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Full Freeview on the Sudbury (Suffolk, England) transmitter

first published this on - UK Free TV
sa_streetviewGoogle Streetviewsa_gmapsGoogle mapsa_bingBing mapsa_gearthGoogle Earthsa_gps52.005,0.786 or 52°0'17"N 0°47'8"Esa_postcodeCO10 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 30/09/2024 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, 28 June 2011
G
Georgina
6:01 PM

I am in CO4 area and cannot get a digital signal at all this evening - is this due to the storm??
The signal is also very poor on all ITV channels I have retuned many times but am still unable to receive a clear picture - will this change on switchover?

link to this comment
Georgina's 1 post EU flag
T
Tosh
7:35 PM

When I use the freeview postcode check it tells me I can't get digital and won't be able to after the switchover. Your map also shows me in a blank spot (just in the north east of Maldon, Essex - on low land).
A few years ago I asked an earial engineer to install 'what he would choose for himself' and got a long pole with something like an XB16E and masthead amplifier (he left with an attenuator in case...). I get weak channel 4 so still record from analogue, but the rest are fine.

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Tosh's 1 post GB flag
J
jb38
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

9:48 PM

Tosh: Although not mentioned, but if you are located in a CM9 post code area then I think that the engineer you gave the choice to should have installed a dish rather than an aerial, as CM9 post codes are about the worst I have seen for a long time for showing an array on non-green (bad!) reception possibilities when viewed on the trade predictor.

The only glimmer of hope not being until June 2012, (Sudbury) even then its dependant on what the full post code might be as that was forecast on a 4LQ code.

Definitely a Freesat location!

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jb38's 7,179 posts GB flag
Wednesday, 29 June 2011
M
Mike Dimmick
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

5:52 PM
Maldon

Tosh: The predictor is based on 10 dBd of aerial gain (middling - XB16E has 11-15 dBd) and 3 dB of loss in cables (high - WF100 is rated at 15-18.3 dB per 100m, which if linear would take about a 15-20m run to drop 3 dB). It's also based on a maximum of 16 dB of rejection of signal from behind and to the side, an acceptance angle of about 40° (20° either side of the middle), and 16 dB of cross-polar rejection - rejection from the other polarization, so - if using Sudbury - rejecting vertically-polarized signals from the relays. Again, real aerials will beat this, though the exact amount depends on the frequency and angle. Larger aerials will generally reject more unwanted signal and have a narrower acceptance angle.

Therefore, the predictions can be quite conservative. Still, a prediction of 'poor' or 'nothing' is likely to indicate a problem.

Masthead amplification might be useful if the issue is simply that the signal will be too weak, but it's more likely that the problem will be co-channel interference.

The Rouncefall mast will use the same channels as Sudbury for the PSB services, timed so that for most people, the signals will arrive within the 'guard interval'. This idea - called a Single Frequency Network - reinforces the signals, but only if the timing is right. If it isn't, it stops the receiver decoding it completely. This may be why, for CM9 4TT, Digital UK predict poor reception for the PSBs but good or variable for the COMs. Again, it will depend on exactly how your aerial behaves - in this case it's the polar response of the aerial (angle to transmitters) that is important.

For that postcode, the trade predictor reckons Rouncefall should start out good but deteriorate next year, presumably as Tyne Tees switches over or possibly continental transmitters, while it's expected to get more reliable results from Dover!

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Mike Dimmick's 2,486 posts GB flag
Mike's: mapM's Freeview map terrainM's terrain plot wavesM's frequency data M's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Thursday, 30 June 2011
Dale
sentiment_satisfiedBronze

2:37 PM
Ipswich

Interesting that during the last week a black box has popped up onto BBC Freeview (during the tennis), telling me that Switchover will be occurring on the 14th and 28th September! Now I am on the Sudbury transmitter (unlike most parts of the country there really is no possibility of picking up stray digital signals from elsewhere here in Ipswich), and Sudbury dates are 6th and 20th July. The other East Anglia transmitters are Talconeston which switches in November and Sandy Heath which has already switched, so why am I getting this message?

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Dale's 78 posts GB flag
Dale's: mapD's Freeview map terrainD's terrain plot wavesD's frequency data D's Freeview Detailed Coverage
M
Mike Dimmick
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

7:42 PM

Dale: Someone's made a mistake in programming the system, probably, because those are the dates for Oxford and its relays.

I suppose it's possible that if there was a problem with the programme feed to Sudbury, that it might be taking a feed from Oxford, or at least the multiplexer that feeds Oxford. Is it happening on all channels or just the BBC?

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Mike Dimmick's 2,486 posts GB flag
Friday, 1 July 2011
Dale
sentiment_satisfiedBronze

9:53 AM
Ipswich

Mike : pretty sure I've only noticed it on BBC 'Red Button' while watching Wimbledon. Have not had any genuine messages about Sudbury switchover on any channel! (though, to be fair, I usually watch analogue to make the most of it before it goes!)

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Dale's 78 posts GB flag
Dale's: mapD's Freeview map terrainD's terrain plot wavesD's frequency data D's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Monday, 4 July 2011
R
RayG
sentiment_satisfiedBronze

10:02 AM
Manningtree

Dale
I too will shed a tear when analogue shuts down. It has been a robust and reliable platform for almost as long as I can remember. I will especially miss the dynamic range offered by Nicam stereo. I do think the MPEG/2 sounds leaves a lot to be desired.

Curiously, since it raised its ERP on selected MUXs at switchover,I now receive a good signal (weather dependent) from Sandy Heath here in Lawford CO11 as the TX there is in the same direction as Sudbury.



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RayG's 53 posts GB flag
RayG's: mapR's Freeview map terrainR's terrain plot wavesR's frequency data R's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Stuart O.
sentiment_satisfiedSilver

12:00 PM

According to the 'Full list of analogue transmitter shutdown dates': UK digital switchover dates | ukfree.tv - independent free digital TV advice -
The page still shows that some transmitters are still to be confirmed by Digital UK. In green text: 'On or before (projected date) Wednesday 20th July 2011'.
I know obviously I am not affected and that these dates are all confirmed.
Just wondering as to when the heading will change to black text and say: 'On Wednesday 20th July 2011'?

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Stuart O.'s 156 posts GB flag
Tim
sentiment_satisfiedBronze

2:45 PM

Hi Brian. I hope your recovery is going well. Just a quick question: I believe Sudbury will transmit in 8k mode after DSO (2k at the moment). I have a Goodmans GDB6 box, which I understand can only handle 2k mode. Would it then be obsolete after DSO? Or would a firmware update enable 8k reception?

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Tim's 34 posts GB flag
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