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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Friday, 12 February 2021
J
JOHN MORRIS9:03 PM
Hi ,We are getting a poor reception on ITV and BBC terrestrial channels could it be the transmitter ,(we are using Sutton Coldfield ) or the aerial on the roof.
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C
Chris.SE11:11 PM
JOHN MORRIS:
Again Sutton Coldfield is currently listed for Planned Engineering with "Possible weak signal" so it's quite likely this may be the cause of the problem you are seeing. If you provide a full postcode, we may be able to comment further.
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Wednesday, 17 February 2021
P
Phil Dalton3:07 PM
Warwick
I have noticed over the last few weeks that the quality of HD transmissions from the Sutton Coldfield transmitter has been diminishing. HD channels became pixelated initially at the weekends only, but now pixelation occurs every day, meaning only SD channels can be watched.
I have just retuned, before writing these comments, with the following results in terms of signal quality:-
Ch39 = 1, Ch42 = 10, Ch43 = 10, Ch45 = 1,Ch46 = 5, Ch55 = 1
Having retuned, if I select BBC1 HD or ITV1 HD the screen displays a message stating that the channel does not exist. Prior to the reduction of signal quality I had noticed that for the above HD channels the signal quality = 7.
My postcode is CV35 9LX
Something needs to be done on the transmitter to return signal quality of the HD channels.
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Phil's: mapP's Freeview map terrainP's terrain plot wavesP's frequency data P's Freeview Detailed Coverage
C
Chris.SE5:55 PM
Phil Dalton:
The Sutton Coldfield transmitter has for several recent weeks been listed for Planned Engineering with "Possible weak signal", so it's highly probable that is the reason for what you have been seeing. The BBCB HD/PSB2 multiplex is on UHF C40 from Sutton Coldfield, which in light of your comments is unsurprisingly missing from your list.
(The full list of multiplexes is in my post above on p310, 26tyh Dec.). You are not predicted to get the Local L-BRM multiplex at your location (doesn't mean your won't!), your aerial should be pointing at a bearing of 339 degrees (~NNW) rods/squashed x's horizontal.
The transmitter isn't listed this week, but that doesn't mean that some work may not be continuing, we've seen many cases where the lists have not be accurate. No faults are currently listed.
Try a manual retune on UHF C40.
Also worth checking all your coax plugs and connections, make sure your downlead isn't flapping in the wind etc. Also check that you don't have any HDMI leads close to any aerial or flyleads, especially if the aerial and flyleads aren't high quality double screened types. HDMI is known to sometimes cause interference, especially to C55 (COM7)
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Monday, 19 July 2021
M
Mike wilson7:32 PM
Can you not boost the signal for DVB-T 746.00MHz CH55 as this is the only channel I have problems with. All the other (7 channels) are fine. Thanks
Mike
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S
StevensOnln110:21 PM
Mike wilson: No the signal cannot be boosted, firstly this is an independent technical help website which has nothing to do with any broadcaster or transmitter company, so nobody reading or posting on this website had any means to make any kind of change to any transmitter. COM7 is a Single Frequency Network (SFN) so increasing the broadcast power of one transmitter would lead to more interference with other transmitters, which would therefore cause problems for viewers in other areas. COM7 is a temporary multiplex which is due to close within the next 12 months so it is very unlikely that any major technical changes will be made at this point. Nothing has been announced regarding what will happen to any of the channels currently on COM7 when the multiplex closes.
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Thursday, 12 August 2021
T
Tracey Loasby9:56 PM
When will the engineering works be completed on the Sutton Coldfield transmitter
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C
Chris.SE10:31 PM
Tracey Loasby:
I'm afraid that Freeview and Arqiva very rarely (often never) provide that information, it will depend on the exact nature of the work being done - that information is usually never provided either. We have to wait and see if the transmitter disappears off the Planned Engineering list, and sometimes even then the work hasn't finished!
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Tuesday, 24 August 2021
C
Chris.SE11:44 PM
Steven Ernest Woolley:
A little more information could be useful!
When did you lose them, a full postcode so we can look at predicted reception at your locale and which transmitter(s) and multiplexes you might receive.
Whilst Sutton Coldfield is no longer listed for Planned Engineering, experience says that work might still be going on and the list may not be accurate.
I can't find any current listing of any faults nor any reported affecting the HD channels in the last 5 days.
There is also adverse weather conditions periodically affecting reception in some parts of the country resulting in interference because signals from other transmitters are traveling further.
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