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?

Alex

_{sentiment_satisfied}Bronze

11:52 AM

doesn't have HD at present, anything you've seen in HD on Freeview was only for , the service won't officially launch there until .

The only transmitters with HD, as part of the 'advance ' (used largely for testing) on Freeview are , , , and . Only after digital switchover will HD be avaiable nationwide on Freeview. If you want HD now, get HD.

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Alex's 27 posts EU flag

P

Priyesh
1:05 PM

Hi i live in so use the however it seems some people, including me, cannot recieve mux D . i thought it migh tbe my but i can get all other muxes fine.

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Priyesh's 1 post GB flag

R

Rob B
12:08 AM
Leicester

Hi same here i live in south leicestershire and for the passed week chn55 has droped to about 20% strenth from 100%, have cheched all my set and there are the same. is there is somthing wrong @ coalfield, all other chns are OK including HD.

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Rob B's 1 post GB flag

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

C

Chris
10:50 PM
Rugby

Hi

my postcode CV22 6AS. I can get C5 but bit grainy. Any suggestions for would be appreciated

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Chris's 2 posts GB flag

Chris's: C's Freeview map C's terrain plot C's frequency data C's Freeview Detailed Coverage

K

Kevin
6:44 AM

I'min the tamworth area and have lost all I get is the words it all went dead on me about 17:00hrs yesterday and is still the same now
is there others in the same boat as me ?

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Kevin's 2 posts GB flag

D

Dennis

_{sentiment_satisfied}Bronze

4:59 PM
Northampton

I am in Tamworth,have got all the muxes fine even the HD one from nr ,and that's on a thirty year old and co-ax.

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Dennis's 27 posts GB flag

Dennis's: D's Freeview map D's terrain plot D's frequency data D's Freeview Detailed Coverage

D

Dennis

_{sentiment_satisfied}Bronze

5:03 PM
Northampton

Just noticed ,under my name? why,well who knows,I do go there a lot,maybe that's it :)

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Dennis's 27 posts GB flag

Dennis's: D's Freeview map D's terrain plot D's frequency data D's Freeview Detailed Coverage

G

GrayWilko
5:05 PM
Telford

Hi I live in Telford, Shropshire postcode TF1 1RR and I am currently tuned to . I can also tune to Hill as I have an rotator. My question is that sometimes the resolution on my Humax PVR9200T tuner is poor even though when I check the strength and all seems ok. If I connect my TV direct to the aerial the TV is fine (I have a Sony Bravia with integtral DVB tuner). The Freeview problem is usually cured by a cold reboot effected by unplugging everything for about 1 minute and then reconnecting. Can you tell me what the problem may be please? Humax were due to roll out an over air update for my tuner between 22nd and 24th of December 2010 but that hasn't occurred yet. I've contacted them to find out what's happening.
Thanks

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GrayWilko's 5 posts GB flag

GrayWilko's: G's Freeview map G's terrain plot G's frequency data G's Freeview Detailed Coverage

A

andy
10:19 PM
Wigan

Dennis go to MY SETTINGS at the top of the page and put your postcode in and then you should have your proper location.

I had rugby under my name and i'm in st helens.

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andy's 13 posts GB flag

andy's: A's Freeview map A's terrain plot A's frequency data A's Freeview Detailed Coverage

Transmitter engineering

_{sentiment_very_satisfied}Owner

4:43 PM

- ton Coldfield Transmitter works 19 and 21October 2010: transmitter work will take place between 04:00hrs 19th October and 17:00hrs 21 October. TV that will be disrupted: services - BBC1, BBC2, ITV and will be subject to short breaks and reduced Digital services - Mux1, Mux2, MuxA MuxB and MuxC will be subject to short breaks and reduced power [DUK] ton Coldfield Transmitter works: The to the Sutton Coldfield TV transmitter in preparation for digital in 2011 is now largely complete and providing both analogue and Freeview digital TV to more than two million households. While some limited further work on the will be required over the coming months, the mast operator will be doing everything possible to keep disruption to a minimum. Any viewers experiencing reduced digital strength should note that Freeview services will be significantly boosted at switchover in September 2011. Digital UK apologises for any inconvenience caused. [DUK]

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Transmitter engineering's 146,576 posts xx flag

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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.

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