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

Brian Butterworth first published this on 1st May 2004 at 08:20 - UK Free TV

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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 27/11/2023 Pixelation or flickering on some or all channels

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.

Mux	H/V	Frequency	Height	Mode	Watts
PSB1 BBCA	H max	C43 (650.0MHz)	433m	DTG-	200,000W
	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)	433m	DTG-	200,000W
	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)	433m	DTG-	200,000W
	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 66 TBN UK,
COM4 SDN	H max	C42 (642.0MHz)	433m	DTG-8	200,000W
	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, 89 ITV4 +1, 91 WildEarth, 209 Ketchup TV, 210 Ketchup Too, 211 YAAAS!, 267 Al Jazeera English, plus 35 others
COM5 ArqA	H max	C45 (666.0MHz)	433m	DTG-8	200,000W
	Smithsonian Channel, 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 Christmas, 70 Quest +1, 74 Yesterday +1, 75 That's 90s, 233 Sky News, plus 11 others
COM6 ArqB	H max	C39+ (618.2MHz)	433m	DTG-8	200,000W
	Quest Red +1, Classic Hits, 12 Quest, 25 W, 27 Yesterday, 34 GREAT! movies, 39 DMAX, 44 HGTV, 52 GREAT! christmas, 56 That's TV (UK), 61 GREAT! movies extra, 63 GREAT! christmas mix, 71 That’s 60s, 73 HobbyMaker, 82 Talking Pictures TV, 83 Together TV, 84 PBS America, 235 Al Jazeera Eng, plus 20 others
LB	H -13dB	C48 (690.0MHz)	433m	DTG-12	10,000W
	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?

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	BBCtv_waves
C33						com7
C35						com8
C36						LOCAL2
C39					+ArqB	ArqB
C40		BBC2_waves	BBC2_waves	BBC2_waves	+BBCB	BBCB
C42					SDN	SDN
C43		ITV_waves	ITV_waves	ITV_waves	BBCA	BBCA
C45					ArqA	ArqA
C46		BBC1_waves	BBC1_waves	BBC1_waves	D3+4	D3+4
C48						_local
C50_{tv_off}		C4_waves	C4_waves	C4_waves
C51_{tv_off}						LB
C55_{tv_off}						com7_{tv_off}
C56_{tv_off}						COM8_{tv_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

Local transmitter maps

Sutton Coldfield Freeview Sutton Coldfield DAB Sutton Coldfield AM/FM Sutton Coldfield TV region BBC West Midlands Central (West micro region)

Which companies have run the Channel 3 services in the Sutton Coldfield transmitter area

Feb 1956-Jul 1968	Associated TeleVision†
Feb 1956-Jul 1968	Associated British Corporation◊
Jul 1968-Dec 1981	Associated TeleVision
Jan 1982-Feb 2004	Central Independent Television
Feb 2004-Dec 2014	ITV plc

Feb 1983-Dec 1992	TV-am•
Jan 1993-Sep 2010	GMTV•
Sep 2010-Dec 2014	ITV 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.

Is the transmitter output the same in all directions?

M

Mr & Mrs I L Rubery
11:20 AM
Ashbourne

QUESTION
We get good from with an old C/D , and receive Midlands news programmes. When we point it around to the direction and retune so as to obtain East Midlands news programmes the reception is very poor to non-existent. Our post code is DE6 3EP (between and , north-west of ).
With technology as it is now, is there a way of receiving and selecting East Midlands news programmes from Sutton Coldfield?

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Mr & Mrs I L Rubery's 1 post GB flag

Mr's: M's Freeview map M's terrain plot M's frequency data M's Freeview Detailed Coverage

Dave Lindsay

_{sentiment_very_satisfied}Platinum

11:59 AM

Mr & Mrs I L Rubery: No, because they aren't broadcast from .

There are a number of transmitters up the Derwent valley that , but you are out of range of them all.

Refer to this terrain plot:

Terrain between ( m a.g.l.) and (antenna m a.g.l.) - Optimising UK DTT Freeview and Radio aerial location

The ground rises and falls within a couple of miles of you and may be the cause of your difficulty.

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Dave Lindsay's 5,724 posts GB flag

D

Dave Kirk
5:44 PM

MikeB: Thanks for your. Not the answer I was expecting! I can't find your cheap 20dB attenuator on Amazon, so I'll dash out for a 12dB one from my nearest Maplin (£6.49) and that's enough.

Thanks again!

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Dave Kirk's 3 posts GB flag

M

MikeB

_{sentiment_very_satisfied}Platinum

6:11 PM

Dave Kirk: You can, but you will spend a bit more. See here: 18dB Coax Plug Inline ATTENUATOR: Amazon.co.uk: Electronics

They obviously do other ones as well. Best thing to do is to buy a couple of different ones, and then you can see which one works best. If you need to kill the more than just using one, you can put them in series. Also good idea to use an extra fly lead, so that nothing vaguely heavy stick out of the socket.

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MikeB's 2,579 posts GB flag

D

Dave Kirk
10:43 AM

MikeB: That's ridiculously cheap, especially as it says postage is free! Makes me wonder about the , but the two reviews (and you) say it works so I'll order one (or two).

I'll use it in the where the is plugged into the down lead. Thanks again! I'll report back on what happens.

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Dave Kirk's 3 posts GB flag

MikeP

_{sentiment_very_satisfied}Platinum

10:59 PM

Dave Kirk:

You would be better putting it/them close to the input socket of the TV. That way the strength in the downlead is greater and therefore less susceptible to if there is any locally. As MikeB suggests, put a short flylead into the TV socket and then put the attenuator on the end of that and then connect the downlead to the attenuator.

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MikeP's 3,056 posts GB flag

G

Gordon Insley
6:15 PM

Mr & Mrs I L Rubery
Hi,
There are local transmitters in , () and (Firestone Hill / Chevin).
is somewhat geographic / terrain / elevation related and dependent on exactly where your property is located will determine which local or main regional (s) are within range for suitable reception. I assume you are in or near to Hulland.
However, I do have clients in your vicinity who receive reception directly from the regional transmitter.
But to receive all the available channnels you do require a decent '' high TV aerial of professional grade and , an old 'Yagi' C/D grouped aerial will certainly not do the job.

Gordon.
-perfect@talktalk.net

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Gordon Insley's 8 posts GB flag

M

MikeB

_{sentiment_very_satisfied}Platinum

7:15 PM

Dave Kirk: I'd agree with MikeP - if only so you dont have to go up in the ! And yes, they are cheap, which is fine, they seem to the job OK for me, so buy a couple of different ones, and see how they do.

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MikeB's 2,579 posts GB flag

Transmitter engineering

_{sentiment_very_satisfied}Owner

4:31 AM

- MainPossible weak [DUK]

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Transmitter engineering's 146,549 posts xx flag

M

Mr T jones
7:07 PM

Had problems with itv3 today +itv3+1.

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Mr T jones's 1 post GB flag

Page 256

Please post a question, answer or commentIf you have Freeview reception problems before posting a question your must first do this Freeview reset procedure then see: Freeview reception has changed, Single frequency interference, and Freeview intermittent interference.

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