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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 18/11/2024 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
Friday, 29 September 2023
S
Steve Donaldson
sentiment_satisfiedSilver

7:07 PM

nick : Have you tried to receive the full complement of channels from Tacolneston?

Neither Tacolneston nor Sudbury are ideal, as there is much terrain in the signal path, including the Fresnel zone. Tacolneston is a bit closer too.

At DSO Tacolneston got a new, taller mast, and the transmission power was effectively doubled. All six multiplexes are at the same power (there are quite a few main transmitters whose COMs are at half power with respect to the PSBs).

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Steve Donaldson's 259 posts GB flag
N
nick
sentiment_satisfiedGold

11:37 PM

Chris and Steve.
Thanks for all this info. Please clarify, you believe Rouncefall now transmits all channels? I have not found that info. Is it not going to cause problems having two adjacent transmitters using the same frequencies?
To get that French transmitter my aerial would have to be about 70 degrees off how it is set on Sudbury and pointing to Dover, which transmitter recently appeared but only briefly.
Tac is no use, zero reception in my situation, but aerials on it nearby, and on houses at tops of hills.
Have none of those appliances, and my aerial is some distance from neighbours.
I do not really know when signal q is 30%. I only experiment during the day in my garage. Evenings I am inside watching tv, or trying to, but 37 is the first to go.

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nick's 431 posts GB flag
N
nick
sentiment_satisfiedGold

11:40 PM

what is the purpose of a transmitter at Rouncefall when the area is served by other transmitters?

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nick's 431 posts GB flag
Saturday, 30 September 2023
C
Chris.SE
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

6:57 PM

nick :

The area isn't "fully" served by other transmitters, there are a number of blackspots, hence the In-fill with Rouncefall, which also covers parts of the north Kent coast that are poorly served by other transmitters.
It was originally a "Light" transmitter. The COM muxes were added during the 700MHz Clearance programme. Note my comments about coverage maps Rouncefall (new) (Essex, England) Freeview Light transmitter | free and easy for 21 years
Rouncefall is fully SFN with Sudbury across all multiplexes.

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Chris.SE's 4,365 posts GB flag
C
Chris.SE
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

7:10 PM

nick :

Most aerials have "side-lobes". Although the "gain" is significantly lower than the main beam, 70degrees sounds about right for a typical side-lobe, so under strong tropo who knows what is possible, it's not uncommon!

Is the Quality on 37 always a good 70/80% in the evenings?

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Chris.SE's 4,365 posts GB flag
Sunday, 1 October 2023
N
nick
sentiment_satisfiedGold

12:32 AM

Chris SE.
what does sfn mean please?
So you are saying having two transmitters using the same channels and in nearby locations does not lead to reception problems?

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nick's 431 posts GB flag
C
Chris.SE
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

12:53 AM

nick :

SFN means Single Frequency Network. They are "linked/synchronised" so that they don't interfere with one another. It's never 100% perfect as in a very small number of locations the signals aren't in perfect sync so you can at worst get a "not spot". All National DAB station transmitters are SFNs as are some local ones where they have more than one transmitter.
Sudbury/Rouncefall aren't the only TV transmitters that are SFNs. There are some eg. around Birmingham - I'd have to look them up if you really wanted to know.
The now deceased COMs 7&8 were SFNs on C55 & C56.

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Chris.SE's 4,365 posts GB flag
N
nick
sentiment_satisfiedGold

11:54 PM

Chris SE
Thanks.
I don't think it says here that Rouncefall is now no longer light, but if they can upgrade there, why can they not upgrade Aldeburgh which has twice the power and serves a large area, thus removing our reception problems from Sudbury? Can Sudbury not have a second 'sfn?'

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nick's 431 posts GB flag
Monday, 2 October 2023
C
Chris.SE
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

7:55 AM

nick :

Only part of the Rouncefall page got updated as I mentioned in a second comment after coverage in the link I gave.
Theoretically the number in an SFN can be unlimited, however the "separation" between them is also a factor and is also related to the guard interval used in transmission but I don't know enough about the maths to comment on that in more detail. HOWEVER the other more major factor is the channels used and hence the capability of the transmit antenna as well as the receive aerials that people already have on their rooftops, never mind the cost of transmitters etc. Changes have to be paid for!
Aldeburgh is outside Sudbury's aerial group and is also a "Light" transmitter. One of the reasons for that is historical, they always been within Group A. Also the number of households in the coverage area is small that the commercial operators have not considered it cost effective to pay for all the antenna changes and the extra transmitters that would be need to provide the COM muxes.

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Chris.SE's 4,365 posts GB flag
Tuesday, 3 October 2023
N
nick
sentiment_satisfiedGold

12:05 AM

Chris SE.
Surely the channels used is a matter for the whole country, and just because Aldeburgh was historically A seems irrelevant. Sudbury has had several changes to its channels, and I for one have had to change aerials more than once as a result.
I suppose this is another plus for freesat. It provides the same variety of channels for all, rather than freeview which gets away with treating a large number of viewers as second class.

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nick's 431 posts GB flag
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