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 27/11/2023 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, 89 ITV4 +1, 91 WildEarth, 209 Ketchup TV, 210 Ketchup Too, 211 YAAAS!, 267 Al Jazeera English, plus 35 others
COM5 ArqA	H max	C45 (666.0MHz)	433m	DTG-8	200,000W
	Smithsonian Channel, 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 Christmas, 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
	Quest Red +1, Classic Hits, 12 Quest, 25 W, 27 Yesterday, 34 GREAT! movies, 39 DMAX, 44 HGTV, 52 GREAT! christmas, 56 That's TV (UK), 61 GREAT! movies extra, 63 GREAT! christmas mix, 71 That’s 60s, 73 HobbyMaker, 82 Talking Pictures TV, 83 Together TV, 84 PBS America, 235 Al Jazeera Eng, plus 20 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?

Briantist

_{sentiment_very_satisfied}Owner

11:17 AM

Ken: If you have poor during rain, the usual reason for this is that the water is getting into your .

This will be a particular problem if you have a as it will short out the power supplied along the cable.

To be honest, you don't need a masthead amplifier, so you should probably get some new (-grade) cable and bypass the masthead amplifier.

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Briantist's 38,902 posts GB flag

M

Mat
12:39 AM

I live in Coventry and am use the . Since last week I can only receive a from my main television.

The televisons in the kitchen and two bedrooms show messages such as "No " and cannot pick up any digital . Occasionally in the afternoon they come back.

One set top box in a bedroom detects a signal overload. The others do not.

Why doo I lose all digital channels in other rooms? Any ideas?

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Mat's 1 post GB flag

Briantist

_{sentiment_very_satisfied}Owner

8:10 AM

Mat: Please can you see Freeview reception has changed? | ukfree.tv - independent free digital TV advice ?

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Briantist's 38,902 posts GB flag

R

Ryan

_{sentiment_satisfied}Bronze

10:36 AM

Stephen, I don't get too much . Well, I don't believe it to be too much. It typically ranges between 55-85 %.

I thought the issue was due to work still being carried out on the , but states that's just they're working on.
Sorry if this appears a little, dumb, but did you mean digital radio stations Briantist?

My is only a few years old, so surely the issue doesn't lie with my aerial?

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Ryan's 39 posts GB flag

J

jb38

_{sentiment_very_satisfied}Platinum

1:35 PM

Mat: No two TV or boxes have exactly the same sensitivity, the ironical aspect being that if a person resides in an area where the is a bit "over the top" strength wise, its always the devices with the best tuners that are first to suffer from overloading and likewise fail to operate.

Coventry should (in theory) get blasted with the signal from , and the simplest way to check if this is applying is to try a using a set top , or maybe even a short length of wire (600mm or so) into the middle of the aerial socket. (crude but works in this type of situation!)

It should also be noted, that a re-tune will be required "if" nothing had been received since a previous , as the device might not have stored the .

Needless to say, if you have any type of fitted it should be removed.

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jb38's 7,179 posts GB flag

Transmitter engineering

_{sentiment_very_satisfied}Owner

1:41 PM

- Over the next week Sutton Coldfield main transmitter: TV () working normally, Radio () Possible weak , Radio (digital) working normally. [DUK]

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Transmitter engineering's 146,549 posts xx flag

Transmitter engineering

_{sentiment_very_satisfied}Owner

1:41 PM

- Over the next week Sutton Coldfield main transmitter: TV () working normally, Radio () Possible weak , Radio (digital) working normally. [DUK]

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Transmitter engineering's 146,549 posts xx flag

I

I Hall
8:53 PM
Stourport-on-severn

I have a Sony Led tv and panasonic recorder.Previous to last change over from I had no problems.Since change over I get intermittent pixcellation on Itv and C4 and some others.If I use the recorder box built in freeview I don't have any problem.When I am recording and watch another programme on the TV built in freeview system Is when I get pixcellation.I have tried to illiminate the problem by pluging the in direct but it doesn't.I have a in the system.But I am 30 miles from S Coldfield.Any Ideas.Post code is WV16 6Ng

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I Hall's 4 posts GB flag

I's: I's Freeview map I's terrain plot I's frequency data I's Freeview Detailed Coverage

J

jb38

_{sentiment_very_satisfied}Platinum

9:25 PM

I Hall; You should carry out a check on both devices to ensure that they are both tuned to the same , as is also shown as being possible as well as .

Select ITV1 and carry out a signal check on each device in turn, if you see Mux Ch46 indicated its Sutton Coldfield, whereas if its Mux Ch23 then that's Bromsgrove.

Should you find an error, then manually tuning in the required is the only way you will achieve what's required.

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jb38's 7,179 posts GB flag

N

Neil Marriott
8:34 AM
Nottingham

Hi,
would be useful if the main title had a date that it was issued, to put the information in to context . i.e the information ...

" - Over the next week Sutton Coldfield main transmitter: no TV, TV (digital) working normally, Radio (analogue) Possible weak signal, Radio (digital) working normally. "

I've got at present (4/11), but is it related to the above comment. It was fine yesterday.

Regards

Neil

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Neil Marriott's 1 post US flag

Neil's: N's Freeview map N's terrain plot N's frequency data N's Freeview Detailed Coverage

Page 198

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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