Full Freeview on the Sutton Coldfield (Birmingham, England) transmitter
 | Google Streetview |  | Google map |  | Bing map |  | Google Earth |  | 52.600,-1.835 or 52°36'1"N 1°50'5"W |  | B75 5JJ |
The symbol shows the location of the Sutton Coldfield (Birmingham, England) transmitter which serves 1,870,000 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 Sutton Coldfield (Birmingham, England) mast?
Sutton Coldfield transmitter - Sutton Coldfield transmitter: Possible effect on TV reception week commencing 04/11/2024 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
DTG-12 QSPK 8K 3/4 8.0Mb/s DVB-T MPEG2
H/V: aerial position (horizontal or vertical)
Which Freeview channels does the Sutton Coldfield 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
DTG-12 QSPK 8K 3/4 8.0Mb/s DVB-T MPEG2
H/V: aerial position (horizontal or vertical)
Which BBC and ITV regional news can I watch from the Sutton Coldfield transmitter?
BBC Midlands Today 2.9m homes 10.9%
from Birmingham B1 1RF, 15km south-southwest (200°)
to BBC West Midlands region - 66 masts.
ITV Central News 2.9m homes 10.9%
from Birmingham B1 2JT, 15km south-southwest (201°)
to ITV Central (West) region - 65 masts.
All of lunch, weekend and 80% evening news is shared with Central (East)
Are there any self-help relays?
| Burton (shobnall) | Transposer | 1 km W Burton-on-Trent | 60 homes |
| Coalville | Transposer | 18 km NW Leicester | 600 homes |
| Solihull | Transposer | Land Rover building | 400 homes |
How will the Sutton Coldfield (Birmingham, England) transmission frequencies change over time?
| 1950s-80s | 1984-97 | 1997-98 | 1998-2011 | 2011-13 | 7 Mar 2018 | ||||
| VHF | B E T | B E T | B E T | B E K T | W T | ||||
| C4 | BBCtvwaves | ||||||||
| C33 | com7 | ||||||||
| C35 | com8 | ||||||||
| C36 | LOCAL2 | ||||||||
| C39 | +ArqB | ArqB | |||||||
| C40 | BBC2waves | BBC2waves | BBC2waves | +BBCB | BBCB | ||||
| C42 | SDN | SDN | |||||||
| C43 | ITVwaves | ITVwaves | ITVwaves | BBCA | BBCA | ||||
| C45 | ArqA | ArqA | |||||||
| C46 | BBC1waves | BBC1waves | BBC1waves | D3+4 | D3+4 | ||||
| C48 | _local | ||||||||
| C50tv_off | C4waves | C4waves | C4waves | ||||||
| C51tv_off | LB | ||||||||
| C55tv_off | com7tv_off | ||||||||
| C56tv_off | COM8tv_off |
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 7 Sep 11 and 21 Sep 11.
How do the old analogue and currrent digital signal levels compare?
| Analogue 1-4 | 1000kW | |
| SDN, ARQA, ARQB, BBCA, D3+4, BBCB | (-7dB) 200kW | |
| com7 | (-10.5dB) 89.2kW | |
| com8 | (-10.7dB) 86kW | |
| LB | (-20dB) 10kW | |
| Mux 1*, Mux 2*, Mux A*, Mux B*, Mux C*, Mux D* | (-21dB) 8kW |
Which companies have run the Channel 3 services in the Sutton Coldfield transmitter area
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Monday, 3 April 2023
A
Anthony Bowkett9:49 AM
Kidderminster
Hi I live in Kidderminster (DY10 1YD,) Can I receive signals from Sutton Coldfield? What aerial should I consider?
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Anthony's: mapA's Freeview map terrainA's terrain plot wavesA's frequency data A's Freeview Detailed Coverage
A
Aerialman2:18 PM
The answer is yes as long as you are on reasonably high ground and clear through to the north east .The strongest transmitter is Kidderminster, but is only free view lite!Other transmitters that may be usable is The Wrekin and Bromsgrove full free view in the north and north-east side of town.Ridge Hill is usable on high ground in central and Stourport Rd areas.
Best to put your postcode into www.freeview.co.uk checker,this is reasonably accurate!
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S
StevensOnln12:20 PM
Anthony Bowkett: You are predicted to receive a strong signal from the Sutton Coldfield transmitter. It's generally recommended to use a Group K or wideband type of aerial such as a log periodic which will receive the entire UHF channel 21 to 48 range used for Freeview. Any reputable aerial installer should be able to supply and fit something suitable.
