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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 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, 6 October 2011
S
steve
8:06 PM
Coalville

hi i have lost all the channels and when i do get some they just mega pixall all the time my ariel is on the roof it runs 2 tv with a booster on as well but still no good do you think i need a new ariel many thanks

link to this comment
steve's 3 posts GB flag
steve's: mapS's Freeview map terrainS's terrain plot wavesS's frequency data S's Freeview Detailed Coverage
J
jb38
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

8:44 PM

steve: As you are only 22 miles away from Sutton Coldfield you could be receiving a signal that's on the verges of being too powerful, so try a test by temporarily removing your booster, the symptoms of an over powerful signal being exactly the same as a weak one.

That said taking it that you are receiving Sutton coldfield and not Waltham @ 23 miles away.

To test which carry out a signal check on BBC1, if Sutton its Mux Ch43 / Waltham Mux Ch61.

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jb38's 7,179 posts GB flag
C
C Rickards
9:45 PM
Reading

Since the change over (28 Sept 11) most of the free view channels appear to have lower power signal and hence we are suffering a lot of pixelation. Our humax PVR is struggling to record programmes. The HD channels are perfect (ch 50-54). Prior to the change over we received good free view signals. We receive our signals from the Oxford Transmitter. My old Pace PVR is not even picking up the EPG
The arial is situated in the loft.
I have retuned all my equipment on both 14 & 28 Sept.
Can you advise please

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C Rickards's 1 post GB flag
C's: mapC's Freeview map terrainC's terrain plot wavesC's frequency data C's Freeview Detailed Coverage
P
pete
10:21 PM
Birmingham

Hi i am on virgin cable with an aerial on roof which runs 2 tv's in 2 bedrooms which have no signal,cable runs the tv in lounge,which is fine. i have tried to retune tv's to no effect can you help thanx

link to this comment
pete's 2 posts GB flag
pete's: mapP's Freeview map terrainP's terrain plot wavesP's frequency data P's Freeview Detailed Coverage
A
andrew dyke
10:53 PM
Broseley

I run bt vison down stairs and the freeview u stairs thourgh a booster but last 6 weeks keep lossing bbc channls or poor siganl part pictures comming thourgh and tonight all main 5 channles the same

link to this comment
andrew dyke's 1 post GB flag
andrew's: mapA's Freeview map terrainA's terrain plot wavesA's frequency data A's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Friday, 7 October 2011
S
Sean
9:45 AM

Posted a week or so regarding problems leading to several channel scans being required, and leading to:
- duplicate channels being found
- another transmitter being found
- losing PSB1/BBCA
From Coventry, tuning into Sutton Coldfield.

Update - Did another scan last night, and based on advice here, removed my aerial booster & did an initial scan without the aerial plugged in. Then scanned again.

SUCCESS! All now seems fine. Thank-you, great advice from those concerned.

link to this comment
Sean's 2 posts GB flag
C
Chris.SE
sentiment_satisfiedSilver

10:21 AM

KEVIN GARDINER: If you read my reply to Keith Ratcliffe more carefully you would have seen my reply clearly inferred there was a distribution system. If you had have read BOTH his posts you would have seen he was in flats.

Secondly, if you are going to go quoting signals strengths (which you are presumably getting from Wolfbane or somewhere similar), it would be nice if you quoted them correctly ie. 65dBuV/m, also it would be good if you got them the right way round - in one of your posts on another board, the figure you quoted for the COM muxes was in fact for the PSB muxes and what's more the COM muxes were not on full power, so that figure was wrong.

Thirdly, when people are using boosters, masthead amps or distribution systems the figures are meaningless with regard to what is arriving at the set as it will depend on amp gain and losses in the cables etc.

Fourthly, the figures will in the main be meaningless to most of the people posting here with problems and to the people where the figures do mean things, they are generally people who are helping out and know a bit about what they are talking about.

My conclusion - it is pointless posting the figures, it only confuses the people who need help and perhaps puts them off posting back IMHO.

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Chris.SE's 251 posts GB flag
C
Chris.SE
sentiment_satisfiedSilver

10:28 AM

steve: In addition to what jb38 has suggested, did you get all the Multiplexes before DSO? Do a full reset following the link in the yellow box below "Freeview reset procedure" which will clear all previous setting & channels in case you set is getting mixed up with all the channels.

link to this comment
Chris.SE's 251 posts GB flag
C
Chris.SE
sentiment_satisfiedSilver

10:55 AM

C Richards: You are posting on the Sutton Coldfield board - you would see a lot of useful advice on the Oxford board :)
That said, since the transmitter power increases at DSO, you should be getting a much stronger signal. If you are using a booster you may now be getting too strong a signal at your sets, so it's worth trying it without a booster.
But first, try the full reset procedure from the link in the yellow box below "Freeview reset procedure".
You may need to do a manual tune with your Humax, I'm not sure how fussy that model is, also make sure you have the latest firmware.

If your Pace is a Pace DTR730 or DTR735 then I'm afraid it's a recycle job and get a new one. Those models do not work with the 8K transmission mode used after DSO.

If you continue to have problems, please post back on the Oxford board with full details of your installation and what you have tried, and someone will help. It's possible that because you have a loft aerial you may not get away with no booster, but may still need an attenutor to reduce the signal a bit.

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Chris.SE's 251 posts GB flag
C
Chris.SE
sentiment_satisfiedSilver

11:11 AM

pete: Is the aerial pointing NNE with the rods horizontal? Try the full reset procedure using the link in the yellow box below "Freeview reset procedure"
If you still have no joy, post back with as much detail as you can of your aerial, splitter and model numnber of boxes beinmg used in the bedrooms.

link to this comment
Chris.SE's 251 posts GB flag
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Your comment please
Please post a question, answer or commentIf you have Freeview reception problems before posting a question your must first do this Freeview reset procedure then see: Freeview reception has changed, Single frequency interference, and Freeview intermittent interference.

If you have no satellite signal, see Sky Digibox says 'No Signal' or 'Technical fault'

If you have other problems, please provide a full (not partial) postcode (or preferably enter it in box at the top right) and indicate where if aerial is on the roof, in the loft or elsewhere.

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