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Full Freeview on the Sutton Coldfield (Birmingham, England) transmitter

first published this on - UK Free TV
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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.

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.

MuxH/VFrequencyHeightModeWatts
PSB1
BBCA
 H max
C43 (650.0MHz)433mDTG-200,000W
Channel icons
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)433mDTG-200,000W
Channel icons
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), 71 That’s 60s,

PSB3
BBCB
 H max
C40+ (626.2MHz)433mDTG-200,000W
Channel icons
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

COM4
SDN
 H max
C42 (642.0MHz)433mDTG-8200,000W
Channel icons
20 U&Drama, 21 5USA, 29 ITV2 +1, 32 5STAR, 33 5Action, 38 Channel 5 +1, 41 Legend, 42 GREAT! action, 57 U&Dave ja vu, 58 ITV3 +1, 59 ITV4 +1, 64 Blaze, 67 TRUE CRIME, 68 TRUE CRIME XTRA, 81 Blaze +1, 83 Together TV, 91 WildEarth, 93 ITVBe +1, 209 Ketchup TV, 210 Ketchup Too, 211 YAAAS!, 251 Al Jazeera English, 255 FRANCE 24 (in English), 265 Rok Sky +1, plus 29 others

COM5
ArqA
 H max
C45 (666.0MHz)433mDTG-8200,000W
Channel icons
11 Sky Mix, 17 Really, 19 U&Dave, 31 E4 Extra, 36 Sky Arts, 40 Quest Red, 43 Food Network, 47 Film4 +1, 48 Challenge, 49 4seven, 60 U&Drama +1, 65 That's TV 2, 70 Quest +1, 74 &UYesterday +1, 76 That's TV 2 MCR, 233 Sky News, plus 13 others

COM6
ArqB
 H max
C39+ (618.2MHz)433mDTG-8200,000W
Channel icons
12 Quest, 25 U&W, 27 U&Yesterday, 34 GREAT! movies, 39 DMAX, 44 HGTV, 52 GREAT! christmas, 56 That's TV (UK), 63 GREAT! romance mix, 73 HobbyMaker, 75 That's 90s, 82 Talking Pictures TV, 84 PBS America, 235 Al Jazeera Eng, plus 18 others

LB
 H -13dB
C48 (690.0MHz)433mDTG-1210,000W
Channel icons
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?

regional news image
BBC Midlands Today 2.9m homes 10.9%
from Birmingham B1 1RF, 15km south-southwest (200°)
to BBC West Midlands region - 66 masts.
regional news image
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)Transposer1 km W Burton-on-Trent60 homes
CoalvilleTransposer18 km NW Leicester600 homes
SolihullTransposerLand Rover building400 homes

How will the Sutton Coldfield (Birmingham, England) transmission frequencies change over time?

1950s-80s1984-971997-981998-20112011-137 Mar 2018
VHFB E TB E TB E TB E K TW T
C4BBCtvwaves
C33com7
C35com8
C36LOCAL2
C39+ArqBArqB
C40BBC2wavesBBC2wavesBBC2waves+BBCBBBCB
C42SDNSDN
C43ITVwavesITVwavesITVwavesBBCABBCA
C45ArqAArqA
C46BBC1wavesBBC1wavesBBC1wavesD3+4D3+4
C48_local
C50tv_offC4wavesC4wavesC4waves
C51tv_offLB
C55tv_offcom7tv_off
C56tv_offCOM8tv_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

Feb 1956-Jul 1968Associated TeleVision†
Feb 1956-Jul 1968Associated British Corporation◊
Jul 1968-Dec 1981Associated TeleVision
Jan 1982-Feb 2004Central Independent Television
Feb 2004-Dec 2014ITV plc
Feb 1983-Dec 1992TV-am•
Jan 1993-Sep 2010GMTV•
Sep 2010-Dec 2014ITV 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.

Comments
Wednesday, 13 November 2019
J
John Patrick
3:43 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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John Patrick's 1 post GB flag
Thursday, 14 November 2019
C
Chris.SE
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

2:16 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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Chris.SE's 4,344 posts GB flag
R
Roy
9:36 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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Roy's 18 posts GB flag
Friday, 15 November 2019
C
Chris.SE
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

6:35 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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Chris.SE's 4,344 posts GB flag
R
Roy
9:53 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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Roy's 18 posts GB flag
Saturday, 16 November 2019
C
Chris.SE
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

2:28 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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Chris.SE's 4,344 posts GB flag
R
Roy
6:44 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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Roy's 18 posts GB flag
Sunday, 17 November 2019
C
Chris.SE
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

2:55 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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Chris.SE's 4,344 posts GB flag
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Chris.SE
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

12:16 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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Chris.SE's 4,344 posts GB flag
R
Roy
6:40 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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Roy's 18 posts GB flag
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