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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Saturday, 28 May 2022
J
jack11:02 AM
Thanks Chris
Its good to know about the Wrekin.
No the issue is only with talkingpictures - no other channels exhibit this.
However since I last posted UHF 40 (BBC1 HD etc on 626Mhz ) all channels on that mux are now
producing very occasional random pixelation. A different problem which may be due to the work
you mention above - it is very sparodic - maybe once every couple of hours. Nothing I'm concerned
about.
We don't have anything else I'd expect to be an issue - not even any old UHF TV games
or anything like that. Now that you mention it - perhaps someone around here does but
I'd not expect a cyclic 60 second error. This seems a very "programmed" response whatever
is causing it - some sort of timer broadcast maybe - frankly I'm at as much of a loss as you
with this.
But yes everything this end has been throughly checked repeatedly.
whatever is causing the crashing is coming from outside. Just having 1 box on was a good idea
to try but I have tried that.
I have some ideas on looking for stray signals - so I'll just put this in my "hobby" box
and see what I can come up with for a while.
Thanks for the phone number I'll check that out too.
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Sunday, 5 June 2022
D
David Smith8:09 AM
All channels from the Sutton Coldfield transmitter are pixelated and have been for days. When will this be fixed?
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S
StevensOnln110:09 AM
David Smith: There are currently engineering works taking place at Sutton Coldfield, so the transmitter may be operating on reduced power output whilst the work is taking place. It's worth checking for simple problems like loose cables and connections behind your TV, but don't attempt to retune as this will just delete your tuning data and search for the same signal again. Chances are it will be fine again once the work is complete.
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Wednesday, 31 August 2022
I have had no signal or pixelated from 1900 to present on
ITV , channel 4, channel5 ITV+1 channel 4+1 great TV ,great
TV classic , Birmingham TV and a number of other channels ,
Also a big sign comes up in the middle of the TV telling me
Press the here sign and return if I cancel this message it
Keeps coming back every 10-20 seconds making it
Impossible to watch the TV so I have to record to watch in
Peace.
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Thursday, 1 September 2022
C
Chris.SE2:11 AM
louise brown:
I would firstly check all your coax plug connections behind the TV and make sure everything is plugged in ok. Make your your aerial or flyleads are not running close to any HDMI leads for your recorder or other devices as HDMI can sometimes induce interference into aerial leads.
Also check that your aerial is still intact and pointing in the right direction.
Apart from saying that this "Press here sign" keeps popping up, what else does it say - if it's about no signal or retuning, it may be best not to retune at present due to Current Weather conditions - Tropospheric Ducting - causing interference from more distant transmitters in Europe or the UK. This can be very variable and is usually short term at any instant but conditions have been persisting for several days, different parts of the UK are being affected at different time. Not all multiplexes will be affected at the same time or at all.
Both Freeview and the BBC have issued warnings about short term interference to reception.
If you are able to record these channels OK, it suggests the problem is aerial connections that don't affect the recorder, check the leads between the recorder and the TV.
If the problems persist, post back with more information and a bit more detail about the installation, how things are connected up, whether there is a splitter/amp with separate aerial feed to the recorder and TV, and so on.
If you've retuned your TV very recently, it may be worth checking in your TV's tuning section that you are tuned to the correct UHF channels for Sutton Coldfield.
All the multiplexes are C43, C46, C40+, C42, C45, C39+, C36/C48 that's in the order BBCA/PSB1, D3&4/PSB2, BBCB HD/PSB3, SDN/COM4, ArqA/COM5, ArqB/COM6 and Local L-BRM.
The UHF channel for the Local multiplex depends on location.
See Channel listings for Industry Professionals | Freeview for which channels are carried on which multiplex.
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Thursday, 8 September 2022
S
Simon F.9:01 PM
I have two Freeview TVs running from the same aerial, receiving (as far as I am aware) from Sutton Coldfield.
One has not been retuned for about two years, and is receiving the LOCAL mux so that I can receive (amongst other channels) Great Movies Christmas (until today called Great Movies Classic). Nominally this is Freeview Channel 52, although this TV is still displaying it as being on Channel 51, which it was prior to channel changes in 2021 (I think). This is broadcast on the LOCAL mux.
