Full Freeview on the Sutton Coldfield (Birmingham, England) transmitter
 | 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.
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 
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Digital television services are broadcast on a multiplexes (or Mux) where many stations occupy a single broadcast frequency, as shown below.
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 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.
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 | BBCtvwaves | ||||||||
| C33 | com7 | ||||||||
| C35 | com8 | ||||||||
| C36 | LOCAL2 | ||||||||
| C39 | +ArqB | ArqB | |||||||
| C40 | BBC2waves | BBC2waves | BBC2waves | +BBCB | BBCB | ||||
| C42 | SDN | SDN | |||||||
| C43 | ITVwaves | ITVwaves | ITVwaves | BBCA | BBCA | ||||
| C45 | ArqA | ArqA | |||||||
| C46 | BBC1waves | BBC1waves | BBC1waves | D3+4 | D3+4 | ||||
| C48 | _local | ||||||||
| C50tv_off | C4waves | C4waves | C4waves | ||||||
| C51tv_off | LB | ||||||||
| C55tv_off | com7tv_off | ||||||||
| C56tv_off | COM8tv_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
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Wednesday, 21 September 2011
N
Neil8:01 PM
Briantist: My Signal levels aren't to high.
In fact they have dropped with the switchover from 10s to 7s on the boxes.
The problem people are having with the box guides could be that the ITV guide has been removed so the boxes need a software upgrade.
The problem seems to be that frequecy 40 isn't needed by the freeview boxes so they get confused with auto tuning.
No HD channels may be another problem entirely as people with low and high sig strengths are having problems at the moment.
A manual tune seems to be the only option at the moment and that may not work.
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B
Bish8:12 PM
Tenbury Wells
WR15 8EL - Tenbury Wells
I get the BBC channels and E4 but not as many channels as I expected. I have turned off the power booster and get 95% signal when scanning for these channels but 0% everywhere else.
Is this normal for this area?
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Bish's: mapB's Freeview map terrainB's terrain plot wavesB's frequency data B's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Bish: You are served by the Tenbury Wells transmitter, which is a Freeview Light transmitter. See Will there ever be more services on the Freeview Light transmitters? | ukfree.tv - independent free digital TV advice .
If you want all the channels, you will need to point your aerial towards Sutton Coldfield, where you will get them all, but only in November.
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A
andy 8:29 PM
Chester
GT Channel 62 could be Winter Hill
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andy's: mapA's Freeview map terrainA's terrain plot wavesA's frequency data A's Freeview Detailed Coverage
S
Stephen8:36 PM
Im having problems and unsure what to do.
All channels worked fine before and after switchover the other week but today the only channels i have signal for are the BBC channels.
Im sure that the signal strength on BBC channels is usually 80% which it is now aswell. So how do i know if im overpowered?
Aerial is on the roof and has never had any boosters etc.
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Neil: A common symptom of high signal levels is that the set-top box will display LOW signal levels.
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J
jb389:33 PM
Neil: In your 3.48pm posting you mentioned about two TV's connected together using the one aerial, then you later mention digi boxes tuning etc, could you clarify whether or not the TV's are Freeview devices? or is it that you have two Freeview receivers off the one aerial feeding two TV's?
I ask this because a possible reason for what you are experiencing (as mentioned @ 3.48pm) could be connected with your location as well as dependant on your aerial set up, as using two TV's (or boxes) on the one aerial without using a two-way powered splitter "does" drag the signal strength down, as it unbalances the load matching between the TV input and the aerial, that is as well as the fact that something shared two ways means each getting less. (whether it be RF or anything else!)
Any signal being received that's a little too strong can cause the receivers tuner to become desensitized, or if really too strong block it altogether resulting in the warning on "no signal received".
If the former is applying, (desensitizing) then the two TV's being connected to one aerial will pull the signal down a little thereby allowing the tuners in each TV to operate better, whereby they can "indicate" (but only indicate!) a higher signal level, but if a lead is disconnected from one of the two TV's this will allow the already high powered signal on the other set to increase further, this causing its tuner to struggle even more to keep stable with the result of the a reduced signal / quality level being indicated.
You have to appreciate that the signal strength indicators can be fooled by an over strong signal, and in many cases can indicate lower when the signal received is actually getting stronger and is near to cutting the box out, this is something that only applies to digital receivers and not in the case of analogue.
Not saying that this is definitely applying in your case, but it could (and does) with some other installations.
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J
james10:51 PM
Rugby
Location : Bilton, Rugby, CV22
Aerial : Roof mounted
Source : Sutton Coldfield ( think )
Re-scanning after switchover got same no of TV channels as before ( 72 ) - but now includes HD 4 - so a positive tick here.
Now seem to have a noise problem with Ch39 signal group ( ArqB / Film 4, 4 Music, etc. ).
The signal remains week ( up a little - but still only 45-50 against say 80-85 for BBC1 ) on my Samsung TV ) but signal 'blocking' / freezing - frequently.
Looked at 'single' interference page - tried to remove / power down other kit ( Panasonic freeview DVD recorder, VCR etc ).
Have booster behind TV - so tried changed gains down / up / removed.
If remove booster - ch39 gets virtually no signal direct to TV or to DVD-R box. ( Other channels get medium signal strength and high quality (10) on DVD-R box.
With booster on low-medium gain - get full strength (10 - and no saturation warning ) and high quality (10)
Ch 39 recovers a bit but - sticks at medium strength / low quality 3( amber / red warning )
( Signals were weak before switchover and got weather related problems at times - but was hoping re-power at SC would solve )
Like HD - but don't like losing Film4.
Any advice appreciated, to help guide / pin-point solution - e.g. replace my aerial or internal / external interference issue etc
Thanks in advance
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james's: mapJ's Freeview map terrainJ's terrain plot wavesJ's frequency data J's Freeview Detailed Coverage
james: You might have a signal overload by the sounds of things - see Freeview signals: too much of a good thing is bad for you | ukfree.tv - independent free digital TV advice .
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