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

first published this on - UK Free TV
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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 25/11/2024 Pixelation or flickering on some or all channels Digital tick


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.

MuxH/VFrequencyHeightModeWatts
PSB1
BBCA
 H max
C43 (650.0MHz)433mDTG-200,000W
Channel icons
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)433mDTG-200,000W
Channel icons
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), 71 That’s 60s,

PSB3
BBCB
 H max
C40+ (626.2MHz)433mDTG-200,000W
Channel icons
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

COM4
SDN
 H max
C42 (642.0MHz)433mDTG-8200,000W
Channel icons
20 U&Drama, 21 5USA, 29 ITV2 +1, 32 5STAR, 33 5Action, 38 Channel 5 +1, 41 Legend, 42 GREAT! action, 57 U&Dave ja vu, 58 ITV3 +1, 59 ITV4 +1, 64 Blaze, 67 TRUE CRIME, 68 TRUE CRIME XTRA, 81 Blaze +1, 83 Together TV, 91 WildEarth, 93 ITVBe +1, 209 Ketchup TV, 210 Ketchup Too, 211 YAAAS!, 251 Al Jazeera English, 255 FRANCE 24 (in English), 265 Rok Sky +1, plus 29 others

COM5
ArqA
 H max
C45 (666.0MHz)433mDTG-8200,000W
Channel icons
11 Sky Mix, 17 Really, 19 U&Dave, 31 E4 Extra, 36 Sky Arts, 40 Quest Red, 43 Food Network, 47 Film4 +1, 48 Challenge, 49 4seven, 60 U&Drama +1, 65 That's TV 2, 70 Quest +1, 74 &UYesterday +1, 76 That's TV 2 MCR, 233 Sky News, plus 13 others

COM6
ArqB
 H max
C39+ (618.2MHz)433mDTG-8200,000W
Channel icons
12 Quest, 25 U&W, 27 U&Yesterday, 34 GREAT! movies, 39 DMAX, 44 HGTV, 52 GREAT! christmas, 56 That's TV (UK), 63 GREAT! romance mix, 73 HobbyMaker, 75 That's 90s, 82 Talking Pictures TV, 84 PBS America, 235 Al Jazeera Eng, plus 18 others

LB
 H -13dB
C48 (690.0MHz)433mDTG-1210,000W
Channel icons
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?

regional news image
BBC Midlands Today 2.9m homes 10.9%
from Birmingham B1 1RF, 15km south-southwest (200°)
to BBC West Midlands region - 66 masts.
regional news image
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)Transposer1 km W Burton-on-Trent60 homes
CoalvilleTransposer18 km NW Leicester600 homes
SolihullTransposerLand Rover building400 homes

How will the Sutton Coldfield (Birmingham, England) transmission frequencies change over time?

1950s-80s1984-971997-981998-20112011-137 Mar 2018
VHFB E TB E TB E TB E K TW T
C4BBCtvwaves
C33com7
C35com8
C36LOCAL2
C39+ArqBArqB
C40BBC2wavesBBC2wavesBBC2waves+BBCBBBCB
C42SDNSDN
C43ITVwavesITVwavesITVwavesBBCABBCA
C45ArqAArqA
C46BBC1wavesBBC1wavesBBC1wavesD3+4D3+4
C48_local
C50tv_offC4wavesC4wavesC4waves
C51tv_offLB
C55tv_offcom7tv_off
C56tv_offCOM8tv_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

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

Feb 1956-Jul 1968Associated TeleVision†
Feb 1956-Jul 1968Associated British Corporation◊
Jul 1968-Dec 1981Associated TeleVision
Jan 1982-Feb 2004Central Independent Television
Feb 2004-Dec 2014ITV plc
Feb 1983-Dec 1992TV-am•
Jan 1993-Sep 2010GMTV•
Sep 2010-Dec 2014ITV 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.

Comments
Saturday, 10 September 2011
S
Si
11:18 AM

Thanks Briantist, checked the list and my TV's on it.. It's a Sony KD-32DX40, but there is an asterisk after that model on the list, is there a workaround? Or shall I just get a new box. Pity if so as it has a great TV listings function that I use constantly.

Cheers

Si

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Si's 2 posts GB flag
L
Liz Hodge
12:47 PM
Evesham

aerial is up on the roof pointing at lSutton Coldfield, reception fine until re tune, now cant get any BBC chanels or mega breakup including radio on the freeview box. Am in the Evesham area.

