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

first published this on - UK Free TV
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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.

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), 71 That’s 60s,

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 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)433mDTG-8200,000W
Channel icons
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)433mDTG-8200,000W
Channel icons
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)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
Thursday, 31 October 2019
Friday, 1 November 2019
C
Chris.SE
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

1:22 AM

Steven Woolley:

Channel 4+1 is on the COM7HD multiplex which although broadcast from Sutton Coldfield, may not be receivable at your location. Go to Freeview | All your favourite TV shows, all in one place and all for free scroll down the page to the box "Check Freeview at my home" and enter your postcode and house number/name. Scroll down the following page where available channels are shown in "tiles". Below the initial block there is a "down arrow" if not all are displayed. But if you are only interested in the HD channels click on that button on the RHS of the top row (PS. if it says 13, you can get them all). If you scroll down just after half way down the page, there is a button "Detailed view". If you click on that it will show the predicted reception of transmitters and multiplexes that may be receivable at your location.

link to this comment
Chris.SE's 4,344 posts GB flag
Monday, 4 November 2019
R
Roy
9:13 PM

When Sutton Coldfield transmitter turns off Com7 & Com8 in June 2020, will the channels listed against them above be the ones to vanish or might there be some rearrangement/horsetrading with the lower Com channels as to what is dropped? There are some useful/major HD channels within 7 & 8, as well as some minor ones, and I like others have seen the 5G clearances of 2019 make reception of Com 7 & 8 get harder.

And does anyone know how soon the interim 209Mbps period will follow the above switch-off?

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Roy's 18 posts GB flag
S
StevensOnln1
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

11:24 PM

Roy: There has been no confirmation that COM7 & COM8 will close at Sutton Coldfield next June (it has been announced that COM7/8 will close at 5 transmitters by next Summer but Sutton Coldfield is not on that list). Ofcom have previously stated that COM7 & COM8 will be able to continue broadcasting on UHF channels 55 & 56 for up to another 2 or 3 years until those frequencies start to be used by the mobile networks (those channels fall within the centre gap between the new 700MHz uplink and downlink allocations - hence why COM7/8 have been moved to those frequencies). No announcement has been made about any channels moving to other multiplexes.

I'm not sure what you mean by interim 209Mbps period?

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StevensOnln1's 3,667 posts GB flag
Tuesday, 5 November 2019
C
Chris.SE
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

12:18 AM

StevensOnln1:

I think what Roy is referring to is the speculation here Rebuilding Freeview High Definition from 2019 onwards | free and easy that once the HD muxes COMs 7&8 close then COMs 4-6 will go HD. It is of course pure speculation that they will all go HD, one may do so initially, but it will be purely a commercial decision (we think at present) by Arqiva and the broadcasters. So the answer to Roy's question is we don't know, nothing has been announced and nothing is expected to be announced soon!

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Chris.SE's 4,344 posts GB flag
R
Roy
8:04 AM

Hi both. I was referring to what it says on this very page Sutton Coldfield (Birmingham, England) Full Freeview transmitter | free and easy namely 'Being removed from Freeview (for 5G use) by 30 June 2020' with the crossed-out logo against Com7 & Com8 and against C55 & C56 where they currently reside. The linked page Rebuilding Freeview High Definition from 2019 onwards | free and easy states that Com7 & 8 'Expire 21 June 2020' which I took to mean scheduled rather than just speculated.

I find Channel4+1 HD and 4seven HD which reside on Com7 very useful, as repeats of a major channel are useful when the major broadcasters put out their prime content 8pm-10pm and some (BBC channels) may not repeat even once. So I've clung to the Com7 channel despite a power reduction this year (I'm 30 miles from the transmitter) with more reduction to come I think I read. The Interim 209Mbps quote was again taken from the second page I mention. What I was getting at in my post was whether there was going to be a temporary (or even permanent) loss of these C4 HD repeat channels during these rearrangement phases.

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Roy's 18 posts GB flag
C
Chris.SE
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

1:00 PM

Roy:

As mentioned by StevensOnln1, UHF55&56 are in the gap between Uplink & Downlink allocations for 5G. It is the rest of the 700MHz band that will be cleared by June 2020. I'm afraid there are many listings on various pages on this site that are wrong and information that has not been fully updated by the site owner to reflect the current situation, there are over 1100+ transmitters in the UK. Some main transmitters have already lost COMs 7&8 as has been mentioned in part due to technical aspects of SFNs, but mainly due to the fact that existing equipment (mainly pre-DSO AFAIK) has to be repurposed for the new SFN allocations and it's not always technically possible and/or cost effective for Arqiva to do this.
The current allocation (gap) is planned for 5G SDL for which there is yet no proposals by the mobile operators AFAIK.
As you know there are no other HD muxes other than BBCB on which there is no more room. So until there is some future proposal by Arqiva, or intervention by HMG/OFCOM (or new agreements resulting from CEPT proposals) it's all speculation.

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Chris.SE's 4,344 posts GB flag
R
Roy
1:35 PM

Chris.SE - so if I understand you correctly, that switchoff info for Com7 & 8 may be wrong? And that Channel 55 & 56 (on which they reside) is not under threat from 5G for some time? If so, I'm hoping that gives a stopgap until the later stages create more TV stations via higher bps transmissions. Assuming that's correct, would you know if Ch55&56 will for now retain their current power output? They were reduced earlier this year, presumably interference to something else was the issue, but for outlying areas any more reduction becomes serious.

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Roy's 18 posts GB flag
S
StevensOnln1
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

2:10 PM

Roy: Nothing has been formally announced regarding what will happen with COM7 & COM8 beyond next year. The centre gap frequencies are due to be auctioned by Ofcom to the mobile operators for 5G SDL (as mentioned by Chris.SE) next year, however it is not expected that whichever mobile operator(s) end up with those frequencies will make use of them for some time (SDL is additional downlink capacity which can only be used in conjunction with another pair of downlink and uplink frequencies), hence Ofcom have said that COM7 & COM8 can continue to broadcast on those frequencies until the mobile operators are ready to use them. Reductions in broadcast power have taken place at various transmitters in order to reduce interference, whereas other transmitters have increased their output power in order to overcome additional losses at higher frequencies.

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StevensOnln1's 3,667 posts GB flag
R
Roy
2:39 PM

StevensOnln1 - OK thanks. A slightly uncertain picture but at least some hope that Com7 & Com8 may limp along for a while yet. I'll have to keep a close eye on Sutton Coldfield's 'events' schedule to see if they'll be reducing it further.

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Roy's 18 posts GB flag
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