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
|
|
Monday, 2 March 2015
B
Bob Langley2:20 PM
Dear UK Free TV Help,
I'm unable to receive Big Centre TV on Channel 8 in Lichfield (WS136NS) despite retuning (new installation following 'channel wipe') and having modern receivers a good aerial and generally excellent signal.
Any help appreciated.
Thanks in advance,
Bob.
| link to this comment |
M
Mark Wood2:56 PM
Bob Langley: Bob you are out of range and in completely the wrong direction to receive Big Centre TV I'm afraid. Although it is transmitting from the Sutton Coldfield transmitter it is (like all of the local TV stations) broadcasting a directional signal - in this case towards Birmingham. It is also broadcast on a pretty low strength signal (10,000 watts whereas a lot of the other Multiplexs that carry the TV channels are at 200,000 watts).
| link to this comment |
J
jb389:40 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.
| link to this comment |
Tuesday, 3 March 2015
B
Bob Langley12:43 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)
| link to this comment |
M
Mark Wood2:43 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.
| link to this comment |
Wednesday, 4 March 2015
B
Bob Langley2:18 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.
| link to this comment |
Sunday, 8 March 2015
L
Lorraine smith1:02 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's: ...
M
MikeB4:20 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 |
Saturday, 28 March 2015
M
mark holland1:04 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
| link to this comment |
mark's: ...
J
jb383:41 PM
mark holland: Quite possibly! as Sutton Coldfield is listed on the "planned engineering works" page for the week commencing 23/03/2015 as being subject to "possible service interruptions".
| link to this comment |
Select more comments
Your comment please