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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 04/11/2024 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
Monday, 12 September 2011
K
KMJ,Derby
sentiment_satisfiedGold

6:09 AM

R Anderson: Check in the 800s of the channel list for a set of channels that work correctly. It is possible that you have stored channels from a weak signal from The Wrekin in the normal slots. Otherwise wait for switchover step 2 on 21st September when all muxes will be using 200kW transmitters at Sutton Coldfield.

link to this comment
KMJ,Derby's 1,811 posts GB flag
Briantist
sentiment_very_satisfiedOwner

9:07 AM

dutchman: It's going to be 8k mode that is the issue, 64QAM has been in used since the very start of ONdigital.

There are actually some really good Freeview+ and Freeview+HD boxes out there, but I personally think that Windows 7 Media Center is the best - you can use any size hard drive with it and also FOUR TUNERS.

link to this comment
Briantist's 38,915 posts GB flag
Briantist
sentiment_very_satisfiedOwner

9:10 AM

JH: I would suspect your non-working box is on the "condemned" list - TVs and boxes that do not support the 8k-mode | ukfree.tv - independent free digital TV advice .

link to this comment
Briantist's 38,915 posts GB flag
M
Mike Dimmick
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

12:22 PM

JH: Do check that your box is actually tuning in Sutton Coldfield and not something else. Signals from The Wrekin/Bromsgrove/Lark Stoke might be strong enough to be stored - they are on lower frequencies and many boxes, particularly older models, just store the first version they find. You might find a working version somewhere else in the channel list - perhaps around 800.

There's a possibility that the box might even try to store Kinver BBC A, though that is on C48, so it's less likely. The aerial is actually pointing north-east to Sutton Coldfield, and with the elements going side-to-side?

Also check whether your box is known to have a problem with a larger Network Information Table: http://www.digitaluk.co.u…tnit

link to this comment
Mike Dimmick's 2,486 posts GB flag
G
Geoff Hawkins
sentiment_satisfiedBronze

7:27 PM
Stoke-on-trent

Mike Dimmock
Thanks for that Mike.
Can now see from the listings above what you are saying . Thanks mate

link to this comment
Geoff Hawkins's 22 posts GB flag
Geoff's: mapG's Freeview map terrainG's terrain plot wavesG's frequency data G's Freeview Detailed Coverage
J
JH
9:01 PM
Stourbridge

Thanks Brian/Mike. It's a Thompson DTI6300 and not on Brian's list but is on the link from Mike, listed as "Products that have not received an OAD freeze when receiving the first multiplex". Sorry but I'm a non-techie - does this mean it's time to shell out (again) for new equipment or will this right itself at switch over?

link to this comment
JH's 6 posts GB flag
JH's: mapJ's Freeview map terrainJ's terrain plot wavesJ's frequency data J's Freeview Detailed Coverage
L
Lisa
9:36 PM

We have noticed over the last few weeks that our TV picture is stuttering quite badly when our Thomson Top-up TV digibox is recording a programme on another channel. It affects both the live TV and the recorded programme such that they are unwatchable. I read on another forum that this could partly be caused by the box's buffer (and switching this off helps a little), but might also be linked to digital switchover works on the transmitter? Can anyone advise whether this is true? Am wondering whether we should return our digibox as faulty or if it's a problem that will resolve when switchover is complete.
I'm in B49 (Alcester).

link to this comment
Lisa's 1 post GB flag
Briantist
sentiment_very_satisfiedOwner

10:29 PM

JH: Just to translate, if the box was not on when the required update was broadcast (OAD = over-the-air download) then it will fail when it first detects a multiplex in "8k" mode.

In theory, if you have a TUTV box and you run a "firmware upgrade" on it, it should be able to get the latest version of the software, as it is proved alongside TUTV and not a part of the normal "engineering channel".

From memory, these automatic upgrades are normally enabled in the menus so either you turn the box off overnight, or someone has disabled the "auto update" on the box at some time.

Or ... you have got the latest "6.01" version of the firmware and everything will be just fine.

link to this comment
Briantist's 38,915 posts GB flag
Tuesday, 13 September 2011
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