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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 11/11/2024 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), 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
Tuesday, 3 October 2023
S
Steve Donaldson
sentiment_satisfiedSilver

12:39 AM

nick : Aldeburgh is currently broadcasting 3 multiplexes at 10kW each. The former analogue consisted of four 10kW channels. Assuming the antenna hasn't been changed (the mb21 Transmitter Gallery doesn't say it has) then perhaps it may need changing in order to take the COM multiplexes, even if they were to operate at half the PSB power.

There is no need to worry that the Aldeburgh transmitter may buck the trend by changing from Group A to Group B in order to become SFN with Sudbury. "If" it were to broadcast the COMs they will be on channels 26, 30 and 32, as these are the channels that have been co-ordinated by international neighbours for that station.

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Steve Donaldson's 254 posts GB flag
C
Chris.SE
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

1:51 AM

nick :

If you wanted to go SFN, the antenna and transmitters would have to be changed (it probably can't with Sudbury as I think it might be too far away. Also it's a relay of Tacolneston which is closer). That's not a cost the commercial operators were/are prepared to pay for the small number of households it would cover (if they were prepared it would have happened). If the option Steve suggested was chosen, it's obviously a cost they still weren't prepared to pay for the small number of households!

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Chris.SE's 4,358 posts GB flag
Wednesday, 11 October 2023
N
nick
sentiment_satisfiedGold

12:09 AM

Chris and Steve.
Many thanks, a further incentive to go to freesat. However, I think this is yet another example of an uncaring government which does nothing to protect consumers in so many areas. Freeview light customers are being discriminated against.

I have done further tinkering with aerials. Channel 37 remains the hardest to receive during these tropo conditions, due to appalling signal quality as opposed to strength. but when those conditions go, it almost delivers the strength and quality of the rest. I have made a very high gain aerial, [very long] which works better than other high gain aerials simply because it is more directional and is better at rejecting whatever is affecting 37.

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nick's 431 posts GB flag
S
Steve Donaldson
sentiment_satisfiedSilver

12:22 AM

nick : This page on A.T.V. is on combating co-channel interference. A high gain antenna and attenuator is one approach, where the objective is to increase the ratio of the wanted signal to the unwanted one:

How to combat co-channel interference A.T.V. Poles, Brackets, Clamps & Aerials

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Steve Donaldson's 254 posts GB flag
Sunday, 15 October 2023
N
nick
sentiment_satisfiedGold

10:54 PM

Steve,
thanks, fascinating, and I see the French have some powerful xmitters
I would still think the interference if that is what it is is more likely to come from Holland, but if there is no xmitter on 37, it can't be. On analogue we often had interference from there. With digital we just get 'no signal' so have no idea of the culprit.
How about Belgium?
I really do not want to attenuate a signal. I need the benefits of a high gain aerial.
Now that the tropo has finished, 37 has settled down.

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nick's 431 posts GB flag
Friday, 27 October 2023
N
nick
sentiment_satisfiedGold

2:07 PM

can anyone tell me what a plus channel is? Felixtowe uses one.

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nick's 431 posts GB flag
S
StevensOnln1
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

3:14 PM

nick : If you're referring to UHF channels, it means that the multiplex is slightly offset from the centre of the channel. Most TVs and boxes should still tune it without any problems either via automatic or manual tuning.

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StevensOnln1's 3,670 posts GB flag
S
Steve Donaldson
sentiment_satisfiedSilver

5:08 PM

nick : As per my comment on the Felixstowe page, I believe the positive offset on C33 (PSB1) is a mistake. The Freeview Detailed Coverage Checker does not show any offset on any of the three channels of Felixstowe.

Additionally, the 700MHz Clearance spreadsheet from Ofcom and the 700MHz Clearance Events sheet for the Anglia region published by Digital UK does not show offset.

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Steve Donaldson's 254 posts GB flag
N
nick
sentiment_satisfiedGold

7:03 PM

to the two Steves,
Thanks.
Whether Felixtowe uses one or not, I am interested to know what it means. Can they have some stations using 33 and some using 33+? If not, what is the point of it?

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nick's 431 posts GB flag
S
Steve Donaldson
sentiment_satisfiedSilver

8:54 PM

nick : No. A multiplex is either minus offset, centre-channel or plus offset. Most transmitters are centre-channel, meaning no offset.

See the entry "Offset" under Glossary here:

Digital television transmitter details - Ofcom

This is what it says (I have added the double quotes because I think it makes it clearer):

---
Offset: A "+" or "-" indicates that the frequency is offset by +0.167MHz or -0.167MHz with respect to the channel centre.
---

Take C33 as an example. The centre of the channel is 570.000MHz. The bandwidth of a DVB broadcast is 8MHz. Therefore:

- a signal which is centre channel (has no offset) spans from 566.000MHz to 574.000MHz;
- a signal which is negative offset spans from 565.833MHz to 573.833MHz, and;
- a signal which is positive offset spans from 566.167MHz to 574.167MHz.

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Steve Donaldson's 254 posts GB flag
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