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Full Freeview on the Sudbury (Suffolk, England) transmitter

first published this on - UK Free TV
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The symbol shows the location of the Sudbury (Suffolk, England) transmitter which serves 440,000 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.

Are there any planned engineering works or unexpected transmitter faults on the Sudbury (Suffolk, England) mast?

Sudbury transmitter - Sudbury transmitter: Possible effect on TV reception week commencing 25/03/2024 Pixelation or flickering on some or all channels Digital tick


Choose from three options: ■ List by multiplex ■ List by channel number ■ List by channel name
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Which Freeview channels does the Sudbury 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
C44 (658.0MHz)229mDTG-100,000W
Channel icons
1 BBC One (SD) East, 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
C41 (634.0MHz)229mDTG-100,000W
Channel icons
3 ITV 1 (SD) (Anglia (East 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),

PSB3
BBCB
 H max
C47 (682.0MHz)229mDTG-100,000W
Channel icons
46 5SELECT, 101 BBC One HD East, 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 max
C29 (538.0MHz)186mDTG-100,000W
Channel icons
20 Drama, 21 5USA, 29 ITV2 +1, 32 5STAR, 33 5Action, 38 Channel 5 +1, 41 Legend, 42 GREAT! action, 57 Dave ja vu, 58 ITVBe +1, 59 ITV3 +1, 64 Blaze, 67 TRUE CRIME, 68 TRUE CRIME XTRA, 78 TCC, 81 Blaze +1, 83 Together TV, 89 ITV4 +1, 91 WildEarth, 209 Ketchup TV, 210 Ketchup Too, 211 YAAAS!, 267 Al Jazeera English, plus 30 others

COM5
ArqA
 H max
C31- (553.8MHz)228mDTG-8100,000W
Channel icons
11 Sky Mix, 17 Really, 19 Dave, 31 E4 Extra, 36 Sky Arts, 40 Quest Red, 43 Food Network, 47 Film4 +1, 48 Challenge, 49 4seven, 60 Drama +1, 65 That's TV 2, 70 Quest +1, 74 Yesterday +1, 75 That's 90s, 233 Sky News, plus 11 others

COM6
ArqB
 H max
C37 (602.0MHz)228mDTG-8100,000W
Channel icons
12 Quest, 25 W, 27 Yesterday, 34 GREAT! movies, 39 DMAX, 44 HGTV, 52 GREAT! romance, 56 That's TV (UK), 61 GREAT! movies extra, 63 GREAT! romance mix, 71 That’s 60s, 73 HobbyMaker, 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)

The Sudbury (Suffolk, England) mast is a public service broadcasting (PSB) transmitter, it does not provide these commercial (COM) channels: .

If you want to watch these channels, your aerial must point to one of the 80 Full service Freeview transmitters. For more information see the will there ever be more services on the Freeview Light transmitters? page.

Which BBC and ITV regional news can I watch from the Sudbury transmitter?

regional news image
BBC Look East (East) 0.8m homes 3.2%
from Norwich NR2 1BH, 77km north-northeast (24°)
to BBC East region - 27 masts.
70% of BBC East (East) and BBC East (West) is shared output
regional news image
ITV Anglia News 0.8m homes 3.2%
from NORWICH NR1 3JG, 78km north-northeast (24°)
to ITV Anglia (East) region - 26 masts.
All of lunch, weekend and 80% evening news is shared with Anglia (West)

Are there any self-help relays?

Felixstowe WestTransposer1000 homes +1000 or more homes due to expansion of affected area?
WithamTransposer14 km NE Chelmsford.118 homes

How will the Sudbury (Suffolk, England) transmission frequencies change over time?

1984-971997-981998-20112011-131 Aug 2018
B E TB E TB E TE TK T
C29SDN
C31ArqA
C35C5wavesC5waves
C37ArqB
C41ITVwavesITVwavesITVwavesD3+4D3+4
C44BBC2wavesBBC2wavesBBC2wavesBBCABBCA
C47C4wavesC4wavesC4wavesBBCBBBCB
C51tv_offBBC1wavesBBC1wavesBBC1waves
C56tv_offArqB
C58tv_offSDN
C60tv_off-ArqA

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 6 Jul 11 and 20 Jul 11.

How do the old analogue and currrent digital signal levels compare?

Analogue 1-4 250kW
SDN, ARQA, ARQB, BBCA, D3+4, BBCB(-4dB) 100kW
Analogue 5(-7dB) 50kW
Mux 2*(-14.9dB) 8.1kW
Mux B*(-15.2dB) 7.5kW
Mux 1*(-15.5dB) 7kW
Mux A*(-17dB) 5kW
Mux C*(-22.2dB) 1.5kW
Mux D*(-23.6dB) 1.1kW

Which companies have run the Channel 3 services in the Sudbury 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. Sudbury was not an original Channel 3 VHF 405-line mast: the historical information shown is the details of the company responsible for the transmitter when it began transmitting Channel 3.

Comments
Wednesday, 13 July 2011
Stuart O.
sentiment_satisfiedSilver

8:30 PM
Wrexham

Like I posted on Monday 4th July:
According to the 'Full list of analogue transmitter shutdown dates': UK digital switchover dates | ukfree.tv - independent free digital TV advice -
The page still shows that some transmitters are still to be confirmed by Digital UK. In green text: 'On or before (projected date) Wednesday 20th July 2011'.
I know obviously I am not affected and that these dates are all confirmed.
Just wondering as to when the heading will change to black text and say: 'On Wednesday 20th July 2011'?

link to this comment
Stuart O.'s 156 posts GB flag
Stuart's: mapS's Freeview map terrainS's terrain plot wavesS's frequency data S's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Thursday, 14 July 2011
Briantist
sentiment_very_satisfiedOwner

11:58 AM

Stuart O.: There was an incorrect flag in the database to say that the dates were "TBC" for some reason. I have corrected this. Thanks for pointing it out.

