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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
Sunday, 14 August 2011
G
Gary Dadds
10:21 AM

Thank you for the replys

I tried a manual scan on channel 47 and received no results. As a check I did a manual scan on Ch44 and got 31 hits. I get 91 programs altogether with an auto scan, my tv finds 104 although it doesn't have an HD tuner so obviously doesn't list the HD channels.

I also tried a manual scan on Ch21 to see if I could pick anything up off the back of the aerial but with no results.

I must admit that I do have suspicions about the Freeview HD box. I think I need to either find someone local who is recieving HD and try my box there or take it to my parents who are getting HD off of Sandy.

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Gary Dadds's 4 posts GB flag
J
jb38
sentiment_satisfiedBronze

10:45 AM

Gary Dadds: Yes I think it best for you to try it as you have suggested at your parents house, and in that case its Mux Ch21 that will apply for Sandy's HD service.

I tried, but failed, to get more detailed technical spec info on your box, as I have to admit that I also was a bit suspicious of your box being the problem based on what you had originally said, albeit it is advertised as having an HD tuner.

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jb38's 22 posts GB flag
E
Elliot (hockley)
3:29 PM
Southend-on-sea

thank you for your help looking at the aerials near my house most of them are pointing towards crystal palace accept for my neighbour who had a new one fitted and its pointing towards blue bell hill from what i can gather looking at the coordinates, would it be better to alter the position of my bigger 91 element aerial towards one of the London transmitters and put my newer 41 element in the position of sudbury?

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Elliot (hockley)'s 6 posts GB flag
Elliot's: mapE's Freeview map terrainE's terrain plot wavesE's frequency data E's Freeview Detailed Coverage
J
jb38
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

5:21 PM

Elliot (hockley): Well with regards to what you suggest, I really do think that before altering anything you should try and investigate exactly what your neighbours are receiving channel wise, and at what level of reliability, as just because they pointing at Crystal Palace it doesn't by any means mean that they are having good reception, as reception from Crystal Palace on DUK's trade predictor shows a mixture of variable and poor right into 2013. Bluebell Hill by the way showing far worse, with more "poor" reception, or none at all, being indicated right into 2013.

That said though, in situations such as yours even moving a few yards or so to the left or right can make big differences in reception, this likewise applying to aerial heights, as in many circumstances an aerial at gutter level can sometimes out perform an aerial perched on top of a pole mounted on a chimney, and so it shouldn't always be assumed that highest is best, a mistake made by many! but it does require time consuming experimentation to find the best spot.

Another point is, that even although you are about 30 miles or so from Sudbury I feel your reception problems might be caused more by signal obstructions rather than sheer distance, and large multi-element aerials with their "sharp pick up pattern" does not help in this type of situation, and indeed can actually make the situation worse in certain respects, so if its easy to arrange you "might" benefit slightly by using your newer aerial for Sudbury.

It could well be that where you are located pockets of good reception exist for "some" Mux's, so I wouldn't be surprised if some of your neighbours can receive what you cannot, but that's just the nature of RF signals insomuch that nothing can really be guaranteed in these type of areas.

Anyway, I would be interested in knowing the outcome of any investigations carried out on what exactly your neighbours are receiving, especially on the channels you have problems with.



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jb38's 7,179 posts GB flag
J
jb38
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

5:38 PM

Elliot (hockley): Meant to include, if you are experimenting these are the bearings from you for the transmitters mentioned.

Crystal Palace - 253 degrees
Sudbury - 2 degrees
Bluebell Hill - 206 degrees



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jb38's 7,179 posts GB flag
E
Elliot (hockley)
10:00 PM
Southend-on-sea

jb38 thank you once again for your help its interesting because i thought sudburry was 7 degrees not 2 that maybe why im having a few problems i will readjust as my current 91 element is pointing 7 degrees i will let you know what I find out, tomorrow i will put the new 41 element aerial up onto my mast and see what happens see what i can find on other transmitters

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Elliot (hockley)'s 6 posts GB flag
Elliot's: mapE's Freeview map terrainE's terrain plot wavesE's frequency data E's Freeview Detailed Coverage
K
KMJ,Derby
sentiment_satisfiedGold

10:31 PM

Elliot (hockley): Sudbury is 7 degrees if you are in Hockley, but 2 degrees for Southend-on-Sea, as per your second postcode.

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KMJ,Derby's 1,811 posts GB flag
Monday, 15 August 2011
J
jb38
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

8:11 AM

KMJ,Derby: Yes, quite correct KMJ, although in the practical sense the relatively close Rouncefall transmitter being on the same frequency as Sudbury would most probably upset any accuracy involving the exact direction angle for Sudbury anyway.

Elliot (hockley): Based on KMJ jogging my mind on the Hockley location, I carried out a new assessment of reception using a SS5 post code (Hockley Post office, Spa Road) and although it lifts Sudbury's MuxC/ArqA out of its variable classification on June 12th next year, unfortunately on the downside Bluebell Hill to all intents and purposes is virtually wiped out as a possible for reception, indications being far worse than at present.

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jb38's 7,179 posts GB flag
J
John Stone
1:58 PM
Hockley

John Stone, Hawkwell, Hockley, SS5 4JN. Hi, a couple of things; Rouncefall is very strong around this area and me and a lot of other people are having problems with too much signal. We have been used to having to struggle with weak signals from Sudbury, Dover, Bluebell Hill and/or Crystal Palace. We have erected large aerial which we now don't need. My Father inlaw lives in Rochford SS4 , about 2 miles away and has always received signals from Bluebell Hill, he can now receive Rouncefall on the back of his aerial, full strength! I think I will try and swing my aerial round to Bluebell Hill and see what happens. The other thing that someone may be able to answer is why is ITV 1 + 1 and ITV 1 HD from Sudbury/Rouncefall transmitting Meridian TV?
Thanks.
John.

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John Stone's 10 posts GB flag
John's: mapJ's Freeview map terrainJ's terrain plot wavesJ's frequency data J's Freeview Detailed Coverage
J
jb38
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

10:04 PM

John Stone: As far as your query on ITV1+1 & ITV1HD is concerned, unfortunately I cannot answer that as its really more in Briantists domain as far as an explanation is concerned, although I do see what you have mentioned listed in the PSB2 & PSB3 Mux charts.

However on the technical side, I found your reception report interesting as its gives a further insight as to the variable reception that exists in your area, with the post code indicating as you being only 1 mile away from the Rouncefall transmitter, so you must indeed get blasted with the signal.

I would appreciate though if you could give a further report on what you find when you try your aerial facing Bluebell Hill, as the Digital UK's trade view shows the four Mux's as being variable.

You will most likely have to carry out a manual tune on your set to receive Bluebell Hill, as Rouncefall etc would take up the low EPG positions on an auto-tune pushing Bluebell into the 800 ranges, that is if you can pick it up at all, as the powerful signal from Rouncefall might somewhat desensitize your tuner for other lesser powered channels.

The four Bluebell Hills Mux channels being 59 - 24 - 27 - 39

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