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 
_______
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
|
|
Sunday, 9 October 2011
C
Chris.SE6:01 PM
Billy: please see my post to jack about overload, you may find it helpful.
| link to this comment |
C
Chris.SE6:07 PM
M Rawson: Which channels are you getting on both sets without the booster?
The figures for C46 were they with the booster or without?
When you say it all worked prior to DSO "albeit not brilliantly" could you provide some detail, explain.
If you put your postcode in the box Top RHS the page we may have a better idea of what signals you may be getting.
| link to this comment |
Monday, 10 October 2011
J
jack12:27 PM
Birmingham
Thank you Chris
To follow my posts look for jack. I'm the only one in this thread. I dont use email anymore I got sick of the spam so I get a random address when I do anything sorry.
I can see no information on "save my details" What does it save and where? Who has access?
We dont have hills or loft aerial that was someone else.
I removed the amp and get no signal on anything. Less than 25% power I guess
With the amp I get a reasonable signal about 50% power indicated on the othe (MUXES ?) but the two I listed above are still all over the place. eg any BBC channel is unwatchable.
postcode B34 6TA
| link to this comment |
jack's: mapJ's Freeview map terrainJ's terrain plot wavesJ's frequency data J's Freeview Detailed Coverage
B
Billy9:13 PM
Hi Jack, yes it was me, loft and hill in way.
Does not sound like over load then, if only doubling power percentage on box and without only 25%.
Yet you claim had okay before switchover, interesting.
Yes Chris, mentioned it many times myself, the mess digital has caused with the overloads and no doubt many a cowboy con aerial fixer out there has taken advantage, before and after digital switchover.
Makes me wonder about your aerial now Jack, how old, cable used and what percentages were before switch over, are you for 100% sure on sutton's muxes only and any weather, winds and rain, may have affected and gotten into aerial.
How big it is, might have moved, depends on installer, if professional enough job.
Have any way using, trying one in the loft on the amp, or another amp, do have another aerial, experimenting.
Any neighbours, can have a word with, pick their brains, they having trouble, was it okay before, what signal they getting.
So on.
Other than that, not sure what to suggest.
I don't mind, but we don't know each other, meaning might not like it, lol, but love tinkering, so unless I came around, saw it and tried things out, have 2 or 3 aerials, one a wide band like 18 element yagi, normal type on most houses.
Remember I'm 17.4 miles from Sutton Transmitter and found on log periodic, 22 element, rated at 7.5 db gain, with cable and two joins in got 35% tops, with 13db gain amp, about 70 to 80% signal strength, in loft, massive hill in way etc.
So massively robust, I'd say, meaning if I can pick up outside Waltham 42 miles away, if I lived, line of sight, not in a dip, reckon with same 13 db amp, could be some 30 to 40 miles from Sutton, and get it easily.
But, as you have said, not overload, maybe cable or aerial, most strange, any way checking connections etc, trying different leads into box, whatever.
| link to this comment |
Tuesday, 11 October 2011
J
jack1:55 PM
Before last week all channels were fine
Yes its Sutton.
Unfortunately my neighbour chucked freeview in the bin before the switchover - he couldnt get a decent signal and wasnt prepared to pay more to get one. My other neighbours are OAP's so I'm not going there!
This week all BBC channels have significantly reduced power ( 3 bars or 30% on the Humax) These were at 5 bars like all the rest before last week.
The other (MUXES?) are between 50-60% still.
It still only the BBC ones giving trouble.
If it was cables or plugs all of them would be at fault.
IF it was anything at all at my end - all of them would have problems.
I saw little or no increase in power after switchover at all but all channels worked reliably so I didnt care.
Last week they did work
This week we have no BBC channels
Nothing changed here.
It seems pretty clear cut to me.
Yesterday I spent 2 hours on the roof moving the aerial back and forth - ended up putting it back where it was installed by the engineer.
conclusion
They have reduced the power - it no longer works.
If they worked on the aerials they left something loose or missing.
If they worked on the transmitters their readings are wrong or they deliberately reduced power.
Who do I sue? Anyone have a phone number I can shout at? Would screaming loudly on the BBC web site have any effect?
We now have a whole bunch of the best TV channels we can't watch. And whats worse - the kids aren't happy.
Who exactly transmits from Sutton -
I'm open to suggestions here but lets not run round in circles anymore.
(If any of that sounds ungrateful I dont mean it to be - I'm just exhasperated)
| link to this comment |
M
M Rawson9:28 PM
Have finaly cracked my missing channels. Inspired by help on this page, I tracked down a factory reset buried in sub-menus. Then with a total retune all channels finally appeared. Still got problems with second set, however expect to beat them with persistence. Thanks
| link to this comment |
Wednesday, 12 October 2011
K
Ken9:31 AM
Alcester
I live in Alcester B49.
Before the recent retune Freeview was not good. Yesterday was unwatchable, and motorcycles passing caused all channels to break up and they would take several minutes to recover.
Now it works wonderfully. I suspect the masthead amp is still required.
Only wee problem is sometimes I lose lip sync. quick change of channel and back again resolves that.
So for me its a thumbs up. Except for the loss of dave ja vu :(
Butt here is how its made on Quest to make up for it.
And I have deleted Really from my channel list!
| link to this comment |
Ken's: mapK's Freeview map terrainK's terrain plot wavesK's frequency data K's Freeview Detailed Coverage
S
steve1:45 PM
Coalville
hi ive took off the booster and ran a cable from ariel straight to tv but its still megapixaling got all channels my second tv works fine no problems ive retuned and still same is there any thing i can do before switch over every thing work fine
| link to this comment |
steve's: mapS's Freeview map terrainS's terrain plot wavesS's frequency data S's Freeview Detailed Coverage
J
jb385:08 PM
Ken: Thanks for that report, as it gives a good indication of the signal strength being received at approx 27 miles due South of the station.
Loss of lip sync is a thing that can happen on some equipment after a glitch in the signal being received, but obviously you have discovered the simple and easy way to cure it when viewing a real time signal. (not PVR)
If your TV (or box) displays both signal and quality indications you should observe them for a few minutes on the channel known to suffer most with the lip sync problem, the purpose of this being to see if the quality rapidly dips to actual zero at any time, or that it just jumps about between two levels, because if its the latter then a booster (12-15dB) would assist with this problem by keeping the average level higher, however it wouldn't really if the dip was frequently to zero.
This said though, taking it that the signal received is not a continual 100% strength, as if it was then it could be that an intermittent signal reflection (e.g: aircraft etc) is making the signal more intense whereby its just about overloading the tuner, albeit in too rapid a fashion to cause any noticeable level of picture freezing.
| link to this comment |
Friday, 14 October 2011
Sean: Thanks. It's good to hear you have resolved your reception problem.
| link to this comment |
Select more comments
Your comment please