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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 25/03/2024 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
_______

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),

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 Drama, 21 5USA, 29 ITV2 +1, 32 5STAR, 33 5Action, 38 Channel 5 +1, 41 Legend, 42 GREAT! action, 57 Dave ja vu, 58 ITVBe +1, 59 ITV3 +1, 64 Blaze, 67 TRUE CRIME, 68 TRUE CRIME XTRA, 78 TCC, 81 Blaze +1, 83 Together TV, 89 ITV4 +1, 91 WildEarth, 209 Ketchup TV, 210 Ketchup Too, 211 YAAAS!, 267 Al Jazeera English, plus 30 others

COM5
ArqA
 H max
C31- (553.8MHz)228mDTG-8100,000W
Channel icons
11 Sky Mix, 17 Really, 19 Dave, 31 E4 Extra, 36 Sky Arts, 40 Quest Red, 43 Food Network, 47 Film4 +1, 48 Challenge, 49 4seven, 60 Drama +1, 65 That's TV 2, 70 Quest +1, 74 Yesterday +1, 75 That's 90s, 233 Sky News, plus 11 others

COM6
ArqB
 H max
C37 (602.0MHz)228mDTG-8100,000W
Channel icons
12 Quest, 25 W, 27 Yesterday, 34 GREAT! movies, 39 DMAX, 44 HGTV, 52 GREAT! romance, 56 That's TV (UK), 61 GREAT! movies extra, 63 GREAT! romance mix, 71 That’s 60s, 73 HobbyMaker, 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, 13 August 2017
N
nicholas
sentiment_satisfiedSilver

8:52 PM

Hi,there is another way to improve reception but it is only open to those who can use a soldering iron and are capable of doing work on aerials.n............

link to this comment
nicholas's 120 posts GB flag
M
MikeB
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

9:06 PM
Peterborough

Drek Springall: Check the DigitalUK and terrain links - Crystal Palace and Sandy Heath are almost on the same bearing as your original transmitter, but would come up first in any scan - so its likely thats what the tuner has found first. Check, and if thats the case, manually retune.

link to this comment
MikeB's 2,579 posts GB flag
MikeB's: mapM's Freeview map terrainM's terrain plot wavesM's frequency data M's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Monday, 14 August 2017
N
nicholas
sentiment_satisfiedSilver

9:08 PM

Hi,one way of improving yr reception is to remove the aluminum dipole which has the coax cable attached to
it and replace it with an insulated thick copper wire,bent to the shape of the dipole,yr aerial should pick better,copper is very good for aerials,as a instance,north of oxford,on a set top aerial, i can get a locked
picture from hannington,abt 40 miles south,before it was 5percent on the signal strength.This is done at yr
risk,NO legal responseibilty of any kind accepted.You might find the signals too strong,worth a try if you're up to it,don't do anything you can't cope with.

link to this comment
nicholas's 120 posts GB flag
Tuesday, 15 August 2017
MikeP
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

10:58 AM

nicholas:

This is not generally a good idea. The replacement dipole element needs to be exactly the same domensions and shape as the removed aluminium one, mounted at exactly the same position as the old one and in the same orientation of course. Further, copper develops green verdigree on exposure to the atmosphere and that is a very poor conductor. Plus there could well be electrolytic reactions between the copper and the terminals unless they are all plated to prevent both corrosion and electrolysis.

The best way of improving reception is to use the correct aerial, mounted correctly outdoors, aimed accurately at the transmitter and properly connected using good quality cables.



link to this comment
MikeP's 3,056 posts GB flag
N
nicholas
sentiment_satisfiedSilver

10:39 PM

MikeP: This is the basic construction,you would need to protect the the wire,etc,theres corrison between the copper coax and the connections,in all aerials after a while,i have had an aerial last over 8yrs,the wire needs to be the shape of the folded dipole but so long it looks like it,it works,sorry all aerial fittings are subject to corrsion but the advice is for people who can handle same but where theres a problem of marginal signal pick up its worth trying it,i have an set top here cause the field strength is high enough not to need an aerial.The information is for people who are able to do the work,n............

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nicholas's 120 posts GB flag
N
nicholas
sentiment_satisfiedSilver

10:43 PM

Sorry,as i said,if the pick up is still proving to be difficult,its a good solution,if preamps will be affected by the mobile phone system prove to be cointerproductive.If i can get a locked picture from Hannington at 40 or so miles on a indoor set top aerial then it works,all the others gave me 5percent on the box,n.............

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nicholas's 120 posts GB flag
Wednesday, 16 August 2017
H
Hardy
sentiment_satisfiedSilver

8:17 AM

Replacing the dipole is not a general solution . It just happened in your case that using an insulated dipole shifted the frequency response to improve the wanted channel. Sheer luck! Usually any modification of an aerial will not improve reception.

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Hardy's 137 posts GB flag
H
Hardy
sentiment_satisfiedSilver

8:48 AM

Colchester should see a strong signal from Sudbury with the correct aerial . AS Mike says because its easy for the tuner to pick up the wrong transmitters on similar frequencies (in that area) my guess is that a manual tune is necessary . Use the listed UHF channel numbers listed on the Sudbury freeview page to do this. (note that the "channels" referred to in tuning are UHF channels not the freeview channels)
Some tvs will need the tuning first to be cleared by doing an auto tune with the aerial disconnected.
side note .. the ideal aerial is a type E . I wouldn't yet buy a new aerial because next year Sudbury will get best reception on a type K ! Though in a strong signal area like Colchester if you have a wideband aerial it should work now and next year too after the major frequency change.

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Hardy's 137 posts GB flag
MikeP
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

10:36 AM

Nicholas:

Having worked in the TV electronics and software industries in technical roles all my working life I am able to make most things in wood, metal, ceramics, etc. I have built many electronic devices over the years ranging from radios, TVs to transmitters and audio high fidelity amplifiers.

When designing an aerial dipole, the shape and dimensions are critical so it covers the frequencies wanted, any variation can give unexpectedly poor results. A piece or copper wire is not suitable for use other than for a very narrow range of frequencies and then only if it is accurately shaped.

Under the Electrical Interference legislation, aerial amplifiers shouyld be imune from such interferenec, but cheap ones are susceptible.

Your 'solution' is not suitable for general use but some may wish to experiment, as you did.




link to this comment
MikeP's 3,056 posts GB flag
N
nicholas
sentiment_satisfiedSilver

4:59 PM

MikeP: tHE wire dipole has a use in many radio/tv applications,as i have said,i have had a locked picture at ground level from hannington where other aerials failed,the shape isnt critical,as long it resembles the fold ed dipole,copper is very efficent in pickup,its worth a try.The signal indication on other aerials varied from 5 to 15,the copper provided a locked picture and sound.It provides a solution where a preamp could be overloaded.A aluminium dipole is just another piece of metal,just like the copper wire,the advantage it has a covering and careful insulation where the coax connects would give it a good lifetime,you are trying to do me down,i am on here to help provide solutions.

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nicholas's 120 posts GB flag
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