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Briantist's 38,915 posts GB flag
R
Ron Purcell
12:56 PM

Briantist, this does not answer my question, in fact it only highlights that what I want should be happening.

Until I did the retune, as requested by the TV, I received BBC1 London, allocated to channel 1, and BBC1 East allocated to channel 806.

Now BBC1 East and channel 806 have disappeared completely. How can I get it back?

Oddly the set still picks up ITV London and ITV Anglia

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Ron Purcell's 2 posts GB flag
Dale
sentiment_satisfiedBronze

2:41 PM
Ipswich

Discovered my first instance of Sudbury Freeview signal now being too strong : my dad has a plug-in Freeview 'adaptor' (one of those 'all hanging off the SCART plug' gadgets) which had been working perfectly on all channels while on low power, but now the BBC channels consistently break up. Once I finally found my way around the menu system to something resembling a signal meter, CH44 now shows as Signal Strength 99% but Signal Quality 39%! In contrast, the next most powerful Mux (CH49) shows Strength 40% and Quality 75%. His other Freeview TVs/boxes are fine, and they all run off the same newish rooftop aerial. I think when he had the aerial installed a couple of years ago that they did it with a masthead amp and it then splits into 5, to serve 5 rooms in his house. After the 20th July, can he just switch the masthead amp off (I'm assuming it plugs in near his main set) or will that kill the signal completely? The alternative, I guess, is to attenuate the signal to the gadget that is not coping. His postcode is IP2 0QH.

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Dale's 78 posts GB flag
Dale's: mapD's Freeview map terrainD's terrain plot wavesD's frequency data D's Freeview Detailed Coverage
J
jb38
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

5:26 PM

Dale: Only channels 44 & 54 are presently being shown as having reasonable reception at the code mentioned, Ch49 listed as being variable along with Ch's 68/56 - 50 - 39 until 20th when all of these channels with the exception Ch50 show the same status, transmission ceasing on Ch39.

With regards to switching the mast head amp power supply off, this will likely result in the signal being that weak that its liable to drop under the reception threshold, so your idea of using an attenuator is the best policy "if" actually required, as the signal levels you report on the main high powered Mux aren't that grand, but it would be interesting to know what they show as on one of the other Freeview sets in your Dads house as indications aren't the same on all boxes, even if they are sitting side by side.

On the subject of the scart Freeview adaptor, its interesting that it still works at all as "some" are listed as not being 8K compatible, just out of curiosity what model is it?



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jb38's 7,179 posts GB flag
Dale
sentiment_satisfiedBronze

7:34 PM
Ipswich

jb38 : don't forget that the Mux on CH49 has already had its power doubled to 14K at DSO1, even though I think the Digital UK predictor is based on that not happening until DSO2. I didn't check the signal quality on his other boxes but will do next time I'm round there! I know that CH44 is at 100% strength and quality at my house and he has always had a better signal than me where he is, in the past. Will also check what model his gadget is!

link to this comment
Dale's 78 posts GB flag
Dale's: mapD's Freeview map terrainD's terrain plot wavesD's frequency data D's Freeview Detailed Coverage
J
jb38
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

9:43 PM

Dale: Yes, quite so! but its still only 14kw in relation to Mux1's 100Kw, and that's why (inc other reasons) its listed as being variable in reception for the given post code. (15mls away)

Equipment receiving lower powered signals is always more vulnerable to suffering from glitches in reception due to varying signal levels, this happening for all sorts of reasons, and if these signal variations cause the level to hover just above the reception threshold then problems start to occur, lower starting levels obviously worse in this respect.

The 40% strength / 75% quality you report for Ch49 isn't in my opinion that terribly much above the cut off threshold on many sets, and because of this these sets being most vulnerable to suffering from glitching of one sort or another, but as you probably will realise forecasting of digital reception in UHF bands is far from being an exact science, as in real life situations local conditions play a big part in what is actually received, rather than what has been worked out "in theory" as being possible.

Anyway, I will look forward to your findings regarding signal / quality levels found on some of the other sets in your Dads household, although a report made after 20th would be of even greater interest.

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jb38's 7,179 posts GB flag
Friday, 15 July 2011
Tim
sentiment_satisfiedBronze

2:39 PM
Walton On The Naze

Here in CO14, all muxes showing an average 50-60% signal strength, except Mux 2 which I'm not receiving at the moment. Not really surprising as Mux 2 is right out on the 'edge' at 850MHz, so the switch to Ch41 should make a big difference.
Can anyone tell me what the digital power output was from Sudbury around 3 years ago? Back then I got all channels, some (BBC) at 100% signal strength.

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Tim's 34 posts GB flag
Tim's: mapT's Freeview map terrainT's terrain plot wavesT's frequency data T's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Saturday, 16 July 2011
Dale
sentiment_satisfiedBronze

8:15 PM
Ipswich

jb38 : checked his DVB TV and PVR today.
The TV gives qualitative ratings rather than quantitative, and all MUXes showed as 'Very Good'. Not very helpful.
The PVR had CH44 (only Mux at 100kW) at 80% quality, with CH56 (at 1.1kW the weakest around here : Mux 2) at 70% and CH49 (14kW)again the best at 85%.
So, pick the bones out of that!
Will re-analyse his boxes after Wednesday, and report again!
Afraid I didn't get the make of the SCART gadget this time, but will do so next time.

link to this comment
Dale's 78 posts GB flag
Dale's: mapD's Freeview map terrainD's terrain plot wavesD's frequency data D's Freeview Detailed Coverage
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