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

first published this on - UK Free TV
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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 Digital tick


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.

MuxH/VFrequencyHeightModeWatts
PSB1
BBCA
 H max
C43 (650.0MHz)433mDTG-200,000W
Channel icons
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)433mDTG-200,000W
Channel icons
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)433mDTG-200,000W
Channel icons
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

COM4
SDN
 H max
C42 (642.0MHz)433mDTG-8200,000W
Channel icons
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)433mDTG-8200,000W
Channel icons
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)433mDTG-8200,000W
Channel icons
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)433mDTG-1210,000W
Channel icons
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?

regional news image
BBC Midlands Today 2.9m homes 10.9%
from Birmingham B1 1RF, 15km south-southwest (200°)
to BBC West Midlands region - 66 masts.
regional news image
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)Transposer1 km W Burton-on-Trent60 homes
CoalvilleTransposer18 km NW Leicester600 homes
SolihullTransposerLand Rover building400 homes

How will the Sutton Coldfield (Birmingham, England) transmission frequencies change over time?

1950s-80s1984-971997-981998-20112011-137 Mar 2018
VHFB E TB E TB E TB E K TW T
C4BBCtvwaves
C33com7
C35com8
C36LOCAL2
C39+ArqBArqB
C40BBC2wavesBBC2wavesBBC2waves+BBCBBBCB
C42SDNSDN
C43ITVwavesITVwavesITVwavesBBCABBCA
C45ArqAArqA
C46BBC1wavesBBC1wavesBBC1wavesD3+4D3+4
C48_local
C50tv_offC4wavesC4wavesC4waves
C51tv_offLB
C55tv_offcom7tv_off
C56tv_offCOM8tv_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

Feb 1956-Jul 1968Associated TeleVision†
Feb 1956-Jul 1968Associated British Corporation◊
Jul 1968-Dec 1981Associated TeleVision
Jan 1982-Feb 2004Central Independent Television
Feb 2004-Dec 2014ITV plc
Feb 1983-Dec 1992TV-am•
Jan 1993-Sep 2010GMTV•
Sep 2010-Dec 2014ITV 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.

Comments
Thursday, 14 April 2011
C
Carl
8:08 PM
Belper

In relation to previous post I noticed that the Nottingham Relay was turned up to 400w from 40w yesterday and not sure if this could be causing any interference. It seems to have been causing issues for people in the Derby area pointing at Waltham ? But wou;dn't have thought it would have affected me pointing at Sutton ????

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Carl's 4 posts GB flag
Carl's: mapC's Freeview map terrainC's terrain plot wavesC's frequency data C's Freeview Detailed Coverage
K
KMJ,Derby
sentiment_satisfiedGold

8:58 PM

Carl: The problem for viewers to the Waltham transmitter is based around the changes of frequency affecting MuxA on 30th March and Mux2 on 13th April. This coincided with switchover at Nottingham/Kimberley as the new frequencies became available after analogue transmitters were turned off at Kimberley and frequencies swapped around.Unfortunately there is always confusion when frequencies are changed, with some viewers being caught unawares and others believing that every retune is the actual switchover. There is no reason why the stronger signal from Kimberley would make reception from Waltham or Sutton Coldfield deteriorate.

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KMJ,Derby's 1,811 posts GB flag
C
Carl
9:12 PM
Belper

KMJ: Thanks, something seems to have happened though as I still have the same signal strength on all the Sutton MUXs, but no signal quality. Could there be any interference from elsewhere ? I wouldn't have thought it would affect all MUX's tho. I am rather foxed, just glad I installed a sky dish a few weeks ago for freesat using an old skybox.

link to this comment
Carl's 4 posts GB flag
Carl's: mapC's Freeview map terrainC's terrain plot wavesC's frequency data C's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Friday, 15 April 2011
K
KMJ,Derby
sentiment_satisfiedGold

