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

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

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.

This transmitter has no current reported problems

The BBC and Digital UK report there are no faults or engineering work on the Sutton Coldfield (Birmingham, England) transmitter.

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

_______

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?

M

Martin

_{sentiment_satisfied}Bronze

12:29 PM
Machynlleth

What sort of programming is going to be on New8 after switch over. I have a group B at the moment and forego 55 rather than change to group E. I could get a but they generally seem to not be thought of too well. Unless there is going to be something worth watching on New* I'll stick with my group B. Alternatively I could couple in an existing group A from some previous experimentation.

link to this comment

Martin's 21 posts GB flag

Martin's: M's Freeview map M's terrain plot M's frequency data M's Freeview Detailed Coverage

R

Roy Butler
12:42 PM
Kidderminster

Can you advise on the feild strength that should be avaiable at DY11 7XS after complete from , and . (microvolts or db is fine)

link to this comment

Roy Butler's 1 post GB flag

Roy's: R's Freeview map R's terrain plot R's frequency data R's Freeview Detailed Coverage

S

Stephen johnson
5:20 PM
Northampton

Hey if my is pointing north picking up which way would I have to point it to pick up the main ? I'm currently at nn49sz and after a little research believe I'm on the fringe of both but due to location Sutton is easier to point at and although it's a fair distance away I think I can get a clear line of site to it as I live on the edge of
We also have a smaller transmitter near
to the town which is part of the sandy Heath group but I can't access it as I'm wrong side of hill hence I need to know where to point to main sandy Heath transmitter ? Thanks
I also have a aerial I think tri boom with an

link to this comment

Stephen johnson's 5 posts GB flag

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

G

Geoff Smith
6:51 PM
Rugby

Hi, Dennis,
Thanks for that. Yes it's a 1080p with a dvb-t2 . But great news, I also received a PSU with the aerial, connected it in today and now get the hd . If I switch it off the channels go. Maybe on 21/09/11 I might get them without the need for the PSU.
Cheers,
Geoff.

link to this comment

Geoff Smith's 3 posts GB flag

Geoff's: G's Freeview map G's terrain plot G's frequency data G's Freeview Detailed Coverage

D

Dennis

_{sentiment_satisfied}Bronze

9:05 PM

Stephen I think you would be better sticking with ,for the reason's given to you in KMJ,'s reply.

However you will find the bearing for here,based on your postcode,enter your house number yourself.

Postcode Checker - Trade View (B775LD)

link to this comment

Dennis's 27 posts GB flag

D

Dennis

_{sentiment_satisfied}Bronze

9:24 PM
Tamworth

Geoff,that's great,pleased to hear it the HD mulitplex from is on 4KW now,when it moves to ,I understand that the will increase to 200KW.

So I think you will be ok :) all the SD will also increase power, from 8KW now,to 200KW at the end of digital .

link to this comment

Dennis's 27 posts GB flag

Dennis's: D's Freeview map D's terrain plot D's frequency data D's Freeview Detailed Coverage

G

Graham
12:56 PM
Stafford

Tried setting up my new HD box today. All I get is the all SD no HD at all. I am in ST17. says we are supposed to get HD. Have checked all connections and multi scanned. But no success.

link to this comment

Graham's 1 post GB flag

Graham's: G's Freeview map G's terrain plot G's frequency data G's Freeview Detailed Coverage

S

stephen johnson
1:40 PM

hi dennis i think i do have a wide band i think
do i live in the only place where everyones aerial points in a different diriction ?
i have a tri boom aerial

link to this comment

stephen johnson's 5 posts GB flag

G

Geoff Smith
2:55 PM
Rugby

Hi Dennis,
It's a Samsung LE40c750. The specifications include a DVB-T2 , 1080p and 3d ready. When I tuned it in without the PSU I got 104 . With the PSU fitted I got 108. Choose channel 50 on the remote and BBC1HD comes up. The same with the other hd channels. As I said, if I watch an hd channel with the PSU on, no problem, but if I switch it off the channel goes off.
Cheers,
Geoff.

link to this comment

Geoff Smith's 3 posts GB flag

Geoff's: G's Freeview map G's terrain plot G's frequency data G's Freeview Detailed Coverage

D

Dennis

_{sentiment_satisfied}Bronze

3:59 PM

Graham,I understand that the radiation pattern of the HD is to the south,for Birmingham,not north where you are.
Your is looking at ,but the HD transmission is from nr ,some thirteen degrees away from where your aerial is pointing.

It would seem that you have a hi- ,this would tend to limit the capture of ,to a very narrow area, in degrees and miss the HD signal.

I am sure it will be fine,come digital switch over,when the HD moves to Sutton Coldfield on high power.

Take a look at the enclosed,it refers to '''' but gives the location of the Sutton and Lichfield transmitter sites.with reference to your location,notice the thirteen degree difference.
UK analogue TV reception predictor
(B775LD)

link to this comment

Dennis's 27 posts GB flag

Page 8

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.

If you have no satellite signal, see Sky Digibox says 'No Signal' or 'Technical fault'

If you have other problems, please provide a full (not partial) postcode (or preferably enter it in box at the top right) and indicate where if aerial is on the roof, in the loft or elsewhere.

UK Free TV is here to help people. If you are rude or disrespectful all of your posts will be deleted and you will be banned.
Your comments
Your name
Your email
Your site or @twitter
Email me updates
Save my details

Privacy policy: UK Free Privacy policy.