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.

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 04/12/2023 Pixelation or flickering on some or all channels

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),
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 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, 89 ITV4 +1, 91 WildEarth, 209 Ketchup TV, 210 Ketchup Too, 211 YAAAS!, 267 Al Jazeera English, plus 35 others
COM5 ArqA	H max	C45 (666.0MHz)	433m	DTG-8	200,000W
	Smithsonian Channel, 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 Christmas, 70 Quest +1, 74 Yesterday +1, 75 That's 90s, 233 Sky News, plus 11 others
COM6 ArqB	H max	C39+ (618.2MHz)	433m	DTG-8	200,000W
	Quest Red +1, Classic Hits, 12 Quest, 25 W, 27 Yesterday, 34 GREAT! movies, 39 DMAX, 44 HGTV, 52 GREAT! christmas, 56 That's TV (UK), 61 GREAT! movies extra, 63 GREAT! christmas mix, 71 That’s 60s, 73 HobbyMaker, 82 Talking Pictures TV, 83 Together TV, 84 PBS America, 235 Al Jazeera Eng, plus 20 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 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?

I

ian

_{sentiment_satisfied}Silver

7:39 PM

micheal coley this is a free internet info/ message board here for your. theres nobody here who can sort or autherise persons to sort any problem that may arise

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ian's 253 posts GB flag

R

Richard

_{sentiment_satisfied}Bronze

12:30 PM

Michael,

I'm still in the same boat. As are many others. You've been fortunate to get your for 5/6 weeks. All I've had is a handful of channels for months.

Everyone east of the (ie. mostly Tamworth residents) have had the same problem. No-one seems to be forthcoming with a resolution though.

I have written to Arqiva, the BBC, Tamworth Herald and even my local MP. All to no avail (although the Herald did do two small pieces on it but nothing significant). One person on this website has a meeting with the Tamworth MP to discuss this matter as it's very wide-spread and no-one can give us any answers or provide a resolution date. We've heard everything. "you need to change your ", "you have a fault", "try re-tuning", "they're working on the mast", "you need to wait until the in September 2011", "there's nothing wrong".

I'm sure you'll agree none of these are acceptable. But still no answers.

As was pointed out above though this site is totally independant. It's purpose is to provide advice and for people to share thoughts.

All we can do is someone finally decides it's time for people to start watching TV again!

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Richard's 38 posts GB flag

M

mandy sharp
7:46 PM
Worcester

We live in postcode area wr40ha of worcester. We have lost all chanels except for bbc1 and bbc2 are the only ones we get.Its been like this for weeks .We are not happy.

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mandy sharp's 2 posts GB flag

mandy's: M's Freeview map M's terrain plot M's frequency data M's Freeview Detailed Coverage

Briantist

_{sentiment_very_satisfied}Owner

7:47 PM

mandy sharp: You use Freeview on The Wrekin TV transmitter | ukfree.tv - independent free digital TV advice - please can you see Freeview reception has changed? | ukfree.tv - independent free digital TV advice ?

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Briantist's 38,908 posts GB flag

Transmitter engineering

_{sentiment_very_satisfied}Owner

6:05 PM

- Over the next week Sutton Coldfield main transmitter: TV () Liable to interruption, TV (digital) Liable to interruption, Radio (analogue) Liable to interruption, Radio (digital) Liable to interruption. [DUK]

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Transmitter engineering's 146,845 posts xx flag

Transmitter engineering

_{sentiment_very_satisfied}Owner

6:05 PM

- Over the next week Sutton Coldfield main transmitter: TV () Liable to interruption, TV (digital) Liable to interruption, Radio (analogue) Liable to interruption, Radio (digital) Liable to interruption. [DUK]

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Transmitter engineering's 146,845 posts xx flag

A

Adam Ali
4:56 PM

Can someone please!
I live in Walsall and have a SONY KDL32EX403EU with built in . I bought it last summer for the world cup, had a new fitted on the and the came fine. It is facing . Then at the end of last year the 3 HD channels suddenly started scrambling and then disappeared totally and no matter how many times I rescan it doesnt pick them up, 50-52 do not exist. I had the aerial people out who did a and said the signal should be picking up the channels fine. I doubt there is a fault with the TV as the SD channels come fine. Please advise.

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Adam Ali's 1 post GB flag

A

AlvinF
10:54 AM
Birmingham

Adam Ali,you won't get HD if your is pointing to as the HD channels are on the , something your aerial people should know and possible move your aerial to pick up both transmitters. It depends on your location in Walsall as to the angle you are at compared to the two transmitters.I live not far from the NEC south of both these transmitters and the angle of difference between both is 23 degrees which means if I move my aerial to try to get Lichfield I lose the good signal from Sutton where all the Freeview channels come from.This will be resolved come Sept 2011 when the happens as the HD signals will move from Licfield to Sutton. this is of.

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AlvinF's 19 posts GB flag

AlvinF's: A's Freeview map A's terrain plot A's frequency data A's Freeview Detailed Coverage

Z

zack
7:38 PM

Since xmas the dropped slowly over time.
Now for over a week we can only get a couple of poor quality BBC .

Out indoor set top is far better than the main one. How does that work?

What is going on now?
I've changed all equipment and tried moving aerials and it makes no difference.

Over xmas all channels were perfect - all 116 of them including radio.

Now we cant get a single frame without massive corruption.

How on EARTH are we supposed to get a HD channel if they cant even broadcast the normal ones reliably.

According to our box we get a " Midlands" transmiter in the B34 area. ]

Suprise suprise the web maps refuse to accept any postcodes round here we know of.

This isnt free- its costing a fortune.
WE ARE FUMING - ONCE AGAIN !!!

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zack's 1 post GB flag

Briantist

_{sentiment_very_satisfied}Owner

12:27 PM

zack: Please see Freeview reception has changed? | ukfree.tv - independent free digital TV advice .

Neither nor your pay for your own , that is your responsibility.

The bad winter weather does cause damage to aerial, and they are not designed to last forever.

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Briantist's 38,908 posts GB flag

Page 11

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.

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