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.

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.

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, 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?

I

Ian Brown
12:13 PM
Nottingham

P.S. I live in , NG5 4NQ and my is on the .

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Ian Brown's 4 posts GB flag

Ian's: I's Freeview map I's terrain plot I's frequency data I's Freeview Detailed Coverage

D

DAVE FREEMAN
2:36 PM

I have recently had to retune my due to losing . I used to receive yesterday and itv4.Since the initial set up and countless retunes, I still cannot receive Channel numbers 12 and 24.
Any ideas?
Dave

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DAVE FREEMAN's 1 post GB flag

D

Daz
3:15 PM

Hi All, Any would be appreciated. I have lost all my HD , I used to get all 4 with no problems whatsoever until a few days ago, I've tried to retune but although the channels are shown I get no program guide and when I select a HD channel I just get "" warning. All other channels are being received as normal.

I live in Le86hy but am tuned into .

Thanks in advance.

Daz

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Daz's 2 posts GB flag

J

JESSIE P
3:28 PM

Hey daz

same problem here i'm in but tuned to . turned out i neededed to go the . need to find a system technical director of operations to go up to the roofes to get it all changed to that. gonna cost a few blueys but its my only option it seems.

try using the maps on here to see if you need to retune etc.

this helps
Jessie

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JESSIE P's 1 post GB flag

M

Mike Dimmick

_{sentiment_very_satisfied}Platinum

6:46 PM

Ian Brown: A longer run of will drop more than a shorter one. One TV might be more or less sensitive than the other one.

If you're going to split an feed to more than one location, you should put the split as close to the aerial as possible. Don't run the cable to the back of one TV and split it there - you've already lost a significant amount of signal before it gets to the first point, and the cable run is likely to be longer than taking a second cable directly from the aerial.

'low-loss' coax cable is anything but. Use -grade cable (dense copper braid over copper foil screening) to reduce the amount of signal lost in the cable.

Use proper splitters - don't just wire multiple cables into the aerial, because it will no longer be properly matched. If the cables aren't properly matched, you get reflections bouncing up and down the cable. There is some insertion loss just from using the splitter - if this is losing too much signal for one TV, you might need to add a small to offset this loss.

If it was working fine before , and the non-working TV is on the shorter cable run, you could have too much signal. If you have an amplified splitter, try turning the amplifier down or removing the amp entirely.

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Mike Dimmick's 2,486 posts GB flag

M

Mike Dimmick

_{sentiment_very_satisfied}Platinum

6:52 PM

James Mooney: Does BBC Four work? Before , Sports are carried on B.

If you're north of Birmingham, or your points in the same direction as the , you could be getting from Emley Moor BBC Two (analogue) when the weather conditions are right or at night.

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Mike Dimmick's 2,486 posts GB flag

N

N Omara
7:49 PM

The hd comes from / hints at the moment and will transfer to only in September . Sutton does not have the digital signal I understand

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N Omara's 1 post GB flag

D

Daz
9:16 AM
Leicester

Jessie P / N Omara

Thanks for your responses. What I'm trying to understand is what could have changed when I've been receiving HD faultlessly for 5 months and now nothing at all, not a hint of a although all other channels are as before. My home setup hasn't altered. is on the and only recently fitted for .

Thanks again
Daz

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Daz's 2 posts GB flag

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

Transmitter engineering

_{sentiment_very_satisfied}Owner

9:40 AM

- ton Coldfield Transmitter group works on 6 May 2011: transmitter work will take place between 09:30hrs and 18:00hrs on 6 May 2011 TV that will be disrupted: services - BBC1, BBC2, ITV and will be subject to periods of shutdown between 09:30 and 18:00. Digital services - Mux1, Mux2, MuxA, MuxB and MuxC will be subject to periods of shutdown between 09:30 and 18:30. [DUK] Over the next week Sutton Coldfield main transmitter: TV (analogue) Possible weak , TV (digital) Liable to interruption, Radio (analogue) Possible weak signal, Radio (digital) working normally. [DUK]

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Transmitter engineering's 143,939 posts xx flag

Transmitter engineering

_{sentiment_very_satisfied}Owner

9:40 AM

- ton Coldfield Transmitter group works on 6 May 2011: transmitter work will take place between 09:30hrs and 18:00hrs on 6 May 2011 TV that will be disrupted: services - BBC1, BBC2, ITV and will be subject to periods of shutdown between 09:30 and 18:00. Digital services - Mux1, Mux2, MuxA, MuxB and MuxC will be subject to periods of shutdown between 09:30 and 18:30. [DUK] Over the next week Sutton Coldfield main transmitter: TV (analogue) Possible weak , TV (digital) Liable to interruption, Radio (analogue) Possible weak signal, Radio (digital) working normally. [DUK]

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Transmitter engineering's 143,939 posts xx flag

Page 43

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.

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