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?

G

Geoff Smith
12:32 AM

I bought a full hd tv at Xmas. On tuning it I get a total of 104 . Excellent but NO hd. figures are around 60-70%. I bought a Televes 45 but still no difference from my old one! I know it's a , But at that signal figure, why can't I get hd. I believe my transmission is from . On checking the internet I am supposed to receive good hd from this so why can't I get it!
Geoff

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Geoff Smith's 3 posts GB flag

Transmitter engineering

_{sentiment_very_satisfied}Owner

6:29 AM

- BBC ONE Weak from 16:00 yesterday to 16:24 yesterday BBC TWO Weak Signal from 16:17 yesterday to 16:38 yesterday [BBC]

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Transmitter engineering's 144,052 posts xx flag

Transmitter engineering

_{sentiment_very_satisfied}Owner

6:29 AM

- BBC ONE Weak from 16:00 yesterday to 16:24 yesterday BBC TWO Weak Signal from 16:17 yesterday to 16:38 yesterday [BBC]

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Transmitter engineering's 144,052 posts xx flag

Transmitter engineering

_{sentiment_very_satisfied}Owner

8:29 AM

- BBC ONE Weak from 14:44 yesterday to 15:16 yesterday BBC TWO Weak Signal from 13:48 yesterday to 14:48 yesterday [BBC]

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Transmitter engineering's 144,052 posts xx flag

Transmitter engineering

_{sentiment_very_satisfied}Owner

8:29 AM

- BBC ONE Weak from 14:44 yesterday to 15:16 yesterday BBC TWO Weak Signal from 13:48 yesterday to 14:48 yesterday [BBC]

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Transmitter engineering's 144,052 posts xx flag

D

Dennis

_{sentiment_satisfied}Bronze

11:58 AM
Tamworth

Geoff,are you sure your new TV can get HD,what make/model number is it,a lot of people are buying sets do not have a dvb-t2 tuner ''HD'' inside,not saying yours is,but there is a chance.

Also HD is not transmitted from Sutton,at the moment,its from a site at Hints nr ,and its low ,and the main beam is directed towards Birmingham,and not any other direction.

will be transmitted from ,from digital switch over,on 21/9/11 and there will be a very large power increase,at that time.

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Dennis's 27 posts GB flag

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

M

Martin

_{sentiment_satisfied}Bronze

12:29 PM
Machynlleth

What sort of programming is going to be on New8 after switch over. I have a group B at the moment and forego 55 rather than change to group E. I could get a but they generally seem to not be thought of too well. Unless there is going to be something worth watching on New* I'll stick with my group B. Alternatively I could couple in an existing group A from some previous experimentation.

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Martin's 21 posts GB flag

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

R

Roy Butler
12:42 PM
Kidderminster

Can you advise on the feild strength that should be avaiable at DY11 7XS after complete from , and . (microvolts or db is fine)

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Roy Butler's 1 post GB flag

Roy's: R's Freeview map R's terrain plot R's frequency data R's Freeview Detailed Coverage

S

Stephen johnson
5:20 PM
Northampton

Hey if my is pointing north picking up which way would I have to point it to pick up the main ? I'm currently at nn49sz and after a little research believe I'm on the fringe of both but due to location Sutton is easier to point at and although it's a fair distance away I think I can get a clear line of site to it as I live on the edge of
We also have a smaller transmitter near
to the town which is part of the sandy Heath group but I can't access it as I'm wrong side of hill hence I need to know where to point to main sandy Heath transmitter ? Thanks
I also have a aerial I think tri boom with an

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Stephen johnson's 5 posts GB flag

Stephen's: S's Freeview map S's terrain plot S's frequency data S's Freeview Detailed Coverage

G

Geoff Smith
6:51 PM
Rugby

Hi, Dennis,
Thanks for that. Yes it's a 1080p with a dvb-t2 . But great news, I also received a PSU with the aerial, connected it in today and now get the hd . If I switch it off the channels go. Maybe on 21/09/11 I might get them without the need for the PSU.
Cheers,
Geoff.

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Geoff Smith's 3 posts GB flag

Geoff's: G's Freeview map G's terrain plot G's frequency data G's Freeview Detailed Coverage

Page 9

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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