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

first published this on - UK Free TV
sa_streetviewGoogle Streetviewsa_gmapsGoogle mapsa_bingBing mapsa_gearthGoogle Earthsa_gps52.600,-1.835 or 52°36'1"N 1°50'5"Wsa_postcodeB75 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 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
Saturday, 17 September 2011
P
Prog
4:28 PM

Thanks for the tip, jb38. I'll try that in a bit.

link to this comment
Prog's 5 posts GB flag
E
ezrapound
5:29 PM

Nick L

"I was watching the rugby this morning when half way through the game I lost ITV, ch4, ch5 etc."

Have you upset anyone called 'Amelie' recently

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ezrapound's 10 posts GB flag
P
Philip Silverman
6:20 PM

I have an LG LED HD Tv which was receiving good HD pictures prior to the 7th Sept On the morning of the 7th Sept the HD picture was very BLOCKY but after I retuned the tv
the HD picture disappeared altogether. Can you help please?

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Philip Silverman's 3 posts GB flag
P
Prog
10:10 PM

I was about to try jb38's advice but selected automatic scan by mistake or more likely force of habit. I decided to let it run out of interest and lo and behold it found all the channels.

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Prog's 5 posts GB flag
Sunday, 18 September 2011
J
John
1:58 PM

Does anyone know if the BBC will increase the number of interactive channels on Freeview to the same number as Freesat after the switchover, when there is more bandwidth?

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John's 1 post GB flag
M
Mike Dimmick
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

8:11 PM

John: No. The BBC actually loses capacity at switchover, which is why they shut down the second and third interactive streams a couple of years ago.

Before switchover: 2 x 18 Mbit/s
After switchover: 1 x 24 Mbit/s

The BBC's second multiplex is converted to DVB-T2 at 40 Mbit/s to provide the HD services; they must provide the capacity directed by Ofcom to commercial PSB channels.

Arqiva's capacity increases from 2 x 18 Mbit/s to 2 x 24 Mbit/s. To allow new channels to launch before switchover completes, the BBC have agreed to match Arqiva's new capacity with the unused space on pre-switchover Mux B. Sky Sports 1 and 2 launched in this space (BT won the auction and Sky are required to wholesale the channels) which uses all the new capacity on Arqiva B. There are several transmitters that haven't yet got Arqiva A at full capacity - the final channel or power level isn't yet available - so nothing has yet launched in the new capacity there.

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Mike Dimmick's 2,486 posts GB flag
Monday, 19 September 2011
C
Chris
10:25 AM
Stafford

I installed a Labgear free view box for my father inlaw yesterday and it only picked up the BBC digital channels. his ariel is attached to the chimney and is pointing at Sutton Coalfield i.e 21 channels only. Is this a problem with the transmitter or something else?

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Chris's 1 post GB flag
Chris's: mapC's Freeview map terrainC's terrain plot wavesC's frequency data C's Freeview Detailed Coverage
R
Rick Homer
1:29 PM
Coventry

Hi there,

I am helping a friend with her Freeview. I have replaced the cable from the aerial to her Samsung HDTV. This has a built in DTV decoder, all is working except that I cannot tune into any HD channels. Her location is CV8 2FT and her aerial is 'looking' directly at Sutton Coldfield. Should she be able to receive the same channels as Freesat and should she be able to receive Freeview HD directly on her HD TV?

Thanks very much

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Rick Homer's 2 posts GB flag
Rick's: mapR's Freeview map terrainR's terrain plot wavesR's frequency data R's Freeview Detailed Coverage
A
Alan
2:16 PM
Nuneaton

Rick

I don't think HD Service is available at your postcode until this Wednesday after final DSO. On/after 21st if you do a full re-scan you should get them if you have a HD receiver



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Alan's 6 posts GB flag
Alan's: mapA's Freeview map terrainA's terrain plot wavesA's frequency data A's Freeview Detailed Coverage
D
Dennis
sentiment_satisfiedBronze

4:19 PM

Rick,the HD multiplex is still being broadcast from Lichfield,at the moment,and on low power.
Wait until Wednesday,when the service will transfer to Sutton Coldfield,and on high power,you should be OK, after you do another scan.

Ref getting Freeview HD directly on her HD TV the answer is yes,as long as it has a HD tuner DVB-T2,and not just a HD ready set.

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Dennis's 27 posts GB flag
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