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.
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 04/11/2024 Pixelation or flickering on some or all channels 
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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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Sunday, 6 March 2011
W
Wibble2:39 PM
Grumps, thanks for the input. Got in the loft earlier and tweaked the aerial a few degrees clockwise by the scientific method of guesstimation. low and behold the STB found the four HD Channels. Alas the strength and quality are so low that when I try to view them I get errors saying either scrambled or low signal etc. Still at least I know the STB isn't faulty. Not sure I'll be able to increase the strength and quality by further repositioning attempts? Do signal boosters actually work and would they help? Thanks again!
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Wibble: Signal boosters are usually unhelpful for digital reception, as they will boost the any interference more than the digital signal.
If you want a better signal, move the aerial to the roof. For digital reception is not the signal strength that is important, it is the quality of the signal.
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M
Mat7:52 PM
Coventry
I just purchased a new telly, and i am having problems viewing a number of channels on digital (namely ITV1, 4, and 5). I think I am on Sutton signal (ITV1 is on 44, 658000 kHz). The signal is ok (in excess of 50/100), but the bit error level is jumping all over the place. It idles at 500 but then peaks at around 2000 every 5secs (with the signal strength suddenly dropping to nil when it hits 2000). What idont understand at all is why my two other digital TVs do not have the same problem, running even from the same aerial socket (aerial is in the loft). Any ideas?
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Mat's: mapM's Freeview map terrainM's terrain plot wavesM's frequency data M's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Monday, 7 March 2011
M
Mat1:02 AM
Coventry
Thanks, I had already looked into these possibilities, a little already. I am afraid, with nothing else on in the house, these channels still are completely un-viewable. I plan on trying the tv from a different aerial socket 2moro.
If it were interference, would I not get the same problem with my old digital telly? I plugged it back in and reconnected it and all channels were fine on it (same sockets, same location and everything). Better than fine tbh. Near perfect, hence why i am do confused. Same goes for my main telly, which granted is in a different location.
Thanks for the help.
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Mat's: mapM's Freeview map terrainM's terrain plot wavesM's frequency data M's Freeview Detailed Coverage
M
Mat1:53 AM
Coventry
Solved it now thanks!
My new telly is a lot slimmer than the previous one (LED compared to CRT), and because of my setup the power cables and aerial connection come from above the telly (i.e. They each pass the rear of the telly, from above). This setup didn't cause problems with reception on my old telly, but I am assuming it's the design differences. LOL @ me sitting in a completely dark house with everything in that could be turned on, being turned off ... and I didn't think about the massive power cable and aerial cable passing the back of the telly and being about an inch away from it.
Working great now, thanks again for pointing me in the right direction.
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Mat's: mapM's Freeview map terrainM's terrain plot wavesM's frequency data M's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Mat: I'm pleased to hear you tracked down the problem.
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Tuesday, 8 March 2011
G
Grumps5:06 PM
Solihull
Wibble, I have a masthead amp and power supply fitted to my loft wideband aerial and I doubt that I would get HD without. If you have those, I would try to improve on the "guesstimation" method because a ittle movement in the right direction could make all the difference. I used the compass on my iPhone to find the transmitter position from the Wolfsbane site's info. It wasn't that responsive but best of 5 readings got me a consistent direction to aim at. Then final adjustment was by phone (intercom) with the wife telling me when the highest readings were reached. My Digibox tells me that I have 0% signal and up to 50% quality of 0 - it jumps up and down for no apparent reason - but I get a stable picture on HD. That will do me until Sutton Coldfield takes over from Lichfield in September when I shall use the same method to reposition the aerial. Good luck
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Grumps's: mapG's Freeview map terrainG's terrain plot wavesG's frequency data G's Freeview Detailed Coverage
K
Kim6:17 PM
Burton-on-trent
I live at DE13 7AL and have an outdoor aerial. Reception hads been fine - but on installing a Freeview HD box I can't pick up the four extra HD channels.
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Kim's: mapK's Freeview map terrainK's terrain plot wavesK's frequency data K's Freeview Detailed Coverage
N
Nik6:43 PM
Leicester
Hello,
I live at LE3 9AN, my aerial is pointed at Sutton, however, i dont recieve any of the channels in mux D, but all others are fine any ideas why?
BBC1 shows a signal quality of 100 and strength 86
FYI i have a new sony bravia tv with built in freeview HD, i dont get the HD channels at the moment, i believe they are transmitted from Cannock? (a few degrees north)
| link to this comment |
Nik's: mapN's Freeview map terrainN's terrain plot wavesN's frequency data N's Freeview Detailed Coverage
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