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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.

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 25/03/2024 Pixelation or flickering on some or all channels Digital tick


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),

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 Drama, 21 5USA, 29 ITV2 +1, 32 5STAR, 33 5Action, 38 Channel 5 +1, 41 Legend, 42 GREAT! action, 57 Dave ja vu, 58 ITVBe +1, 59 ITV3 +1, 64 Blaze, 67 TRUE CRIME, 68 TRUE CRIME XTRA, 78 TCC, 81 Blaze +1, 83 Together TV, 89 ITV4 +1, 91 WildEarth, 209 Ketchup TV, 210 Ketchup Too, 211 YAAAS!, 267 Al Jazeera English, plus 30 others

COM5
ArqA
 H max
C45 (666.0MHz)433mDTG-8200,000W
Channel icons
11 Sky Mix, 17 Really, 19 Dave, 31 E4 Extra, 36 Sky Arts, 40 Quest Red, 43 Food Network, 47 Film4 +1, 48 Challenge, 49 4seven, 60 Drama +1, 65 That's TV 2, 70 Quest +1, 74 Yesterday +1, 75 That's 90s, 233 Sky News, plus 11 others

COM6
ArqB
 H max
C39+ (618.2MHz)433mDTG-8200,000W
Channel icons
12 Quest, 25 W, 27 Yesterday, 34 GREAT! movies, 39 DMAX, 44 HGTV, 52 GREAT! romance, 56 That's TV (UK), 61 GREAT! movies extra, 63 GREAT! romance mix, 71 That’s 60s, 73 HobbyMaker, 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
Tuesday, 3 December 2013
K
KEVIN GARDINER
sentiment_satisfiedBronze

10:42 PM
Stourbridge

I've just re-checked my Samsung tv digital channel tuner and it's saying that there's two carriers on frequency channel 51, which is the mulitiplex channel for local tv from Sutton Coldfield. Brierley Hill's multiplex channel for local tv service will be channel 29. Channel 29 is not yet in test transmission mode.

link to this comment
KEVIN GARDINER's 68 posts GB flag
KEVIN's: mapK's Freeview map terrainK's terrain plot wavesK's frequency data K's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Friday, 6 December 2013
K
KEVIN GARDINER
sentiment_satisfiedBronze

4:51 PM
Stourbridge

A testcard for a new channel broadcasting on all platforms from December 15th , and on channel 239 freeview, has come on air today. It's a religious channel from the christain prospective called SONLIFE. Not sure if it's going to be a free to air channel, or encrypted for subscription viewers over the internet using their smart tv. We shall see.

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KEVIN GARDINER's 68 posts GB flag
KEVIN's: mapK's Freeview map terrainK's terrain plot wavesK's frequency data K's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Briantist
sentiment_very_satisfiedOwner

4:53 PM

KEVIN GARDINER: The 2XX range of channel numbers are used for IPTV channels.

You will need a Freeview HD box with an internet connection.

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Briantist's 38,915 posts GB flag
K
KEVIN GARDINER
sentiment_satisfiedBronze

5:21 PM
Stourbridge

Thank you Briantist for you informed reply. I thought that that was the case regards to the 200 xx channel line-up on freeview.

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KEVIN GARDINER's 68 posts GB flag
KEVIN's: mapK's Freeview map terrainK's terrain plot wavesK's frequency data K's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Monday, 9 December 2013
K
KEVIN GARDINER
sentiment_satisfiedBronze

3:59 PM
Stourbridge

I have a Samsung 32 inch freeview hd smart tv. And recently, I started to check the tv's self diagnosis in the support section. The readings I get are, signal strength for sd freeview 100% on all multiplexes and no bit rate era.However, when I checked the hd multiplex, I get a signal strength of 94%, and a bit rate variable era of between 660 and 800 bits. The signal strength remains unchanged at 94% regardless of whether the bit rate era fluctuates up or down. If I had an obstacle such as hill or building blocking the signals between my house and Sutton Coldfield, the freeview standard version channels would get bit rate era and a lower signal strength, but they are all received here perfectly. It seems to me ,that it could be the parameters by which the hd mux is using which is causing the bit rate era. To try and resolve the issue, I bought a attenuator and connected it in sequence to my tv and although it helped lower the bit rate slightly, it did not eliminate it altogether.
My set up at home is a group e rooftop antenna pointed 46 degree to Sutton Coldfield, connected straight to my television, no splitters, amps etc attached.
On conclusion, I can only think that the parameters for hd need adjusting slightly to correct the bit rate era, or by turning the transmission power up slightly , or a mixture of both. Does anyone else get perfect freeview sd reception with no bit rate era, but has bit rate era with hd ?

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KEVIN GARDINER's 68 posts GB flag
KEVIN's: mapK's Freeview map terrainK's terrain plot wavesK's frequency data K's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Tuesday, 10 December 2013
R
Russ Dring
sentiment_satisfiedBronze

10:39 AM
Spalding

KEVIN GARDINER: My guess is that you are using Sutton Coldfield? If so perhaps there is enough signal from Belmont also using ch 33 especially today, as there is high pressure dominating our weather,to cause same frequency interference.


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Russ Dring's 48 posts GB flag
Russ's: mapR's Freeview map terrainR's terrain plot wavesR's frequency data R's Freeview Detailed Coverage
K
KEVIN GARDINER
sentiment_satisfiedBronze

11:59 AM
Stourbridge

Russ Dring, this could be the cause of my bit rate era on the newly launched HD multiplex from Sutton Coldfield today. However, I'm not entirely sure that is the problem, because I got ,and still do get the same problem for the HD mux on frequency channel 40+, but the bit rate era is much worse , ranging from 660 - 800 bits. Signal strength is 94% and the erp is 200kw.
I decided to test out the HD mux signal from Brierley Hill., which is a mile or so north of where I live. All multiplexes are Erp 2kw. And again, like Sutton Coldfield, I get perfect reception of all standard Freeview muxes with no bit rate eras, but when it came to the HD I received a variable bit rate era of between 160 - 320.
Something doesn't quite add up here. If you can receive perfect reception with no bit rate eras on standard Freeview multiplexes from both transmitters regardless of output power and distance from each transmitter, then surely that indicates that I have clear line of sight too both transmitters? And if that is the case, then I can only conclude that the parameters currently being used to transmit the HD multiplexes needs altering to correct the data loss at reception, Either by increasing transmission Erp or parameters, or a mixture of both.

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KEVIN GARDINER's 68 posts GB flag
KEVIN's: mapK's Freeview map terrainK's terrain plot wavesK's frequency data K's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Wednesday, 11 December 2013
F
Fred perry
10:06 PM

Weare in worcester, all our HdD channels steadily got worse over several weeks. This last week I have retuned on several occasions and now cannot pick up any HD channels at all. Any help please?

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Fred perry's 1 post GB flag
Friday, 13 December 2013
B
Bob Aston
5:08 AM

No Freeview Signal 4.45 am Why?

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Bob Aston's 2 posts GB flag
Saturday, 14 December 2013
S
Stephen
2:03 PM

When I search for channels on ch33 which is meant to be com7 the freeview hd box lists the wrong channels. It lists the PSB3 channels which should be on ch40. When I try to watch them it says "Service unavailable". This is quite an old freeview HD box from 2010. Why is this happening. Wanted to see the new HD channels and I cant..

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Stephen's 4 posts GB flag
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