Full Freeview on the Sudbury (Suffolk, England) transmitter
 | Google Streetview |  | Google map |  | Bing map |  | Google Earth |  | 52.005,0.786 or 52°0'17"N 0°47'8"E |  | CO10 5NG |
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 29/04/2024 Pixelation or flickering on some or all channels 
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Digital television services are broadcast on a multiplexes (or Mux) where many stations occupy a single broadcast frequency, as shown below.
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 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.
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?
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
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 West | Transposer | 1000 homes +1000 or more homes due to expansion of affected area? | |
| Witham | Transposer | 14 km NE Chelmsford. | 118 homes |
How will the Sudbury (Suffolk, England) transmission frequencies change over time?
| 1984-97 | 1997-98 | 1998-2011 | 2011-13 | 1 Aug 2018 | |||||
| B E T | B E T | B E T | E T | K T | |||||
| C29 | SDN | ||||||||
| C31 | ArqA | ||||||||
| C35 | C5waves | C5waves | |||||||
| C37 | ArqB | ||||||||
| C41 | ITVwaves | ITVwaves | ITVwaves | D3+4 | D3+4 | ||||
| C44 | BBC2waves | BBC2waves | BBC2waves | BBCA | BBCA | ||||
| C47 | C4waves | C4waves | C4waves | BBCB | BBCB | ||||
| C51tv_off | BBC1waves | BBC1waves | BBC1waves | ||||||
| C56tv_off | ArqB | ||||||||
| C58tv_off | SDN | ||||||||
| 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
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Friday, 27 October 2023
N
nick 11:55 PM
thank you, Steve, but are you saying, for example, that you cannot use channel 33 for three times as many channels by plussing, minussing etc?
If this cannot be done, why are all transmitters not using centre channel?
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Saturday, 28 October 2023
C
Chris.SE1:26 AM
nick :
No you can't use the channel 3 times over. The + & - offsets are there to help reduce co-channel interference in cases where the possible propagation path is probable under more typical "lift" conditions when it's not been possible to allocate other UHF channels. With over 1100 transmitters in the UK (never mind considering interference from outside the UK) the frequency planners must have had one hell of a job even with "clever" software!
How exactly it works, neither of us are certain.
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Monday, 30 October 2023
Transmitter engineering
5:11 AM
5:11 AM
Sudbury transmitter - Sudbury transmitter: Possible effect on TV reception week commencing 30/10/2023 Pixelation or flickering on some or all channels [DUK]
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Transmitter engineering
5:11 AM
5:11 AM
Sudbury transmitter - Sudbury transmitter: Possible effect on TV reception week commencing 30/10/2023 Pixelation or flickering on some or all channels [DUK]
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Tuesday, 31 October 2023
Saturday, 4 November 2023
A
Andy1:21 PM
Hello.
There's no signal Cm96we. Internet, cable and arial all the same status. A week now
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C
Chris.SE3:40 PM
Andy:
You aren't in the best of locations for reception from Sudbury as there are some hills about 9km out on the line-of-sight.
You may have noticed in the post 2 before yours, that the transmitter is currently having Planned Engineering, and if they are needing to operate on the reserve antenna which will be lower down the mast, this will not help with reception in your location, and additionally there may be interruptions to transmission.
However, I would not have expected that you'd have no reception for a week. If at any point your set showed No Signal or had badly pixellated pictures, did you perchance Retune?
It is never recommended that if you were correctly tuned previously, that you try retuning when you have no signal or badly pixellated pictures. You cannot tune to a signal that is not there or can't be decoded. The usual outcome is that it will clear your correct tuning and then you have no reception when signals return.
Even if you didn't retune yourself, some sets will do automatic retunes when they have no signal, this is more trouble than it's worth. If so, go into settings and if you can find one to turn off this automatic tuning, turn it OFF. It's also possible that in certain weather conditions it may incorrectly tune to weaker signals from another transmitter which then disappear as the weather changes.
Taking all these possibilities into account go into settings and check you are correctly tuned to Sudbury's UHF channels for each of its multiplexes.
The 6 main multiplexes are on UHF channels C44, C41, C47, C29, C31, C37 that's in multiplex order -
PSBs1/BBCA, PSB2/D3&4, PSB3/BBCB HD, COM4/SDN, COM5/ArqA, COM6/ArqB
If you are missing any of those, it will usually be best to try a manual retune for each of the ones that are missing. If you are not tuned at all, then try an automatic retune.
IF you are tuned to any incorrect UHF channels then you'll need to clear the incorrect tuning first. Usually the best way is to unplug the aerial and carry out a full automatic retune and as no channels should be found the tuning should be cleared.
Do check obvious things such as your aerial looking intact and still pointing correctly (compass bearing 10 degrees - that's 10 degrees E of due North) with its rods (or squashed Xs) horizontal.
Check that your coax isn't flapping in the wind and check all accessible coax connections for any corrosion or water.
Post back with more detail if you need further help.
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Sunday, 5 November 2023
A
Andy8:27 AM
Chris.SE: Many thanks for this.
Yes I believe the sets have auto tuned at some point..
I have checked those UHF and so far all correct. Currently missing BBC from the list though on guide.
Wondering if I should now wait until works complete or any other re tune options ?
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C
Chris.SE9:27 AM
Andy:
If those UHF channels C44 & C47 are showing as tuned in the tuning section and the relevant BBC channels are showing in the EPG but you aren't seeing pictures or getting broken sound the you should not try retuning again, it will not achieve anything (after from maybe losing the tuning!
If either are missing then do a Manual retune (where you select the UHF channel to tune) just for the missing one(s) not an automatic one or full retune.
A lot of transmitters, especially main ones, seem to have had a lot of extended Planned Engineering this year. Arqiva never give detail of the work but we've discovered in some cases that it's to ensure that the structures and guy wires etc are sound and protected so that they continue to be safe and secure. Obviously working at height and close to the mast means it's necessary to reduce power or interrupt service etc. on occasion and with some of the abysmal weather we've had some works will over-run longer than was planned. No end date has been given (and usually isn't).
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Monday, 6 November 2023
Transmitter engineering
5:10 AM
5:10 AM
Sudbury transmitter - Sudbury transmitter: Possible effect on TV reception week commencing 06/11/2023 Pixelation or flickering on some or all channels [DUK]
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