Full Freeview on the Sudbury (Suffolk, England) transmitter
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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 22/04/2024 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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Thursday, 5 July 2012
N
Nick8:46 AM
Aldeburgh
Thanks Mark.
Les, I am afraid I still do not follow your reasoning about the sea. I have a shed at the bottom of my garden where I play about with tellies. I cannot get my local transmitter, Sudbury, as there is a tree in the neighbour's garden.
I can, however, get Dover as it comes from a different direction with no tree in the way. There is, however, a wall of sea, probably 50 miles thick due to the curvature of the earth between here and Dover 66 miles away.
What is the difference between that tree and the wall of water?
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Nick's: mapN's Freeview map terrainN's terrain plot wavesN's frequency data N's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Nick: I used Megalithia to plot the terrain between you and Dover:
Terrain between ( m a.g.l.) and (antenna m a.g.l.) - Optimising UK DTT Freeview and Radio aerial location
The curvature of the Earth would appear to be exagerated which is what I've experienced with Megalithia before over such long distances. What I did then was click the link below the plot to view the map between the two points.
I then found the co-ordinates for the point on the Kent coast where the signal path line intersects; this is at Birchington.
A plot from Dover to this point shows that there is clear line of sight:
Terrain between ( m a.g.l.) and (antenna m a.g.l.) - Optimising UK DTT Freeview and Radio aerial location
Unless there is any obstruction between your house and the coast, then this would appear to suggest that you do have line of sight to the top of the Dover mast.
The curvature of the Earth is said to be 8 inches per mile. This works out as 13.4 metres over the 66 miles.
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Nick10:08 AM
Aldeburgh
Dave, you are a mine of information.
But why is it when I look out of my window over the sea, I can only see ships, say, 10 miles out at most before the sky meets the sea? Are you saying that if my upstairs window was only 13 metres higher I could technically see Dover?
What effect do you think a sudden sea mist has? Is it like the tree in the neighbour's garden?
When Dover was analogue the picture could go from strong to almost imperceptible in minutes.
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Nick's: mapN's Freeview map terrainN's terrain plot wavesN's frequency data N's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Nick: The horizon is where the ground or sea "meets" the sky. There can be things on the horizon which are effectively "protruding" from the horizon.
Imagine if, after having gone over the horizon, the ship were to sprout a tall mast and fly a flag on it. The height of the flag may be visible over the horizon, even though the ship itself is not visible owing to the curvature of the earth.
The same appears to be true of the top of the Dover mast. Whilst it may not be possible to see it due the air not being clear, there is no land (hill) or other object inbetween it and you when on the top of your house.
It could be that the Kent coastline, and even the high ground on which the transmitter sits, is over the horizon (from your vantage point), but the top of the mast is not.
Visible light is also carried as electromagnetic waves. If you're driving your car at night you have the headlights on and they shine into the distance and on to objects which reflects the light back to you.
The more the mist and fog set in, the more difficult it is to see the objects. Headlights in dense fog result in illuminating the water droplets. The light becomes much more of a "ball" in front of you than a beam shining afar.
Conversely, other drivers see nothing of the radiated light until they are close. This is because the light is no longer travelling as far as it does when visibility is clear.
And so, I imagine that TV reception is much the same. The almost sudden loss of signal is probably down to a sudden mist moving in. The signal is travelling over the sea for over 40 miles.
Imagine what it would be like to look out from the top of the transmitter and see the signal being radiated. On a clear day, the signal will travel and objects a long way away will be visible in the "light" of the signal. When the mist comes in, the electromatnetic energy will end up getting "caught" in the droplets. What will be seen is the "light" reflecting back from the droplets. Those who can normally receive the signal will find that they get nothing or much less "light" than they normally do.
This suggests that you may not have stable reception of the COMs from Dover after all. You may have to listen to the Shipping Forecast to find out whether your viewing may be affected.
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Nick2:12 PM
Aldeburgh
You are a treasure, Dave.
I wonder why you differentiate the coms, though.
I suppose the fact that the atmosphere in winter is just plain damp also reduces the signal.
I had thought that my current good reception was similar to the fact that those blessed Dutchmen mess us about in summer, ie atmospherics, but presumably not so. I just get a good signal in its own right, with it reduced due to moisture.
I suppose if I play about trying to get an inland xmitter such as Tacolneston I will be less affected by mist etc. To think, you have given me all this time when all these problems might be caused by men playing with the Sudbury xmitter, who knows if they are or if they have finished.
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Nick's: mapN's Freeview map terrainN's terrain plot wavesN's frequency data N's Freeview Detailed Coverage
R
Robert B3:58 PM
When I checked my signal strength for Sudbury this morning channels: 56, 58 and 60 all come through as 92%. Hope it helps Nick.
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J
John Stone4:51 PM
Hockley
Hi, have been waiting a long time for the power to go up on the 3 commercial mux's from Sudbury, when finally they did last Wednesday the signals were lower than I expected. UHF channel's 56 and 58 were only 30% signal strength but 100% quality and channel 60 was only 10% signal strength and 10% quality (no picture).When I checked yesterday all 3 were up to 55% signal strength and 100% quality. Was there a delay in turning the wick up. The other mux's I'm receiving from Rouncfall at 100%.
John.
Hockley, SS5 4JN
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John's: mapJ's Freeview map terrainJ's terrain plot wavesJ's frequency data J's Freeview Detailed Coverage
M
Mark Fletcher5:04 PM
Halifax
John Stone.Hockley,SS5 4JN.Are you still using a group B (yellow tipped) diplexed aerial for the COM multiplexes from Sudbury itself.That could be the answer to your predicament as such.If it is you will have to either change the group B aerial for a group C/D green tipped aerial,or group E brown tipped semi-wideband aerial for the diplexed part of your horizontally polarised aerial aimed at Sudbury for the SDN,ArqA and ArqB commercial multiplexes.
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Mark's: mapM's Freeview map terrainM's terrain plot wavesM's frequency data M's Freeview Detailed Coverage
N
Nick5:34 PM
Aldeburgh
Thanks Robert, but where are you, roughly, as that makes all the difference to reception?
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Nick's: mapN's Freeview map terrainN's terrain plot wavesN's frequency data N's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Friday, 6 July 2012
R
Robert B3:59 PM
Nick I'm at Kesgrave, Nr Ipswich. So receiving good quality signal as predicted from Sudbury. I hope you get get something worth watching soon.
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