Full Freeview on the Sutton Coldfield (Birmingham, England) transmitter

Brian Butterworth first published this on 1st May 2004 at 08:20 - UK Free TV

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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

Choose from three options: ■ List by multiplex ■ List by channel number ■ List by channel name

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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.

Mux	H/V	Frequency	Height	Mode	Watts
PSB1 BBCA	H max	C43 (650.0MHz)	433m	DTG-	200,000W
	1 BBC One (SD) West Midlands, 2 BBC Two England, 9 BBC Four, 23 BBC Three, 201 CBBC, 202 CBeebies, 231 BBC News, 232 BBC Parliament, plus 19 others
PSB2 D3+4	H max	C46 (674.0MHz)	433m	DTG-	200,000W
	3 ITV 1 (SD) (Central (West micro region)), 4 Channel 4 (SD) Midlands ads, 5 Channel 5, 6 ITV 2, 10 ITV3, 13 E4, 14 Film4, 15 Channel 4 +1 Midlands ads, 18 More4, 26 ITV4, 28 ITVBe, 30 E4 +1, 35 ITV1 +1 (Central west), 71 That’s 60s,
PSB3 BBCB	H max	C40+ (626.2MHz)	433m	DTG-	200,000W
	46 5SELECT, 101 BBC One HD West Midlands, 102 BBC Two HD England, 103 ITV 1 HD (ITV Central West), 104 Channel 4 HD Midlands ads, 105 Channel 5 HD, 106 BBC Four HD, 107 BBC Three HD, 204 CBBC HD, 205 CBeebies HD, plus 1 others 66 TBN UK,
COM4 SDN	H max	C42 (642.0MHz)	433m	DTG-8	200,000W
	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	C45 (666.0MHz)	433m	DTG-8	200,000W
	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	C39+ (618.2MHz)	433m	DTG-8	200,000W
	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
LB	H -13dB	C48 (690.0MHz)	433m	DTG-12	10,000W
	from 31st October 2014: 7 Big Centre TV,

DTG-8 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	BBCtv_waves
C33						com7
C35						com8
C36						LOCAL2
C39					+ArqB	ArqB
C40		BBC2_waves	BBC2_waves	BBC2_waves	+BBCB	BBCB
C42					SDN	SDN
C43		ITV_waves	ITV_waves	ITV_waves	BBCA	BBCA
C45					ArqA	ArqA
C46		BBC1_waves	BBC1_waves	BBC1_waves	D3+4	D3+4
C48						_local
C50_{tv_off}		C4_waves	C4_waves	C4_waves
C51_{tv_off}						LB
C55_{tv_off}						com7_{tv_off}
C56_{tv_off}						COM8_{tv_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

Local transmitter maps

Sutton Coldfield Freeview Sutton Coldfield DAB Sutton Coldfield AM/FM Sutton Coldfield TV region BBC West Midlands Central (West micro region)

Which companies have run the Channel 3 services in the Sutton Coldfield transmitter area

Feb 1956-Jul 1968	Associated TeleVision†
Feb 1956-Jul 1968	Associated British Corporation◊
Jul 1968-Dec 1981	Associated TeleVision
Jan 1982-Feb 2004	Central Independent Television
Feb 2004-Dec 2014	ITV plc

Feb 1983-Dec 1992	TV-am•
Jan 1993-Sep 2010	GMTV•
Sep 2010-Dec 2014	ITV Daybreak•

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

Is the transmitter output the same in all directions?

S

simon wood
6:52 PM

Hi,

for all the people in the tamworth area with problems i think we should all set a time and date visit the and ask the tv news to come to and if we dont get the long over due answers and compensation for months of problems then we should cut all the signals to everyone so the understand hower frustration. let me know email me on simonfwood@gmail.com to arrange a visit.

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simon wood's 1 post GB flag

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DS
3:49 PM

I have been using a portable for over 5 years, as never bothered with a Ariel (the builder didn't put one in) except for some occasional I had no problems, however since October 2010 this year, I have had nothing but trouble with a constantly poor signals, this is now beyond a joke, all i get from the BBC et al, is "THERE IS NO PROBLEM". someone is telling lies !

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DS's 3 posts GB flag

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Steve Bones
3:44 PM

I am experiencing the same problems as described above. Since October 2010 - ITV, and Channel 5 ( channels) have been intermittent, at best, often at all, other times digital signal breaking up so badly as to make it unwatchable. Before this I have never had a problem.
I have just bought a new TV but cannot get any of the HD channels.
Can I get a refund of part of my ? As this is a failure to deliver what I am paying for!

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Steve Bones's 1 post GB flag

S

Steve Blackwell
7:37 PM
Halesowen

Similar problems - invested in a HD telly (join xmas pressie for me and the wife). Initially everything working great, but the HD on now showing a very weak , breaking up and totally unwatchable.

I live in the B62 area, 20 miles from , but only 4 miles from . Is it worth getting on the and pointing my to Brierley Hill? Will I be able to get the HD channels there? TIA :)

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Steve Blackwell's 9 posts GB flag

Steve's: S's Freeview map S's terrain plot S's frequency data S's Freeview Detailed Coverage

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Steve
10:08 PM

Tamworth resident after strength on ITV stations for the past month has been high after earlier problems they sort of acknowledged being there fault.

tonight Signal strength now reading low on all ITV and started pixelating about 2115 tonight.

Arqiva get this sorted quickly its dragged on long enough

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Steve's 14 posts CH flag

S

Steve
10:10 PM

Tamworth resident after strength on ITV stations for the past month has been high after earlier problems Arqiva sort of acknowledged being there fault.

Tonight Signal strength now reading low on all ITV (BBC Fine) and started pixelating on ITV about 2115 tonight.

Arqiva get this sorted quickly its dragged on long enough

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Steve's 14 posts CH flag

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Richard

_{sentiment_satisfied}Bronze

9:13 AM

Steve, mine has been intermittently poor for the past few months now. I don't think it's going to be 'fixed' until the in all honesty. Everything has gone really quiet again.

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Richard's 38 posts GB flag

R

Richard

_{sentiment_satisfied}Bronze

9:16 AM

Simon,

I don't think anyone is really giving much thought about it at all. I've tried the Tamworth Herald (and they did run a small piece but haven't followed it up). I've also tried the BBC, Arqiva, Tamworth Council. All to no avail.

We do need another way of making people realise there is a widespread problem. It's not just individuals affected and it's not the fault of the residents and it's definitely nothing to do with their aerials.

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Richard's 38 posts GB flag

O

Owen
1:35 PM
Warwick

Hi, Is anyone able to confirm that the CV35 area cannot get HD from please? From the above, it looks as if it only comes from at the moment and as my points to Sutton Coldfield then that might explain "no found" when doing a manual search for HD on channels 50-54. Many thanks

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Owen's 2 posts GB flag

Owen's: O's Freeview map O's terrain plot O's frequency data O's Freeview Detailed Coverage

D

Dan
9:24 PM

Hi everyone,

I've been unable to receive mux d for around a month, re-scanning occasionally makes them appear in the epg (but still unable to be tuned to) but more often than not they just don't appear.

has never previously been a problem for me and on all the other tvs in the house I can receive a full set of channels without issue.

Any ideas as to how I can fix this?
thanks

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Dan's 1 post GB flag

Page 1

Please post a question, answer or commentIf you have Freeview reception problems before posting a question your must first do this Freeview reset procedure then see: Freeview reception has changed, Single frequency interference, and Freeview intermittent interference.

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