved from Ch52 to Ch36, Com7 (Arq C) moved from Ch32 to Ch55 and Com8 (Arq D) moved from Ch34 to Ch56

Contents

It is a K group or wideband TV transmitter (horizontal polarization), though an original A group aerial will still receive four of the main six muxes, [1] in fact from Feb 2020 only MUX 4 (SDN) was out of the A group. 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 Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Peterborough, Northamptonshire, north Hertfordshire, north Buckinghamshire (including Milton Keynes) and parts of North West Essex and South West Suffolk.

Sandy Heath has 3 relay stations which are located in Northampton, [2] Kimpton, [3] and Luton. [4]

It also broadcasts the BBC local radio station BBC Three Counties Radio and the independent radio station Heart East, formerly Chiltern Radio.

Construction

It was opened on 5 July 1965 by Charles Hill, Baron Hill of Luton for the ITA (Anglia TV). By the end of 1965, it was hoped that nine ITA transmitters would be open.

From its start until late 1966, the transmitter could not broadcast schools programmes in the morning because the frequency (waveband) clashed with the Mullard Radio Astronomy Observatory in nearby Cambridgeshire. Anglia TV broadcast on channel 6 from noon to midnight, and the astronomy observatory operated on these frequencies during the morning.[ citation needed ]

Services listed by frequency

Analogue radio

FrequencykWService
95.5 MHz1 BBC Three Counties Radio
96.9 MHz0.84 Heart East

Digital radio

FrequencyBlockkWOperator
215.072 MHz10D1.7 Herts, Beds & Bucks
220.352 MHz11C0.72 Cambridgeshire
222.064 MHz11D4.7 Digital One
225.648 MHz12B5 BBC National DAB

Analogue 625 line television

Analogue television services are no longer available. BBC Two was closed on 30 March 2011 and the remaining services on 13 April 2011.

FrequencyUHFkWService
471.25  MHz 211000 Channel 4
495.25  MHz 241000 Anglia
519.25  MHz 271000 BBC2 East
551.25  MHz 311000 BBC1 East
615.25  MHz 3910 Channel 5

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References

  1. ↑ "Sandy Heath transmitter". A.T.V. Poles, Brackets, Clamps & Aerials. Retrieved 5 November 2023.
  2. ↑ "Freeview Light on the Dallington Park (Northamptonshire, England) transmitter". May 2004.
  3. ↑ "Freeview Light on the Kimpton (Hertfordshire, England) transmitter". May 2004.
  4. ↑ "Luton (Luton, England) Freeview Light transmitter". May 2004.
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