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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Wednesday, 26 August 2020
R
R Green2:10 PM
Guide Plus+ PanasonicTV - TxL37E30B.
I have an issue with slow download and limited information on Guide Plus+. Only current and next programs are shown - with slow download - which is obviously inconvenient and frustrating for planning viewing.
This issue seems to have started about 21st Nov 2020. Prior to that some minor download speed was apparent, but full 7/8 day program data was available.
There is much chatter about this on the net, some of which suggests the problem originates with the broadcaster and linked (probably) to Freeview channel changes and/or data transmission changes, and some suggest it is a Panasonic problem. I have my doubts that it is a Panasonic problem since my DVB recorder - also Guide Plus+ - has no problems.
The signal strength of most channels on my receiver is excellent - I live about 10 miles south (B68), and in view of the transmitter.
Could you comment please. Is there a related problem with transmission changes linked to Freeview updates. and will it be resolved in the future (not to distant I hope)?
Thank you for your support.
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Thursday, 27 August 2020
C
Chris.SE7:34 AM
R Green:
There is much chatter on the net, some of which you can ignore as it is either pure speculation or comment made without any technical backup or knowledge.
1st, there were no changes to the Sutton Coldfield transmitter around November last year.
2nd, the UHF channels used by the 6 main multiplexes at Sutton Coldfiled have remained the same since the start of DTV.
3rd, Transmission changes over the years have been the addition of the two temporary HD multiplexes COMs 7&8 and a Local multiplex, in Dec.2013, Feb.2014, & Apr.2015 respectively.
4th, The 700MHz clearance changes in Mar.2018 moved COMs 7&8 to UHF C55 & C56 and the Local mux to C36.
5th, Additional transmission of the Local Multiplex was added on C48 in Oct.2019.
6th, Arqiva changed the FEC on COM8 in Feb.2020 to improve resilience of this mux.
7th, COM8 closed at the end of June 2020 for commercial reasons. COM7 will continue for the foreseable future but will close in June 2022 at the latest according to the current OFCOM licence.
8th, Over the years, Commercial Broadcasters have changed the channels they broadcast on Freeview and/or the multiplexes they are on, the most recent of which was July 29th and retunes are usually needed for these. There will be at least one in September.
9th, The 700MHz Clearance Programme in the rest of the UK has now been completed. Sale of the 700MHz frequencies to MNOs for (5G) mobile use is expected to be later this year, but it will be sometime after before any transmissions start from any UK local cells as equipment needs to be installed and handsets available.
10th, Depending on location, to receive all multiplexes from Sutton Coldfield a Group T/Wideband aerial would normally be needed. If reception of COM7 is not predicted/needed, a Group B aerial would normally suffice.
As retunes are periodically needed when Broadcasters make changes, some sets don't always allocate the channels correctly in the the correct LCNs. So if you haven't retuned recently then I'd suggest you do so as follows -
Unplug the aerial and carry out an automatic retune. This should clear memory of previous tuning as nothing will be found. Plug the aerial back in and ideally carry out a manual tune of Sutton Coldfields UHF channels, if you can't manual tune, do an automatic one.
The UHF channels are C43, C46, C40+, C42, C45, C39+, C55 and C48/C36 in the order PSBs1-3, COMs 4-7, Local.
(The + means a 166kHz offsets which TVs do automatically). As you are S of the transmitter, C48 is the one for the Loacl mux. C36 beams N.
The above retune technique doesn't work on some devices such as Youview boxes. For such devices not correctly allocating channels (eg. finding blocks of them in the 790s/800s) a full reset may be needed, but if it's a PVR you may need to reset scheduled recordings.
Did you make any changes to your system/installation around 21st November?
What are the signal strength AND quality figures (or BER if no quality figure) for each of the multiplexes on your TV receiver?
The fact that your DVB recorder is also Guide Plus and is not having problems is not relevant to your set which will have different firmware and the tuner could have a different sensitivity. The fact that the recorder is not having problems is indicative of the fact that there are no problems with transmission!
It's worth considering whether the TV set has too much signal, the figures I've asked for may be indication, don't be confused just because a strength reading might be less than 100%!
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J
js5:17 PM
R Green: Have you updated your TX-L37E30B to the latest firmware?
Looking at this thread:
Panasonic epg problems
It seems a solution has been found:
"Well after 2 years of just having Now and Next on my Panasonic L42E30B EPG I now have the full 7 day guide back."
Panasonic epg problems
Firmware is here:
Download Information of TV for UK and Ireland | Download | TV | Digital AV | Support | Panasonic Global
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Tuesday, 1 September 2020
R
R Green9:12 PM
Chris.SE:
Thanks for your reply.
You have provided me with much useful info (that will take me a while to digest) but confirmed my thoughts that the transmission and dvd recorder are OK and the fault lies within the TV.
I have an additional reply from js, who posted a web address where Pan have released a firmware update - in June 2020. This apparently fixes the problem.
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R
R Green9:25 PM
js:
Thanks for your reply.
I have checked the 'https://av.jpn.support.panasonic.com' web site you mention and downloaded the update file for my TV.
Several people on the 'https://forums.digitalspy.com' commented that this update has solved their Guide Plus+ problem. So I have confidence in installing it.
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Saturday, 19 September 2020
R
Richard11:56 AM
I live south of Banbury but used to be able to get Com7 & 8 from Sutton Coldfield except under occasional extreme adverse weather conditions. I know com8 has ceased but i can't get com7 (channel 55) now - have they reduced the tx power and or the direction of transmission?
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R
Richard8:04 PM
Update: aerial had worked loose so was misaligned. Com7 now receivable. It would help if they broadcast it at full strength though.
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C
Chris.SE11:47 PM
Richard:
An increase in power is highly unlikely. COM7 operates as a "Single Frequency Network" and power changes would cause different problems in different locations.
Also to make matters worse at present, there's been a lot of "Tropospheric Ducting" around causing interference, see Effect of tropospheric ducting on Freeview | RTIS for a simplistic explanation.
It's likely to continue for a day or two more.
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Monday, 26 October 2020
N
Nick 5:39 PM
Hello, is anyone else having trouble receiving stations on channel 39? I'm getting a big fat zilch on signal quality from that channel, 618.2mhz, thanks
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C
Chris.SE8:33 PM
Nick :
Can't find any reports of current transmitter problems, are you still having issues?
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