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.
This transmitter has no current reported problems
The BBC and Digital UK report there are no faults or engineering work on the Sutton Coldfield (Birmingham, England) transmitter._______
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, 10 October 2013
J
jb389:19 PM
john: With due respect to all that has been said, but I have a sneaking suspicion that you spending a great deal of time attempting to find a fault on your installation that doesn't really exist, and the reason for your erratic reception is being caused by the final two miles of the signal path from Sutton C skirting relatively close to the ground and as such is being affected by seasonal changes in the terrain, trees possibly also coming into the equation as quite a number of them are seen to exist in line with S/C's signal path in the last two miles referred to.
The second point being, that under normal circumstances I would generally have advised you to check with a neighbour to find out if they are also experiencing the same difficulties with reception as yourself, but!! this is virtually an impossible task as practically everyone's aerials in your area are facing towards Waltham, and with this still being the case on properties to the West of you (along S/C's signal path) past Shakerdale Road and onto Brixham Drive, this strongly suggesting that no matter what a signal predictions are given on Digital UK's trade site S/C does not provide a good signal in your area hence why all aerials are seen to face Waltham.
The result of the signal test I suggested that you carry out on Waltham was better than I had expected, especially as your aerial is screened by the building as well as being 50 degrees off beam from a true 180 degrees rear pick up, this suggesting that Waltham rather than Sutton C does provide a good signal in your area.
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MikeP
9:56 PM
9:56 PM
john, et al:
I used to be Senior Engineer for a very large TV rental firm in their Oadby centre, which is not far from Wigston, and we covered the whole if Leicestershire. The reception from Waltham was normally pretty good as far as Coalville and Whitwick at least, and gives East Midlands services. Sutton Coldfield was variable in the west of the county, depending on exact location, and very poor around Leicester and unusable further east. Plus it gives West Midlands services which is not always what viewers want.
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Friday, 11 October 2013
J
jb387:52 AM
john: In addition to re: suspicions etc, the only other remote possibility I can think of for the erratic element of your reception is that of a faulty connection where the coax joins into aerial, because if this did apply then this could account for you having said that your reception goes downhill when its foggy / misty etc and associated with dampness and which may have gained access into the aerials termination box, as under "normal" conditions fog / mist doesn't really affect DTT reception.
Of course those conditions will also have an effect on the terrain!
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J
john7:12 PM
Well guys thanks for your advice but since my aerial goes straight to my humax now not through any boosters first the picture is stable and good at the most by the way it wasent a booster it was a masthead amplifier under the aerial outside what the areal was plugged in to was the power supply for it we will just see how it goes now
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J
john8:58 PM
Update wachting england game through TV tuner on HD bit error level rate going through the roof hence picture break up bad
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J
jb389:10 PM
john: With reference to the masthead amplifier and power supply for same, if your signal is not now going through the booster or amplifier, both titles meaning the same thing, then how did you manage to bypass the mast head amplifier if it was mounted on the aerial pole? the reason for asking being, that by-passing the power unit has the effect of turning the mast head amplifier into an attenuator.
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J
john10:11 PM
All I've done is disconeted the power supply in my property which powers the masthead amplifier I've not touched the masthead on the pole
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J
jb3811:43 PM
john: I somewhat suspected thats what you had done, which as said in my reply means that the signal is now attempting to pass thought an unpowered amplifier stage and which rather than amplifying is now acting like a high level attenuator thereby making the situation worse, therefore I would advise you to power up the booster again.
The other point being, that use the Humax as a guide as far as signal strength / quality indications are concerned rather than the TV as Humax boxes are more in line with the reality of the situation, 80% strength / 100% quality representing a good strong signal whereas most TV's give a somewhat exaggerated indication of the signal level.
Although I do not feel that this applies anyway, at least not at 30 miles away from the transmitter, but if you can find time you should drop in a Maplins and purchase a variable signal attenuator and insert it in line with the mast head amplifier / power unit output that feeds into the humax or TV and see if this makes any difference, albeit I doubt if it will as I stick by my previous statements as to the most likely reason for your problem.
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Saturday, 12 October 2013
J
john8:55 AM
Just put power supply back on like you have just said and things have gone back to how they hence problems and signals gone even lower still humax now in the 20% region as 75% last time booster on file was100% now around 50%iI think I am going to have to get some one out to have a look also I thinking about getting sky or virgin TV much more reliable than freeview
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J
jb389:12 AM
john: Yes, but did you check the signal strength / quality level immediately before you powered up the booster again? because where erratic reception is involved its essential that an "immediately before and after" checking procedure is involved otherwise any tests carried out are not really valid.
By the way, what markings are printed on the power unit referred to?
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