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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
Tuesday, 10 April 2012
H
Humax man
11:03 PM

WV16 postcode area, Bridgnorth town centre.

Yes, compared both LG and Humax to check they are both tuned to the same MUX.

The problem as far as I can be sure has only started in the last few days and is more prominent in the evening. Owned the Humax for around 3 months with no problems until now.

link to this comment
Humax man's 3 posts PL flag
H
Humax man
11:50 PM

Ah, all happy now. Traced to a failing splitter in the loft. Originally, we only fed one TV from the booster in the loft, but as we've added more sets, I've piggy backed a couple of cheap splitters. One had begun to fail.

I've replaced it, and now have 82% strength, 100% quality.

Thanks both.

link to this comment
Humax man's 3 posts PL flag
Saturday, 14 April 2012
M
Mr phillips
2:37 PM

Im in redditch and my arial is on the gable end its a its been set up two years and all this week out picture keeps pixilating engineer says every thing is fine . So it must be suttons transmitter . We sould never have moved from anolog as in 28 year we never had a problen !

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Mr phillips's 1 post GB flag
Briantist
sentiment_very_satisfiedOwner

10:23 PM

Mr phillips: Given the other 1,869,999 homes using the transmitter are having no problems, I would suggest the problem is likley to be at your end. I would have a look at Freeview reception has changed? | ukfree.tv - independent free digital TV advice .

link to this comment
Briantist's 38,915 posts GB flag
Tuesday, 8 May 2012
D
David Pound
9:07 PM
Daventry

I have an HD TV with built in Freeview, and a Panasonic HDD recorder. I get good reception and I understand that my transmitter is Sutton Coldfield (I get Midlands Today on BBC1). But I cannot get any HD programmes. Ch 50 and 54 do not come up on the "Guide" on the Recorder nor when I try to enter them with the TV alone. How can I get these channels?
I should add that I am at present getting messages about a re-tune needed tomorrow (9 May) which seems to refer to Sandy Heath.

link to this comment
David Pound's 4 posts GB flag
David's: mapD's Freeview map terrainD's terrain plot wavesD's frequency data D's Freeview Detailed Coverage
J
jb38
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

10:54 PM

David Pound: Are you sure that the TV in question is not an "HD ready" device? as if it is than cannot receive HD transmissions, if you have the manual for the set have a look in the specifications section / tuner and check if you see either DVB-T or DVB-T2 mentioned, as if its the former it cannot receive HD, if though you do not have the manual then if you provide the model number of the TV this can be checked out.

The re-tune message for tomorrow is because SDN is moving from ch31 to ch51 and increasing in power to 170kw, other than that nothing else is changing.

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jb38's 7,179 posts GB flag
Wednesday, 9 May 2012
D
David Pound
8:20 AM
Daventry

Thank you jb38. The TV (Hitachi 19LD4550U) does indeed say "HD Ready". My my understanding of that phrase is that it means the set is capable of receiving HD when that becomes available. That was certainly one reason I bought it. If it doesn't mean that, what does it mean?
I cannot see any mention of either DVB-T or DVB-T2 in the instruction manual. It does however have an HDMI input socket.

link to this comment
David Pound's 4 posts GB flag
David's: mapD's Freeview map terrainD's terrain plot wavesD's frequency data D's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Saturday, 12 May 2012
Sunday, 13 May 2012
D
David Pound
9:59 AM
Daventry

"It DOES NOT mean that the set can pick up Freeview HD, Freesat HD, Sky HD or Virgin Media HD without a set-top box."

Quite so. But the TV DOES have a box - or rather it has a built in Freeview box. So why can I not get the HD chanells?




link to this comment
David Pound's 4 posts GB flag
David's: mapD's Freeview map terrainD's terrain plot wavesD's frequency data D's Freeview Detailed Coverage
J
jb38
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

11:06 AM

David Pound: Its simply because that the tuner fitted in HD Ready TV's is only capable of receiving DVB-T coded transmissions and doesn't recognise anything other than type of signal, whereas tuners in genuine HD receivers are capable of recognising DVB-T2 transmissions as well as DVB-T, the "T2" being the thing that differentiates between the two.

I, right from the start, have always disagreed with trading standards allowing "HD Ready" to be used on TV's that can only display a Hi-def image via an external source as this misleading statement was guaranteed to cause problems, which of course it did at the time and still does.

By the way, its because that a DVB-T2 transmission is in effect invisible to a DVB-T tuner that a "no signal" indication is always seen on any attempt to manually tune in an HD mux.

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jb38's 7,179 posts GB flag
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Your comment please
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