On the other TV (retuned as and when required) I seem unable to receive anything from LOCAL.
Whilst I understand that LOCAL may be weak from Sutton Coldfield, I cannot see it at all on the Humax HDD and Samsung TV, but I do still receive it on a Technika TV. The only difference (apart from the hardware itself) is the Technika TV has shorter aerial cable and one less connection point (join).
I'd be grateful if any expert can help me get Channel 52 on my Humax HDD.
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C
Chris.SE10:18 PM
Simon F.:
See Channel listings for Industry Professionals | Freeview for which channels are carried on which multiplex.
Apart from the "Christmas" channel name changes it is normally up-to-date and Freeview will normally update the list a day or two after such minor changes.
If you provide a full postcode we should be able to give an indication of how "receivable" the Local mux is in your location, as well as which way your aerial should point for Sutton Coldfield.
Roughly how old is the aerial installation and coax?
Whilst aerial upgrades were not needed for the main 6 multiplexes for Sutton Coldfield with the 700MHz Clearance program, one might have been needed to get the temporary COMs 7&8 (both now closed). However, older installations may have degraded due to moisture ingress etc.
Have a look in your TVs' Tuning sections for indications of Signal Strength and Bit Error Rate (BER) or Quality %, for each multiplex's UHF channel, (An up-to-date channel list is in the post before yours).
Posting all those figures may be helpful.
Obviously check every coax joint that you can and ensure that they are clean and there's no corrosion etc. Make sure you don't have any HDMI leads running close to coax aerial leads as HDMI can sometimes cause interference.
How "moveable" is the Technika? If you can try it at the Samsung and Humax location and see if the Local mux is still receivable (Do NOT retune it) then that may give a feel for how likely the coax length and/or quality may have a bearing on the signal.
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Friday, 9 September 2022
S
Simon F.7:16 AM
Stafford
Thanks Chris. I took a slightly different approach this morning. Moved the Humax HDR upstairs (to where the Technika is) and retuned that. It now finds Mux Ch 36 which is where Freeview channel 52. Indicated strength/quality is not brilliant (S=40%, Q=10%) but actually it displays fine.
So I guess that this is simply due to longer coax run (and join) from the aerial to the normal downstairs location of the Humax. At some point I will take the Humax downstairs again (without a retune) to see whether now that its tuned it can still pick up FV Ch 52 downstairs.
Postcode is ST16 1SX. Aerial was installed a couple of years ago, and set up for Sutton Coldfield (we had problems though of autotuning picking up The Wrekin, with less good signal strength/quality).
The mainstream Mux signals are extremely strong. I was wondering if a signal amplifier would help to boost the Local mux signal, but I've read that this could cause problems for strong signals.
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Simon's: mapS's Freeview map terrainS's terrain plot wavesS's frequency data S's Freeview Detailed Coverage
C
Chris.SE1:16 PM
Simon F.:
The Wrekin will come in quite strongly in your location - you're about halfway between it and Sutton Coldfield, so manual tuning may be needed on occasion but there should be very few occasions when that's needed these days.
Sutton Coldfield is one of very few transmitters with two UHF channels for the Local multiplex and signals are usually beamed to the centres of population. C36 beams north towards Lichfield and surrounding districts and you aren't predicted to get reliable reception of it - very variable to poor, because your location is slightly off-beam.
As far as amplification is concerned, as you mention too strong signals can cause problems. It was for that reason I'd like to see the exact signal & quality/BER figures for each multiplex in both set locations. Please also describe how your current downlead is currently split with splitters etc.
How much of the coax was replaced when the aerial was replaced?
I'll post a slightly more comprehensive response later, have to deal with other matters right now.
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S
Simon F.7:13 PM
Chris.SE: Hi Chris. Having tuned the HDR with the upstairs cable, it still just receives Local (Mux Ch36) downstairs (I've got a temporary coax extension which I've had to remove, otherwise signal is too weak for the HDR). With this, the Local channels are received well enough for the missus!
All coax was new when the aerial was installed. I'm not sure about splitting.
It seems good enough. You mention that Sutton Coldfield has two channels for the local mux. Would the other channel be better for us?
Anyway, thank you for your help. But please don't spend any more time on this...it seems OK for the moment. Thank you for your fast and helpful responses!
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