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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Wednesday, 13 November 2019
J
John Patrick3:43 PM
I seem to have lost channel 48. I watched it for some months but now it has gone. Any clues as to How I can get it. My tv goes from channel 47 to 49 and hasn't let me see 48 for some weeks.
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Thursday, 14 November 2019
C
Chris.SE2:16 AM
John Patrick:
LCN48 is one of several Sony channels that they moved to Local multiplexes back in the summer. If you get the Local TV stations on LCN7 and/or LCN8 then you should get those Sony channels. If you get your signals from Sutton Coldfield are in an area that may get the Local muxes, the UHF channels to tune are C48 & C36.
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R
Roy9:36 PM
Just to update you after the Sutton Coldfield 'event' yesterday I had feared, which I was told was not a power reduction, C4+1 HD and 4seven HD on Com7 have now simply vanished; my PVR moves from BBC4 HD to 113 as if there was never anything between them....
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Friday, 15 November 2019
C
Chris.SE6:35 AM
Roy:
Just to clear up any confusion, did you mean 113? So you are getting RT HD ok then?
You obviously missed what I said to Gordon in my reply on the 13th -
Quote "It's not purely roof attenuation that's the issue here, it's the fact that the COM 7&8 signals are getting less reliable at his location due to the final transmitters elsewhere moving to the SFN channels 55 & 56. No amount of "clever" gain will resolve that if the signal is suffering interference, it's all due to the way SFNs work, there's a limit to what can be achieved. Take a look at what is going on with DAB and this "problem"."
And I remind you what I said to you several days ago -
Quote "but there is no change to the power being transmitted by COMs 7&8 at Sutton Coldfield between now and 2020 and thereafter on current planning, they remain at 56.162kW.
You may be affected by reception changes at your location due to other transmitters moving their COMs 7&8 muxes to UHF55&56, but as I don't have your postcode, I can't confirm that one way or the other. "
According to official Freeview/DigitalUK documentation from both the Central Regional Information page for Sutton Coldfield and the 700MHz Clearance pdf documents, there was no power reduction on the 13th. Power remains at 56.162kW. As you haven't provided your full postcode I couldn't check how marginal your reception was before the 13th (or indeed if it may be now) and by looking at which potential transmitters may have worsened the situation (I can guess but its their relative position to you I can't guess) whether or not there might be any practical things you might be able to try.
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R
Roy9:53 AM
Chris.SE - I'm near the centre of Derby City, DE1. About 44km from Sutton Coldfield, 213 degrees bearing. There's also a local (very limited) transmitter (Derby Uttoxeter Road) on 232 degrees, I don't know if that's close enough in terms of direction to be a problem? Having googled SFN channels, these appear to be like the old analogue AM radio ones, reused for different purposes so suffering from fringe/overlap problems for those distant? Hopefully you can advise whether the loss of those channels is permanent now, or at least until the next major change around. I'm using the old (analogue era) contract aerial outside not the newer T type inside the loft, as the old one gave more signal. Let me know if the different frequency range of the loft one would change anything post 13 November.
I'm not at home to check but yes my PVR goes from 107 to 113 now, not certain 113 was RT however. Could it have been QVC from a different transmitter? Will check Sat.
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Saturday, 16 November 2019
C
Chris.SE2:28 PM
Roy:
An "interesting" area for Freeview reception is all I'll say to start !!
Just also to clear up any possible misunderstanding there maybe about SFNs from what you've said, they are not like old AM radio transmissions, nor are they analogue transmissions being repurposed. But you are correct in the remark about problems in fringe/overlap areas from two or more transmitters - that's the bit that could be thought of a similar to old AM transmissions, but this is supposedly minimised by the signals being "synchronised"! As far as equipment goes, it is (we think) the digital but pre-dso equipment being used in SOME instances to provide the COM78 transmissions. Not all that equipment was capable of being tuned to the new SFN channels (so some transmitters have lost them) and a lot of it has power limitations as well (we believe). So unless someone from Arqiva can educate us as to the exact facts, that's what we think from the gleanings we've made from the limited information available.
LCN113 is RT HD, I only asked because if you are getting it, you are getting COM7! QVC HD is on COM8.
I'll come back and post a bit about aerials later as right now I must get on with some things here.
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R
Roy6:44 PM
Chris.SE - I take it you use the word "interesting" the same way a Doctor would about an illness; rare, poorly understood and difficult to treat...
