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 25/11/2024 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), 71 That’s 60s,
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 U&Drama, 21 5USA, 29 ITV2 +1, 32 5STAR, 33 5Action, 38 Channel 5 +1, 41 Legend, 42 GREAT! action, 57 U&Dave ja vu, 58 ITV3 +1, 59 ITV4 +1, 64 Blaze, 67 TRUE CRIME, 68 TRUE CRIME XTRA, 81 Blaze +1, 83 Together TV, 91 WildEarth, 93 ITVBe +1, 209 Ketchup TV, 210 Ketchup Too, 211 YAAAS!, 251 Al Jazeera English, 255 FRANCE 24 (in English), 265 Rok Sky +1, plus 29 others
COM5 ArqA	H max	C45 (666.0MHz)	433m	DTG-8	200,000W
	11 Sky Mix, 17 Really, 19 U&Dave, 31 E4 Extra, 36 Sky Arts, 40 Quest Red, 43 Food Network, 47 Film4 +1, 48 Challenge, 49 4seven, 60 U&Drama +1, 65 That's TV 2, 70 Quest +1, 74 &UYesterday +1, 76 That's TV 2 MCR, 233 Sky News, plus 13 others
COM6 ArqB	H max	C39+ (618.2MHz)	433m	DTG-8	200,000W
	12 Quest, 25 U&W, 27 U&Yesterday, 34 GREAT! movies, 39 DMAX, 44 HGTV, 52 GREAT! christmas, 56 That's TV (UK), 63 GREAT! romance mix, 73 HobbyMaker, 75 That's 90s, 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?

K

KMJ,Derby

_{sentiment_satisfied}Gold

9:29 PM

jordan: I've just checked the William Hepburn Tropospheric ducting forecast over the weekend, it looks quiet for Friday to Saturday, but Sunday and Monday could see the at work.

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KMJ,Derby's 1,811 posts GB flag

J

jordan

_{sentiment_satisfied}Bronze

9:34 PM

Ahh so it looks like i might get tv again on sunday and monday and by the way thanks

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jordan's 25 posts GB flag

C

Chris.SE

_{sentiment_satisfied}Silver

9:02 AM

Joe:
I think it's 12294.

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Chris.SE's 251 posts GB flag

J

Janet Garratt
10:48 PM
Derby

I have "lost" on my box, it was 802 but now I am getting "RABBIT" can you me get back to BBC East Midlands please.

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Janet Garratt's 1 post GB flag

Janet's: J's Freeview map J's terrain plot J's frequency data J's Freeview Detailed Coverage

K

Keith Stanley James Lever
10:52 PM
Derby

My box on 802 has got RABBIT the is no longer on that has the channel moved, if so, what is the new number.

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Keith Stanley James Lever's 1 post GB flag

Keith's: K's Freeview map K's terrain plot K's frequency data K's Freeview Detailed Coverage

Briantist

_{sentiment_very_satisfied}Owner

10:54 PM

Keith Stanley James Lever: Look in the 800-899 channel range, "extra " are placed there in no particular order.

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Briantist's 38,915 posts GB flag

Stuart O.

_{sentiment_satisfied}Silver

7:33 PM
Wrexham

: If 's TV, Radio and Digital Radio are all working normally over the next week, Why bother posting and telling us this? Is this supposed to be reassurance for us that there is NOT going to be disruption to due to NO engineering work for the next week?

I thought you only posted to tell us if there WERE any problems or engineering works at a transmitter, not posted to tell is if there WEREN'T any problems or engineering works at a transmitter.

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Stuart O.'s 156 posts GB flag

Stuart's: S's Freeview map S's terrain plot S's frequency data S's Freeview Detailed Coverage

H

Humax man
10:00 PM

Humax HDR-Fox T2 owners - anyone else having evening problems with COM6, ArqB?

Whilst the LG that the Humax is connected to, and passes RF through to is fine, the Humax is not. Film 4 for example is showing 100% and strength on the LG, whereas the Humax is showing 40-50% quality and severe break up.

I'm also noticing minor breakup on other Mux's.

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Humax man's 3 posts PL flag

J

jb38

_{sentiment_very_satisfied}Platinum

10:56 PM

Humax man: Yes, but have you double checked to make sure that the Humax and the LG are definitely receiving Film 4's mux from the same source? mux info obtainable via the check screen, as Humax tuners are amongst the best for stability of under difficult circumstances, although its not known whether this might apply or not in your case as you havent provided any info on your location, this preferably being in the form of a post code (or one from nearby) for greater accuracy.

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jb38's 7,179 posts GB flag

O

oldpaul100
11:01 PM

Humax man: Just checked my HDR-FoxT2 and 39 gives 618MHz,8MHz,8K,1/32
Strength 81%, 100% using Signal Checker.

You don't give you Post Code (mine is DE13 so about 8-9 mile from C but it's nearly in visible range). Have you got the Fox first in the chain from the feed as recommended? If you have it would suggest your unit could have a faulty tuner. Rare I know but "when all options have been examined etc." I guess you've checked the signal is home and the connector is tight on the co-ax.

Also you don't say whether this problem is new or long standing.
Have you updated the System Software to the latest Rev. There was some suggestion that the decoding software had been updated to cover the change in Modulation system but I'm not sure about it. Humax were not very informative about what had been altered, only what new facilities they had added (new stuff in TV Portal etc).

Sorry not to have been more certain what you have wrong.

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oldpaul100's 5 posts GB flag

Page 135

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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