12:27 AM

Carl:As you say if you have the same signal strength but poor or zero quality it points to an interference problem. It is possible that trees coming into leaf have caused the signal to become messy which is confusing the freeview tuner. What is the analogue reception like? If there is patterning on the picture due to a faulty amplifier or other equipment it would also adversely affect the digital signals.Have you checked that the Sky box is not causing any general interference? Interference from other transmitters due to the inversion effect would give poor quality readings but it is unusual for every mux to be affected at the same time.For example C41,C44 and C47 are used at Wenvoe for high power digital and for analogue at Emley Moor and Sudbury But C52 and C55 are not used for high power transmision at any of these sites.Try moving cables and equipment connected to or positioned near the tv to see if anything changes. With regard to channels in the 800s these usually indicate a signal from another transmitter has been found.The Digital UK postcode checker shows that a poor signal on Mux1 from Waltham might be received at your location.

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KMJ,Derby's 1,811 posts GB flag
Monday, 18 April 2011
M
M Tracey
4:46 PM

Have been using Freeview for some time now with no problems. Over the last few days every TV receiver I have suddenly loses transmission signal, digital and analogue, at about 9.30pm every night. Next day transmission back on. All receivers fed from one aerial trained on Sutton Coldfield mast from Solihull area. Have changed booster and cables without joy. Is the transmitter being turned off?

link to this comment
M Tracey's 1 post GB flag
Briantist
sentiment_very_satisfiedOwner

7:05 PM

M Tracey: Of course the transmitter is not being turned off, it serves 1,870,000 homes.

Please see Freeview intermittent interference | ukfree.tv - independent free digital TV advice for help.

link to this comment
Briantist's 38,915 posts GB flag
Tuesday, 19 April 2011
T
Tim
12:25 PM
Rugby

Loss of Mux2 from Sutton Coldfield transmitter (29 miles away in Rugby

I have lost all the Mux2 channels after experiencing a couple of days of very poor, almost unwatchable reception on the same channels. I have tried retuning dong a default reset and tuning the box (Humax 9200T) with the aerial unplugged in an attempt to clear everything. Transmitter seems to be transmitting fine from what I can see on the web. My father lives 1.5 miles away and has had no problems and has similar equipment (H 9300T). I am getting 70% signal strength but 0% quality. Occasionally it shows 10% quality but only fleetingly. I did manage on one retune to get the channels but they were in the 800 channel range and unwatchable.

I have retuned so many times my eyes are going square! All the other muxs are about 70% signal strength and 100% qaulity. Any advice on getting this issue sorted would be much appreciated



link to this comment
Tim's 1 post GB flag
Tim's: mapT's Freeview map terrainT's terrain plot wavesT's frequency data T's Freeview Detailed Coverage
B
Brian
3:57 PM
Coventry

Hi,
I'm CV3 6JE and can get Freeview except ITV4, Yesterday and Film4. I've tried the reset to no avail. I've two 2010 vintage Freeview boxes and neither get the missing channels - even with a signal booster. My aerial is a standard yagi on the roof. Please help.

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Brian's 3 posts EU flag
Brian's: mapB's Freeview map terrainB's terrain plot wavesB's frequency data B's Freeview Detailed Coverage
M
Mike Dimmick
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

8:13 PM
Reading

Brian: You can get everything *except* Mux D? The prediction is exactly the opposite. Try it without the signal booster, or if you can vary the gain, turn it down to the minimum and just increase it enough to get all the channels without break-up.

The Winter Hill transmitter is beyond Sutton Coldfield in the same direction, and it uses C55 for the ArqB multiplex. It is currently running at relatively low power, and the terrain normally blocks the signal, but in the right weather conditions it can cause enough interference to stop Mux D working.

This will no longer be a problem after switchover as Sutton Coldfield and Winter Hill will have no frequencies in common. (The Winter Hill power restriction is removed on 21 September, which is DSO Stage 2 at Sutton Coldfield.)

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Mike Dimmick's 2,486 posts GB flag
Mike's: mapM's Freeview map terrainM's terrain plot wavesM's frequency data M's Freeview Detailed Coverage
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