menuMENU    UK Free TV logo Freeview

 

 

Click to see updates

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
_______

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
Saturday, 27 June 2020
C
Chris.SE
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

6:14 PM

Roy:

There was never any final decision by OFCOM to close COMs 7&8 this June, Arqiva wanted a later date, and a lot of websites, this included hadn't corrected their information. There's also a lot of inaccurate information about COMs 7&8. Have a read of this more factual info -
Sandy Heath (Central Bedfordshire, England) Full Freeview transmitter | free and easy
The Channel 4 losses are commercial decisions by them!
What the BBC intends to do remains to be seen, there's supposedly some sort of review gong on now? with a decision in November? Haven't checked for myself.

link to this comment
Chris.SE's 4,101 posts GB flag
R
Roy
7:17 PM

Chris.SE - thanks for that info. It's interesting but about as clear as mud really. Nobody at the consumer end seems to know what's going on. It's just a matter of waiting and seeing. Given the huge market of Freeview TV viewers, I'd really have expected something firmer and more widely accessible, but from what I've learned here, I can't say I'm surprised. I'll just wait for channels to go dead. Thanks again.

link to this comment
Roy's 18 posts GB flag
A
Aerialman
sentiment_satisfiedSilver

9:55 PM

Com 8 is closing Com 7 is continuing for the time being.
For example BBC 4 HD and Quest HD has migrated to Com 7.
As of today Com 8 is still producing a signal from Sutton Coldfield,but with no broadcast programmes.

link to this comment
Aerialman's 140 posts GB flag
R
Roy
10:46 PM

Aerialman - interesting, but BBC4 HD is listed as being Com8 at Sutton Coldfield, but has nevertheless worked all week. Meanwhile the 'still working' Com7 has lost Channel4+1 HD and 4Seven HD, according to Chris.SE that was a voluntary Channel 4 decision. How does the ordinary viewer have any clue if the channels he sets to record programmes on at the start of the week will still exist, or else have moved elsewhere, by the end of it?

link to this comment
Roy's 18 posts GB flag
Sunday, 28 June 2020
S
StevensOnln1
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

10:35 AM

Roy: The owner of this website has not been able to keep the 1,100+ transmitter listings up to date with all of the changes taking place due to the 700MHz clearance programme. There have been on screen notices on all of the affected channels advising viewers of their closure, or the need to retune to continue receiving relocated channels (although many TVs will handle the retune automatically).

link to this comment
StevensOnln1's 3,605 posts GB flag
R
Roy
12:14 PM

StevensOnln1: I am absolutely not blaming the owners of a private website like this for the lack of detailed/current info. I am impressed that this site comes up No.1 when googling such transmitter queries, but equally unimpressed that the owners of the stations or the Freeview organisation themselves do not come way before ukfreetv does as a source of web info. We are talking about large, high cost commercial ventures operating in the communications industry after all; a simple website kept uptodate with what changes are happening and exactly when, as a matter of plain fact not gifted speculation, should be well within the capabilities of these other organisations.

link to this comment
Roy's 18 posts GB flag
S
StevensOnln1
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

1:43 PM

Roy: Upcoming frequency changes and planned engineering work is listed under Platform Management on the Corporate section of the Freeview website, along with a full up to date list of channel number allocations.

Platform management | Freeview

Channels moving from one multiplex to another is a commercial decision taken between the broadcaster and multiplex operator, which does not involve Freeview or Digital UK Limited. Such moved tend to be announced by the broadcasters themselves via onscreen messages and in most cases on the broadcaster's own websites, which generally get reported on various broadcasting news websites.

link to this comment
StevensOnln1's 3,605 posts GB flag
C
Chris.SE
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

4:55 PM

Roy:

I'm sorry you didn't find the information in my post that I linked to on the Sandy Heath page clear, I thought it was.
It explained that
1) OFCOM have actually got round to updating the Arqiva licence in preparation for the forthcoming auction selling off the 700MHz frequencies for mobile use
2) The fact that COM8 was closing now was a commercial decision by Arqiva with an explanation of the reasons
3) A bit of speculation about closure of COM7 not until well into 2021 at the earliest because of the factors mentioned, but in any event by 30th June 2022 as stated in the updated licence.

link to this comment
Chris.SE's 4,101 posts GB flag
R
Roy
6:11 PM

Chris.SE - your post was clear thanks, in as much as it can be with some timings still uncertain such as when exactly COM7 will finish for example. Likewise the Freeview info linked to by StevensOnln1 is fine as far as it goes, e.g. confirming COM8 goes on 30 June this year. But the problem for the ordinary user is that they don't record (or typically even know of) multiplexes, they record channels & programmes. So when I read that COM8 is about to go for commercial reasons, the first thing to cross my mind is what will happen to BBC4 HD currently there?. Elsewhere you say that C4+1 HD and 4Seven HD are quitting COM7 for commercial reasons. Does that mean BBC4 HD can move into that vacated COM7 bandwidth for the time being, or does it not work like that? This may be obvious to those working in these industries, but for those simply wanting to record the week ahead in the best definition our lovely big TV's can handle, it is not clear.

link to this comment
Roy's 18 posts GB flag
C
Chris.SE
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

6:31 PM

Roy:

As per the various pages on Platform management | Freeview and help pages, that is precisely what BBC4 HD have done.
In addition to the pop-ups that have appeared on each COM8 channel that was moving, telling you to retune to continue to receive them -
See Platform management | Freeview /channel-listings
See also 22 Jun 2020 - Important channel broadcast changes | Freeview


link to this comment
Chris.SE's 4,101 posts GB flag
Select more comments

Your comment please
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.

If you have no satellite signal, see Sky Digibox says 'No Signal' or 'Technical fault'

If you have other problems, please provide a full (not partial) postcode (or preferably enter it in box at the top right) and indicate where if aerial is on the roof, in the loft or elsewhere.

UK Free TV is here to help people. If you are rude or disrespectful all of your posts will be deleted and you will be banned.








Privacy policy: UK Free Privacy policy.