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 22/04/2024 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, 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)	433m	DTG-8	200,000W
	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)	433m	DTG-8	200,000W
	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)	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 AM/FM 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?

R

Rob
5:31 PM
Birmingham

Thanks Brian,

Had a look at the I dont have any other devices connected. I'll try to get my head around the technical jargon but sound like I just need to wait until September.

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Rob's 2 posts GB flag

Rob's: R's Freeview map R's terrain plot R's frequency data R's Freeview Detailed Coverage

K

KT
10:07 PM

Hi Brian,
Thanks for the advice but still no luck I turned everything off but the remained the same. It starts around 9pm and goes on all night, 7am-9pm the picture and is fine.

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KT's 3 posts GB flag

Transmitter engineering

_{sentiment_very_satisfied}Owner

4:52 AM

- BBC ONE Weak from 01:18 on 20 Jul to 02:21 on 20 Jul BBC TWO Weak Signal from 23:23 yesterday to 01:23 today [BBC] Over the next week Sutton Coldfield main transmitter: TV (analogue) Possible weak signal, TV (digital) working normally, Radio (analogue) Possible weak signal, Radio (digital) working normally. [DUK]

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Transmitter engineering's 150,866 posts xx flag

Transmitter engineering

_{sentiment_very_satisfied}Owner

4:52 AM

- BBC ONE Weak from 01:18 on 20 Jul to 02:21 on 20 Jul BBC TWO Weak Signal from 23:23 yesterday to 01:23 today [BBC] Over the next week Sutton Coldfield main transmitter: TV (analogue) Possible weak signal, TV (digital) working normally, Radio (analogue) Possible weak signal, Radio (digital) working normally. [DUK]

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Transmitter engineering's 150,866 posts xx flag

M

Mike
7:59 AM

Hi Brian

I should have said Ch54 which is the channel BBC2 HD programmes are screened on. Last night, Saturday 23rd July, my HD dropped out on all HD . I had to resort to SD for everything.

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Mike's 3 posts GB flag

Transmitter engineering

_{sentiment_very_satisfied}Owner

4:37 AM

- BBC TWO Weak from 23:23 on 23 Jul to 01:23 yesterday [BBC] Over the next week Sutton Coldfield main transmitter: TV (analogue) Possible weak signal, TV (digital) working normally, Radio (analogue) Possible weak signal, Radio (digital) working normally. [DUK]

link to this comment

Transmitter engineering's 150,866 posts xx flag

Transmitter engineering

_{sentiment_very_satisfied}Owner

4:37 AM

- BBC TWO Weak from 23:23 on 23 Jul to 01:23 yesterday [BBC] Over the next week Sutton Coldfield main transmitter: TV (analogue) Possible weak signal, TV (digital) working normally, Radio (analogue) Possible weak signal, Radio (digital) working normally. [DUK]

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Transmitter engineering's 150,866 posts xx flag

M

Mike
11:42 AM
Birmingham

I checked all my connections yesterday morning and last night's HD viewing was excellent. I can only assume I had a poor connection somewhere. Strange that I could receive perfect pictures in SD but at all in HD.

Perhaps someone can tell me the technical reason for that.

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Mike's 3 posts GB flag

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

G

Gordon
3:44 AM

Yesterday I had a to attend to a TV problem.
Scenario .....
Direct connection to VCR and out via fly-lead to TV. Recorded signal via fly-lead on meter was 76dB with useless reception on ITV, CH4, CH5 etc and only 76 TV / radio channels tuned in.

Signal on direct from aerial was 68dB. Connected the aerial cable direct to TV and re-tuned to receive 97 perfect TV / radio channels. Sorted!
Fly-leads that are not double screened and of can be the cause of many reception poor problems. Watch out for that one!!.

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Gordon's 19 posts GB flag

Transmitter engineering

_{sentiment_very_satisfied}Owner

4:33 AM

- BBC TWO Weak from 23:23 on 23 Jul to 01:23 on 24 Jul [BBC] Over the next week Sutton Coldfield main transmitter: TV (analogue) Possible weak signal, TV (digital) working normally, Radio (analogue) Possible weak signal, Radio (digital) working normally. [DUK]

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Transmitter engineering's 150,866 posts xx flag

Page 127

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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