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?

Transmitter engineering

_{sentiment_very_satisfied}Owner

5:08 AM

- : BBC National DAB Radio Off Air from 11:17 on 07 Oct to 11:18 on 07 Oct. FM: Radio 1 FM Off Air from 11:17 on 07 Oct to 11:18 on 07 Oct, Radio 2 FM Off Air from 11:17 on 07 Oct to 11:18 on 07 Oct, Radio 3 FM Off Air from 11:17 on 07 Oct to 12:00 on 07 [BBC]

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Transmitter engineering's 146,542 posts xx flag

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denis flack
3:29 PM
Telford

I can get most through my ariel direct but only 9 through the Talk Talk tv box. AT TF3 2HX Telford

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denis flack's 1 post GB flag

denis's: D's Freeview map D's terrain plot D's frequency data D's Freeview Detailed Coverage

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Chris.SE

_{sentiment_very_satisfied}Platinum

5:35 PM

denis flack:

According to the DigitalUK checker About us | Freeview you should have no problem with at your location.
I'm not familiar with that box, whether someone who is can post with advise I don't know. But I would suggest that you contact TalkTalk TV Support, see About TalkTalk TV - TalkTalk Help & Support
You'll see you can phone them on 0345-172 0088 or use the Live on-line Chat (if it's not busy !!).

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Chris.SE's 3,915 posts GB flag

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Peter Ingram
7:03 PM

Will we be getting the Sony Christmas movies in nuneaton

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Chris.SE

_{sentiment_very_satisfied}Platinum

9:08 PM

Peter Ingram:

The simple answer is, if you don't get it now, then no, it's not very likely. Sony have chosen to broadcast this and some of its other only on Local Multiplexes, see Channel listings | Freeview , and whilst there is two at , neither are believed to radiate in your direction and both are low . There's only one change at Sutton Coldfield on 30th October, it's a small increase in power of one local UHF ch.48 from 10kW to 15kW.
You can confirm the predicted at you location by putting your postcode into the DigitalUK checker About us | Freeview

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Chris.SE's 3,915 posts GB flag

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Steven Woolley
3:54 PM

Can not get + 1 hd

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Chris.SE

_{sentiment_very_satisfied}Platinum

1:22 AM

Steven Woolley:

+1 is on the COM7HD which although broadcast from , may not be receivable at your location. Go to Freeview | All your favourite TV shows, all in one place and all for free scroll down the page to the box "Check at my home" and enter your postcode and house number/name. Scroll down the following page where available are shown in "tiles". Below the initial block there is a "down arrow" if not all are displayed. But if you are only interested in the HD channels click on that button on the RHS of the top row (PS. if it says 13, you can get them all). If you scroll down just after half way down the page, there is a button "Detailed view". If you click on that it will show the predicted of transmitters and multiplexes that may be receivable at your location.

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Chris.SE's 3,915 posts GB flag

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Roy
9:13 PM

When turns off Com7 & Com8 in June 2020, will the listed against them above be the ones to vanish or might there be some rearrangement/horsetrading with the lower Com channels as to what is dropped? There are some useful/major HD channels within 7 & 8, as well as some minor ones, and I like others have seen the clearances of 2019 make of Com 7 & 8 get harder.

And does anyone know how soon the interim 209Mbps period will follow the above switch-off?

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Roy's 18 posts GB flag

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StevensOnln1

_{sentiment_very_satisfied}Platinum

11:24 PM

Roy: There has been no confirmation that COM7 & COM8 will close at next June (it has been announced that COM7/8 will close at 5 transmitters by next Summer but Sutton Coldfield is not on that list). have previously stated that COM7 & COM8 will be able to continue broadcasting on UHF 55 & 56 for up to another 2 or 3 years until those frequencies start to be used by the mobile networks (those channels fall within the centre gap between the new uplink and downlink allocations - hence why COM7/8 have been moved to those frequencies). No announcement has been made about any channels moving to other multiplexes.

I'm not sure what you mean by interim 209Mbps period?

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StevensOnln1's 3,566 posts GB flag

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Chris.SE

_{sentiment_very_satisfied}Platinum

12:18 AM

StevensOnln1:

I think what Roy is referring to is the speculation here Rebuilding Freeview High Definition from 2019 onwards | free and easy that once the HD muxes COMs 7&8 close then COMs 4-6 will go HD. It is of course pure speculation that they will all go HD, one may do so initially, but it will be purely a commercial decision (we think at present) by Arqiva and the broadcasters. So the answer to Roy's question is we don't know, nothing has been announced and nothing is expected to be announced soon!

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Chris.SE's 3,915 posts GB flag

Page 302

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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