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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Sunday, 31 March 2013
jb38: The Wickes distribution amp is extremely similar to one currently available from Screwfix, and has a lead which plugs directly into the mains. See:
Labgear MSA262/S Distribution Amplifier 2 Input 6 Output | Screwfix.com
I'm not sure why you assume that I don't have a simple test meter - I have several! I have just plugged a flylead into the (now vacant) outlet socket to which the Humax had used to be connected, and applied my digital multimeter to the other end. On either AC or DC it reads 0.00 mV
I guess that I would need a very high frequency scope (which I don't have!) to be able to look for noise on the output signal. Is it possible that a capacitor in its power supply could have gone tits up after 25 years and started to generate noise? (CV358SE)
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Monday, 1 April 2013
J
jb3812:15 AM
Watt: If the distribution amp referred to is similar to that shown in the illustration then you can safely disregard any concerns that I may have expressed regarding the possibility of a DC voltage appearing across the coax connector, as I am acquaint with that model.
Can it be assumed though that you are not using the full output facility? because if you are then there is always the possibility of overloading the input on whatever its connected into.
With regards to the possibility of noise being generated from within the amplifier, although that there is always a chance of RF instability occurring in any RF amplification device, this can usually be killed off by varying the loading on the circuitry, and so try connecting the lead that goes to the Humax on a different output on the amp (not full) and with the Humax being the only device connected into it.
Also, some SMPS (switched mode) supplies are capable of creating considerable noise on a system, but I believe that this unit uses a standard older fashioned (but safer) double wound transformer power supply, you can check by setting your meter on say 10K ohms (or more) range and connecting it across the 13 amp power connector, if its a transformer supply it will read roughly the same with the test leads connected both ways around whereas NOT if SMPS.
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I
ian from notts9:15 AM
Nottingham
Watt- looks like its sorted an a 25 yr old distributor wants to retire ?
just to ask, why is there a 6 way feed in the loft for 2 tv points ?
and do you need a powered distributor foe 2 tv points ?
if ive read this right you now have 2 devices plugged into the elec supply in your loft ?
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ian's: mapI's Freeview map terrainI's terrain plot wavesI's frequency data I's Freeview Detailed Coverage
jb38: I don't think there was any risk of the Humax input being overloaded. The gain of the Wickes amp is only 6dB. The Humax was reporting 50-55% signal strength. The amp which I'm now using is 12dB and the Humax is reporting 72% And the quality is a rock-steady 100% on all muxes (which it was, even at a lower signal level once I had removed the Wickes amp from the equation)
Ian: The amp is actually in an upstairs bedroom/office rather than the loft, but that's not important. It has both TV and FM radio inputs, which it distributes to various points around the house - hence the 6 outputs. Two of these are currently used for TVs and two for radios, and the others are in position where we might want one or the other at various times.
And yes, I'm now using two amps. The additional amp has one input and 3 outputs - 2 of which are in use. The input is connected to the aerial. One of the outputs goes to the Humax and its connected TV, and another output goes to the Wickes amp's UHF input - so that will continue to do everything it's always done EXCEPT for supplying the Humax.
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Watt's: mapW's Freeview map terrainW's terrain plot wavesW's frequency data W's Freeview Detailed Coverage
J
jb383:19 PM
Watt: I only mentioned what I did purely on the basis of the Labgear device shown in link that you provided as being an example of what your Wickes looked like, and of course that model shown in the example has a socket whereby you can use the unattenuated output of 18dB as well as the normal outputs.
However apart from that, although I fully realise that you now have everything set up to your liking, it would though have been interesting to know what the result would have been if you temporarily rigged up the offending Wickes near to the Humax just to find out if it acted in exactly the same fashion to when it was installed in the loft, because by it being installed at a jumper lead length away the Humax it would have been relatively easy to carry out some experiments with it, such as for example trying each of its outputs in turn whilst observing the effect, or in the case of RF instability being suspected watching for any minor changes in the signal quality if you clamped your hand over the casing etc, to name but just a couple of tests.
Still, I suppose as you have now found a use for the amp that does not involve the Humax then that's all that matters.
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jb38: Yes, there are lots more things I COULD do but - having been tearing my hair out for 3 months, and having now found what seems to be a solution - I want to move on to other things!
Anyway, many thanks to all who have held my hand along the way.
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Watt's: mapW's Freeview map terrainW's terrain plot wavesW's frequency data W's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Friday, 5 April 2013
P
P Silverman10:13 AM
Will BBC be dismantling the "Temporary" mast at SUTTON COLDFIELD or is it now permanent?
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M
Mike Dimmick6:44 PM
P Silverman: The masts are owned by Arqiva, the BBC no longer owns any of its own transmission infrastructure (it was sold off in around 1995).
The mast is, as far as I know, temporary. Arqiva recently applied for, and were granted, a variation of the planning permission under which they extended the permanent mast. That variation (number 2012/05959/PA) says they must remove the temporary mast and its access road by 28 February next year. In practice that means it will come down this summer.
Arqiva asked for the extension of time basically because Ofcom are threatening to reorganize the TV spectrum once again, which could mean further changes to the antennas on the permanent mast. The current plan for launching the interim multiplexes in the 600 MHz band does not require any changes, however. http://www.arqiva.com/cor….pdf
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Thursday, 11 April 2013
J
jack3:06 PM
Birmingham
what is going on now
for about 2 weeks we've been getting random break-ups on multiple channels
This morning every mux except 1 went dead for about 2 minutes - no signal nothing
is freeview EVER going to be a service that can be relied on?
What are they playing around with now?
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jack's: mapJ's Freeview map terrainJ's terrain plot wavesJ's frequency data J's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Thursday, 2 May 2013
S
Sally Clayton1:04 PM
Leicester
Hello
My mother gets wonderful reception all day then at 7pm her picture breaks up for the rest of the night this has just started happening 3 nights ago. There is nothing new in the house that switches on at that time. It is really maddening as she relys on her TV. It is always 7pm on the dot.
She has an ariel on the roof that has been checked. We have also taken her Freesat box off to see if that makes any different.
Do you have any suggestions?
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Sally's: mapS's Freeview map terrainS's terrain plot wavesS's frequency data S's Freeview Detailed Coverage
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