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Liz Hodge's 2 posts GB flag
Liz's: mapL's Freeview map terrainL's terrain plot wavesL's frequency data L's Freeview Detailed Coverage
L
Liz Hodge
12:51 PM
Evesham

forgot to mention aerial is actually pointing towards Malvern which is I believe a S Coldfield relay!
freeview box now calls it either west midlands or gloucester, it jumps from one to the other.


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Liz Hodge's 2 posts GB flag
Liz's: mapL's Freeview map terrainL's terrain plot wavesL's frequency data L's Freeview Detailed Coverage
J
jb38
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

2:03 PM

Liz Hodge: Having a look on the trade predictor using the code provided, indications are that your best reception should be from Lark Stoke, with BBC1 being on Mux Ch26, Ridge Hill is also shown as being good with BBC1 being on Mux Ch28, Sutton Coldfield also good on BBC1 Mux Ch43, but with ITV1 etc being variable until the 21st of the month when switchover stage 2 takes place.

Malvern, the station you mentioned, indicating either variable, poor, or not at all right across the entire range of multiplexes.

If using anything other than Lark Stoke you may have to manually tune the channels in, as Lark Stoke being on a lower mux number will take up EPG1 position and so on.

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jb38's 7,179 posts GB flag
D
dillon
2:52 PM
Halesowen

hi
trying to help a friend, her bedroom freeview tv will only show a few analogue channels and just itv1 on digital. trying a rescan doesnt change anything. on other digital channels the display says signal not available at the moment. does she need a new ariel or will it all work ok when all transmitters have been switched over? i think the ariel points to sutton coldfield
thanks

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dillon's 1 post GB flag
dillon's: mapD's Freeview map terrainD's terrain plot wavesD's frequency data D's Freeview Detailed Coverage
J
jb38
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

3:29 PM

dillon: I wouldn't touch anything until the 21st, as on that date all channels from Sutton Coldfield as well Brierley Hill are indicated as becoming available, with Brierly Hill joining them on September the 28th.

Of course only then will it be found what in reality is your best bet, as elements of "in theory" always apply with predictors due to the fact that they cannot fully cater for local conditions.

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jb38's 7,179 posts GB flag
J
jb38
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

5:02 PM

dillon: I should of course have said "The Wrekin" joining Sutton Coldfield and Brierley Hill on the 28th of this month.

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jb38's 7,179 posts GB flag
Briantist
sentiment_very_satisfiedOwner

5:17 PM

Paul: Freeview HD from Sutton Coldfield starts on Wednesday 21st September 2011.

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Briantist's 38,915 posts GB flag
B
Billy
sentiment_satisfiedBronze

7:26 PM

Liz and others losing BBC and it will only sadly likely get worse, I'll repeat my post from the Waltham thread, okay:

HUGE MISTAKE.

Had I been in charge, I'd have had ch 61 at 30,000 max.

It makes no sense, cause over the last decade most on this and other transmitters, struggling to get them, got what, better aerial and cable and amps and box, oops, now signals boosted, too darn strong.

For me, YAY, no worries, wish 57 was 50,000 kws, for you, arghhhh, no, turn them down, too much.

What an absolute mess as usual, no wonder last 8 years and still, I enjoy satellite, simply the best, glitch what glitch, VERY rare, but on-digital, disaster, ITV, much the same, no Freeview also messes it up.

Maybe if enough complain to Arqiva or whoever it is in charge they may drop them.

BBC mux 1 far far too powerful, crazy, no need for it, unless, unless one knocks the others up, but I suspect that they can not cause of co channel interference, which again from what i'm reading on here and else where, is also causing trouble for many.

A complete mess it seems.

==============

See over the years those struggling or those close and not needing anything, now find after switchover, ouch, not coming in, overload, may day may day, :(.

You need an antenuator or however you spell it, from maplins, to reduce the signal, alternative, add cable and connection and so on, might help, lower amps, or remove them.

Fortunately for Sutton, think all are going to be 200,000, Waltham that is not the case, same at Lark Stoke, so those in weak, or fringe areas like me, in a dip, so can not get sutton at 16 miles away need amps, better aerial, but then you have problems, cause of the difference in power of the public ones like BBC, too strong, if you want the commerical ones, and so on, what a mess eh.

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Billy's 50 posts GB flag
C
Cyril Warren.
8:34 PM

I live in Coleshill and I always received BBC2 to my bedroom TV using a Phillips Digi Box,and a loft aerial but since the changeover nothing, I have tried retuning numerous times,all the other stations are fine.
I can pick up the BBC2 signal perfectly on my lounge TV that has a built in digital tuner, this is served by an aerial on the roof. Will my bedroom TV be OK after the 21st?

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Cyril Warren.'s 1 post GB flag
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Your comment please
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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