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 11/11/2024 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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Saturday, 30 June 2012
M
Mrs Gurney8:55 PM
Braintree
Have lost so many programmes, in desperation went out and purchased new aerial, still no improvement only getting a total of 19 channels
Aerial on roof .
Please can you advise, it has cost me nearly £90 for aerial and no improvement
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Mrs's: mapM's Freeview map terrainM's terrain plot wavesM's frequency data M's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Sunday, 1 July 2012
B
Ben3:58 AM
Clacton-on-sea
There are "No current reported problems" with the Sudbury transmitter. Oh yes there are.
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Ben's: mapB's Freeview map terrainB's terrain plot wavesB's frequency data B's Freeview Detailed Coverage
D
Dave C7:43 AM
Hi there , I retuned on the 27th June and got all 122 channels . Switched on 30th June and now cant get Arq A , Arq B and group A .
Just like before the switchover .
I have a brand new aerial and wiring and as it all worked on the 27th It must be a problem at Sudbury I presume
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J
Jack3:31 PM
Peacehaven
Hi, I curruntly have sky+ in my house but are looking to change to freeview as it doesnt cost (apart from one off payment) I am going to get a HD ready TV with freeview already installed, my post code it BN10 8AB when i go to the freeviw coverage website it says i only recieve some channels, if a get a new areal that is wideband will i recieve all the freeview channels?
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Jack's: mapJ's Freeview map terrainJ's terrain plot wavesJ's frequency data J's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Jack: A television which is described as HD Ready can display HD pictures, but does not have the means to receive the HD signals over the air. That means that it will require a separate HD receiver, whether this be a terrestrial one (Freeview) or a satellite one (e.g. Sky HD or Freesat HD). Click the words "HD Ready" for an explanation.
Only sets labelled as Freeview HD and/or with DVB-T2 in their specifications will receive HD as that is the standard that is used for it in this country. DVB-T is the standard used for standard definition terrestrial broadcasts, so a set capable of receiving standard and high definitions will have a DVB-T and DVB-T2 tuner in.
As for the question of getting all the Freeview channels, the UK has a two-tier terrestrial transmitter network. The biggest 81 transmitters carry the full service (they are the biggest by viewer population). There are over 1,000 small "filler-in" relays, including Newhaven, that carry only Public Service Broadcaster channels (PSBs).
The 81 full service ones carry both the PSBs and the Commercial multiplexes (COMs). This provides the COMs with coverage of 90% of the population. The cost to the Commercial broadcasters of transmitting from the 1,000 or so sites would roughly double their cost of transmission whilst only adding about 8.5% of the population to their potential viewer-bases. Because they operate on a profit making basis, by selling advertising which they show to as many viewers as possible which aquire at least possible cost, they aren't interested in transmitting from the small sites. The Commercial broadcasters have no "Public Service" obligation.
All transmitters broadcast the four HD services of BBC One HD, BBC HD, ITV1 HD and Channel 4 HD, as these are on a PSB multiplex.
For a list of services by multiplex, see here:
DMOL Post-DSO Multiplex Channel Allocations
That page shows the six multiplexes (each is a separate signal). All six are available from the 81 full service transmitters with the remaining being PSB-only.
Wideband aerials are needed in some cases because frequencies used by particular transmitters are spread out across the band and aren't all within the same portion used for the former analogue services.
Thus, in order to get the COMs, you will need to receive them from Heathfield or possibly Whitehawk Hill (adjacent to Brighton Racecourse) or Rowridge (on the Isle of Wight and is the main transmitter serving a portion of the south coast).
The predictor does not say what you "will" receive; it should be used merely as a guide. What you can receive depends on many factors and an on-site assessment can only really decide either way. Local obstructions such as buildings and trees can be an issue.
Whilst you don't have line of sight to Heathfield, owing to Beddingham Hill, it doesn't look to be too much of an issue.
I had a look on Streetview to see if there were any clues. I couldn't spot any aerials except for one on Glynn Road which is visible from your cul-de-sac. This one is pointing at Heathfield, so may give rise to the hope that you can receive from it.
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J
jb384:29 PM
Jack: On checking your reception possibilities you are quite correct insomuch that as far as "reliable" reception is concerned it will only be possible from the Newhaven PSB transmitter which offers a limited number of channels
However as you presently have a Sky+ set up I would not hesitate in recommending that you go along the Freesat line, as if you purchase a Freesat HD twin tuner recording device (PVR) that would take full advantage of the twin inputs you have from the dish.
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J
jb384:33 PM
Jack: This is a link for the type of device referred to, other cheaper types are available but up to a point you get what you pay for, and the device in the link is one of quality.
Humax FOXSATHDR500 Twin tuner Freesat 500GB PVR - HUMAX UK Direct Sales Website
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Jack: I take back what I said about the aerial I saw being on Heathfield. It is in fact on Rowridge, as is another on Glynn Road.
If you decide to try and receive from Rowridge, then I suggest that you use a Group A aerial and not a wideband yagi as their gain is lower on Group A channels, which is what Rowridge uses.
See here:
Rowridge Transmitter
Also, for best reception from Rowridge, have the aerial vertical rather than horizontal.
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R
Russell Battle5:19 PM
Thanks Dale
Yes we are now getting ArqB fine. So looks like new aerial is on the cards.
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N
Nick5:58 PM
Help please.
Here at Aldeburgh, where we used to occasionally get Challenge, Pick and Yesterday on their very low power, and ITV 3 on 14 kw, now, since 24 June, we have lost numerous channels. No change of high gain aerial, but now only 21 tv channels. I find channels on the mux on ch 41, and 44, but nothing else, although it hovers on 56 but finds nothing. As regards channels on the box itself, we skip from 9 to 13, 14, then to 28, then 33, then blank to 70. I cannot understand how a change to better channels for various muxes, and high power, has resulted in this terrible outcome.
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