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Tuesday, 18 April 2023
P
Phil Dalton3:22 PM
Warwick
Aerial is on roof on the longest pole providing maximum height without planning permission. CV35 9LX
Every mid-April the HD channel (40) loses signal strength and quality. Occasionally it will disappear altogether for a few days. This will go on until winter arrives when signal strength and quality will improve sufficiently to make the HD channels watchable.
Is there anything that can be done to keep the signal strength and quality at a watchable level.
Other channels measure a 10 out of 10 for signal quality and strength
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Phil's: mapP's Freeview map terrainP's terrain plot wavesP's frequency data P's Freeview Detailed Coverage
C
Chris.SE4:19 PM
Phil Dalton:
You didn't say what figures you were currently getting on C40.
The transmitter isn't currently listed for a Planned Engineering and I can't find any faults listed at this time.
In general I would have expected signal propagation to be slightly better now than in Winter and you are certainly predicted to get good signals from Sutton Coldfield for all 6 multiplexes.
Do you have any aerial amp/splitters to feed more than one TV?
The fact that you say you have signal strength 10 (& quality 10) for the other multiplexes leads me think there's a possibility you may have slightly too much signal and any overall improvement in signal with current weather conditions may lead to overloading of the tuner front end and hence a reduction in quality, in this case to the HD multiplex.
Does your aerial feed direct to this one TV or do you have an amp/splitter to feed more than one, if so, does it have a variable gain control?
If so, turn it down a touch, strength readings below 10 aren't really of any consequence (as long as they don't go too low!) it's Quality remaining at 10 (100%) that is important.
If you have an amp/splitter but no variable gain, the other thing you can try is unplug the aerial from it and connect it direct to the one TV feed (turn/power off the amp) and provide the readings for each UHF channel when connected like that.
if you don't have an amp/splitter, then maybe trying a variable attenuator might be worth a go. See for example eBay item number:310039226920
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Wednesday, 31 May 2023
J
jack8:13 AM
Sutton sutton sutton ... we miss you...
ah - so - I see the last message now - I started writing this on an earlier page - A jump to last page
would be good instead of stepping 5 pages - a search engine entry left me lost(!)
Had HD pixelation for about 2 weeks now - now unwatchable - too annoying
SD channels seem ok.
Been ok for about 3 years I think. B34 area
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C
Chris.SE1:10 PM
jack:
As per the post before yours, the transmitter is on Planned Engineering and has been for about 3 weeks, this may have something to do with it if you are in a weaker signal pocket (you haven't given a full postcode), or your line of sight to the transmitter is obscured locally by trees, buildings, scaffolding etc.
Check you are correctly tuned to the Sutton Coldfield PSB3/BBCB HD multiplex on UHF C40.
Also check your aerial system looks intact and the downlead is secure and isn't flapping in the wind - how old is it? If very old, your aerial system may be degraded. certain problems don't always appear to affect all multiplexes Do you receive the Local multiplex on UHF C48 ok?.
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Tuesday, 6 June 2023
N
Norman 6:20 PM
When is Great TV channel 50 returning to
Sutton Coldfield transmitter.
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C
Chris.SE8:08 PM
Norman :
AFAIK it's not gone anywhere! If you are not receiving it at the moment, you should also be missing LCNs 7 or 8 (Local News), LCN52 Great Romance, LCN61 Great Movies +1, LCN68 RealityXtra.
Those are all carried on the Local multiplex which you might receive on UHF36 or UHF48 depending on your location & as you haven't given a full postcode I can't check your predicted reception of those.
You might not be receiving them at the moment possibly for one of two reasons - the Planned Engineering as detailed in the post before yours, or current weather conditions where there's intermittent variable Tropospheric Ducting resulting in interference from distant transmitters in the UK or Europe.
Unfortunately there's nothing you can do about such interference which may last seconds, minutes or longer and won't necessarily affect any other multiplexes. You just have to wait for conditions to change.
One thing NOT to do if you have sound breakup or pixellated pictures is to retune, as this will often clear your correct tuning and you won't know when signals are back to normal.
IF you did retune, your best bet will be to try a manual retune of UHF36 or UHF48 depending on which you normally receive. You may have to try several times if signals haven't returned to normal.
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Thursday, 8 June 2023
J
jack9:36 AM
HD still unwatchable as above
Been fine for 3 years or so -
Low power and Q drop to zero every 3-4 seconds
Whatever the engineering was it didnt fix this.
(Multiple receivers)
SD still seems fine.
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