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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 25/03/2024 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),

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 Drama, 21 5USA, 29 ITV2 +1, 32 5STAR, 33 5Action, 38 Channel 5 +1, 41 Legend, 42 GREAT! action, 57 Dave ja vu, 58 ITVBe +1, 59 ITV3 +1, 64 Blaze, 67 TRUE CRIME, 68 TRUE CRIME XTRA, 78 TCC, 81 Blaze +1, 83 Together TV, 89 ITV4 +1, 91 WildEarth, 209 Ketchup TV, 210 Ketchup Too, 211 YAAAS!, 267 Al Jazeera English, plus 30 others

COM5
ArqA
 H max
C45 (666.0MHz)433mDTG-8200,000W
Channel icons
11 Sky Mix, 17 Really, 19 Dave, 31 E4 Extra, 36 Sky Arts, 40 Quest Red, 43 Food Network, 47 Film4 +1, 48 Challenge, 49 4seven, 60 Drama +1, 65 That's TV 2, 70 Quest +1, 74 Yesterday +1, 75 That's 90s, 233 Sky News, plus 11 others

COM6
ArqB
 H max
C39+ (618.2MHz)433mDTG-8200,000W
Channel icons
12 Quest, 25 W, 27 Yesterday, 34 GREAT! movies, 39 DMAX, 44 HGTV, 52 GREAT! romance, 56 That's TV (UK), 61 GREAT! movies extra, 63 GREAT! romance mix, 71 That’s 60s, 73 HobbyMaker, 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
Monday, 2 March 2015
J
jb38
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

9:40 PM

Bob Langley : Although you are located at an angle to the rear of the S/C transmitter, you are still indicated on the coverage chart as being able to receive the L-BRM signal. Therefore if your TV or box has a "manual" tuning facility, try entering C51 but "not" followed by pressing scan, as on most devices if any signal is being received, the strength and quality (the most important!) of the signal (no matter how low) will be indicated on the signal bars free of threshold level restrictions.



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jb38's 7,179 posts GB flag
Tuesday, 3 March 2015
B
Bob Langley
12:43 PM

I'm not sure this will be appreciated but the following is what I have received from the Channel who were good enough to ask Comux about my problem.


"Hi Bob

I have just had this in from the network operator Comux - I asked them to look into it, and here is their reply.

Thanks Clare - I've plotted that postcode on the detailed coverage map and this is very marginal - it's right on the extreme fringes of where the signal should reach, and parts of Lichfield look like they have no coverage at all - the map isn't quite detailed enough to pinpoint the exact home, but it's possible it's in one of those areas.

The suggestion from ukfree.tv about direction is wrong, looking at the coverage maps for Sutton Coldfield, but I am not sure what we can do about that site - it appears to be run by well-meaning enthusiasts who aren't armed with all the right information. I think Comux tried to make contact with them before. Sutton Coldfield is not as directional as a lot of other local TV masts.

There are some discrepancies between the postcode databases however -
WS13 postcodes do not appear in the Arqiva data, but they are appearing in the Freeview postcode checker - we think they get their postcode data from the BBC, and it is on our radar to address with DigitalUK"

Not very complementary to yourselves.

The key issue is that my postcode should not return "within coverage area" when queried on the Freeview website/telephone help.

Sincere thanks for your help, rather than 'shifting the blame' which others seek to do (not Big Centre TV, I might add)


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Bob Langley's 3 posts GB flag
M
Mark Wood
sentiment_satisfiedBronze

2:43 PM

Bob Langley: Please accept my apologies Bob as it was I who provided you with the incorrect information. The information was provided in good faith, but I made a mistake for which I apologise.

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Mark Wood's 62 posts GB flag
Wednesday, 4 March 2015
B
Bob Langley
2:18 PM

No apology needed. You quickly saved me wasting any more time! I have no idea why Freeview Help operators are not made aware of the difference between Local TV channels. My conversation with them should have gone along the lines of " So all your Freeview channels apart from Channel 8 (51) are getting a strong signal. Oh, Channel 8 is Local TV and is much lower powered and you are unlikely to receive it... Sorted.
Thanks once again for your help.

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Bob Langley's 3 posts GB flag
Sunday, 8 March 2015
L
Lorraine smith
1:02 PM

No signal at all through main ariel however can get channels on independent Ariel, so I know the TVs is ok the signal went off at around 11.45 last night I live in West Bromwich b70 0 sf Please help

link to this comment
Lorraine smith's 1 post GB flag
Lorraine's: ...
M
MikeB
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

4:20 PM

Lorraine smith: Your main aerial has a problem - check the path back from the TV (loose or broken aerial lead?), and right up to the aerial, or call someone out to look at it.

link to this comment
MikeB's 2,579 posts GB flag
Thursday, 12 March 2015
Transmitter engineering
sentiment_very_satisfiedOwner

4:30 AM

SUTTON COLDFIELD transmitter - MainPossible weak signal [DUK]

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Transmitter engineering's 149,799 posts xx flag
Monday, 16 March 2015
Transmitter engineering
sentiment_very_satisfiedOwner

9:09 AM

SUTTON COLDFIELD transmitter - MainPossible service interruptions [DUK]

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Transmitter engineering's 149,799 posts xx flag
Wednesday, 25 March 2015
Transmitter engineering
sentiment_very_satisfiedOwner

4:31 AM

SUTTON COLDFIELD transmitter - MainPossible service interruptions [DUK]

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Transmitter engineering's 149,799 posts xx flag
Saturday, 28 March 2015
M
mark holland
1:04 PM
Kingswinford

Transmitter engineering:
hi I live in kingwsinford dy6 9ed west midlands my freeview is brakeing up badly the last two days I have cheaked my aerial and its ok . have you got problems at Sutton Coldfield ????

regards
m Holland

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mark holland's 1 post GB flag
mark's: ...
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