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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
Monday, 2 July 2012
N
Nick
sentiment_satisfiedGold

5:27 PM

Thanks Dave,
I think perhaps I will hang on a bit and see what happens. Yes, I used to get ITV 3 fine on 14kw, now gone, and occasionally Challenge and Pick on 3kw, now also gone. I think they must be playing about with the xmitter. I noted a viewer in Clacton was only getting the muxes on ch 41 and 44, which is all I get now. I have tried my box at two locations in Aldeburgh with good aerials, same result. I reckon if people have to go through all the contortions you suggest to get all channels, those who devised this system should be strung up! Thanks for all your info.

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Nick's 425 posts GB flag
A
Andy
8:03 PM

Hi I have a touring caravan park at post code IP123RQ and we have always had a limited TV transmission but since going digital last autumn and now this season all we seem to get is complaints that the picture quality is bad or non exsistant I know the old fixed round caravan aerials were not good but the more modern triangular or the directional aerials should work since going digital I have spent so much time with people trying to get a decent picture but the only way seems to be with a satellite dish, why ?? is the transmitter not putting out a full signal??

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Andy's 1 post GB flag
B
Ben
8:11 PM
Clacton-on-sea

CH56 and CH58 back after another rescan! Cheers for your help!

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Ben's 6 posts GB flag
Ben's: mapB's Freeview map terrainB's terrain plot wavesB's frequency data B's Freeview Detailed Coverage
N
Nick
sentiment_satisfiedGold

8:24 PM

Please would someone say which channels Sudbury is using? The info at the top of the page is useless.

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Nick's 425 posts GB flag
J
jb38
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

8:50 PM

Nick: Ch's: 44 - 41 - 47 - 58 - 60 - 56

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jb38's 7,179 posts GB flag
Dave Lindsay
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

8:53 PM

Andy: See postings by Nick immediately above yours. He is a stone's throw from you off Woodbridge Walk and says that in his area only Public Service channels can be received.

See the terrain plot from the Sudbury transmitter to your approximate location:


Terrain between ( m a.g.l.) and (antenna m a.g.l.) - Optimising UK DTT Freeview and Radio aerial location


As you can see, the path of the signal runs close to the ground for quite a few miles. Obviously there are objects on the ground, so it is not surprising that reception isn't good.

Imagine if the transmitter was sending out a beam of light, then consider trees and buildings that are likely to be in the way.

See here for the full list of Freeview services:

DMOL Post-DSO Multiplex Channel Allocations

The PSB multiplexes are the Public Service Broadcaster ones. The COMs are the Commercial ones which have limited coverage with respect to the PSBs. Nick has been unable to receive the COMs from Sudbury.

Based his comments, I get the feeling that you may well be limited to Public Service channels. Or the COMs may be intermittent. Which channels are causing problems (PSBs, COMs or both)? Does each caravan have its own aerial?

Digital UK predictor considers Sudbury to be "marginal" at your location, and likewise Aldeburgh. The latter is PSB-only.

The predictor should be regarded as a guide. Local obstructions such as trees and buildings aren't taken into account. It may be a clue as to likelihood of success of reception.

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Dave Lindsay's 5,724 posts GB flag
Tuesday, 3 July 2012
D
Dee
9:03 AM
Colchester

For years I had no issue or problem watching ANY Freeview channel from my location in Marks Tey, Essex .

Around three or four months ago overnight I lost a swathe of channels, leaving me with just 32 channels (19 tv,11 radio,2 text).

This was I discovered from these very pages, the next part of the Sudbury transmitter ongoing works, which would lead eventually to all the channels being restored on the 27th June......

June 27th arrived and hey presto...all channels restored to their former glory,although, on some of the channels the reception was initially iffy and a little pixellated, this gradually was ironed out during the day.

All was good until the middle of the following day when for no reason all the newly stored channels disappeared and once again I am left with just the same 32 channels I had prior to the 27th.

I have a wideband Arial and am asking anyone here with some knowledge as to why this is possibly happening.

If the arial is no good then why was it good enough for a day and a half following the power increase?

I have trawled the net looking for answers and it seems I am not alone in this despite Sudbury reporting no issues with their output.

Thanks in anticipation.

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Dee's 2 posts GB flag
Dee's: ...
N
Nick
sentiment_satisfiedGold

10:07 AM

Many thanks JB
Please note, all who are trying to help with my problems, I am talking about two separate locations, one five miles north of Orford, one five miles south. The southern one is better, but still poor, apart from stuff put out on ch 41 and 44. Until 27 June, all was fine at both, except for Challenge, Pick, Yesterday, but even they came through, at both, sometimes, since then, it has all gone to pot.

link to this comment
Nick's 425 posts GB flag
N
Nick
sentiment_satisfiedGold

10:12 AM

Please can someone help with this one?
At a location with the aerial on Sudbury but strong signal also from Aldeburgh, my box tunes itself to stations from ch23, Aldeburgh, and then the same channels from Sudbury on ch41.
When I view, which one of these transmitters am I watching? It would not matter except that I would imagine Aldeburgh would be more prone to pixellating, as when we had analogue, the Aldeburgh picture used to break up and be very ghosty as that is not where the aerial is pointed or polarised for.

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Nick's 425 posts GB flag
D
david C
10:38 AM
Ipswich

Dee , I live just outside Ipswich , and did exactly the same as you .Re tuned on the 27th Jnue and had all the channels , these have now disappeared. The power has been taken down on the channels and there is now a message at the top of this page to say there is work being done on the transmitter . lets hope by next week they have it all sorted

link to this comment
david C's 2 posts GB flag
david's: mapD's Freeview map terrainD's terrain plot wavesD's frequency data D's Freeview Detailed Coverage
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