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
JohnB11:43 AM
Simon: Might be worth checking with your neighbours, to see if they have had any problems. I know a few houses around the Coventry area seem to have aerials on a relay (possibly Lark Stoke), but most are on Sutton. If you had a good analogue signal before DSO on your roof aerial, then digital reception from SC shouldn't be a problem. If the breakup occurs on some, but not all your channels, then it may be an individual mux that is either weak or being interfered with. In any case, a useful test would be to borrow another DVB receiver or set-top box and plug it in to your aerial, so that you can see what the quality of your received signals are like.
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lesnicol: It's always nice to hear when a company gets a dose of their own medicine. Having been involved with that particular company and their (let say) business practices over the years I find your posting most heart-warming.
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B
Billy12:37 PM
I know I'm not as technical as I'd like to think, mostly read and learned from trial and error, experimenting, and I know HD channel 40 operates at 256 qam, so maybe Brian can confirm because of that it would be okay, because:
In my year memory and experience, there has to be a game, normally of a few channels, and I presume because of interference, if that is the case, why on earth do we find HD on 40 but then on channel 39, right next to it, Aqv B.
Now imagine, some are using Amplifiers still and hi gain aerial with no problem, as they say live, oh for argument sake, 20 miles plus from Sutton, surely, that will cause problems.
Not and think I've read a lot of the posts, if not all, heard, well, read this mentioned as a possibility yet, only interference and can not get HD unless got it.
Yet we then keep reading, as if they feel insulted as being implied they thick, that the person with the problem, does 100% have an HD tuner in the TV or HD Set Top Box, yet are unable to get channel 41, or, or, it is very weak.
If, if, this is the cause, and surely possible, why on earth sight a channel right next to another.
However, likely Brian or someone will confirm, that it is okay in this case now, because it is two different modes, of Qam, etc.
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B
Billy1:45 PM
Sutton:
I'm a liar and more robust than I thought.
Having settled on Lark Stoke in the loft, claiming, even outside on chimney with high aerial can not get sutton cause of massive hill in way, just tried channel 39 in the loft, signal all over the place, but then loaded them in.
Standard Yagi 18 element, class as a wideband, with 23 db gain amp on, masthead kind, holding it, looks like 60% plus with yellow, not green, but sure can improve this, wow.
This suggests compared to awful analogue and ghosting and so on for decades that the digital one, now boosted is much more robust.
however, further testing will be needed and I may also try the log periodic in loft if this one works out, as better still at the noise rejection unwanted signals.
So stick at it people, try this:
If you got channels great before switchover, say 70% plus ss and quality, then remove amplifiers, if on mast, chimney, get a 12db attenuator.
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Simon: Not sure which version of Windows Media Center you are using. If it's XP, then you need to buy Windows 7.
If it's Vista, see Switch over and PC-based systems | ukfree.tv - independent free digital TV advice for the updates to install.
If it's Windows 7, everything should be OK.
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Stuart O.
3:33 PM
Wrexham
3:33 PM
Wrexham
I thought I was either being stupid or going mad Wednesday afternoon & evening and this morning!
On Wednesday morning from 9am, I went to tune in the new higher powered Sutton Coldfield channels and they were all showing very good signal strength and quality as well as my Winter Hill, The Wrekin and Wrexham-Rhos channels.
On Wednesday afternoon, went to put the TV on and the Wrexham-Rhos and lower powered Wrekin channels were suffering from signal drop-out though other channels were receivable but TV was displaying they had lower signal strength and quality compared to when I checked them after tuning the new channels earlier that morning.
Removed the 2(!) amplifiers and it improved the strength and quality of the higher powered WH, Wrekin and SC channels. Later that night probably due to the weather, I was experiencing signal drop-out or complete loss on Wrexham-Rhos and the lower powered Wrekin channels. (Yes I do know the lower powered Wrekin channels go to full power and transmit on new frequencies next Wednesday). Some of the other channels had dropped down in strength and quality too but were still receivable without drop-out.
This morning, I tried 1 amplifier and signal was now improved but only if my aerial lead attached directly into the TV and not through my VCR, DVD recorder and Sky+ box.
When trying it through all those, it made every single channel weaker in strength and quality.
I checked the RF socket to plug cables that connect between them on a signal strength meter and on a multimeter and 1 cable was reading very low signal/open circuit so replaced that.
Checked signals again and they had improved to a degree but not as much as without an amplifier. Also I noticed at that point that the RF out pic of Sky+ had gone terrible
Luckily, the amplifier is fitted with a variable gain control so after knocking down the gain control 2 or 3 turns, everything had improved across all channels!
Just needed to find a new RF channel for Sky+ as Ch.67 was a little noisy so a channel in the mid 30's such as 34 looks better and now hopefully, fingers crossed, everything will be fine and stay fine!
I don't understand though why the amplified signal was weakened to such a degree going through a VCR, DVD recorder and a Sky+ that the TV was only receiving weak signals from 13 of the 17 different frequencies I received Wednesday morning with 4 frequencies unreceivable yet when the aerial was plugged directly into the TV, 13 signals had improved and then the unreceivable 4 were then receivable albeit still a bit weak.
My only guess is maybe when the signal is so high to begin with, connecting it through a VCR, DVD Recorder and Sky+ box must create a lot of signal noise and weaken the effective signal? Perhaps they amplify the noise of the weaker signals and make all signals look weak and poor?
If that is the case, then that's proof that it's no good to have too high a digital signal to your TV or box.
But it does make me wonder, over time, is it possible for your TV or box's tuner to get damaged with 100% Strength and 100% Quality always receivable on some of your channels?
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Stuart's: mapS's Freeview map terrainS's terrain plot wavesS's frequency data S's Freeview Detailed Coverage
D
Dan Walters4:52 PM
Briantist 7.27am: Dan Walters: You need Freeview HD equipment - see What does "Full HD Ready" actually mean? | ukfree.tv - independent free digital TV advice .
Yeah I do have Freeview HD buit in to my TV and like I said in my earlier post:
Malvern WR14, Sutton Coldfield Transmitter.
Did a retune on My Freeview HD tv at lunch time and got all 4 HD channels.
Got home from work tonight and no picture on HD channels but the EPG was there.
Did a retune and HD channels disappeared.
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J
JohnB5:03 PM
Stuart O: I wonder if the UHF modulated output from the Sky+ box is having a detrimental effect on the quality of the signal being passed through the loop-through from your aerial and amplifier?. If there is an option in the Sky+ box menu to turn it off temporarily, try that and see if it improves, and retune it to another channel as you mentioned. The same goes for the VCR and the DVD if they have a UHF output.
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D
Dave Adams6:54 PM
Malvern
Hi Dan Walters. Are you near Prospect View by any chance?.
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Dave's: mapD's Freeview map terrainD's terrain plot wavesD's frequency data D's Freeview Detailed Coverage
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