The Sudbury station, located at Workhouse Green, some 3 miles to the south of the town of Sudbury in Suffolk, was built to provide UHF coverage to those parts of East Anglia where reception of signals from Tacolneston and Sandy Heath would be poor. As it happens, reception of Sudbury is also possible in parts of North Kent.
The station opened, transmitting BBC2 from 10-Nov-1968, with ITV added on 18-Nov-1970, BBC1 in December 1970, and Channel 4 available from the 2-Nov-1982 launch. Channel 5 was added on 23-Sep-1997, transmitting at lower power, and from aerial panels just below the third stay level on Sudbury A.
With the advent of digital television a second mast, Sudbury B, has been added to the site.
Pre-DSO power and frequency limitations meant that two channels were used from Sudbury B for the ITV Digital multiplex. Coverage was still unsatisfactory though. The coastal towns to the south-east could not in general receive the multiplex reliably, if at all. This is despite these areas mostly having clear line-of-sight to the mast, which is only about 35km away. |
