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Aldeburgh (Suffolk, England) digital TV transmitter

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52.181,1.571 or 52°10'50"N 1°34'14"E

IP15 5PL

4G at 800MHz (at800) Freeview reception issues

When 800MHz 4G mobile broadband services start there will be 1 multiplex in the higher risk range (C21-23, C30, C59-60): C23: D3+4
See How do I know if the 4G broadband will overload my Freeview? and Full UK map of 4G issue areas for details.

Transmitter faults and engineering works

Want to better understand the current TV faults? See the all new UK Free TV page

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The symbol shows the location of the Aldeburgh transmitter. The Aldeburgh transmitter covers 9,500 homes.

Other maps:

Aldeburgh AM/FM

Tacolneston region

BBC East

Anglia (East micro region)

Radiation patterns

Radiation patterns withheld

Map key

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.

Aldeburgh transmitter Freeview broadcasts

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. The rating shown takes in account the output power level and the various Freeview transmission modes and do not indicate an ongoing fault.

Mux	Effective power level, aerial position	Rating	Mode	Watts
PSB1 BBCA	vertical	Maximum	64QAM 8K 2/3 24.1Mb/s DVB-T MPEG2	10,000
	1 BBC One East, 2 BBC Two England, 7 BBC Three, 9 BBC Four, 70 CBBC Channel, 71 CBeebies, 80 BBC News, 81 BBC Parliament, 301 301, plus 12 others • as a digital multiplex transmitted on frequency C28 (530.0MHz) from 87m datum.
PSB2 D3+4	vertical	Maximum	64QAM 8K 2/3 24.1Mb/s DVB-T MPEG2	10,000
	3 ITV (Anglia (East micro region)), 4 Channel 4 South ads, 5 Channel 5 Part Network ads, 6 ITV 2, 13 Channel 4+1 South ads, 14 More 4, 28 E4, 33 ITV +1 (Anglia east), • as a digital multiplex transmitted on frequency C23 (490.0MHz) from 87m datum.
PSB3 BBCB	vertical	Maximum	256QAM 32KE 2/3 40.2Mb/s DVB-T2 MPEG4	10,000
	101 BBC One HD (England no regional news), 102 BBC Two HD (England), 103 ITV HD (ITV Meridian Southampton), 104 Channel 4 HD South ads, plus 1 others 232 The Space, • as a digital multiplex transmitted on frequency C25 (506.0MHz) from 87m datum.

Looking for these 26 channels?

The Aldeburgh (Suffolk, England) mast is a public service broadcasting (PSB) transmitter, it does not provide these commercial (COM) channels: 4Music, 4seven, 5*, 5USA, Al Jazeera English, Challenge, Channel 5 +1, CITV, Community Channel, Dave, Dave ja vu, E4+1, Film 4, Food Network, ITV 2 +1, ITV 3, ITV 4, Movie Mix, PICK TV, Quest, Really, RT English , Sky News, The Zone, VIVA, Yesterday.

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.

Regional news from the Aldeburgh transmitter

BBC Look East (East) 0.8m homes 3.2%
from Norwich NR2 1BH, 53km north-northwest
to BBC East region - 27 masts.

ITV Anglia News 0.8m homes 3.2%
from NORWICH NR1 3JG, 53km north-northwest
to ITV Anglia (East) region - 26 masts.

How the transmission frequencies change over time

	years	1950s~85	1984-97	1997-98	1998-2011	2011-13	2013-18	2013-18
	aerial group	VHF	A K	A K	A K	A K	A K	A K
	C5	BBCtv
	C23		ITV	ITV	ITV	D3+4	D3+4	D3+4
	C25					BBCB	BBCB	BBCB
	C26		BBC2	BBC2	BBC2
	C28					BBCA	BBCA	BBCA
	C30		C4	C4	C4
600	C33		BBC1	BBC1	BBC1

orange background for multiplexes names more

green background for transmission frequencies

lilac background for power levels in watts

800MHz band: 4G mobile to start in 2013

700MHz band: possible 4G in 2019 more

600MHz band: new or moved digital TV services more

Notes: + and - denote 166kHz offset; aerial group are shown as A B C/D E K W
Italics for analogue, digital switchover was Wednesdays 9th November and 23rd November 2011.

