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.
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 04/11/2024 Pixelation or flickering on some or all channels 
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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
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Thursday, 22 September 2011
J
Jon9:38 AM
Thanks Brian. I don't expect the world to stand still, far from it. But you'd be surprised at how many of my friends, all in their early 30s, IT literate and by no means luddites either, have been caught out by this.
This is due to the message which has been pushed by the Digital Switchover campaign. Which was, broadly, "You will need a digital TV to watch telly after 21 September 2011". Which is true. But ignores the fact that, "You will need an even newer telly to watch the new digital channels after 21 September 2011."
From reading around on this subject, it appers that DVB-T2 relies on an entirely different chipset, which has only been installed in new TV equipment for the past 18 months or so. I don't consider my two and half year old Samsung HD Ready Freeview digital TV to be old or outdated, and I'm obviously disappointed that the HD channels are using an entirely different platform. Especially it was old to me as being "future-proof."
In the meantime, all of the literature pushed through my door about the switchover contains the BBC HD logo. But makes no distinction between HD ready and Freeview HD.
A lot of people will be caught out by this, and be angry that their relatively new hardware is already out of date.
I appreciate it's progress, but I rememebr Betamax was better than VHS, but VHS won out due to its market share. Surely the powers must be must appreciate that the overwhelming majority of digital TV sets in the UK are DVB-T and not DVB-T2?
Frankly, I shouldn't have to keep buying a new box every 3-5 years.
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D
David S9:44 AM
Leicester
A final footnote from me. About midnight on 20th, most of my channels disappeared. Only the BBC Matrix survived. Gave up and went to bed
In the morning, I retuned.
Every channel now working at good strength, and I now have 4 HD channels.
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David's: mapD's Freeview map terrainD's terrain plot wavesD's frequency data D's Freeview Detailed Coverage
B
beresford9:44 AM
I live in Hall Green (S Birmingham) and have an old rooftop aerial with a length of fossilised coax feeding two Freeview tuners. Both tuners show signal strength and quality as full scale. Should I (and presumably everybody else from here to Sutton Coldfield) be worrying about attenuation and should you be suggesting appropriate values for different areas?
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M
MikeRead9:51 AM
Walsall
I was looking forward to receiving the HD channels on my new Full HD TV after switchover but I still can't get them.
An auto-tune yesterday morning picked up all the MUXs except the HD one so I tried a manual tune where the signal strength is displayed on each channel as you choose it.
Channels 39,42,43,45,46 all show very strong signals but channel 40 where the HD channels should be shows ZERO signal.
It can't be an aerial problem surely since 39 and 42 are both perfect, but in case it's relevant, aerial is in the loft and pointed towards Sutton Coldfield which is 7.2 miles away. Before switchover it sometimes but not always managed to pick up Ch55 so I have inferred it to be a group B aerial.
Ch40 was BBC2 analogue before 07/09, and ITV1 analogue between 07/09 and 21/09 and we always picked them up perfectly.
I have tried retunes on several occasions over the last day and a half and channel 40 always shows zero signal. It's as if it just isn't broadcasting yet but other posters reckon its ok.
Any clues?
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MikeRead's: mapM's Freeview map terrainM's terrain plot wavesM's frequency data M's Freeview Detailed Coverage
R
Ryan10:15 AM
Briantist, thanks for the response. Yes, the aerial is outside and only a few years old and I have a prediction of a good signal.
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J
JohnB10:19 AM
MikeRead: Is your HD TV definitely "Freeview HD" compatible? If not, it will ignore any signals on the HD mux as if there is nothing there. The set must have a DVB-T2 compatible tuner to receive the HD channels, otherwise you would need a Freeview HD box to receive them. Your manual will confirm. See earlier comments from Brian and others on this issue
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S
Simon10:34 AM
I am in Coventry. For the last few days (since switch-off of BBC2), the BBC freeview signal has been weak and the picture / sound breaks up (according to a freeview card and window media center). It was fine before.
I am still using the original antenna used for analogue, but I'm led to believe the Sutton Coldfield frequencies are still in the original range.
What could be the reason for this ?
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lesnicol
10:35 AM
10:35 AM
Brian - Now here's an interesting story that brought a smile to me and other locals. - My local Pub/Restaurant decided to cancel SKY put in principally for customers following sport; this after their monthly subs had reached the somewhate staggering some of £830.
During the period of notice the landlord had a phone call from SKY to say that an offical would be making a visit to the premises regarding the illegal showing of SKY on the premises. The agent duly turned up and met with the landlord who was able to provide the confirmation of notice of termination condirmed by SKY in witing covering the dates were it was alleged breach of contract.
This matter closed.
However, there was further persual where SKY presented him with an outstanding bill for one pence arrears. The Landlord had paid his account in full and again the evidence on paper and through Bank statemnets to prove settlement in full and simply ignored the demand.
This was followed up by another notifcation advising that they would pursue settlement through the courts. This eventuially ended up in the local Sheriff court. - Outcome £360 awarded to the Landlord with a follow up cheque for £37. I've seen both cheques which came from a SKY Subscibers Payment Account - Now that'sw "Justice4" !!!!
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J
JohnB10:51 AM
Simon: I presume you have done a retune through Windows Media Centre since Wednesday? The aerial should be fine, if it was OK before, and Coventry is in a strong area for SC. I am in Coventry and I can get good signals on my laptop runnng Media Centre with a FreeCom DVB-T USB card - and that's using the little rod aerial it comes with. Could be too much signal - try a different aerial on your TV adaptor
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S
Simon11:12 AM
Thanks JohnB,
I just tried bypassing the distribution amplifier and Media Center said there was no signal at all(the check aerial message).
I wonder if my aerial is not directional enough and there is interference from another transmitter.
We normally use freesat, but I'm getting a TV soon with freeview on it, so I will see how that gets on.
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