menuMENU    UK Free TV logo Freeview

 

 

Click to see updates

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
_______

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
Friday, 11 March 2011
D
doug
11:38 AM
Birmingham

hi,i am fitting a chimney aerial.iget signals from the sutton coldfield transmitter.my television has built in freeview hd,could you advise me which would be the better aerial in a reasonably strong signal area.either the--log40 periodic aerial or a yagi18b aerial.

link to this comment
doug's 1 post GB flag
doug's: mapD's Freeview map terrainD's terrain plot wavesD's frequency data D's Freeview Detailed Coverage
M
Mike Dimmick
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

2:54 PM

doug: I've looked at your location on DigitalUK, and looked up the National Grid Reference with nearby.org.uk, looked at the terrain at Terrain - shows radio profile between two UK sites to optimise you DTT, Freeview, DAB or analogue TV reception and computed the field strength at Field Strength Calculator .

My guess is that you should have more than sufficient signal now to use a small log-periodic aerial. If you're looking at Justin Smith's website at ATV`s Choice Of Aerials for digital TV , I would say that his 'DM Log' (which appears to be a BlakeUK DML26WB) would be sufficient. If you want to play it slightly safer, go for the Log40.

Your problem is that the current digital multiplexes are so low in power compared to the analogue levels - getting the digital levels sufficient usually means that the analogue levels are way over spec. If your gain is too high now, you will have problems with the high-power digital signals. You might need to add an attenuator after switchover if you overdo it now. (RG47SH)

link to this comment
Mike Dimmick's 2,486 posts GB flag
Saturday, 12 March 2011
R
Richard Renshaw
2:10 AM

My mother's digital television stopped receiving any signal on thursday 10/3.
I tried retuning to no avail. I then tried a powered indoor aerial from my camper-van and found analogue stations for her.
I booked a firm to come and check/replace her aerial.

I have since discovered (from a casual conversation) that the (sutton coldfield) transmitter is 'subject to engineering work'!

In the instructions above this message box,- checking transmitters is the 3rd (embedded) procedure in the fault finding process. This information is only available to people with web access.

So as things stand:
An aerial repair company are booked to solve the problem with my mother's "freeview" reception.
I will endeavour to inform the aerial company that their services are not needed.

If there was a similar situation, where someone paid for repairs not necessary, but as a result of not being informed of a lack of service, who would be responsible for the cost?


p.s.



link to this comment
Richard Renshaw's 1 post GB flag
S
sid
sentiment_satisfiedBronze

4:51 PM

A good aerial company would have known about the engineering work at the sutton coldfield transmitter. It has been ongoing for over a year now.Its to get ready for the digital switch over, Have you been out of the country to not know this?

link to this comment
sid's 33 posts GB flag
B
Bob Higgins
8:40 PM

My Sister-in-Law lives in Claverley nr Bridgenorth why can't she receive any ITV stations , she can only receive BBCstations .
Bob the Boat .

link to this comment
Bob Higgins's 1 post GB flag
Sunday, 13 March 2011
S
stephen lee
5:56 PM
Belper

Post code DE56 1RG. For freeview, the Digital UK site, and the BBC site, both state that for Sutton Coldfield the aerial group is B.H (or W.H) but your site states E/W.H. I have a wideband.H aerial for my new television (all picture perfect). My original 7 year old aerial for my small TV appears to be B.H and cannot get all multiplexes. I need a new aerial for this before September 2011.Please let me know which is correct

link to this comment
stephen lee's 2 posts GB flag
stephen's: mapS's Freeview map terrainS's terrain plot wavesS's frequency data S's Freeview Detailed Coverage
J
Jerome
8:31 PM
Birmingham

Problems on all channels tonight. is this only at my house??

link to this comment
Jerome's 1 post GB flag
Jerome's: mapJ's Freeview map terrainJ's terrain plot wavesJ's frequency data J's Freeview Detailed Coverage
K
KMJ,Derby
sentiment_satisfiedGold

9:33 PM

stephen lee:Sutton Coldfield will revert to using frequencies which are all in group B at switchover in September. Currently MuxD is on C55 which is just outside the range covered by group B, resulting in "no signal" on that Mux unless you are in an area with very strong signals in which case the signal strength will be slightly less than that on in-group channels.If you have good analogue reception and can manage without MuxD until September there is no need to change your aerial.

link to this comment
KMJ,Derby's 1,811 posts GB flag
R
Richard
10:04 PM
Alcester

Hi, the signal quality has reduced from level 10 to 6 for all BBC channels over the last few months causing pixelation, stuttering,etc I have reset freeview tuner but to no avail, can you help? B504BE thanks

link to this comment
Richard's 1 post GB flag
Richard's: mapR's Freeview map terrainR's terrain plot wavesR's frequency data R's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Monday, 14 March 2011
S
sue brown
5:10 PM
Stoke-on-trent

i live at st10 1xs & have recently brought a icecrypt freeview+ hd box & have used hdmi cables but don't seem to be able to get any of the hd channels which is why i brought the thing! can you help?

link to this comment
sue brown's 1 post GB flag
sue's: mapS's Freeview map terrainS's terrain plot wavesS's frequency data S's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Select more comments

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.

UK Free TV is here to help people. If you are rude or disrespectful all of your posts will be deleted and you will be banned.








Privacy policy: UK Free Privacy policy.