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 25/11/2024 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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Sunday, 25 September 2011
S
Stuart9:26 AM
Stourbridge
Hi, recently i have been retuning boxes for friends who are not technically minded, or who are elderly! have noticed the following from Sutton Coldfield!
Com 1 & 2 always show excellent signal strength & quality, however Com 4, 5 & 6 show anything from good to poor sihnal strength & quality!
As they are all broadcasting at 200,000W is there any reason for this?
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Stuart's: mapS's Freeview map terrainS's terrain plot wavesS's frequency data S's Freeview Detailed Coverage
D
Danny C12:09 PM
I had 83 channels on friday (23/09) night, all of which were working fine. I woke up on saturday morning and hardly any of them had signal. i did a retune and have now been left with 10 channels, all of which are unwatchable.
Absolute nightmare!
Could this be down to the switchover or is it likely to be hardware failure somewhere?
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N
nam12:42 PM
in worcester,postcode WR4, CH43 (bbc)and C46 (itv) are both showing signal strength of 51% and quality of 100%.
CH40 which is the HD mux is showing strength of 50% and quality of 50%.
the rest of the channels are showing strength of anything between 40-50% with quality of between 30-50%
with the exception of CH43 and CH46 there is no way the other channels are working at maximum power, even though this very page says they are.
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B
Billy2:18 PM
Who knows guys, assuming signal is going out in every direction and certain channels not higher on transmitter than others, have to remember, if you have wideband or groups aerial, lower channels though being lower frequency and so should be more robust, the aerials have their highest gain further up the frequency.
For me in the loft, awful dip, hill in way, 39 is the one I have most issue and lower signal on, having said that, just about to check others, cause gets confusing what is on what.
My cousin informs me of something like extras channels as well, lives in Nuneaton on Sutton trans, so clear that lot of cross overs and goodness only knows what, a lot of trial and error.
I'm using a 22 Element Log Periodic with variable mast head amp, came with it, at max 25 db.
Being so close, the box despite I'm convinced, with aerial out at back at time, has assumed presidency with the Allesley Park Transmitter putting in the BBC channels and so on.
42 and 46 from Sutton seem the best, in fact figures obtained from tests in loft are as follows:
Ch 39 Sig Strength 80% best, varies, can be 65% Quality 100 max, has tendency to dart around at times.
Ch 42 SS 80% and Quality 100
Ch 43 SS 95% max and Quality 100
Ch 45 SS 80% and Quality 100
Ch 46 SS 95% and Quality 100.
I could be that because of this and Allesley Park at 100 over 100, the amp is a little too high, hence sometimes often picture break up, glitch etc on channel 39.
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J
jb383:54 PM
nam: Reception in Worcester can be very variable, with significant changes in what's possible changing over relatively short distances, however The Wrekin is indicated as about the best for WR4 area's (Shire business Park used for a test) with Larke Stoke and Ridge Hill coming about even seconds, these latter two offering consistently good (in theory) reception over the PSB multiplexes, the remaining three Muxes not!!
Ridge Hill though is the only station presently offering reception over four multiplexes, although this tapers off in March 2012 when once again only three are indicated as good, the remainder variable until later on in 2012 when all six are shown as possible.
In other words, I would say that nothing could really be guaranteed in the Worcester area, as in my opinion its an area where aerials really do have to be positioned on a building for best reception, as rule books don't really apply in these type of circumstances, experimentation being the order of the day!
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Monday, 26 September 2011
M
M Rawson9:42 PM
Stourbridge
Like several other posts I have lost a variety of channels over the weekend. In my case it is the channel 46 set ie ITV, C4, c5 etc. On my second set (built in box bought this year) I have lost everything just collections of coloured squares. This happened post switchover following a retune. Neither manual or auto tunes help.
Signal did improve at stage one on 7th, however lost significant number of channels on 21st and situation has deteriorated further when tried retuning at the weekend.
I live in Kinver use the Sutton transmitter, with an extended rooftop aerial.
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M's: mapM's Freeview map terrainM's terrain plot wavesM's frequency data M's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Stuart O.
11:28 PM
Wrexham
11:28 PM
Wrexham
Like I asked recently:
Over time, is it possible for your TV or box's tuner to get damaged with 100% Strength and 100% Quality always receivable on some of your channels?
Brian talks about how you can overload your TV and set-top box tuner with too high a signal but he never says anything about damage.
So I put 2 and 2 together and quite reasonably assumed that a prolonged exposure to very high strong signals on a tuner of a TV or set-top box could eventually result in tuner damage. After all, the word 'overload' in the normal sense suggests that a prolonged period of power overload can result in component damage.
So if component damage is not possible, I'd like to know what prevents component damage.
So I would like Brian's view on this.
Thanks.
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Stuart's: mapS's Freeview map terrainS's terrain plot wavesS's frequency data S's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Tuesday, 27 September 2011
K
Keith Ratcliffe12:47 PM
Birmingham
I live in a block of flats,most of the tenants are over 60. The flats are managed by Bournville Village Trust tel:0121 472 3831 they are insistant the commual ariel is set correctly for the switchover,this I very much doubt,my post code is B30 1ST We have lost channel ITV 3&4 History CH all shopping Channels all 900-910 Sky News Pick TV & various others.Please can you communicate with BVT Thanks in antisipation of your help.
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Keith's: mapK's Freeview map terrainK's terrain plot wavesK's frequency data K's Freeview Detailed Coverage
B
Billy1:57 PM
Confirmed top up box with a mind of it's own, ARE OTHERS the same, WARNING:
It is the T215 one you can get from argos.
AS those who read my posts know, I'm now on Sutton, may try Lark Stoke tomorrow.
Anyway, in the loft on log periodic and lowered the gain slightly now, so might be around 15 db on amp, but here is the massive problem.
I did a factory reset again, few times since had the box in last few weeks now, and with aerial connection pulled out, skipped through the lower channels.
Now knowing it will not work, unless I least get one mux in, I put back in and collected channel, think it was 46, Sutton.
All was well that night as I manually put in the rest.
But signals vary sometimes, up and down like mad, though often not affecting the picture, surprisingly, sometimes it does.
But next day, put on, and swear still had it on, then bang, later noticed, or next day, but was later on, watching BB on channel 5, that I'm back on Allesley Park again.
I am seriously wondering if mine and many other makes of set top boxes are auto tuning themselves to stronger transmitters if they can get them.
Who knows, most puzzling and annoying in some ways, 100 over 100%, and perfect, works, no glitching, but mad, okay both in same direction, but Allesley Vertical and Sutton Horizontal, likely the Amp.
This may explain why so many claim, I had the channels, next time switched on, or next day, they gone, seems the boxes ability to retain, even manually puts in muxes is dire, if it senses, picks up another in same direction.
Given the crossovers now, power boosts on transmitters and fact many still have hi gain aerials and amps on, might be what is happening.
:(.
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J
Jim F8:51 PM
Billy: I've seen both digiboxes and DTVs develop a fault whereby a reset and rescan for channels appears to put everything in as you'd expect.
This situation lasts only until you put the box (or TV) into standby and then switch back on again. For no good reason, some channels may now be "missing", or have "recovered" their previous tuning criteria.
If you suspect your kit, its worth scanning with no aerial connected after a factory reset to confirm that at the end of the scan no channels are found. Then switch off (leave a few seconds) and then switch on again - there should still be no channels. Any box or TV that comes back on to a channel (or shows e.g. BBC1, possibly with a blank screen) isn't working right.
I think this is a fault with memory chip(s), but haven't confirmed.
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