Full Freeview on the Sutton Coldfield (Birmingham, England) transmitter

Brian Butterworth first published this on 1st May 2004 at 08:20 - UK Free TV

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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.

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.

Mux	H/V	Frequency	Height	Mode	Watts
PSB1 BBCA	H max	C43 (650.0MHz)	433m	DTG-	200,000W
	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)	433m	DTG-	200,000W
	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)	433m	DTG-	200,000W
	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 66 TBN UK,
COM4 SDN	H max	C42 (642.0MHz)	433m	DTG-8	200,000W
	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)	433m	DTG-8	200,000W
	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)	433m	DTG-8	200,000W
	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)	433m	DTG-12	10,000W
	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?

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	BBCtv_waves
C33						com7
C35						com8
C36						LOCAL2
C39					+ArqB	ArqB
C40		BBC2_waves	BBC2_waves	BBC2_waves	+BBCB	BBCB
C42					SDN	SDN
C43		ITV_waves	ITV_waves	ITV_waves	BBCA	BBCA
C45					ArqA	ArqA
C46		BBC1_waves	BBC1_waves	BBC1_waves	D3+4	D3+4
C48						_local
C50_{tv_off}		C4_waves	C4_waves	C4_waves
C51_{tv_off}						LB
C55_{tv_off}						com7_{tv_off}
C56_{tv_off}						COM8_{tv_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

Local transmitter maps

Sutton Coldfield Freeview Sutton Coldfield DAB Sutton Coldfield AM/FM Sutton Coldfield TV region BBC West Midlands Central (West micro region)

Which companies have run the Channel 3 services in the Sutton Coldfield transmitter area

Feb 1956-Jul 1968	Associated TeleVision†
Feb 1956-Jul 1968	Associated British Corporation◊
Jul 1968-Dec 1981	Associated TeleVision
Jan 1982-Feb 2004	Central Independent Television
Feb 2004-Dec 2014	ITV plc

Feb 1983-Dec 1992	TV-am•
Jan 1993-Sep 2010	GMTV•
Sep 2010-Dec 2014	ITV 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.

Is the transmitter output the same in all directions?

P

Phil
11:24 AM

Phil Draper:
Thanks for the reply to my post, couldn't receive a few i.e. Drama Quest and a couple more

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Phil's 2 posts GB flag

G

Gordon Insley
11:45 AM

Phil Draper:
Phil,
From where you are located (Melbourne area) you should be able to receive good signals on all mux's from both and . You are roughly equidistant from Waltham and Sutton Coldfield.
Waltham transmits most at 50KW and some at 25KW whereas all Sutton Coldfields transmissions are 200KW. So, Sutton Coldfield wins that contest.
Provided there is no hill, tall building(s), tree's in direct line of sight from your to the intended and the aerial is outdoors not in the then there should be no problem receiving good from either of the transmitters.
If you have some old grouped C/D aerial i.e. not , then that might be your problem. If that's the case then swap out your old aerial for a Fracarro Log-Periodic LP45NF or Televes DAT HD (available with built-in amp). Both are wideband high aerials (11.5dB & 17dB/active 29dB), the log-periodic being a little more critical on alignment (more rifle shot that shotgun). With a decent aerial you may not need a head unless the run is >15m or more. And a wideband antenna will see you through the requirements for reception following the new channel frequency changes (2017-2020) that are coming soon.

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Gordon Insley's 8 posts GB flag

I

Ima
7:24 AM

Hi
I have 2 aerials in my . One serves downstairs and the other upstairs (for kids rooms until they left. Now one big tv for grandchildren's playroom.

Downstairs receives 38 from llangrannog but upstairs receives 78 from blaenplwf. Swapping leads makes no difference. Tv taken upstairs receives 78 on either/both aerials . Tv , digiboxes etc taken downstairs no longer receive 78 , only the 38 from llangrannog.
I would have thought that it was the aerials alignment that determined , not where the tv is situated. All tv's, tuners, hdd recorders, now tv smart box, tune in 78 channels from both aerials when upstairs but only 38 when downstairs.
How can I block llangrannog and force receivers downstairs to receive Blaenplwf please

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Ima's 1 post GB flag

A

Aerialman

_{sentiment_satisfied}Silver

11:55 AM

Ima: The first issue you have is that the 3 Com from ,channels 22,25,28,correspond to the three channels broadcast from the Llangrannog .This may affect the as well as the signal strength thus incurring the ' cliff' poor quality/no .
I am making an assumption that you are on higher ground above the village and sea front and that is why you are receiving a use-able signal from Blaen-plwyf?To improve your a top would be a better option and better still if if you're on high enough ground and can receive TV all channels are clear of from any local transmitters.
After all the Llangrannog relay is dependent on the incoming signal it receives from Presely.

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Aerialman's 140 posts GB flag

J

Jan
3:38 PM

Used to get , presumably from . Been busy not watched much tv for a long while, turn it on one day and retune as tv asks and I get . Try all the retune even manually retuning after deleting and reading both instructions off TV sites and my tv. Still, I get BBC West Midlands and that area news/weather. Even got checked. On checking transmitter it seems we no longer get coverage or for our area from Waltham, but from and no alternative transmitter. Has the area surrounding suddenly moved to the West Midlands? Really annoying I cannot any longer rely on local news being on tv , now I have more time to relax .

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Jan's 2 posts GB flag

S

StevensOnln1

_{sentiment_very_satisfied}Platinum

5:00 PM

Jan: Please provide a full postcode so we can see the coverage for your location. hasn't suddenly reduced its coverage area so there must be some kind of fault or somewhere. When you say you've tried manual tuning, which UHF have you tried this with?

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StevensOnln1's 3,671 posts GB flag

MikeP

_{sentiment_very_satisfied}Platinum

11:42 AM

Jan:

*is* still covered by the as it has been for years (I used to be a senior Engineer for a TV rental company in Loughborough and we serviced Coalville and sorrounding areas for years).

If you look at https://ukfree.tv/transmi…ham, you will see that you are served from Waltham.

The channel numbers you need to tune to are: 49 (for PSB1-BBCA), 54 (for PSB2-D3&4), 58 (for PSB3-BBCB), 29 (for SDN-COM4), 56 (for ArqA-COM5), 57 (for ArqB-COM6), 26 (for LNG), 31 (for COM7) and 37 (for COM8). As some of those are lower than a Group C/D can receive, you will need either a Group K or a Log-Periodic aerial to get all the available channels.

that helps?

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MikeP's 3,056 posts GB flag

R

RichardW
11:56 AM

is down this morning. I tried a manual retune which returned 0 :(

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RichardW's 1 post GB flag

M

MikeB

_{sentiment_very_satisfied}Platinum

3:44 PM

RichardW: Why would that be down? Sounds more like a fault with your system - I'd check the other muxes and then your cabling.

Brianist: I'm getting an expired security certificate when I try to access UKFree.TV on Chrome - is it just me?

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MikeB's 2,579 posts GB flag

MikeP

_{sentiment_very_satisfied}Platinum

2:44 PM

MikeB:

It's not just you, I'm getting it in Firefox, Chrome and Opera.

So I can fix this for everyone.

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MikeP's 3,056 posts GB flag

Page 193

Please post a question, answer or commentIf you have Freeview reception problems before posting a question your must first do this Freeview reset procedure then see: Freeview reception has changed, Single frequency interference, and Freeview intermittent interference.

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