Sandy Heath transmitting station

Sandy Heath
Mast height 244 metres (801 ft)
Coordinates 52°07′48″N 0°14′29″W / 52.1301°N 0.2414°W / 52.1301; -0.2414Coordinates: 52°07′48″N 0°14′29″W / 52.1301°N 0.2414°W / 52.1301; -0.2414
Grid reference TL2036249485
Built 1965
BBC region BBC East
ITV region ITV Anglia

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

Frequency kW Service
95.5 MHz 1 BBC Three Counties Radio
96.9 MHz 0.84 Heart Four Counties

Digital radio

Frequency Block kW Operator
222.064 MHz 11D 4.7 Digital One
225.648 MHz 12B 5 BBC National DAB

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.

Frequency UHF kW Service
471.25 MHz 21 1000 Channel 4
495.25 MHz 24 1000 ITV
519.25 MHz 27 1000 BBC Two
551.25 MHz 31 1000 BBC One
615.25 MHz 39 10 Channel 5

References

  1. ↑ www.digitaluk.co.uk
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 3/25/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.