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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.

This transmitter has no current reported problems

The BBC and Digital UK report there are no faults or engineering work on the Sudbury (Suffolk, England) transmitter.

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), 71 That’s 60s,

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 U&Drama, 21 5USA, 29 ITV2 +1, 32 5STAR, 33 5Action, 38 Channel 5 +1, 41 Legend, 42 GREAT! action, 57 U&Dave ja vu, 58 ITV3 +1, 59 ITV4 +1, 64 Blaze, 67 TRUE CRIME, 68 TRUE CRIME XTRA, 81 Blaze +1, 83 Together TV, 91 WildEarth, 93 ITVBe +1, 209 Ketchup TV, 210 Ketchup Too, 211 YAAAS!, 251 Al Jazeera English, 255 FRANCE 24 (in English), 265 Rok Sky +1, plus 29 others

COM5
ArqA
 H max
C31- (553.8MHz)228mDTG-8100,000W
Channel icons
11 Sky Mix, 17 Really, 19 U&Dave, 31 E4 Extra, 36 Sky Arts, 40 Quest Red, 43 Food Network, 47 Film4 +1, 48 Challenge, 49 4seven, 60 U&Drama +1, 65 That's TV 2, 70 Quest +1, 74 &UYesterday +1, 76 That's TV 2 MCR, 233 Sky News, plus 13 others

COM6
ArqB
 H max
C37 (602.0MHz)228mDTG-8100,000W
Channel icons
12 Quest, 25 U&W, 27 U&Yesterday, 34 GREAT! movies, 39 DMAX, 44 HGTV, 52 GREAT! christmas, 56 That's TV (UK), 63 GREAT! romance mix, 73 HobbyMaker, 75 That's 90s, 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, 27 September 2023
N
nick
sentiment_satisfiedGold

12:00 AM

Chris SE.
It jumps up suddenly and back suddenly during the times it is only 30% and I get not signal, usually afternoons.
When it is working, I get 70-80%, a bit down, but not much, on the other channels.



I swung my super aerial round today, just six ft off the ground, and got the BBC mux from Dover.

link to this comment
nick's 433 posts GB flag
C
Chris.SE
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

3:58 AM

nick :

There has been a bit of "tropo" around again, so no real surprise about Dover.
I still think it's more likely the problem with 37 is more local to you.

link to this comment
Chris.SE's 4,393 posts GB flag
N
nick
sentiment_satisfiedGold

10:55 AM

Chris SE,
thanks, but I have no idea apart from the Dutch, what it can be.
It is undoubtedly this tropo you mention that is causing my problem on 37 don't you think?
Tropo or not I am still coming to the conclusion that the different multiplexes on their different channels and the same power are not all as good at reaching the other end!
Perhaps an example of this is Dover. I can get the BBC mux, but the ITV one not quite, because like my C37 from Sudbury, the 'quality' figure is shooting all over the place, and as for the other muxes from Dover, the is no sign of them.

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nick's 433 posts GB flag
Thursday, 28 September 2023
C
Chris.SE
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

1:17 AM

nick :

The thing to remember about tropo is the propagation is frequency dependant, it will depend on the precise conditions at the time as to which frequencies will be ducted, and how well, and of course from where/which direction.
Lower UHF frequencies do tend to propagate better in normal circumstances, but the differences tend to be quite small.
Whilst ducting can come and go quite quickly {or be sustained for longer periods} it won't exactly "switch".

If you are seeing a difference in Quality figures of 30% in the day and when it's working nearer 70/80% I'm of the opinion that this is much more likely to be local interference and you are getting 70/80% when the source is turned off.

Rotating your aerial will of course see a drop in strength as the direction of Sandy passes out of the beamwidth of the aerial, but you might be able to see a greater reduction in quality for a fairly steady signal if it's pointing more towards the source of interference, and that effect will be much greater, the closer you are to that source.

I'm afraid it's a bit of a tedious job trying to track interference like this.

What you really need is a man with a spectrum analyser, but that is likely to cost.

link to this comment
Chris.SE's 4,393 posts GB flag
S
Steve Donaldson
sentiment_satisfiedSilver

4:00 PM

Chris.SE, nick: There aren't any high-power transmitters in The Netherlands on C37. The most likely candidate as an interferer on C37 in the Aldeburgh area is the Boulogne Mont Lambert transmitter in France at 100 miles out. It is 7.9kW HP and there may be line-of-sight. No other channel of Mont Lambert is co-channel with any of Sudbury. Mont Lambert used C60 prior to 700MHz Clearance.

In the GE06 agreement post 700MHz Clearance, there is no requirement for restriction at Mont Lambert on C37; an omnidirectional radiation pattern is allowed, with an ERP maximum of 20kW. (I include reference to Rouncefall as it is SFN with Sudbury, and it is also now a full-service transmitter, and has been since B700 Clearance.) Sudbury must be -10dB between 145deg and 165deg. This is a notch to guard against interference to viewers of Mont Lambert. We don't know what the radiation pattern is in practice: it could "potentially" be more restrictive than this (i.e. the notch could be wider than 20deg or greater than 10dB down), but it cannot be less restrictive (it must be at least -10dB, for at least 20deg, from 145deg to 165deg).

This page shows radiation patterns for Mont Lambert's channels, dated October 2021:

TVNT.net - Le forum de la TNT 62 - Pas de Calais [Lille-Bouvigny, Boulogne] : Les metteurs TNT, leurs caractristiques et leurs zones de couverture

Aldeburgh is about north (0deg) out from the transmitter, so will be getting the full power of 7.9kW.

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Steve Donaldson's 261 posts GB flag
Friday, 29 September 2023
C
Chris.SE
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

12:02 AM

Steve Donaldson:

I did mention in a reply back in April, that whenever I read reports from people on the east coast doing DX reception, I'd never seen C37 mentioned. C39 was quite frequently mentioned.

link to this comment
Chris.SE's 4,393 posts GB flag
N
nick
sentiment_satisfiedGold

12:13 AM

Chris SE and Steve Donaldson.
Thanks. This is getting complicated. I am trying to find out on a map where this French transmitter is, but can scarcely believe believe just 8kw from France is going to reach here.

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nick's 433 posts GB flag
S
Steve Donaldson
sentiment_satisfiedSilver

12:20 AM

nick : The co-ordinates for the Mont Lambert transmitter are 5043'05.8"N 139'02.2"E. A direct link for Google Maps is: Google Maps

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Steve Donaldson's 261 posts GB flag
C
Chris.SE
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

1:33 AM

nick :

Under tropo conditions it is quite possible that it could reach you HOWEVER whilst you haven;t been totally clear about how often you are getting 30% Quality, you seem to suggest you usually get 70/80% during evenings. Now, AFAIK the French transmitter is on 24/7, the tropo has NOT been that regular or consistent that it would fit the pattern of events that you suggest.

I still think it's most likely that your problem with C37 is some quite local source of interference that you should be trying to search for.
Are you sure that there aren't any old devices in your household that have an analogue RF output - eg. an old Sky box, a Games console, a recorder of some sort {even VHS) and so on. Maybe one of your nearest neighbours has something?

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Chris.SE's 4,393 posts GB flag
S
Steve Donaldson
sentiment_satisfiedSilver

2:59 AM

nick : Mont Lambert broadcasts on channels 34, 23, 30, 26, 37 and 32. Of those, C23 may well be not receivable due to interference from Aldeburgh (if it had otherwise been receivable).

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Steve Donaldson's 261 posts GB flag
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