Anyway, just before you reply fully I wanted to say that C4+1 HD and 4Seven HD have both come back! And yes I was/am getting RT on 113, as you say a Com7 channel. I have no idea where they went to, I'm tempted to say it's a result of being in a difficult area but how come RT remained? I'll await your full response when you have the time.
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Sunday, 17 November 2019
C
Chris.SE2:55 AM
Hello Roy: You said you are currently using your old contract aerial outside, I take it looks something like https://www.aerialsandtv.….jpg and if it's always been pointed at Sutton Coldfield (& I hope still is - not moved in the wind) then I'd guess it was a Group B (got/had a yellow bung in the end) I'd also hope post 1995 and hopefully just got sufficient gain at it's top end for UHF 55&56. Do you have the two 4G filters in circuit at present, if so try taking one of them out and see how it affects performance/signal on 55&56.
I don't think I ever asked, are you using any amplification and/or distribution/splitters at all?
So why is it a "difficult" area - I don't know about rare, uncommon certainly but this won't be the only example, not really poorly understood - the reasons are known, difficult to treat ...... definitely. The reasons are that signals are reaching your area from 4 different transmitters (that doesn't mean they are all useable). Sutton Coldfield obviously but also Bilsdale, and much weaker Emley Moor and Sandy Heath & that's ignoring others that may come and go when there's a lift on (propagation). There's also that local transmitter that may be causing some very strong input to your TV's front end if you are close enough to it.
The way of cutting down on the unwanted signals is a highly direction aerial but here comes the difficulty, it needs very low side lobes, good cross-polarisation rejection, and a damned good front to back ratio, as well as good gain at 55 &56. The aerial that could have fitted that bill would have been a Log40 with the help of some masthead amplification, but these log40s have not been available in recent times. The "replacement" is the log36 but because of the in-built 4G filtering it's response at 55&56 drops off and it might just not have enough gain when the 55&56 signals aren't very strong.
The trouble with many of the other "highly" directional aerials is they can have some horrible side-lobes and not always good front to back ratios. A compromise might be a well made Yagi, a Group K looking like a better option from the gain & frequency response point of view but then again it may not be any better at not receiving the signals you don't want.
Do you know exactly what model your Group T aerial is? It might be ok (in the loft) with some amplification, but getting some idea of it's performance would be helpful.
Do you still have that Labgear LAB450T? Whilst it maybe a bacofoil aerial that doesn't matter in a loft. As well as trying tweaking the position of your group T, I think the 450T might be worth another try for comparison if nothing else.
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C
Chris.SE12:16 PM
Roy:
A correction to my previous post - it was late and I didn't have the checker open at the time I posted :o
I meant Belmont not Bilsdale (getting my B's mixed up - there's been retunes at Bilsdale recently) and I forgot about Waltham that can also come in quite strongly.
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R
Roy6:40 PM
Yes very like that one you link too. Old and basic. Likely to be post 1995, but wasn't bought by me so can't be sure. Can't easily make out the bung colour, but post 1995 and pre-Freeview makes it likely a typical analogue transmission era aerial.
After moving here I found most of my Freeview channels gone. Taking knowledgeable advice from another forum lead me to a signal booster (Vision V20-4260L 20dB Gold Plated Aerial Masthead Amplifier/Booster from Amazon) which did indeed bring the full set of Sutton Coldfield channels back. This remained fine until the Freeview rearrangements of the last year, when Ch55 & 56 became hit & miss and I complained to UK Freeview. They eventually sent out a contractor, I was expecting an aerial upgrade but instead they diagnosed 4G interference from a transmitter on a not hugely dissimilar angle to the Sutton Coldfield one. They put a filter up in the loft (marked Channel 60) before the booster (which they complimented as not the usual junk they see') and upon still finding 4G interference on their meter downstairs (which had a small built in TV screen), perhaps from poor coaxial able internally, they added another filter down before the PVR, this marked Channel 59. They said the old aerial was still pumping out what it should roughly in the middle of power range' (though this was post amplifier obviously) and was even picking up Waltham as well. The filters have largely fixed things until the latest round of transmitter meddling, or whatever you like to call it.
I no longer have any splitters, I removed these on the basis of the aforementioned Sheffield installer's site warning these made bad situations worse.
Yes the new cheap loft aerial I tried was a Labgear LAB450T, mostly chosen on the basis of many good reviews after loft installs. I agree its Bacofoil, not something I'd expect to last long outdoors and as the Sheffield site says the end mounting puts a hell of a strain on the pole. But if it had worked, the build quality indoors would not have mattered.
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