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

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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 25/03/2024 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),

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 Drama, 21 5USA, 29 ITV2 +1, 32 5STAR, 33 5Action, 38 Channel 5 +1, 41 Legend, 42 GREAT! action, 57 Dave ja vu, 58 ITVBe +1, 59 ITV3 +1, 64 Blaze, 67 TRUE CRIME, 68 TRUE CRIME XTRA, 78 TCC, 81 Blaze +1, 83 Together TV, 89 ITV4 +1, 91 WildEarth, 209 Ketchup TV, 210 Ketchup Too, 211 YAAAS!, 267 Al Jazeera English, plus 30 others

COM5
ArqA
 H max
C45 (666.0MHz)433mDTG-8200,000W
Channel icons
11 Sky Mix, 17 Really, 19 Dave, 31 E4 Extra, 36 Sky Arts, 40 Quest Red, 43 Food Network, 47 Film4 +1, 48 Challenge, 49 4seven, 60 Drama +1, 65 That's TV 2, 70 Quest +1, 74 Yesterday +1, 75 That's 90s, 233 Sky News, plus 11 others

COM6
ArqB
 H max
C39+ (618.2MHz)433mDTG-8200,000W
Channel icons
12 Quest, 25 W, 27 Yesterday, 34 GREAT! movies, 39 DMAX, 44 HGTV, 52 GREAT! romance, 56 That's TV (UK), 61 GREAT! movies extra, 63 GREAT! romance mix, 71 That’s 60s, 73 HobbyMaker, 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
Wednesday, 31 August 2011
M
Mike Dimmick
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

3:01 PM

Pete B: I'm sorry, it doesn't look like there are any East Midlands transmitters providing a service at that postcode.

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M
Mike O'Pray
4:14 PM
Daventry

I get digital from Sandy Heath at the moment but the transmitter strength map shows that I would be slightly better off using Sutton Coldfield.

Assuming that "slightly better off" will be worthwhile, there may be two problems in changing:

1. I have two aerials, one of which points to somewhere in the East Mids( I assume Waltham but I am too far away according to the map although E Mids news comes in strongly) and the other to Sandy Heath.

In analogue days the aerial fitter pointed the aerial N.E. based on a line of high trees quite close to the property interfering with the signal from the S Coldfield area(W Mids).

If I had the aerial moved to point to S Coldfield would the same problem apply to digital?

2. If I want to hear local news for N'pton and Daventry area I need Look East but I take it that as I currently get good digi reception on BBC East then I could simply find the BBC Look East channel when needed?

Essentially my problem was Film 4 and ITV4 reception and todays re-tune based on Sandy Heath has made no difference but there is another re-tune on 14 Sept and then on 23 Nov.

Will these two further re-tunes improve both channels?

Thanks

Mike O'Pray

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Mike O'Pray's 17 posts GB flag
Mike's: mapM's Freeview map terrainM's terrain plot wavesM's frequency data M's Freeview Detailed Coverage
M
Mike Dimmick
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

5:41 PM

Mike O'Pray: I'd stick with Sandy Heath. Digital UK's prediction - which is far more accurate than the maps here - shows a good chance of reliable reception on all multiplexes from Sandy Heath except, currently, Mux C on C40, because it clashes with Sutton Coldfield BBC Two. Sutton Coldfield shows as variable on all multiplexes at present, and still variable on all the COM muxes after switchover.

On the 14th, ArqB, which carries ITV4 and Film 4, moves to its final channel and powers up. Mux C moves to C67 to replace it. (This is so Sutton Coldfield can launch a high-power digital multiplex on this channel a week later.) The coverage may be slightly better than ArqB at present, because Mux C is currently shown as staying in its present mode; it should be similar to what Multiplex B (BBC Four/CBeebies and BBC radio stations) delivered before 30 March. This may be an error, though, as Arqiva are keen to get the capacity increased ASAP so they can launch new services.

On 23 November Mux C will move to its final channel and power level, and it will definitely be in the higher-capacity mode. (We usually refer to it as ArqA after this change.).

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M
mike fisher
sentiment_satisfiedBronze

7:47 PM
Droitwich

can you not get a signal from Ridge Hill ?

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mike fisher's 35 posts GB flag
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Chris O
11:12 PM
Derby

I have lost Sky Sports and ESPN. BT Vision has been telling us our switchover was today (31st August) on their equipment so I returned and have lost about 20 channels, including Sky Sports and ESPN.

According to BT Vision helpline (and the internet) I am on Sutton Coldfield transmitter. My aerial certainly seems to be pointing towards Birmingham rather than Nottingham. We had Sky Sports this morning now after the retune it has just disappeared.

Obviously I wouldn;t have returned if the BT box hadn't been telling me to for the last 3 weeks. Also Channel 5 did not record earlier and I assumed that was the reason why.

I seem to have lost about 19 channels and most of the radio channels.

How can I get them back?

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Chris O's 12 posts GB flag
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Chris O
11:14 PM
Derby

In addition it is East Midlands News that comes up not West Midlands.

Is there any way of finding out which transmitter the signal actually comes from? You used to be able to do it on Teletext.

Thanks

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Chris O's 12 posts GB flag
Chris's: mapC's Freeview map terrainC's terrain plot wavesC's frequency data C's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Thursday, 1 September 2011
Briantist
sentiment_very_satisfiedOwner

8:10 AM

Chris O: Have you tried My Freeview box has no EPG, is blank on FIVE, ITV3, ITV4, ITV2+1, has no sound or the channel line up is wrong | ukfree.tv - independent free digital TV advice ?

You are probably able now to receive the additional Freeview "East Midlands" service to supplement your reception from Sutton Coldfield.

Both the Derby and Sutton Coldfield transmitters are in the same direction so you should be able to pick them up, so clearing your channel list completetly and rescanning should provide you with all the channels.

At switchover, ESPN stays on Multiplex A/SDN, but Sky Sports 1 and 2 move from Multiplex B to the ArqB multiplex, but not yet.


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Chris Onion
9:19 AM
Derby

OK Have reset all the chennels on the BT box. I switched it off. Rescanned with no RF lead in the back so it sets them all to 0 and then rescanned. Still 52 channels (had 64 yesterday) and no Sky Sports. ESPN is there though. have Sky News?

How do I dind out what channels I need to find my transmitter. My BBC is Channel 1m all the BBC Channels are at 794MHz, ITV is 737MHz. ITV3 538MHz (ESPN is at this one too). What does the C21, C22, C23 thing mean. I can't find any of them on any of the channel information through the set top box?

The signal quality is not great either dropping to between 0 and 18%on some channels. My dad is having a similar problem with his signal in Swadlincote - it hasn't been this bad before.

The Housing Association put new (huge) aerials on earlier this year and when they did that we received loads of stuff.

I have just been confused by the messages on the BT box saying out switch over was 17th and 31st August and now they are telling us it is the 7th Sept.

I am really confused. Sorry really dim - I just want the TV working properly. Why the heck can't they leave these things alone!

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K
KMJ,Derby
sentiment_satisfiedGold

10:36 AM

Chris O: Those frequencies are for Waltham. If you are a resident in the block I am thinking of the latest aerial installation does point to Waltham - the tall pole on Abbey Street! There are older aerials pointing to Sutton Coldfield and Kimberley at the top end of the block too, are these still connected up to your apartment? The frequency you are looking for to receive Sky Sports, now on Mux ArqB, is C57 (762MHz). The Digital UK postcode checker shows this frequency to have poor reception at your location, possibly because it is also used at Bolehill and you are high enough to receive a signal from that transmitter too.

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KMJ,Derby's 1,811 posts GB flag
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