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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Thursday, 6 October 2011
S
steve8:06 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
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steve's: mapS's Freeview map terrainS's terrain plot wavesS's frequency data S's Freeview Detailed Coverage
J
jb388:44 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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C
C Rickards9:45 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's: mapC's Freeview map terrainC's terrain plot wavesC's frequency data C's Freeview Detailed Coverage
P
pete10:21 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
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pete's: mapP's Freeview map terrainP's terrain plot wavesP's frequency data P's Freeview Detailed Coverage
A
andrew dyke10:53 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's: mapA's Freeview map terrainA's terrain plot wavesA's frequency data A's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Friday, 7 October 2011
S
Sean9:45 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.
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C
Chris.SE10:21 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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C
Chris.SE10:28 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.
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C
Chris.SE10:55 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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C
Chris.SE11:11 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.
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