Comparison of old analogue and current digital signal levels

Analogue 1-4, BBCA, D3+4, BBCB

10kW

History of Channel 3 in the Tacolneston transmitter area

• Breakfast ◊ Weekends ♦ Friday night and weekends † Weekdays only. Aldeburgh 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.

Your comments: most recent posts are at the bottom

First comments Earlier comments ◊

Your comments are always welcome. Please use the form below to add your thoughts or questions to this page. We will get back to you as soon as we can.

m smith
Saturday 7 April 2012 10:44AM

when will we recieve all the freeview channels from aldeburgh, as we are only recieving basiclly what we had before and considering the bbc channels are mainly the only channels we get which are a pay to view service which mean from aldeburgh it is not free to view. full freeview should be available to all. i hope sometime in the near future this will be the case as we all pay the same tv liscence.

4 posts

Dave Lindsay
Saturday 7 April 2012 3:07PM

m smith: There are two types of terrestrial broadcaster: Public Service Broadcaster and Commercial.

The channels that are not broadcast from Aldeburgh transmitter are the Commercial ones. The Public Service Broadcasters are BBC, ITV1, Channel 4 and Channel 5.

The Commercial broadcasters choose where to broadcast from. They broadcast from 80 of the largest transmitters (by population) and achieve a 90% coverage. In order for them to transmit from the 1000 or so small relay transmitters such as Aldeburgh would roughly double their cost of transmission whilst only adding 8.5% of the population to their potential viewer base. They were asked if they wished to increase their coverage and they declined.

That is capitalism for you; if it isn't likely to produce a return it won't get done. For a more in depth explanation, see www.ukfree.tv link icon

Will there ever be more services on the Freeview Light transmitters? | ukfree.tv - independent free digital TV advice

The law requires payment of the Licence Fee in order to watch television broadcasts. It does not guarantee reception of any television signals by any method. The Licence Fee goes to the BBC and as the BBC is a Public Service Broadcaster, it is available to you.

The only thing you can do is investigate the feasibility of receiving from a main station such as Tacolneston or Sudbury that carries the Commercial channels. At 10kW, Aldeburgh must be one of the most powerful relay transmitters that don't carry the Commercial multiplexes.

3,887 posts platinum

m smith
Monday 9 April 2012 10:43PM

it is a shame with the technology available that the rural areas always get the bad deal on freeview. why have we got rabbit and gay rabbit rubbish when we could have perhaps something descent instead like pick tv, or do it come down to price again.

4 posts

Briantist
Monday 9 April 2012 10:51PM

m smith : Most high powered transmitters ARE in rural areas. I can't think of anywhere more rural than Emley Moor, for example.

Removing the text channels will result in less than 5% of what is required to carry a television station.

37,134 posts platinum

m smith
Tuesday 10 April 2012 12:15AM

my last coment is it seem the only way to get any channels in the aldeburgh area is to forget about freeviw and have satelite instead as it is the only other option. i was looking forward to the arrival of freeview from the aldeburgh transmitter but feel cheated and let down and is the view of many other people also.

4 posts

Dave Lindsay
Tuesday 10 April 2012 12:24AM

m smith: The only thing you can do is investigate the possibility of receiving the full Freeview service from one of the main transmitters, probably Tacolneston or Sudbury.

Switchover saw a taller mast come into service at Tacolneston, so it will reach places it didn't before.

Go to the Digital UK Post Code Checker, enter your post code and house number and tick the box to say that you're in the trade for a prediction of coverage:

www.digitaluk.co.uk link icon

Digital UK - Postcode checker

3,887 posts platinum

Transmitter engineering
Tuesday 10 April 2012 10:29AM

ALDEBURGH transmitter - Over the next week Aldeburgh main transmitter: TV (digital) working normally, Radio (analogue) working normally, no digital radio. [DUK]

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