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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
Sunday, 20 February 2011
Monday, 21 February 2011
R
Rustyboy
7:38 PM
Evesham

The signal is low and I cannot receive all the channels correctly. When I tune the PVR into the Aerial downstairs connected to a Booster all the channels work fine including HD. I use the PVR upstairs and I do not receive the HD stations and other station like ITV4. If I purchase a second booster and plugged it in the aerial upstairs would that work. I do not know if having 2 boosters would?

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Rustyboy's 5 posts GB flag
Rustyboy's: mapR's Freeview map terrainR's terrain plot wavesR's frequency data R's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Briantist
sentiment_very_satisfiedOwner

7:43 PM

Rustyboy: Where is the aerial? Where is the booster?

If you swap the devices over, what happens?

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Briantist's 38,915 posts GB flag
R
Rustyboy
8:05 PM
Evesham

The aerial is a rooftop aerial, there are 4 connection points around the house. What I assume is the booster is downstairs. The main aerial plug into the input on it and the output cable connects to the PVR / TV If that box gets turned off then there is no reception across the whole house

I will test to see if putting the booster upstairs works. If it does and I purchased a second booster to use upstairs, it would still work with the other booster downstairs?



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Rustyboy's 5 posts GB flag
Rustyboy's: mapR's Freeview map terrainR's terrain plot wavesR's frequency data R's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Briantist
sentiment_very_satisfiedOwner

8:10 PM

Rustyboy: So the "4 connection points around the house" come from four outputs from the "box downstairs" that you assume is a booster?

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Briantist's 38,915 posts GB flag
R
Rustyboy
8:36 PM
Evesham

The 4 connection points are directly from the aerial. The aerial cables all has a direct connection to the aerial on the top of the roof.

The box downstairs just has 1 input from one aerial connection and one output that is plugged into the TV downstairs. There is nothing else connected to this box.

I tested the PVR that is used upstairs on that aerial lead and gave me all the channels including HD. Upstairs the signal is weaker.

About 6 years ago the aerial was changed and an additional 2 aerial points were installed at that time. There are 2 original aerial points downstairs and 2 newer aerial points 1 in the upstairs bedroom and 1 in the attic bedroom.

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Rustyboy's 5 posts GB flag
Rustyboy's: mapR's Freeview map terrainR's terrain plot wavesR's frequency data R's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Briantist
sentiment_very_satisfiedOwner

8:54 PM

Rustyboy: I'm wondering if the "box downstairs" is the power for a masthead amplifier.

This might be the case if turning it off causes the signal to go off for all the points.

The cable from the aerial to the "upstairs" point might have got damaged, or had some water ingress.

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Briantist's 38,915 posts GB flag
R
Rustyboy
9:05 PM
Evesham

So a booster connected to the aerial point may not work? Or would getting a second Masthead amplifier to fit upstairs work better. Or would everything just blow up.

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Rustyboy's 5 posts GB flag
Rustyboy's: mapR's Freeview map terrainR's terrain plot wavesR's frequency data R's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Tuesday, 22 February 2011
Briantist
sentiment_very_satisfiedOwner

7:22 AM

Rustyboy: An amplifier won't help if the signal is not there in the first place, amplifiers will not recreate a non-existent signal and usually destroy a digital signal.

Yes, if you attempt to connect a second power supply to your masthead amplifier "everything [will] just blow up".

To help eliminate the problem, can you try the other two aerial points?

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Briantist's 38,915 posts GB flag
R
Rustyboy
11:01 AM

Thank you for your answers they have been helpful.

Just one final question.

I tested the Power supply upstairs and found that I got no signal at all. So the only place the power supply can be is downstairs.

I can receive all the stations on my TV upstairs it is just that the PVR connected to the same aerial does not get all the stations. So I tested the PVR downstairs and it picked up all the stations including the HD ones, so I know it is not a problem with the PVR.

So because of that I thought that if I got a booster to boost the signal a bit more I should receive the all the stations on the PVR as well. If I try something like this HQ 4-WAY Antenna Amplifier: Amazon.co.uk: Electronics or Philex 27812HS 2-Way TV Signal Booster: Amazon.co.uk: Electronics even if it does not work would it damage the aerial or masthead amplifier , just worried if I get one then everything breaks. (WR113EX)

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Rustyboy's 5 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.

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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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