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

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

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.

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 25/09/2023 Pixelation or flickering on some or all channels

Choose from three options: ■ List by multiplex ■ List by channel number ■ List by channel name

_______

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, 250 BBC Red Button, plus 18 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, 109 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! Movies Action, 57 Dave ja vu, 58 ITVBe +1, 59 ITV3 +1, 64 Blaze, 67 CBS Reality, 69 HorrorXtra, 78 TCC, 81 Blaze +1, 89 ITV4 +1, 91 WildEarth, 203 CITV, 208 Pop Player, 209 Ketchup TV, 210 Ketchup Too, 211 YAAAS!, plus 16 others
COM5 ArqA	H max	C45 (666.0MHz)	433m	DTG-8	200,000W
	Smithsonian Channel, 11 Sky Arts, 17 Really, 19 Dave, 31 E4 Extra, 36 pick, 40 Quest Red, 43 Food Network, 47 Film4 +1, 48 Challenge, 49 4seven, 60 Drama +1, 70 Quest +1, 71 That's 60s, 74 Yesterday +1, 75 That's 70s, 233 Sky News, plus 9 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! romance, 73 HobbyMaker, 76 That's 80s, 82 Talking Pictures TV, 83 Together TV, 84 PBS America, 90 Together TV +1, 235 Al Jazeera Eng, plus 19 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?

A

Andy
5:36 AM

Hi mate, I'm located in on Trent approximately 22 miles from the SC . I order an ANTIFERENCE TCX18BK 18 ELEMENT BK, from Amazon, but their seller sent me a group K (grey end) instead. My question is will now not get all the programs that I would have got if they had sent me a group B like asked for?

link to this comment

Andy's 1 post GB flag

S

StevensOnln1

_{sentiment_very_satisfied}Platinum

10:55 AM

Andy : Group K covers the entire UHF band that is in use for . Unless you have a very weak it should be fine.

link to this comment

StevensOnln1's 3,553 posts GB flag

C

Chris.SE

_{sentiment_very_satisfied}Platinum

5:17 PM

Andy :

According to Antiference's data sheet the Group K has 0.7dBi more which is practically insignificant, but it should also with rejection of from any unwanted mobile signals unlike the Group B which goes above to . Mobile operators can now use frequencies above .

link to this comment

Chris.SE's 3,715 posts GB flag

Transmitter engineering

_{sentiment_very_satisfied}Owner

5:07 AM

- Sutton Coldfield transmitter: Possible effect on TV week commencing 13/03/2023 Pixelation or flickering on some or all [DUK]

link to this comment

Transmitter engineering's 144,129 posts GB flag

A

Anthony Bowkett
9:49 AM
Kidderminster

Hi I live in (DY10 1YD,) Can I receive signals from ? What should I consider?

link to this comment

Anthony Bowkett's 1 post GB flag

Anthony's: A's Freeview map A's terrain plot A's frequency data A's Freeview Detailed Coverage

A

Aerialman

_{sentiment_satisfied}Silver

2:18 PM

The answer is yes as long as you are on reasonably high ground and clear through to the north east .The strongest is , but is only free view lite!Other transmitters that may be usable is and full free view in the north and north-east side of town. is usable on high ground in central and Stourport Rd areas.
Best to put your postcode into www.freeview.co.uk checker,this is reasonably accurate!

link to this comment

Aerialman's 140 posts GB flag

S

StevensOnln1

_{sentiment_very_satisfied}Platinum

2:20 PM

Anthony Bowkett: You are predicted to receive a strong from the . It's generally recommended to use a Group K or type of aerial such as a log periodic which will receive the entire UHF channel 21 to 48 range used for Freeview. Any reputable aerial installer should be able to supply and fit something suitable.

link to this comment

StevensOnln1's 3,553 posts GB flag

P

Phil Dalton
3:22 PM
Warwick

is on on the longest pole providing maximum height without planning permission. CV35 9LX

Every mid-April the HD channel (40) loses strength and . Occasionally it will disappear altogether for a few days. This will go on until winter arrives when signal strength and quality will improve sufficiently to make the HD watchable.

Is there anything that can be done to keep the signal strength and quality at a watchable level.
Other channels measure a 10 out of 10 for signal quality and strength

link to this comment

Phil Dalton's 2 posts GB flag

Phil's: P's Freeview map P's terrain plot P's frequency data P's Freeview Detailed Coverage

C

Chris.SE

_{sentiment_very_satisfied}Platinum

4:19 PM

Phil :

You didn't say what figures you were currently getting on .
The isn't currently listed for a Planned and I can't find any faults listed at this time.
In general I would have expected propagation to be slightly better now than in Winter and you are certainly predicted to get good signals from for all 6 multiplexes.
Do you have any amp/splitters to feed more than one TV?

The fact that you say you have signal strength 10 (& 10) for the other multiplexes leads me think there's a possibility you may have slightly too much signal and any overall improvement in signal with current weather conditions may lead to overloading of the tuner front end and hence a reduction in quality, in this case to the HD .

Does your aerial feed direct to this one TV or do you have an amp/splitter to feed more than one, if so, does it have a variable control?
If so, turn it down a touch, strength readings below 10 aren't really of any consequence (as long as they don't go too low!) it's Quality remaining at 10 (100%) that is important.

If you have an amp/splitter but no variable gain, the other thing you can try is unplug the aerial from it and connect it direct to the one TV feed (turn/power off the amp) and provide the readings for each UHF when connected like that.

if you don't have an amp/splitter, then maybe trying a variable attenuator might be worth a go. See for example eBay item number:310039226920

link to this comment

Chris.SE's 3,715 posts GB flag

Transmitter engineering

_{sentiment_very_satisfied}Owner

10:08 AM

- Sutton Coldfield transmitter: Possible effect on TV week commencing 01/05/2023 Pixelation or flickering on some or all [DUK]

link to this comment

Transmitter engineering's 144,129 posts GB flag

Page 318

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.

If you have no satellite signal, see Sky Digibox says 'No Signal' or 'Technical fault'

If you have other problems, please provide a full (not partial) postcode (or preferably enter it in box at the top right) and indicate where if aerial is on the roof, in the loft or elsewhere.

UK Free TV is here to help people. If you are rude or disrespectful all of your posts will be deleted and you will be banned.
Your comments
Your name
Your email
Your site or @twitter
Email me updates
Save my details

Privacy policy: UK Free Privacy policy.