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.
This transmitter has no current reported problems
The BBC and Digital UK report there are no faults or engineering work on the Sutton Coldfield (Birmingham, England) transmitter._______
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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Friday, 8 February 2013
N
Nick5:34 PM
Halesowen
Nick: hmmm increased mast height by 1 metre, Signal not 100% but now all channels returned. Channel 39 still not brilliant but at least its there. White knuckles from adding to my pole off a ladder though :-o
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Nick's: mapN's Freeview map terrainN's terrain plot wavesN's frequency data N's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Tuesday, 26 March 2013
I have a strange problem! I'm on the edge of the Sutton Coldfield coverage area (CV35) but have what seems to be a perfectly good signal from a Group B aerial on the chimney and a distribution amplifier.
One of the amp outputs feeds a Humax HDR-FOX-T2 PRV with a Philips flat screen HD-Ready TV daisy chained off it.
For the last 4 months or so, I have been getting picture freezes and breakups while watching the TV via the Humax (connected by HDMI) and when recording stuff on the Humax. This can affect all channels but is mainly on channels from the COM5 and COM6 muxes. When this happens, the Humax reports an adequate signal strength, but dire signal quality. However, if I switch to the TV's tuner and watch the same channels on that, the picture is perfectly ok - and the Philips reports that the qulaity is "excellent"!
I assumed that this must indicate a problem with the Humax. However, I've just had that replaced and the problem is still there - worse if anything!
Where do I go from here?
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Watt's: mapW's Freeview map terrainW's terrain plot wavesW's frequency data W's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Thursday, 28 March 2013
I
ian from notts8:10 AM
Nottingham
Watt- do the recorder and the tv show the signals as being on the same frequency ?
the humax may find and store a rogue signal from a different transmitter, resulting in poor quality
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ian's: mapI's Freeview map terrainI's terrain plot wavesI's frequency data I's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Yes, both the TV and the Humax are manually tuned to SC's 6 muxes, so it's a like for like comparison. The worst problems are with the COM6 mux (UHF channel 39+, 618.2 MHz on both). There are also problems on COM5 (Ch 45, 666MHz) but the ones in between are largely ok. [I first did an auto tune with no aerial connected, to clear out any spurious stuff, so neither has any 'duplicates' in the 800's.]
I've been trying to think whether I could have done anything to cause the problem. Not long before I started having problems, I installed a power-line ethernet link to connect the Humax to my broadband router. I wondered whether that could be injecting noise into the Humax and affecting that but not the TV. But I've now totally disconnected that, and the problem hasn't gone away! I don't know what to try next.
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Watt's: mapW's Freeview map terrainW's terrain plot wavesW's frequency data W's Freeview Detailed Coverage
J
jb389:05 PM
Watt: With regards to the problem mentioned, purely for purposes of elimination I would be interested to know the outcome of a couple of tests, albeit that by rights no changes should be noticed if all is in order.
The first is to leave the Humax on its signal condition screen and note if any changes are evident when you remove the daisy chain RF connection from the Humax into the TV.
If not, then try moving the HDMI cable around that links the box into the TV whilst closely observing if any changes are seen in the signal quality whilst doing so.
I did note you mention that both TV and Humax are tuned to the same two muxes, as other than that I would have been inclined to be thinking along the same lines as ian from notts insomuch that the Humax might possibly be tuned to another transmitter, Lark Stoke being the most likely as the predictor does indicate fractionally better reception of ArqA Ch44 / ArqB Ch47 from that transmitter, but though if you have double checked that both are on the same mux channel numbers then that has to be discounted.
The aspect I find rather puzzling being, that although the tuners used in Philips TV's are generally very good (although model dependant) Humax tuners also come into that category but with no qualification such as that made regarding the Philips, and with this being why I find what you are reporting to be a bit unusual.
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Many thanks for your suggestions jb38. I'll try them in the daytime tomorrow - which is when the problem tends to occur. It's usually ok at this time (~10pm)of night.
Lark Stoke is in an almost diametrically opposite direction to Sutton Coldfield, and is vertically polarised. Having said that, when I first retuned my TV following DSO (before I bought the Humax) I did pick up some watchable Lark Stoke transmissions off the back of the aerial! I then took to manual tuning, and have always tuned the Humax manually. I surely shouldn't be getting interference from Lark Stoke? It doesn't use any of the same channels as Sutton Coldfield. My most problematic mux is COM6 (39+) and Lark Stoke's nearest to that is its COM4 (41+).
