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

first published this on - UK Free TV
sa_streetviewGoogle Streetviewsa_gmapsGoogle mapsa_bingBing mapsa_gearthGoogle Earthsa_gps52.600,-1.835 or 52°36'1"N 1°50'5"Wsa_postcodeB75 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 25/03/2024 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),

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 Drama, 21 5USA, 29 ITV2 +1, 32 5STAR, 33 5Action, 38 Channel 5 +1, 41 Legend, 42 GREAT! action, 57 Dave ja vu, 58 ITVBe +1, 59 ITV3 +1, 64 Blaze, 67 TRUE CRIME, 68 TRUE CRIME XTRA, 78 TCC, 81 Blaze +1, 83 Together TV, 89 ITV4 +1, 91 WildEarth, 209 Ketchup TV, 210 Ketchup Too, 211 YAAAS!, 267 Al Jazeera English, plus 30 others

COM5
ArqA
 H max
C45 (666.0MHz)433mDTG-8200,000W
Channel icons
11 Sky Mix, 17 Really, 19 Dave, 31 E4 Extra, 36 Sky Arts, 40 Quest Red, 43 Food Network, 47 Film4 +1, 48 Challenge, 49 4seven, 60 Drama +1, 65 That's TV 2, 70 Quest +1, 74 Yesterday +1, 75 That's 90s, 233 Sky News, plus 11 others

COM6
ArqB
 H max
C39+ (618.2MHz)433mDTG-8200,000W
Channel icons
12 Quest, 25 W, 27 Yesterday, 34 GREAT! movies, 39 DMAX, 44 HGTV, 52 GREAT! romance, 56 That's TV (UK), 61 GREAT! movies extra, 63 GREAT! romance mix, 71 That’s 60s, 73 HobbyMaker, 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
Tuesday, 24 August 2021
C
Chris.SE
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

11:44 PM

Steven Ernest Woolley:

A little more information could be useful!
When did you lose them, a full postcode so we can look at predicted reception at your locale and which transmitter(s) and multiplexes you might receive.
Whilst Sutton Coldfield is no longer listed for Planned Engineering, experience says that work might still be going on and the list may not be accurate.
I can't find any current listing of any faults nor any reported affecting the HD channels in the last 5 days.

There is also adverse weather conditions periodically affecting reception in some parts of the country resulting in interference because signals from other transmitters are traveling further.

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Chris.SE's 4,101 posts GB flag
Friday, 27 August 2021
T
Tracey Loasby
11:40 AM

I recieve signal from Sutton Coldfield transmitter and wondered is there any way to find out when it will be sorted. As they were doing engineering works beg of August and altho its now off the list for works, i still have a reduced signal, 20% and not many channels, no HD at all. Sometimes around 10pm i lise the signal completely and have no channels at all. My tv upstairs was set up b4 the works so ive still got all my channels including HD channels but sometimes pic pixels and signal level is same as downstairs 1 but my tv downstairs is new and been trying to scan and get channels but as i said, not many channels and no HD channels. Any info when Sutton Coldfield will be up and back to normal would be great please. My postcode is WS15

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Tracey Loasby's 3 posts GB flag
Saturday, 28 August 2021
C
Chris.SE
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

5:43 AM

Tracey Loasby:

In the TV tuning section, what signal strength and quality figures are showing for the Upstairs TV for each of the UHF channels it is tuned to?
It's worth checking in your TV's tuning section that you are tuned to the correct UHF channels for Sutton Coldfield. All the multiplexes are C43, C46, C40+, C42, C45, C39+, C55, C36/C48 that's in the order BBCA/PSB1, D3&4/PSB2, BBCB HD/PSB3, SDN/COM4, ArqA/COM5, ArqB/COM6, COM7 and Local L-BRM.

On your downstairs TV, you could try manual tuning on UHF channels C40 and C55 for the various HD channels, autotune sometimes misses weaker signals.

I replied to your previous query about the engineering here Sutton Coldfield (Birmingham, England) Full Freeview transmitter | free and easy now on the previous page.




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Chris.SE's 4,101 posts GB flag
T
Tracey Loasby
9:53 AM

Chris.SE: Thank you for your reply. I will try the things you sugguested and see if that helps. From your experience and knowledge, would it be fair to say, that the works for Sutton Coldfield transmitter should all be over and finished by latest end of September, given that the works started beginning of August, so by then i should be back to normal and recieve all channels and full signal, just sos i know that if i still have problems with the signal end of September, i can get someone to check my ariel, (i dont want to pay for someone to check my ariel just yet, only to find that ive wasted my money because its the transmitter at fault not my ariel). Thank you again for your reply and your previous reply to my query last week.


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Tracey Loasby's 3 posts GB flag
C
Chris.SE
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

1:34 PM

Tracey Loasby:

Quite understand about you not wanting to pay someone to check your aerial installation just yet, that's one of the reasons I've asked about the Signal Strength and Quality figures (or the Error count - set dependent) for each multiplex on your upstairs TV, these will give a better feel for what is going on, and maybe being able to offer some more detailed guidance.

It's impossible to say anything positive about the engineering work. Trying to get hold of appropriate people to get accurate information from Arqiva is no easy matter (rather than customer services type staff who may not be fully informed) and at present they rather have their hands full with the Bilsdale transmitter fire problem.
Works have been going on at a number of transmitter sites with new 5G installation preparations (that was going on when the Bilsdale fire occurred) and whilst no information has been made available (or may even be known yet) the cause of the fire may cause suspension of works elsewhere or slow it down, or maybe make no difference whatsoever to other transmitter work (it depends on the nature of the work).

If there are any changes to the information available, I'll certainly try and post the relevant information.

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Chris.SE's 4,101 posts GB flag
C
Chris.SE
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

1:37 PM

Tracey Loasby:

Sorry, forgot to mention, roughly how old is your aerial installation?

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Chris.SE's 4,101 posts GB flag
Monday, 6 September 2021
Transmitter engineering
sentiment_very_satisfiedOwner

11:23 AM

Sutton Coldfield transmitter - Sutton Coldfield transmitter: Possible effect on TV reception week commencing 06/09/2021 Pixelation or flickering on some or all channels [DUK]

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Transmitter engineering's 149,799 posts GB flag
Monday, 13 September 2021
Transmitter engineering
sentiment_very_satisfiedOwner

11:23 AM

Sutton Coldfield transmitter - Sutton Coldfield transmitter: Possible effect on TV reception week commencing 13/09/2021 Pixelation or flickering on some or all channels [DUK]

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Transmitter engineering's 149,799 posts GB flag
Friday, 24 September 2021
J
jack
11:20 AM

Sutton coldfield 746Mhz all channels unwatchable for the last few days
It looks like the power is far too low - even our amplifier that produces nice clean 80% on
most channels at the moment can only do 40-48% with quality all over the place on BBC-4 etc
This is on multiple recievers all leads checked and boxes reset as advised.

Are they ever going to fix this permanently?

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jack's 1 post GB flag
C
Chris.SE
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

11:45 AM

jack:

As per the post before yours, Sutton Coldfield had been on Planned Engineering and that work may not have been completed. As COM7 operates as an SFN, dependent on your location, your reception could be affected by other main transmitters with COM7 eg. Oxford and Ridge Hill both on Planned Engineering.
Just to compound matters, current weather conditions may be producing some disruption to signals as a result of interference from distant transmitters.
If you are still having issues after the weekend, please provide a full postcode so we can look at predicted reception in your locale.

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Chris.SE's 4,101 posts 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.

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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