About 25% of my neighbours have their aerials pointing at LS, the rest at SC. In extremis, I could replace the aerial and use LS instead. It might be a better bet in some ways because, although it isn't as powerful as SC, there are less hills in the way. [We're in the shadow of Hatton Hill, with a straight line from SC to my aerial barely clearing the ground in some places]. But that begs the question as to why the Philips TV copes ok but the Humax doesn't! [It's a fairly old (by TV standards) Philips TV - circa 2006. Don't know whether that's good or bad as far as tuner quality goes!]
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Watt's: mapW's Freeview map terrainW's terrain plot wavesW's frequency data W's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Friday, 29 March 2013
J
jb3812:31 AM
Watt: Yes, as everything you have mentioned regarding Lark Stoke etc is quite correct as far as picking it up on the rear of your aerial is concerned, albeit with it not only being 40 degrees out but also on the wrong polarity.
But though its the content in the latter paragraph of your reply that I also find to be puzzling because it should simply not happen where a Humax device is involved, but the fact that it does is inclined to indicate the existence of some type of oddball problem, this being why I requested that you try these tests whilst the Humax was effectively isolated in the RF sense from the TV, i.e:- no daisy chain link.
The other point I forgot to mention being to make sure that the antenna power supply is switched off on the Humax, this achieved via the installation menu.
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I
ian from notts8:09 AM
Nottingham
Watt- do you have other devices sat on or near your humax ? if so you could try putting the humax in the open (as such).
also a lot of coax behind the tv unit may cause problems ? if they are sat on power cables ?
the humax tuner could be accepting the faults more than the tv does, as jb38 said both names are known for reliabillity though ?
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ian's: mapI's Freeview map terrainI's terrain plot wavesI's frequency data I's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Antenna power is definitely OFF, and always has been. There is not a lot of co-ax behind the TV. There is a single cable all the way from the distribution amp, which is chased into the wall and emerges from an outlet with its innards removed, and goes straight to the Humax with no intermediate socket or fly-lead.
I have removed the RF lead between Humax and TV with no effect on the signal quality bar. Ditto with waggling the HDMI lead.
The TV (with its own stand) sits on a 3-shelf TV unit, with the bottom shelf about 3" from the floor and the other shelves about 9" apart. The Humax has always sat immediatly on top of a DVD player on the middle shelf, so as to be about 12" under the TV. The DVD player is invariably OFF when not in use - although I suppose by that, I mean that it's on standby, and is receiving SOME power, because it can be woken up by its remore control.
Anyway, in case this is having any effect, I've now moved the Humax - on its own - onto the bottom shelf, so that there is now about 20" of clearance from the bottom of the TV. That MAY have made a BIT of difference - but certainly hasn't effected a total cure. The quality bar on Ch39 is still 'tromboning' but only seems to be going between 100% and about 70% rather than down to 50% or lower before. But it would take a longer period of observation to be sure, because the problem tends to come and go. There is still SOME evidence of picture break-up.
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Watt's: mapW's Freeview map terrainW's terrain plot wavesW's frequency data W's Freeview Detailed Coverage
J
jb388:16 PM
Watt : Now that having moved the position of the box has "seemingly" (as its not been positively proven) somewhat improved the situation then the variation in signal quality that you report on Ch39 is something that I would not consider as being that terribly unusual in situations such as yours, and where the signal path from the transmitter is known to be sweeping over ground at a relatively low angle such as applies with reception from the Sutton Coldfield transmitter whereas not with signals being received from Lark Stoke.
Checks made on the terrain indicator reveals that the secondary aspect of signal from Sutton C starts being affected from roughly 7 miles away, but though much more so within the last 4 miles of your location, this immediately making it vulnerable to suffer from the effects of the terrain that its passing over such as from trees or other forms of vegetation, this being the thing that introduces the aspect of erratic quality to the signal because of data corruption, plus of course coupled to an indication that the signal being received will most likely be susceptible to seasonal changes of the terrain.
The other point that should be noted being, that signal indications displayed on Humax boxes are nearer in reality of what might be observed on a professional signal meter (albeit these being in db's) than that displayed on most TV's which are inclined to give indications that are far higher than the true level, the problem there being that a quality indication of say 100% on a TV might well still be erratic but hidden by the fact of the indication being somewhat embroidered, whereby a full scale indication does not necessarily always represent the entire signal whereas it does on a Humax, this being why a more accurate assessment of a situation can generally be made when using signal reports taken from a Humax box in preference to that from other devices.
That said though, there just had to something amiss with your set up when you reported the Humax as indicating dire quality whereas excellent on the Philips, still a report on observations made over the next few days would be interesting.
By the way, is your TV an LCD (LED illumination) or Plasma type?
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